Home today to a thriving weekend market scene, independent shops, cafes and restaurants, Green Park Station has changed quite a bit since it opened in 1869. However, there’s more than meets the eye at Green Park Station...

The station

The station was originally named ‘Bath Queen Square’ in the 1800s after the nearby Queen Square. It was rechristened ‘Bath Green Park’ when British Rail took over the station in 1954 and is today known as ‘Green Park Station, Bath’. Bath Green Park was a key link to the North of England. The station was a popular stop on the route between Bournemouth and Manchester, a hub for connecting the south to the north. 

Below the station is a complex route and system of arches, tunnels and cellars linking up beneath Green Park Station. Local traders who use the cellars have said to still hear ghostly whistles and blast of steam late at night.

Home to the UK’s original farmers’ market

Green Park Station proudly hosts the UK’s first ever Farmers’ Market. Every Saturday (9am to 1:30pm) local producers and farmers pack out the market square stocking cheese, cider, bread, olives, fruits, vegetables, wild venison, bacon, sausages, cakes, eggs, charcuterie boards and everything in between. 

Image - Bath Farmers' Market

The Green Park Brasserie

2024 marks 32 years of business for the Green Park Brasserie which occupies the station’s booking hall. Prior to the station’s conversion in the 1980s, the booking hall spanned inside to two stories before the ceiling was built in the Brasserie. Green Park Brasserie has become one of Bath’s longest standing independent restaurants with live jazz four nights a week, plus food from Bath Pizza Co.

Image - Green Park Brasserie

During The Bath Festival's Party in the City, musicians perform on a huge stage that takes up the width of the station to play to around 1,000 people on the Festival's opening weekend. As well as The Bath Festival in May, the station hosts regular performers and events. Bath Spa University, The Bath Fringe Festival and Bath Boules League are regular users of the space - one of Bath’s only outdoor covered spaces. 

Image - Party in the City at at Green Park Station

Damage during the Second World War

The April 1942 bombing which hit Bath saw surprisingly minimal damage to Green Park Station. Parts of the glass canopy roof were however damaged and left unrepaired until the station was decommissioned many years later before refitted as part of the building’s renovation.

The derelict years

Green Park Station was in a terrible state for years after the station closed. The building fell into a derelict space as the tracks were pulled up for sale, the booking hall boarded up and the doors ripped out almost immediately after closure. It wasn’t until the Sainsbury redevelopment of the site that opened in the early 1980s when new life was breathed into the Green Park Station.

Visiting Green Park Station today is a treat for the senses. The beautiful architecture of the Victorian roof; smells of wood-fired pizza at Bath Pizza Co; music pumping from Resolution Records; the feel of picking fresh produce from the Farmers’ Market and the taste of coffee from Green Park Brasserie is a treat for all visitors.

Image - Green Park Station