The station was built by the Midland Railway on its extension to St. Pancras, to serve the newly developed area around the hamlet of West End. It opened on 1 March 1871, and was originally named West End for Kilburn and Hampstead.[3]
It was renamed several times: to West End on 1 July 1903; to West End and Brondesbury on 1 April 1904; to West Hampstead on 1 September 1905; West Hampstead Midland on 25 September 1950; and finally West Hampstead Thameslink on 16 May 1988.[3] It was popular for many years for people taking a day out on Hampstead Heath and those visiting the chalybeate springs in Hampstead itself.[5]
From March 2009, Southeastern and Thameslink began running some peak hour trains from Sevenoaks to Luton,[6] though in the off-peak these services turn back at Kentish Town.
^ abButt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 245. ISBN1-85260-508-1. R508.
^"Circle Line". Clive's UndergrounD Line Guides. Retrieved 30 December 2009.
^Radford, B., (1983) Midland Line Memories: a Pictorial History of the Midland Railway Main Line Between London (St Pancras) & Derby London: Bloomsbury Books