Waterloo Station’s balcony shops now open

Work on the 220-metre balcony began more than a year ago and when complete there will be 38 new shops on the station.

New escalators and stairs up to the balcony level also form the link between Waterloo and Waterloo East stations.

The new shops now open are Yo! Sushi, Fat Face, Hotel Chocolat, Oliver Bonas, Links of London, Thomas Pink and Joules.

Also opening soon will be Carluccio's, Kiehl's, Sports Bar & Grill, Benugo and Corney & Barrow's new Cabin bar.

"As with the new western concourse at King's Cross earlier this year, the Waterloo balcony project forms part of our wider retail strategy to create 'destination' stations for both rail passengers and non-travelling customers," said David Biggs, Network Rail's director of property.

"It also provides a crucial, sustainable source of income for the station, which can be reinvested directly into the rail network to continuously improve our services to passengers."

Tim Shoveller, managing director of the Network Rail/South West Trains alliance, said: "Waterloo, as many of our customers know, is a very busy station. We have over 90 million passengers passing through every year and there is 30 per cent growth predicted by 2030 .

"Our challenge is to deliver extra capacity so our passengers can get the rail services they rely on.

"We needed to find a radical solution to improve the space and facilities at Waterloo.

"The opening of the balcony, with the removal of retail units from the concourse, crucially reduces congestion while still providing the facilities expected at a modern station.

"Passengers will now find it easier to get to and from their trains. The next crucial stage is to extend the platforms so we can run longer trains with more capacity, to cater for the predicted growth in passenger numbers."