Until the Great Western Railway took the rail to Ealing in 1838, it was still considered a pretty countryside town, and prime position to take on London’s expanding middle class. Ealing Broadway station, built in 1961, now sprawls beneath an office block, with kiosks and shops immediately outside the station entrance, on The Broadway itself.
Although the station has nine platforms, only two take mainline services and five act as the terminus of the London Underground Central and District Lines (the other two platforms are used during engineering works). Mainline services connect Ealing Broadway with London Paddington and Heathrow as well as Reading and Oxford.
Travellers leaving the station are greeted by Haven Green just across the street, and the main commercial area, with Broadway Shopping Centre and many bars, pubs and restaurants, is immediately to the south of the station and the railway lines. A little further on, along Ealing Green, are the legendary Ealing Studios.