The station was opened by the Tendring Hundred Railway, a subsidiary of the Great Eastern Railway, in 1866. It is currently managed by Greater Anglia, which also operates all trains serving the station.
Prior to the electrification of the line, the ticket clerk operated the level crossing gates, the home and distant signals on both the "up" (London-bound) and "down" (country-bound) lines, and his own level crossing gate lock and the one for the level crossing a short distance down the line, at all times that the signal box was unmanned. Edward Burbage fulfilled this duty for nearly 50 years. The crossing gates were replaced with automatic barriers as part of an upgrade of the line in 2008 and 2009.[2]
Tickets are sold from a machine in Station Road as the original station building has been disused for many years but has been maintained by volunteers. In 2016 it was reported that the line franchisee, Abellio Greater Anglia, planned to demolish the station building and provide platform shelters in its place. It also planned to demolish the station buildings at Weeley and Kirby Cross.[3] The buildings were subsequently offered to Tendring District Council for £1 each, should the council wish to renovate them.[4]
At peak times there are some additional services that are extended Walton-on-the-Naze services to London Liverpool Street or Clacton-on-Sea services stopping here