A planning application has been submitted (DC/26/144897) to change the front of Ladywell station, a grade II listed building.
The proposed plan involves removing a window and installing a door to provide access to the retail unit, which will be blocked off from the ticket hall with a new wall. The retail unit housed the Coffee Well kiosk for several years.
The internal changes will mean the retail unit can remain open even when the ticket office is closed.
The station building is owned by the govrnment-backed infrastructure body Network Rail, while passenger train services and day-to-day station operations are managed by Southeastern.
There is some concern among users that the changes could mean a further move to reduce the ticket office opening hours.
In 2023 rail operators, with the blessing of government ministers planned to close 150 ticket offices as part of “plans to modernise the railway.”
Protests from users and rail staff halted the plans but ticket office opening hours have have been reduced nevrtheless.
The proposed door to the left of the main entrance will have glazed panels unlike the main door.
The planning application says all works “will be undertaken with due care to preserve the historic fabric of the Grade II listed
building.”
The station was constructed in 1857 duing the Victorian railway boom and remains a classic example of mid-19th century railway architecture.
It features yellow stock brickwork, low pitched slate roofs, molded architrave window, platform timber canopies with a saw-tooth design and a rare wrought iron lattice footbridge linking the two platforms.