It is located on the site of the first through-station in the town, opened by the Great Western Railway (GWR) on its new line from Birmingham to Oxford in 1852. The London and North-Western Railway (LNWR) had reached Leamington eight years earlier, in 1844, with a branch from Coventry. That line, however, terminated about a mile and a half from the town centre, at Milverton, and the LNWR did not open a more central station until 1854. The station booking hall was sympathetically refurbished over the five months to March 2008 to resemble the original Great Western Railway art-deco style, including the installation of ticket barriers. GWR-style running in boards have been installed at the 'up' end of platforms 2 & 3. Plans exist to add to these running-in boards.