During its lifetime, it catered for mainly local suburban services around London, and over time struggled to compete with other modes of transport, leading to its closure.

By the time it had been renamed to the NLR in 1853, passenger traffic had grown in equal importance, so it was decided to build a station with direct access to the City.

[3] The London and North Western Railway (LNWR) was also keen to have a goods depot in the City, and agreed to help the NLR fund the new extension.

[3] The connecting line to Broad Street (via the Kingsland Viaduct) was authorised by the North London Railway (City Branch) Act 1861 (24 & 25 Vict.

[4] The work involved a 2-mile (3 km) extension from Kingsland down towards Broad Street, and required the demolition of numerous properties in Shoreditch and Haggerston.

[1] The station was opened on 1 November 1865 as the terminus of a network of commuter railways linking east and west London via the looping route of the NLR, originally with seven platforms and three approach tracks.

[9] Broad Street was an immediate success and caused NLR traffic to double in a short space of time.

[10] Two covered footbridges were added at the front of the main building in 1890 in order to provide direct access from the street to the platforms.

[3] At this time, more than one train per minute arrived or departed Broad Street during rush hour, with over 27 million passengers in 1902.

The Great Northern Railway also used Broad Street as a supplement to its King's Cross terminal to the west.

[10] In the early years of the 20th century, the North London Line suffered a reduction in passengers and, especially, revenue, owing to the expansion of the bus, tram and Underground networks.

[12] The former GNR services from Broad Street were stopped completely in 1939 in order to accommodate essential World War II traffic.

[14] The main station building was closed in 1957, after which passengers were directed to a new concourse-level hut at the platform entrance to buy tickets.

In 1967 the major part of the train shed roof was removed, having become unsafe,[17] while goods services were withdrawn on 27 January 1969.

[20] On 6 November 1976, peak-hour services to the Eastern Region via the Canonbury Spur were withdrawn with the opening of the Northern City Line, and an additional platform was disconnected.

Until this was done, it was possible to accommodate this last service from the outer end of one platform, and, in November that year, demolition of the station began.

The memorial commemorated the workers of the North London Railway company who lost their lives in 'The Great War'.

On 7 June 2011, it was rededicated outside Hoxton station by Rev James Westcott of St. Chad's Church and London's transport commissioner Peter Hendy.

[26][27] Paul McCartney's 1984 feature film and album of the same name, Give My Regards to Broad Street, makes reference to the station.