Royal Oak

Story

Royal Oak is a station of the London Underground, on the Hammersmith & City and Circle lines, between and stations. The station is on Lord Hill's Bridge and is in Travelcard Zone 2 for the London Underground. Although not heavily used at other times, the station is extremely busy during the annual Notting Hill Carnival. There is no wheelchair access to the platform. It is classed as a "local station" in Transport for London's "Fit for the Future" development outline.The station opened on 30 October 1871, although the Metropolitan Railway extension to Hammersmith had opened in 1864. It is close to the elevated Westway section of the A40 road. The station is named after a nearby public house, "The Royal Oak" (later "The Railway Tap" and now "The Porchester").The station was closed for repairs from 11 April 2015 to 10 May 2015. The reopened station has no ticket office.HistoryThe stationWhen the Great Western Railway (GWR) main line was first opened in June 1838, the first stop out of Paddington was at, 13mi from. Intermediate stations were opened over the years, and the first stop became progressively closer to Paddington: a station at (5mi from Paddington) was opened in December 1838, and one at (4mi from Paddington) in 1868. In the meantime, the Hammersmith and City Railway had opened from Green Lane Junction (near the present Westbourne Park tube station) to on 13 June 1864, with the first stop on that route originally at, 1mi out, although one opened at Westbourne Park (1mi out) in 1866.