Why is Bristol Temple Meads so far from the city centre?

[Ron Hale]

Middlesbrough station was built on the very southern edge of the newly built town.
The modern centre is now south of the railway.
Crossing from the south side of the railway to the old town is now called going "over the border."

 

[Steve Harris]

Original plan was to be located on what is now Christ's Pieces. Very central.

[Also, the University didn't want students being tempted to travel for shenanigans in London all the time either]

Well, I'm afraid you will have to tell my Junior School teacher he was wrong. Although i doubt if he is still alive!

As that is where the information came from.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I’ve been working in Bristol for 5 years and have no idea where the city centre is. I know how to get from the M32 to Temple Meads station, and back again, and that’s about it. I presume there are more shops in Bristol beyond what is around Temple Meads but not sure where.

I know what you mean, it's a peculiar place to arrive in by train. Whenever going to concerts it was a case of getting a taxi from the station. The discussion in this thread explains why, when I lived in Taunton, my city shopping pounds were spent in Exeter rather than Bristol.

 

[route101]

Chester station is wee bit out of the City Centre .

Bristol when i used it on a Sunday morning had a lack of shops around it .

 

[Silver Cobra]

While Exeter does have a city centre station in the form of Exeter Central, the main station for the city, Exeter St Davids, is a fair distance from the centre. As such, anyone travelling to Exeter on a Cross Country or GWR intercity service needs to change at St Davids for a service to Central, or take a bus or a fairly long walk from St Davids to the city centre.

 

[etr221]

Without having done anything like a comprehensive survey, there are a large number of city railway stations that we think of as (at least relatively) central, but which were built (back in 1830s or 1840s) on the edge of the city as it was.

If interested in seeing more (of where the railways would be built!) First edition OS one maps ('Old series 1805-73') are on line at http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-231917049/view

My comment about Heathrow Express was that it was a quick link between the edge of 1830s London and that of 1930s London!

 

[Gemz91]

Are there any large English cities whose station is really right at its centre, rather than (at best) on om edge of the city centre ? Only ones I can think of, of the cities I've been to, are Portsmouth and Sunderland

Leeds is smack in the the centre, a short stroll up to the financial district of Leeds, Trinity Shopping Centre across the road and with the new development on The South Bank (possibly where channel 4 are moving but not too sure) its pretty much central. That said its not very central for the Uni's or the Market area.

 

[Helvellyn]

Don't forget to get to some city centres would have been very disruptive and keeping them outside (or just in) city walls was preferable - Carlisle, York.

 

[Mikey C]

Are there any large English cities whose station is really right at its centre, rather than (at best) on om edge of the city centre ? Only ones I can think of, of the cities I've been to, are Portsmouth and Sunderland

To me Newcastle is really central as well, indeed the railway bulldozes it's way through the City in a similar way to the urban Motorways built in the 60s!

 

[HowardGWR]

While Exeter does have a city centre station in the form of Exeter Central, the main station for the city, Exeter St Davids, is a fair distance from the centre. As such, anyone travelling to Exeter on a Cross Country or GWR intercity service needs to change at St Davids for a service to Central, or take a bus or a fairly long walk from St Davids to the city centre.

I dispute that, at least for local people in East Devon. Central is the main city station while St Davids is at the bottom of the hill. This is recognised nowadays by trains to Exeter from Torbay that reverse at St Davids and go up the hil to Central and on to Exmouth.Both shops and offices in Exeter are a few metres walk from Central (was Queen St).

Temple Meads was adjacent to the floating harbour and was therefore more useful for goods. Within 60 years the whole area was festooned with railway yards and dock lines. Then came the move of the ships to Avonmouth and left those facilities somewhat redundant for that purpose - but the area was now producing many goods and services in its own right. The local train services never took off as the working folk used the trams and buses. Bristol is very hilly (like Sheffield) and Temple Meads would be more suited to tram train operation where the services would call there rather than terminate there. The proposed metro service will try to deal with that issue somewhat but it fails to provide a service to Broadmead (shopping) and Colston Avenue (culture, night life).

 

[Mikey C]

Bournemouth station is rather far out, whereas the railway in Poole and Weymouth passes right through the centre, indeed literally so in the case of the Quay station

 

[camflyer]

Are there any large English cities whose station is really right at its centre, rather than (at best) on om edge of the city centre ? Only ones I can think of, of the cities I've been to, are Portsmouth and Sunderland

Birmingham New Street couldn't be much more central.

As for Cambridge, the location of the station is a pain. There have been many nights when I have been out in the city centre having a good time then had to make a mad dash back to the station to catch the last train home.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Given that Oxford is such a small city, has it really suffered *that* much? The station isn't a long walk from the city.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I’ve been working in Bristol for 5 years and have no idea where the city centre is. I know how to get from the M32 to Temple Meads station, and back again, and that’s about it. I presume there are more shops in Bristol beyond what is around Temple Meads but not sure where.

I think Bristol city centre is a bit distributed - more like a smaller version of London, and quite unlike Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester which are quite small city centres with everything together. You couldn't really say where "London city centre" is, there are lots of separate bits in an area about 5 miles by 2 miles (i.e. zone 1).

 

[urpert]

Are there any large English cities whose station is really right at its centre, rather than (at best) on om edge of the city centre ? Only ones I can think of, of the cities I've been to, are Portsmouth and Sunderland

Charing Cross?

Edit: someone got there first!
York also feels pretty central considering the scale of the station and attached infrastructure.

