Bayswater tube station

Bayswater is a London Underground station in the Bayswater area of the City of Westminster. The station is on the Circle and District lines, between Notting Hill Gate and Paddington stations and is in Travelcard Zone 1. It is less than 100m away from the Central line's Queensway station.LocationThe station is located on the busy Queensway tourist street and is only a short walk from Portobello Market. Further north along the street is Whiteleys shopping centre. Also nearby is Westbourne Grove, Queens ice rink and bowling centre, Kensington Gardens and St Sophia's Greek Orthodox Cathedral. It is less than 100m away from Queensway station on the Central line.HistoryThe station was opened by the steam-operated Metropolitan Railway (MR) (now the Metropolitan line) on 1 October 1868 as Bayswater, as part of the railway's southern extension to South Kensington where it connected to the District Railway (DR). Construction of the railway line, through the already developed Bayswater area required the excavation of a tunnel using the cut and cover method: a trench 42ft deep was excavated between brick retaining walls which was then roofed-over with brick arches to allow building work above. Large compensation payments were made to landowners affected by the excavations and, in Leinster Gardens to the east, the frontages of two houses demolished to make way for the line were reconstructed to restore the appearance of a terrace of houses.