The original Kirkgate station opened by the Manchester and Leeds Railway in 1840 was the only station in Wakefield until Westgate was opened in 1867. The railway station building dates from 1854. It is named for the nearby Kirkgate street.
Some demolition work took place in 1972, removing buildings on the island platform and the roof with its original ironwork canopy which covered the whole station. A wall remains as evidence of these buildings. After this, Kirkgate was listed in 1979.[2]
Since Westgate developed as Wakefield's main railway station, Kirkgate was neglected for many years and deteriorated until it was in a poor state of repair. In January 2008 the former goods warehouse was demolished to make way for a depot for Network Rail.[3] In October 2008, part of the station wall collapsed, destroying a parked car.[4]
The station is unstaffed and, despite the presence of CCTV,[1] it suffered from crime. A rape,[5] a serious assault[6] and several robberies took place there. In July 2009, Kirkgate station was visited by Secretary of State for Transport Lord Adonis who dubbed it "the worst medium-large station in Britain".[7] Local consensus was that the state of its facilities discouraged its use.[8]
Refurbishment 2013–15
Following a campaign supported by the Wakefield Express newspaper,[9] plans to redevelop the station[10] were formulated. In July 2011, Wakefield Council was asked to decide upon a £500,000 grant to the environmental regeneration charity Groundwork UK as part of its £4 million Kirkgate project in which new life would be breathed into the area.[11] The proposal was approved and funds raised in March 2013.[12] The work was carried out in two phases between 2013 and 2015.[13]
Work completed by June 2013 included the following items:[14]
Removal of life-expired and unused canopies
Refurbishment and reglazing of the Leeds-bound canopy
Creation of new entrances to the subway
Installation of electronic information screens on the platforms and entrance hall
A second phase of work, completed in September 2015,[15][16] included
Units for new businesses
Café
Retail outlet
Exhibition spaces
Meeting rooms for community and local business
Accommodation for Groundwork Wakefield
Grand Central opened a first class lounge for its customers in April 2017.[17]
Usage
Historically, figures for annual passenger usage at Kirkgate were comparatively low, with only 769 tickets sold to/from the station in the 2006/07 financial year.[18] However this was because most tickets are bought to "Wakefield Stations", and it was hard to determine the true use of Wakefield Westgate and Kirkgate as separate entities. Following changes in the way the statistics are collected, Kirkgate's usage figure increased significantly to a value which more accurately reflects its true usage.[18] In 2022/23, 508,000 journeys to and from the station were estimated along with 82,000 interchanges.
Station layout
Platform 1 – Served by northbound Northern services to Leeds and Castleford, and also by services to and from York.
The island platform consisting of platforms 2 and 3, is linked to platform 1 and the station building by a newly refurbished subway, featuring better lighting and new bright white paint. Art panels were added to the subway in February 2017, and a brass band rendition of 'Jerusalem' plays in the background.[19]
Services
View westward, towards Mirfield in 1966Pacer DMU at Wakefield Kirkgate platform one. May 2006142066 at Wakefield Kirkgate platform two. May 2006153352 DMU at Wakefield Kirkgate platform three. May 200645407 The Lancashire Fusilier at Wakefield Kirkgate Station in August 2010
Hallam Line – Three trains per hour to Leeds and to Sheffield. Two of these are express services that continue from Sheffield to Nottingham and Lincoln alternately. The third is a stopping service, that in the Leeds direction runs via Castleford. On Sundays the services to/from Lincoln do not run, and the stopping services are reduced to two-hourly.[20][21]
During the summer, excursion trains using heritage rolling stock run through the station; the Scarborough Spa Express on alternate Thursdays and The Dalesman to Carlisle running over the Settle-Carlisle line on occasional Mondays and Tuesdays. These services are hauled by diesel locomotives through West Yorkshire and changed to steam haulage part way along the routes, usually at Hellifield.[25][26]
^ abStations in Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, and Stockton-on-Tees are considered part of North East England, while stations in the unitary areas of York and North Yorkshire are considered part of Yorkshire and the Humber.
^Stations in North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire are considered part of Yorkshire and the Humber, while all other stations are considered part of the East Midlands.
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