Cherry Wilson

cherry.wilson@essnmedia.co.uk

NORWOOD Junction station has been transported "back to the future" after its toilets were moved on to a platform where they stood more than four years ago.

Transport for London has spent £33,000 moving the cubicles back inside the station and they were officially opened for passengers to use on Monday.

The former toilets at the front of the building have now been removed and the wall where they stood bricked up and refurbished to fit in with the station's Victorian style.

Richard Hough, owner of garage Autoclutch, on Station Road, is delighted the station has been restored to its former glory.

The mechanic, whose garage stands opposite the station, believes the previous toilets were a waste of money which brought nothing but misery to South Norwood.

"The station has gone back to the future," he said. "It has been restored to how it looked in the 1970s when it was a Victorian-fronted building.

"This is a conservation area and we had stainless steel toilets on the front of the building, which were not suitable.

"People have asked where are they supposed to go now, but the fact is people wouldn't use the previous toilets because they weren't clean.

"I've always said they were in the wrong place. They cost a lot of money to install, maintain and then remove. They were a South Norwood folly.

"Anyone who says they were a good idea obviously doesn't spend a lot of time here. They've been a catastrophe."

Southern, which used to run the station, originally had toilets on platform one but replaced them with the new ones outside the building so they could be used by the wider community.

But they attracted vandalism and drug users and were closed within weeks.

When Transport for London (TfL) took over the station last year to prepare for the opening of the East London line extension, it made a commitment to provide toilets for commuters.

So TfL decided to go back to the original method and have cubicles, which can be used only by passengers, inside the station.

South Norwood residents, meanwhile, will soon be able to benefit from the £28,000 refurbishment of toilets on Portland Road, which are due to be opened in around six weeks' time.

TfL says the new toilets at Norwood Junction are part of bigger plans to revamp the station, which will start at the end of the year.

A spokesman explained: "TfL is spending £40 million on a station improvement programme across the London Overground network, and Norwood Junction is one of the stations due for a refurbishment."