FENCHURCH STREET STATION Group: British Railways Purchase price: £200 Rent: £25 Annual passengers: 10 million Borough:City of London Postcode: EC3
The third of the four railway stations on the Monopoly board is unexpectedly minor, the terminus for a few trains from Southend and the grubbier parts of Essex. It made the cut for the UK version because Waddington's boss Victor Watson was from Leeds so chose only LNER termini, which Fenchurch Street was between 1923 and 1948. It's a small and mostly unloved station, tucked away in the far corner of the City and infamously lacking a proper tube connection. At least Marylebone had class, and indeed slightly more passengers, but let's try to make Fenchurch Street sound interesting anyway.
Fenchurch Street station opened in 1841 as the terminus of the London and Blackwall Railway, then a connection to the busy docks on and around the Isle of Dogs. The station was rebuilt in 1854, an upgrade made necessary by the addition of the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway beginning its history as a commuter feeder to the City. By the time Monopoly came along in 1935 the Blackwall branch had closed, its viaduct later repurposed for DLR services, but another rebuild of the station was underway to cater for additional traffic resulting from the widening of the mainline between Barking and Upminster. The most recent rebuild came in the mid-1980s, wiping away most of the internal character as five floors of offices were slotted in above what had been the station roof. The former L&BR/LTSR/ECR/LNER/LMS/BR/NSE/LTS terminus is now operated solely by c2c, a millennial brand name which apparently doesn't mean coast to capital, nor indeed anything specific.
Let's start with the only pretty bit of Fenchurch Street station which is the front. The facade dates from 1841 and was constructed in gault brick, with a long segmental pediment across the top and a row of 11 arched windows underneath. The clock is impressively incorrect, but presumably getting up top to fix it is quite tricky. The zigzag timber canopy supported by cast iron brackets is a more recent addition, sympathetically attached in 1960. None of this is particularly visible from Fenchurch Street the street, only if you turn off into a separate piazza via a looping road used mostly by taxis. Come at rush hour and it bustles with commuters who haven't been able to work from home. Come on a weekday lunchtime and it buzzes with office fodder in tailored shirts queuing for sizzling streetfood. And come on a Sunday morning and it's essentially dead, which is plainly the best time to get a decent set of photos.
Downstairs refreshment options are limited - left for Burger King or right for M&S Food - but at least that's all the major Essex food groups covered. Access to the station is through the three middle sets of doors which I was pleased to see are still decorated with proper red British Rail double arrows. But Fenchurch Street is fundamentally an upstairs station, slotted in at viaduct level all those years ago, so best glide up the escalator through a drab chasm of off-brown tiles. It's not much better-looking upstairs, a low-ceilinged concourse with all the charm of the backside of a Thurrock shopping mall. Sir John Betjeman once described Fenchurch Street as a "delightful, hidden old station", "the only untouched railway terminus left in London", but that must have been before Ove Arup got their hands on it.
I like that tickets are still sold where the booking office used to be 150 years ago, from a lowly set of windows up the back beside the shuttered Covid Test centre. It's so well hidden that I suspect a lot of travellers see the main staff window now only dispenses Travel Information so go and buy their day returns from the obvious machines instead. Of the two shop units the one that used to be Upper Crust recently became a Costa, and the other remains vacant should you have use for 90 square metres of Serviced Shell with Remote Storage (aka 'Prime Retail Space'). The only other food option is a machine dispensing cans of Huel, ideal for Canvey lads heading to the gym before hitting the financial desk. The days of WH Smith and a paid-for choice of reading matter are long gone.
If you need a sit down then a couple of rows of grey plastic seats have been provided, one with a perfect view of the cash machines if not the departure boards. The other row is much shorter and faces you away from a rather nice map of the c2c network, highlighting such sightseeing favourites as Rainham Marshes, Leigh Marina and Chafford Gorges Nature Discovery Park. I'm not sure anyone's going to be sufficiently moved to book a day trip to Basildon's Eastgate Shopping Centre but the option's always there. And when your train's eventually ready a bank of ticket gates awaits, 17 in total, each currently emblazoned with an advert for Southend Airport (which c2c don't actually serve).
Fenchurch Street only has four platforms, two to the left and two to the right, so getting to your train is dead easy. Initially it's bright and airy, although further down it gets somewhat gloomy thanks to that slab of offices plonked on top 40 years ago, these supported by a succession of smooth white pillars. The only sign of anything properly old is a retaining wall beyond platform 4 with some rather nice recessed brick arches. Short trains reach no further than the dark bit, but the platforms stretch considerably further to be able to cope with the longest Southend shuttles. I kept on walking to thefar end, entirely alone, which felt like stepping out onto the roof of the City whilst surrounded by some of its worst architectural upthrust. The platforms terminate somewhere above The Minories pub in full view of the semi-cylindrical roof of Tower Gateway DLR, ensuring the gritbin end has a completely different vibe to the staffed gated end.
There is another way in and out of the station, via a pair of staircases leading down from roughly the middle of each platform. It's signed to 'Underground and Docklands', this the back exit that's notionally close to Tower Hill and Tower Gateway. Arriving passengers trip down white-clad stairs reminiscent of an 80s subway, funnelling towards a much smaller set of ticket gates (and an even smaller set of peak-only gates). Top tip - if you're heading into the station be sure to check which platform your train goes from down here because they haven't bothered adding any departure boards where the stairs divide. Retail options are somewhat lowly at this sub-exit, but if all you want is Doritos, Red Bull or a Cornetto you're better off down here.
Before you wander off, be aware that Fenchurch Street is a London terminus that can also be admired from underneath. At Coopers Row you can look up and see the front of a Grays train atop the Victorian viaduct. The brick arch over Crutched Friars and Savage Gardens (yes those are actual street names) is even older, having been constructed for the original station in 1839. The steel crossing alongside dates back to 1881 and required engineers to knock down part of the Roman City wall and the original Cheshire Cheese pub, which was Tudor, which feels utterly criminal. Perhaps most surprising is the low arched entrance to French Ordinary Court, a City backway dating from the 15th century, which was enclosed when the railway station was constructed above, transforming it into a cavernous vault-like passage.
Some things Fenchurch Street station utterly destroyed, and others it somehow left standing.
