Grand Stations don't always age well, but Paddington — 172 years old and Britain's third-busiest station — is holding up remarkably well. A recent first-hand review of a Great Western Railway trip from London to Kingham in the Cotswolds found the 1854-built terminus both charming and genuinely efficient, earning a full five-star verdict.
The station itself is the draw. Arched glass roofing and intricate Victorian ironwork give the main concourse a snow-globe quality, and the building now doubles as the headquarters of Great Western Railway, which links London to Bath, Cornwall and Wales. It's also the terminus for the Heathrow Express, with floor stickers guiding newcomers towards popular routes, platforms and taxi ranks. Nearly 70 million passengers moved through in 2025, yet the writer — lugging nine weeks of luggage — found it never felt cramped. Lifts, signage and assisted boarding all worked smoothly; a QR-code scan at the gate and an in-carriage screen showing reserved versus free seats made the 75-minute, 109-kilometre ride to Kingham painless.
Food and retail cover the usual bases plus some British character. On the concourse there's The Beer House pub, a Hungry Jack's, Upper Crust sandwiches, The Pasty Shop's Cornish pasties and even a sweets counter doing baklava and cannoli. Shopping leans high street — Boots, Lush, Accessorize, WHSmith — with the adjacent Paddington Square and Praed Street adding Mango, Kiehl's and Moleskine. The Paddington Bear Shop, naturally, sells souvenirs dedicated to the fictional bear found at this very station; a bronze statue near Platform 1 makes an obligatory photo stop.
Practicalities are well handled too. A free waiting room, ATMs, currency exchange and a left-luggage service (£10 for up to three hours) ease the pre-train hours, while first-class GWR passengers get a lounge with complimentary refreshments. One caveat: the writer found the return leg into London on a Saturday chaotic, with standees filling the aisles — booking a seat reservation is worth it. There's also the standard big-city caution: London has seen a surge in phone theft, so keep your handset out of sight.
For anyone heading west out of London — the Cotswolds, Bath, Cornwall, South Wales — Paddington is a reassuring starting point. Arrive early, grab a pasty and let a graceful old station set the tone for the trip.
