A new entrance for King’s Cross tube station

An isolated box entrance to King’s Cross tube station is to be demolished and replaced with a new step-free entrance as part of a building development.

Replacement entrance (c) Planning application

The existing entrance sits on the south side of the Euston Road, in front of a rather appealing if run-down art-deco building, known as Belgrove House which was built in the 1930s as the King’s Cross Coach Station. It closed in 1947 as a garage, as the buses moved to another garage on Pentonville Road, and was taken over by the Post Office.

Today it’s used as a storage warehouse and is fronted by a number of shops, and a branch of a well-known burger chain.

Belgrove House and tube entrance (c) Google Street View

The plans will see the whole building demolished and replaced with a tall brick and glass-clad tower for use by the pharmaceuticals giant, Merck for their London Discovery Research Center.

As part of the planning package, they will include a new step-free entrance to the tube station, replacing the black box that currently fills much of the pavement.

A staircase will lead down to the basement connection that runs under the road, and a lift will be included in the design.

Showing tube entrance in the top-right corner (c) Planning application

Although the replacement entrance won’t add any additional capacity to the station, other than the inclusion of an additional lift, removing it from the pavement to the building will open up a lot more space for pedestrians. The addition of the lift also means people on the south-side of the road would no longer need to cross the road to the north side where step-free access already exists.

Although the plans have been approved by Camden Council, they now need approval from the Mayor of London.

If approved, it could open in 2025.

The planned building (c) Planning application