The team behind Lowestoft station’s Community Rail Shop & Tourist Information Office have marked five years serving the local community and visitors to the town.
In 2020, the Lowestoft Central Project and the Wherry Lines Community Rail Partnership worked together to open the facility which has since proved hugely popular with both local residents and visitors.
Stocking a range of printed information on local attractions, bus, cycle and rail networks, the team also endeavour to answer questions about the area and offer advice on how to reach various landmarks and attractions.
After the towns tourist information centre, formerly housed at the East Point Pavilion, closed, through meeting visitors at the station, many of whom were in need of information, the team realised just what a loss to tourism in the town the closure had become and decided to open their own facility at the station.
In addition to tourist information the shop stocks a wide range of railway and local history books, railway artefacts, crafts, souvenirs, a small refreshment offer and a range of exclusive Lowestoft Central and Wherry Lines merchandise with proceeds going towards running costs and other community rail initiatives at the station.
For the past few years the shop has been home to the Lowestoft Heritage Open Days Festival information hub during September and the team have produced a number of free walking guides taking visitors north, south and west of the town.
Other than a short rest during January the shop is open all year round dealing with an estimated 10,000 tourism enquiries each year. Current summer opening hours for the shop are Monday to Saturday between 10.30am and 4pm.
Jacqui Dale from the Lowestoft Central Project said; “Since opening in 2020 we have been amazed at the number of people that visit the town not just from within the UK but across the World. “We have always recognised that in a digital age where most information can be found on the internet, there is still a significant number of people that are not able to do this and many that prefer printed material and human interaction. “We are therefore pleased that we are able to assist so many visitors and local people in reaching various locations and points of interest in both Lowestoft and the surrounding area. “The shop has become a hub for the local community too stocking information on bus routes and railway timetables, and we are always happy to assist people to discover more about where they live, local and regional events and how to reach them by public transport.”
Chris Mitchell, Chair of the Wherry Lines Community Rail Partnership added; “From the outset we have been delighted to support the Lowestoft Central Project with vast improvements made at Lowestoft station, now a much more welcoming gateway to both the town and the Broads National Park. “Our joint initiative to create and operate an information facility is very important not just to the local community and visitors, it also has a wider benefit to the local economy, especially tourism and has dramatically improved the information available at the station for both rail and bus passengers, helping to assist public transport connectivity. The partnership is very grateful to the dedicated team of volunteers who give their time, all year round to run the facility.”
Already this year the shop has served a record number of people and are currently appealing to the public for donations of railway and local history books that they can re-sell to raise funds. Donations can be dropped off any time the shop is open although due to limitations on storage, they are not able to accept railway magazines.
2025 is a year of major anniversaries for the railway, in June Lowestoft station hosted a special event marking 25 years since the Wherry Lines Community Rail Partnership was formed, the current station buildings are 170 years old this year and both the Wherry Lines and Lowestoft Central Project are joining national celebrations marking 200 years since the first passenger train ran with numerous events and exhibitions including, in a major coup for the town, a visit of the Railway 200 Exhibition Train, ‘Inspiration’ making one of only two scheduled visits to East Anglia.
Inspiration will be at Lowestoft railway station from August 11 to 14 and tickets to visit are free and available to book on the Railway 200 website by clicking here
To coincide with the visit of Inspiration, the station Parcels Office will be premiering a brand new especially curated railway photographic exhibition, ‘Left at the Junction’ by acclaimed rail photographer David Pearce. Featuring 100 fascinating images of the railways in Norfolk and Suffolk taken over the past fifty years featuring infrastructure, stations and a host of different trains and rolling stock. The exhibition will be open daily from 10.30am to 4pm from 11 to 16 and 18 to 23 August. Admission to see the exhibition is free and there is no need to book.
