please empty your brain below
Of course the Sloane Square snack shop has alcohol-related roots, having once been a proper platform pub - it also featured as a prominent location in Iris Murdoch's novel A Word Child.

Waterhouse | 05.03.18 - 7:05 a.m. | #

Does Hammersmith still have its kiosk(s) on the platforms?

Messiah | 05.03.18 - 7:17 a.m. | #

Ah yes, Embankment westbound. Long before the days of late night shopping and mini supermarkets everywhere (err, near transport hubs that is), then this little booth was a life saver, and I would buy one or two confectionery items to stave off my hunger after a very long day at the office.

However, it is Wimbledon station that most intrigues me. It was shopless for many years, then all of a sudden they repurposed the footbridge and half a dozen outlets opened up. Then came colonisation of the train platforms, and most recently by the Underground platforms.

What intrigues me most is that they almost all survive, albeit with some turnover, and most selling an almost identical range. Did the success of Tramlink really increase the passenger flow that much, or was it that the demand must always have been there?

Ken | 05.03.18 - 7:18 a.m. | #

St Pasty day is St Piran's day - the patron saint of Tin miners

Nick | 05.03.18 - 7:26 a.m. | #

Wow a Network Southeast flash lives on on that sign at Barking

Jon Combe | 05.03.18 - 7:27 a.m. | #

Providing more outlets at stations seems to be a win-win. Convenient for passengers, and good for network operators' revenues.

Are there any drawbacks?

Here in Japan, there's noddle bars, hamburger shops, waffle shops, and convenience stores on the platforms. You can genuinely eat well staying inside the barriers.

However, all Japanese stations always provide toilets too.

Steve | 05.03.18 - 7:31 a.m. | #

Embankment used to have four kiosks - two on each side. Did one of them close?

dg writes: Post updated, thanks.

Chiswick Park (district) has got a tea/coffee kiosk inside the gateline at the bottom of the stairs to the westbound..

Gloucester Road district used to have a kiosk on the eastbound, closed a couple of years back.

Liverpool,Street has a kiosk too, on the sub surface east bound, I appreciate that’s not the district line.

High Street Ken used to have a newsagents on the sb platform. I used to hop of a train (carriage one) and buy a newspaper and a can of drink in under 30 seconds and hop back on the same train.

Geofftech | 05.03.18 - 7:44 a.m. | #

Presumably the "donoughts" at Barking are aimed at civil servants on their way to work. :)

Dave | 05.03.18 - 7:53 a.m. | #

To add to the District Line list, Southfields also has a kiosk on the platform.

The pub at Kew Gardens station would have counted back in the day, but it no longer has access direct from the platform.

timbo again | Homepage | 05.03.18 - 7:57 a.m. | #

I'd love to have included the pub at Kew Gardens, if only to have boosted the quality of the food in my report...

• Devilled mushrooms, duck egg, brioche £7.50
• Hampshire game casserole, mash, buttered kale £15.50
• Peanut parfait, caramelised banana, popcorn £6.50

...but as you say, the Tap On The Line is no longer accessible from the platform.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 05.03.18 - 8:11 a.m. | #

If you want to stretch the "on other platforms" rule to its limit, there's a tiny snack kiosk on the Waterloo and City line platforms at Bank/Monument.

Graham | 05.03.18 - 8:24 a.m. | #

Richmond station also has a “Bagels Already” between the mainline platform 2 and Overground platform 5 - also easily accessible for District Line travellers

Ashley Mills | Homepage | 05.03.18 - 8:26 a.m. | #

I also remember the Pub on the westbound platform at Sloane Square. It was very small and although never really busy it did seem to have many regulars. I used to pass through the station on a daily basis for a short while and would see the same faces through the window. I only ever remember having a drink in there once in about 1971. I always thought that it was an odd place to have a licensed bar.

fishislandskin | 05.03.18 - 8:32 a.m. | #

Ah, Snoggy's. Many a time on the way home I have carried on one stop past Earlsfield on the mainline trains just to hop off at Wimbledon, grab a weekend's worth of biltong and then jump back on the first train back to Earlsfield. Totally worth it.

gooneruk | Homepage | 05.03.18 - 9:03 a.m. | #

There was a kiosk on the district line platforms at South Ken for a few years. Great for a cuppa if there was a sizeable wait for the train to Turnham Green. I guess it found it hard to compete with the shops the other side of the barrier.

Tunnel Bore | 05.03.18 - 9:10 a.m. | #

Seeing Ealing Broadway's kiosks described as a veritable food court has been the highlight of my (admittedly unexciting) morning.

There is also a tiny, but well stocked, confectionery kiosk between the westbound platforms at Acton Town.

Al | 05.03.18 - 9:17 a.m. | #

Paynes Poppets!

I grew up in Northampton, and a few times a year the family would train to London for a day out. The highlight for me was getting a box of Paynes Poppets from a vending machine on Euston station.

Joho | 05.03.18 - 9:56 a.m. | #

Ar there any platform pubs left.

