West Worthing

Okay, look. This place doesn’t have much going on — there’s no grocery store inside and no ticket booths. But the ticket machines work fine and the LCD monitors keep you up-​to-​date. What more do you want? The little restaurant there (Scrumptious) is cute — has some good egg sandwiches, and the woman working in there is super friendly. There is a pub across the street, and a kebab shop just north of the station. Simple. Easy. Done.

West Worthing is a station in the suburbs of modern Worthing, a mile or so west of the main station, and half a mile south of the historic village of West Tarring.
The station was built by the railway contractor J T Firbank and opened in 1889. It was originally planned as part of a scheme to develop a new, upmarket resort to the west side of the Worthing, at the head of Grand Avenue, at the end of which were planned a pier and major new hotels. The building was provided with a spacious main station building and ticket office in a grand Italianate style. The building still survives, and is in excellent condition. Alas, financial problems and a disastrous typhoid epidemic in 1893 brought an end to the scheme, and West became a minor suburban station.
In 1933 the Southern Railway electrified the main line between London, Brighton and Worthing, and carriage sheds (recently demolished) for the new service were erected at West Worthing. This started a pattern of services still evident today, with a half-​hourly service of all-​stations stopping trains from Brighton to West Worthing. In addition, the station has two trains an hour to Littlehampton and one an hour to Portsmouth off-​peak. In the other direction the station has a half hourly service to London via Hove and Gatwick, and three trains an hour to Brighton.
The ticket office has limited opening hours, but there is a ticket machine on the eastbound platform and a ‘permit to travel’ machine on the westbound side. Both platforms are accessible via ramps: there is also a subway (not accessible) between the platforms. There is no car parking, but storage for 20 bicycles.