Which London station inspired J.K. Rowling’s fictional Platform 9¾?

King’s Cross station inspired J.K. Rowling’s fictional Platform 9¾.

In the Harry Potter books, Platform 9¾ is the hidden departure point for the Hogwarts Express. Students reach it by passing through the barrier between platforms 9 and 10 at King’s Cross in London. The station therefore becomes the starting point for Harry’s journeys to school.

Rowling has explained that she mixed up King’s Cross and nearby St Pancras when recalling the London stations. The fictional platform does not correspond neatly to a visible platform in the real station’s original layout. The books’ magical barrier is a story device rather than a literal feature of railway infrastructure.

King’s Cross later embraced the connection with a Platform 9¾ shop and a photo opportunity featuring a luggage trolley disappearing into a wall. St Pancras is the grand neighboring station often seen in film imagery, but it is not the station named in the novels.