 

[Higginsafcb]

Bournemouth station is rather far out, whereas the railway in Poole and Weymouth passes right through the centre, indeed literally so in the case of the Quay station

There was a plan to join Bmth East & West with a Central Station near the current town hall. The great & good of the Borough complained and the line was routed around the then edge of town with the new Central on the edge of town & West a terminus which ultimately killed it off.

 

[Metal_gee_man]

Are there any large English cities whose station is really right at its centre, rather than (at best) on om edge of the city centre ? Only ones I can think of, of the cities I've been to, are Portsmouth and Sunderland

Weirdly Poole (I know not a huge city/town) is hilarious, the train line cuts through the centre of the high st with a level crossing, then dumps passengers another 800m along the line well out from the centre

 

[Mugby]

I think I would have asked 'Why is it such a dump?' Considering it's supposedly on of Britain's great stations, it's not at all impressive.

The main driveway from Temple Gate seems more like a road into a goods yard and the entrance takes you into a particularly gloomy and draughty concourse which is very small and underwhelming. Nothing but a W.H. Smith (and not a good one) outside the barriers and most of the food outlets down in the subway. The whole lot gives a strong impression of faded grandeur, something which has been left to rot.

It's not at all welcoming, nor is it an encouraging gateway for the City of Bristol!

 

[Mintona]

I wish there was an M&S Simply Food and a couple of fast food restaurants. It’s Upper Crust, WH Smith, Starbucks and a pasty shop, plus a ‘pub’ with poor food, which is pretty rubbish compared with the likes of comparable stations at Reading and Birmingham New St.

 

[Merthyr Imp]

Does Lincoln count as a large city? (It's not much smaller than some of those mentioned). Lincoln Central (as it was) lives up to its name - and the closed St Marks was quite handily placed too.

Some of the people of Nottingham will tell you that they closed the wrong station when Victoria was closed!

 

[Tim M]

Earlier this year Gordon Young from the Bristol Civic Society gave a talk to the Bristol Group of the Ffestiniog Railway Society. He covered a wide range of topics, historical aspects of Bristol included. The following is from my notes of his excellent talk as published in our newsletter ‘The Fairlie’:

“This [the talk] included details of Brunel’s proposal for a Grand Central station in Queens Square; there was also proposal in the 1870’s to extend the GWR to what is today Millennium Square.”

I would guess the extension of Brunel’s railway west towards Exeter and the need for a junction between the GWR and B&ER also had an influence on retaining Temple Meads as the cities principle station.

 

[HowardGWR]

I think I would have asked 'Why is it such a dump?' Considering it's supposedly on of Britain's great stations, it's not at all impressive.

The main driveway from Temple Gate seems more like a road into a goods yard and the entrance takes you into a particularly gloomy and draughty concourse which is very small and underwhelming. Nothing but a W.H. Smith (and not a good one) outside the barriers and most of the food outlets down in the subway. The whole lot gives a strong impression of faded grandeur, something which has been left to rot.

It's not at all welcoming, nor is it an encouraging gateway for the City of Bristol!

I know not a few Bristolians who, on reading that, would say, 'good, we've too many incomers as it is'!

 

[Bletchleyite]

I wish there was an M&S Simply Food and a couple of fast food restaurants. It’s Upper Crust, WH Smith, Starbucks and a pasty shop, plus a ‘pub’ with poor food, which is pretty rubbish compared with the likes of comparable stations at Reading and Birmingham New St.

It needs a proper concourse - like Preston it suffers from not having one, though at least Preston is near the shops. Kicking the car park out of the old Brunel shed and setting that up as one might not be a bad idea.

Edit: seems like it's now an event venue. Shame, it'd have made a good retail and restaurant concourse. http://www.brunels-old-station.co.uk/

 

[MontyP]

It needs a proper concourse - like Preston it suffers from not having one, though at least Preston is near the shops. Kicking the car park out of the old Brunel shed and setting that up as one might not be a bad idea.

For it’s size and importance, it’s fairly rubbish - cramped, very few shops, congested tunnel linking to most platforms (especially 13/15 for the paddington trains) and massive queues at the handful of ticket barriers. Most London suburban commuter stations have more exit gates!

 

[Mugby]

I know not a few Bristolians who, on reading that, would say, 'good, we've too many incomers as it is'!

Aha, well I suppose that is one beneficial effect!

 

[B&I]

It's 5-10 minutes walk from the main shopping areas, so I'm not sure it counts.

The wide-open layout of central Plymouth, and those underpasses you have to negotiate, makes it feel longer

 

[Bookd]

This issue applies to lots of towns,and villages, due to the custom of building the station next to the Railway line rather than the shops.

 

[B&I]

Birmingham New Street and Liverpool Central are very close to their city centres. Edinburgh Waverley and Glasgow Central as well.

Liverpool Central is a good shout, although it's not quite the dead centre of the city centre (which is probably around the Lord Street / Whitechapel junction). I think i'd forgotten about it having started life as a terminus and subconsciously dismissed it for cheating as it's on one of our few out-of-London cross city centre lines.

I suppose an obvious reason why stations tend to be on the edge of city centres is that the area they cover tends to form a barrier discouraging city centre development any further in the relevant direction.

 

[Railguy1]

Its about a 15 minute walk to the center, so its not too bad.

 

[yorksrob]

I know what you mean, it's a peculiar place to arrive in by train. Whenever going to concerts it was a case of getting a taxi from the station. The discussion in this thread explains why, when I lived in Taunton, my city shopping pounds were spent in Exeter rather than Bristol.

I think they're planning a new arena right next to the station which should help to solve that.