KING'S CROSS

 King's Cross Railway Station

Walk out of the main entrance of St. Pancras International station and cross the road, and you can walk straight into King's Cross Station. This is where Harry Potter and his friends caught the Hogwart's Express from platform 9 3/4. A major redevelopment was undertaken in the 21st century, including restoration of the original roof. 

The 1972 extension at the front of the station has been removed, and the original facade refurbished. The area in front of the entrance is now a pleasant plaza, with seating and a daily multi-cuisine food market. 

These days, there are nearly as many youngsters having their picture taken here, as there are travellers using ther station for what was intended!

Harry Potter fans know: the best way to get to Hogwarts is aboard the Hogwarts Express, which dutifully awaits students of the prestigious wizarding school at Platform 9 3/4 at the start of each term. Reaching the platform, of course, is an adventure in itself; magical blood and nerves of steel are required in order to pass through what appears to be a solid brick barrier to where the platform is located on the other side.

Details of Platform 9 3/4 were made public by the 1997 publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the debut novel of J. K. Rowling’s phenomenally popular Harry Potter series. Kings Cross station reappeared several times throughout the series, serving as the setting for some of the most pivotal moments, and the station was later used as a shooting location in the Harry Potter films. For several years now, Kings Cross has celebrated its role in the beloved books with a marker indicating the location of Platform 9 3/4, below which a baggage trolly can be seen disappearing into the bewitched barrier.

Construction on Kings Cross Station between 2005 and 2012, however, made the magical platform even more elusive than usual, shuffling the marker and accompanying trolly to various locations around the station several times, at one point relegating it to an alcove outside. In 2012 it was announced that the attraction had finally found a permanent home in the New Western Departures Concourse, nestled between Platforms 9 and 10, right where you would expect it!