Sunday got off to a smoky start in west London after the Ladbroke Grove garage fire in a North Kensington mews sparked a full-scale emergency response — and forced Ladbroke Grove Tube station to shut its doors for a short spell.
Police, firefighters and paramedics converged on Ladbroke Grove shortly after 8.12am on Sunday 28 September, when flames took hold in a mews tucked behind number 145. The London Fire Brigade brought the blaze under control quickly, but the size of the turnout — blue lights flashing and cordons thrown up along the street — gave locals an unwelcome start to the weekend.
At a glance
| Where | A mews behind 145 Ladbroke Grove, W10, North Kensington |
| When | 8.12am on Sunday 28 September |
| What happened | Ladbroke Grove garage fire, quickly brought under control; not believed to have been started deliberately |
| Tube station | Ladbroke Grove closed briefly as a precaution; reopened about 15 minutes later, with trains running throughout |
| Road closure | Ladbroke Grove shut between Lancaster Road and Cambridge Gardens for around 90 minutes |
| Buses hit | Routes 7, 23, 52, 70, 228 and 295 disrupted |
| Casualties | None — no patients were treated at the scene |
Ladbroke Grove garage fire shuts station for 15 minutes
Ladbroke Grove station, which serves the Circle and Hammersmith & City lines between Latimer Road and Westbourne Park, was closed as a precaution while crews worked a short distance away. The shutdown proved brief: the station was back open roughly a quarter of an hour after officers arrived on scene.
Crucially for Sunday travellers, train services themselves kept running throughout the incident, so disruption on the Underground was minimal. Passengers passing through the area are unlikely to have noticed much more than a short pause in the morning’s service, and normal station operations resumed swiftly once the all-clear was given.
Road shut and bus routes diverted
The knock-on effects were felt more keenly on the roads. Officers closed Ladbroke Grove to traffic between Lancaster Road and Cambridge Gardens for around an hour and a half — a busy north-south cut-through in this part of west London — while the emergency services dealt with the Ladbroke Grove garage fire and made the area safe.
That closure disrupted bus routes 7, 23, 52, 70, 228 and 295, with services diverted or delayed around the cordon. It has been a difficult weekend for London’s bus passengers more widely: earlier on Sunday, a bus lane in East Ham was shut during a police incident as travel disruption hit the morning commute.
Paramedics on scene in under six minutes
The London Ambulance Service said it was called at 8.13am to reports of the fire and sent an ambulance crew along with an incident response officer. The first paramedic reached the scene in less than six minutes. In the end, there were no patients to treat.
A number of residents from nearby properties were asked to leave their homes temporarily as a precaution while firefighters worked. Police later confirmed that the fire is not believed to have been started deliberately, and no arrests have been reported in connection with the incident.
Police Sergeant Nathan Clarke thanked the public for their cooperation, saying the force appreciated that a major emergency services presence could be concerning for the local community. He praised residents, businesses and those travelling through the area for their patience and understanding while the incident was dealt with safely.
A weekend of disruption on the rails
The Ladbroke Grove garage fire comes during a bumpy few days for rail travel in the capital. This weekend has already seen planned engineering works shutting parts of the Central, Piccadilly and Elizabeth lines, while on Saturday London Victoria was closed after a track fire brought every train to a standstill.
Passengers planning to travel through west London are advised to check TfL’s live service updates before setting off, as residual delays can linger after the emergency services stand down. The cordon on Ladbroke Grove has now been lifted and the area has returned to normal.
