 The shops of Kew village, Sandycombe Road, and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew are on the Platform 2 side, and visitors to those locations who alight at Platform 1 must cross the tracks via either the tunnel underneath (left of the main exit, 15 steps down, then 22 steps up) or the footbridge (right of the main exit, 30 steps up, then 30 steps down).The simplest alternative for those wishing to avoid the steps is to remain on the train while it travels one stop to Richmond and returns.Kew Gardens station appeared in the BBC comedy-drama "Love Soup" (Series 2, Episode 1 – "Smoke and Shadows", 1 March 2008) as the fictional "Hove West" station.