History
The station was designed by architect Stanley Heaps and opened as Brent, the name of the nearby river, on 19 November 1923. It was the first station of the extension of what was then known as the Hampstead & Highgate Line, which was built through undeveloped rural areas to Edgware.
The extension had first been planned prior to World War I when the station had been due to be called Woodstock. It was renamed from Brent to its current name on the 20 July 1976 opening of the shopping centre.
Two passing loops were built at the station, not long after it opened, to allow fast trains to overtake slower ones here, but these extra tracks were removed in the 1930s. The bridges over Highfield Avenue reflect this extra width, although both north and south of the station the alignment narrows again.
Read more about this topic: Brent Cross Tube Station
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