Open for Business - Battersea Power Station, London
It felt quite strange when, for the first time, I saw the station name ‘Battersea’ appear on a dot-matrix signboard on a platform of the Northern Line a year ago. For some time I’d been reading in newspapers about the redevelopment of Battersea Power Station but I had no idea that this neighbourhood would also become home to one of the newest Underground stations in London. The redevelopment of an old power station into expensive residences and shops on the banks of the River Thames hasn’t been without public controversy. However, the conversion, two decades ago, of another downstream power station at Bankside into a grand-scale modern art gallery is admired by Londoners and visitors alike. So why not this one? Could it be the lack of cultural content?
The tall chimneys of Battersea Power Station bring to mind the infamous London smog caused by the burning of coal. It is one of the biggest brick buildings in Europe and reminds a newcomer to London that the city itself is largely made of bricks. It’s also worth noting that Battersea and Bankside power stations were designed by the same architect - Giles Gilbert Scott.
I wanted to take my son, Adam, for a walk through Battersea Park during his mid-term school holiday and show him its newly constructed Underground station. People had travelled from other parts of the UK to board the first train when the station opened in September 2021. But most Londoners are in no great hurry to see a new landmark on their doorstep. Which is why it had taken me a year to get round to paying it a visit.
Coal arrived from South Wales and the North East - up to 240 tonnes per hour - to keep the boiler-room of Battersea Power Station fired up. The Station supplied one-fifth of London’s power. As the station was built in the 1930s, its control room interior is in Art Deco style; but because the chimneys resemble Doric columns it was once referred to as ‘the Greek temple of power’.
I had been to Battersea only a couple of times in the past, principally for a stroll in its park. It seemed to me incongruous that a mammoth power station should exist at the edge of a 200-acre Victorian park. The only other place I associated Battersea with was its well-known Dogs’ Home. It was because Battersea had no Underground station that it appeared so distant a neighbour to the North London resident that I am.
I worked in Chelsea for a few days last year and saw the harbour where its wealthy residents moor their small boats. I was to see a long line of boats also moored in the middle of the river near Imperial Wharf. It occurred to me that Old Father Thames divided London into two unequal halves. The properties on this side of Albert Bridge, the side that joins Chelsea with Battersea, are considerably more expensive. Walking along Thames Path, one can see on the other side a long row of high-rise buildings designed in mishmash style. The wide river appears more like an ocean here, with shiny glass and steel buildings on its shores like modern-day citadels.
When our Northern Line tube train pulled into Battersea Station, Adam was wonderstruck by the sight of a brand-new tube station at the end of the so-called misery line. However, the wheels of our old-stock train screeched as usual as the train came to a halt. He told me that it is the only station on the Underground that has the word ‘Station’ attached to its name - it made him giggle to pronounce the name as “Battersea Power Station station”. I only recently learned that the construction of this station was partly funded by the developers of Battersea Power Station itself. I thought we might have to walk some distance to get to it but in fact it is located right outside the Tube stop.
You pass a curvy new building designed by the renowned Canadian-American architect, Frank Gehry, before entering the Power Station, to be greeted by a shop sign depicting the Rolex crown. The developers of expensive flats in London such as One Hyde Park like to have a Rolex shop in the building to lure wealthy residents who might get up one morning, walk into the shop and buy a new watch for a five-figure sum without stepping outside the building.
The new development at Battersea is what they call ‘mixed-use’, wherein people can live, work, eat and shop in a single integrated environment, at least according to the ads you see in the London Underground.
We exited the power station from the riverside and found many picnic benches situated in front of some food trucks. There are mostly upmarket shops inside the power station. However, 15% of the homes in this development – later slashed to 9% - were supposed to be affordable. The term ‘affordable’ has become relative in London. A key-worker couple cannot afford to buy a half-decent flat anywhere in London these days, let alone a studio flat in Battersea Power Station.
I wanted to buy some fries for Adam and had seen a fast food restaurant sign outside the Power Station. However, it wasn’t yet open for business. So we walked back into the Station only to find that the restaurants inside sold everything except fries. Adam didn’t warm to the idea of trying something else. So I asked a security guard if he knew of a restaurant that sold French fries. He checked with a colleague and then escorted us to a restaurant that sold only plant-based food. Luckily they had fries on their menu. Later, Adam surprised me by agreeing that the fries prepared by his mum at home tasted better.
So much for posh nosh at the long-awaited Battersea Power Station!
