Lancaster Gate tube station - Definition and Overview

Lancaster Gate is a London Underground station located on Bayswater Road in Bayswater (City of Westminster), to the north of Kensington Gardens. It is between Queensway and Marble Arch on the Central Line. It is in zone 1. It opened on July 30, 1900 as part of the Central London Railway (now the Central line).

The station suffers from being located between a quiet and relatively expensive residential area, and Hyde Park. Few of the surrounding residents choose to use the underground system, and as such the station has poor patronage. In consequence, the station has only ever provided lift access to the platforms and, although there are the two lift shafts for four lifts, which was the standard of the Central London Railway, only two lifts are in use.

The area is particularly quiet, lacking shops, restaurants, bars, or other entertainment venues, despite being close to central London. The apparent isolation this brings, together with the lack of patronage of the station, unfortunately makes the platforms the location of the highest number of suicide attempts on the whole London Underground network.