Jimbo | 05.03.18 - 11:19 a.m. | #

The Liverpool St kiosk was a hole in the wall pub. You had to stand on the platform when consuming.

Gladys | 05.03.18 - 12:31 p.m. | #

What happened to all the old Chocolate machines?

Antipodean | 05.03.18 - 12:53 p.m. | #

Antipodean: I seem to recall that when Ken Livingstone was London's Mayor he decided to de-clutter platforms and the chocolate and other vending machines on tube platform were removed.

John | 05.03.18 - 1:21 p.m. | #

There is a recently opened Pret now inside Tottenham Court Rd too.

Charlie | 05.03.18 - 1:56 p.m. | #

I can confirm that...
• the Grab-a-Bite in the middle of the platforms at Southfields also sells newspapers;
• the small kiosk on Acton Town's eastbound platform sells Organic Turmeric Tea for £1.50;
• the kiosk in the passageway at Chiswick Park has its shutters down;
• the tiny kiosk on the westbound platform at Hammersmith also has its shutters down.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 05.03.18 - 3:08 p.m. | #

Happy St Piran's Day!

I'm seriously considering hopping on the tube to Ealing Broadway, purely to get a pasty for dinner now!
Sadly we ate the supply in the freezer from the West Cornwall Pasty Co. about a week ago!

Cornish Cockney | 05.03.18 - 3:30 p.m. | #

Ah yes, Chiswick Park is mornings only. There is also:

- a kiosk on the main departure platform at amersham

- a tea/coffee snack bar on the sb platform at woodford (central)

- a newsagents on the platforms at epping (central) that also shuts by 11am

I can't think of any more.

Geofftech | 05.03.18 - 3:52 p.m. | #

It was Tim O’Toole that wanted to declutter platforms, not Ken. There was also an incident where one of the then huge platform vending machines caught fire.

Gladys | 05.03.18 - 4:26 p.m. | #

A vending machine fire. Think of all the melted Poppets everywhere. You can still get Poppets in the shops you know, but they cost more than the 6d they used to from the machines.

Must say when next using Westminster I will lean towards the cheap n'cheerful Greggs.

Chris | 05.03.18 - 5:21 p.m. | #

What about our coffee truck at Bow Road??

Jim Harte | 05.03.18 - 6:05 p.m. | #

On the Central line there are also morning-only kiosks providing coffee, sweets etc at South Woodford and Snaresbrook. I think Sloane Square was the only on-platform pub, but there were in-ticket hall pubs at Baker St and St John's Wood, which some of us once made into a London Transport (as it was then) pub crawl.

amber | 05.03.18 - 6:16 p.m. | #

A newly reopened, but limited opening time kiosk, on the south bound platform at Pinner.

MikeK | 05.03.18 - 6:48 p.m. | #

From what I've seen the twin Costas certainly seem popular; if space allows I suspect we'll see more of them in the central stations.
I've sometimes wondered if any new use could be found for the very-long-closed 'heritage' wooden WHSmith kiosk on the eastbound platform at St James' Park.

David | Homepage | 05.03.18 - 9:16 p.m. | #

All this is nothing compared to the forthcoming pop-up on the paid side of bus stop M selling, of course, only chocolate (and sometimes nuts) in coloured sugar 'shell'.

Wolf | 06.03.18 - 1:07 a.m. | #

Victoria District line ticket hall has an Essentials snack shop

Ann | 06.03.18 - 9:26 a.m. | #

Before refurbishment, there used to be Embankment style kiosks on the platforms at Blackfriars - but their signage was sponsored by The Economist, which surely puts them intellectual head and shoulders above every other concession.

There is also a kiosk on the W&C platforms at Bank which is just about a District line station. Just.

Marc | 06.03.18 - 10:17 a.m. | #

@Amber
" I think Sloane Square was the only on-platform pub,"

As already mentioned by Beryl, Kew Gardens used to have one, although it is technically a National Rail station (albeit served by Underground trains as well).

timbo again | 06.03.18 - 2:59 p.m. | #

As someone who more often takes the deep level tube on his visits to London, the existence of kiosks and Costas on sub-surface platforms is a revelation to me. Although, if they can fit a kiosk on a W&C platform, is anywhere safe from Costa Pronto?

Talking of, whatever happened to Treats? I recall seeing a lot of their outlets around the London transport network over the years. I particularly remember buying something spicy and warming from the Treats in Victoria Coach Station in 2011. Are they still around?

TheLupineOne | 06.03.18 - 5:12 p.m. | #

Station bars - There was one (The Hole in the Wall) at King's Cross halfway up the stairs at the east end of the Met platforms. The door is still there leading to some staff accommodation.

St James's Park - the current display boards are the new use for the 'heritage' wooden WHSmith kiosk. The only access to the interior involves crawling under the counter, which is probably not too appealing (or safe?) for prospective tenants.

Andrew S | 06.03.18 - 7:42 p.m. | #











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