La dolce vita returns to Barking as station gets £5m restoration
A COMMUTER train company is hoping to bring a slice of la dolce vita to Barking with a £5 million restoration of its Rome-inspired railway station.
The Grade II-listed building opened in 1959 with a striking and widely admired modernist design based on the Italian capital’s vast main station, Roma Termini.
However, years of alterations and neglect, including the creation of a mini-shopping mall on its concourse, have led the station to be voted the second-worst in London, only behind Clapham Junction.
Now the local train operator c2c — owned by the Italian state train company Trenitalia — has submitted a planning application to return the station to its early-Sixties glory.
If it gets the go-ahead, much of the “clutter” on the concourse will be removed, including a WH Smith, cafes, a fast food outlet and a dry cleaners. Boards covering windows that have stopped light coming into the station for decades making it hard to see the innovative “flying canopy” concrete roof would also be taken down.
But commuters passing through the station — designed by railway architect HH Powell — had mixed feelings about the plans. Some praised the extra natural light, while others scoffed at the comparisons with Rome.
Katy Sheldon, 38, an accounts worker from Ilford, said: “I’ve been to Rome and this is the first time anyone has ever compared Barking to it. That made me laugh, it’s a bit pretentious. I like that it looks lighter and maybe there are more windows. That makes a massive difference. I’m all for upgrading the station because it’s not the best places to have to wait around. The roof always leaks and there’s never heating on in the winter.”
Michael Sullivan, 31, a retail worker, said: “My first reaction is that it looks more like Heathrow than Barking, but it looks brighter and much nicer.
“I like modern buildings but this is a bit out of place. In Rome you don’t leave the station and head for the Wetherspoons next door.”
It is the latest milestone in the imaginative reinvention of an east London town with one of the least glamorous profiles in the capital. In 2016, Barking and Dagenham council leader Darren Rodwell described a marina project as Barcelona on Thames, while “futuristic” town centre plans were described as a “mini Manhattan”.
Julian Drury, managing director of c2c, said: “Our plans will improve capacity, ease current congestion and deliver better facilities for customers. With so much growth planned in the borough and the new railway link being built to Barking Riverside, this will create the 21st century station the town requires.
“The original design of Barking station reflected the flagship Roma Termini station in central Rome. Thanks to the investment of our Italian owners, we now intend to restore the modern Barking station to its former glory.” Comparisons with Roma Termini can only be taken so far. It serves cities such as Munich, Vienna and Florence, but passengers boarding at Barking are whisked to Southend Central and Grays.