The station was opened on 1 July 1886 by the London and South Western Railway. It was originally named Boscombe, which was altered on 1 October 1891 to Pokesdown , since the station was closer to Pokesdown than Boscombe. On 1 May 1897, when Boscombe station was opened, the station was renamed again to just "Pokesdown". In 1930, the station was again renamed, becoming Pokesdown for Eastern Bournemouth, although it reverted to Pokesdown under British Railways. In the 1930s the Southern Railway made the platform facilities considerably larger, allowing the station to accommodate longer trains. Although some facilities have since been removed, at the time they provided an asset for the non-stopping services because there were tracks to use as fast lines in the up and down direction. During the 1970s two of the four tracks were removed, and the signal box was closed. On 16 May 2009 the station signage was changed to Pokesdown for Boscombe with announcements at other stations and on trains changed later on but the station remains officially named Pokesdown. The station is a short bus journey or walk from Boscombe's main shopping area. Some South Western Railway services operated by two four- or five-carriage electric multiple units coupled together cannot be accommodated fully by the platforms and only selected doors open on such trains.
Disabled access
Lifts are present at Pokesdown station but are now disused albeit with evidence of their former existence still in place. A campaign involving the local MP Tobias Ellwood which began calling for the restoration of lifts at the station appears to have been successful with the winning bidders for the South Western Franchise, South Western Railway, required to install new lifts by 31 December 2019. However, this date has been pushed back to at least September 2020 because of difficulties accessing the disused lift shafts safely. Until lift access is restored, the only means of access to Pokesdown's platforms is via stairs from the bridge.
Services
The basic Monday-Saturday service frequency at the station is two per hour each way. One of these is the service between Waterloo & whilst the other is the local stopping service to/from. On Sundays the Waterloo to Poole stopping trains call hourly in each direction.
