History of Kenilworth

. In 2011 Warwick Council granted John Laing plc planning permission to build a new station, which was planned to open in 2013. This has now been postponed by three years to December 2016. In the meantime Kenilworth remains "the largest town in the country without a railway station" according to a BBC Radio 4 programme broadcast in October 2012.

The railway brought industrialists from Birmingham and Coventry who developed the residential area around the town's railway station. In the 19th century the town had some fine large mansions with landscaped gardens; these were demolished after the First World War and Second World War for housing developments. The names of these mansions still survive in the names of some roads and areas of the town. For example, Towers Close was built on the grounds of Rouncil Towers. Some large trees from their grounds still survive, including Giant Sequoias from the Moorlands and Rouncil Towers.

The town's growth occasioned the addition of a second Church of England parish church, St. John's, which is on Warwick Road in Knights Meadow. It was designed by Ewan Christian and built in 1851–52. It is a Gothic Revival building with a southwest bell tower and broach spire.

After 1883 the original 1844 railway station on Warwick Road was partially rebuilt at the opposite end of Station Road at the rear of the King's Arms and Castle Hotel public house and used as a cafe. The King's Arms was demolished in 1983 but the railway station stonework remains. An exterior copy of the King's Arms was built on the site, in 2007 the building was redeveloped as a chain restaurant. The building's distinctive pillars have been retained (but not the originals) on its Warwick Road frontage. Sir Walter Scott stayed in the King's Arms and Castle Hotel when researching his novel