Royal Oak is a station of the London Underground, on the Hammersmith & City and Circle lines, between and stations. The station is on Lord Hill's Bridge and is in Travelcard Zone 2 for the London Underground. Although not heavily used at other times, the station is extremely busy during the annual Notting Hill Carnival. There is no wheelchair access to the platform. It is classed as a "local station" in Transport for London's "Fit for the Future" development outline. The station opened on 30 October 1871, although the Metropolitan Railway extension to Hammersmith had opened in 1864. It is close to the elevated Westway section of the A40 road. The station is named after a nearby public house, "The Royal Oak" (later "The Railway Tap" and now "The Porchester"). There was a small newsagents kiosk next to the ticket office from the 1950s to 1986, when it was closed to make room for ticketing machines needed for the Underground Ticketing System (UTS). History The station When the Great Western Railway (GWR) main line was first opened in June 1838, the first stop out of Paddington was at , from . Intermediate stations were opened over the years, and the first stop became progressively closer to Paddington: a station at ( from Paddington) was opened in December 1838, and one at ( from Paddington) in 1868. In the meantime, the Hammersmith and City Railway had opened from Green Lane Junction (near the present Westbourne Park) to on 13 June 1864, with the first stop on that route originally at , out, although one opened at Westbourne Park ( out) in 1866. An agreement between the GWR and the Metropolitan Railway (who had co-owned the Hammersmith & City with the GWR since 1867) came into force on 1 July 1868, although it did not become legal until the following year. Under the agreement, various improvements were to be made; these included the provision of a station at Royal Oak, and the reconstruction of Westbourne Park. On 30 October 1871 the station at Royal Oak opened, out; it was situated between Ranelagh Bridge and Lord Hills Bridge, and access was from the latter. As originally built, it had three platform faces; one for down trains and two, each side of an island, for up trains. It was served by both main line and Hammersmith & City trains, and, for over sixty years,