The very fine Victorian station buildings were opened on 9 October, 1848. The other buildings located in Winton Square, including the North Stafford hotel, were opened in June 1849. All these buildings were constructed by John Jay to the design of H.A. Hunt of London, using an architectural style referred to as robust Jacobean manor-house'.

The station was built by the North Staffordshire Railway Company at a cost of £31,438 and, until the amalgamation of 1923, housed the Company's Boardroom and its principal offices. Stoke-on-Trent has always been and still is the hub of North Staffordshire's passenger train service. Serving the Staffordshire city of Stoke-on-Trent, the station provides an interchange between various local services running through Cheshire, Staffordshire and Derbyshire.

The station building retains much of its mid-Victorian character, including a classic glazed roof that spans the platforms, and is now a Grade II* listed building. A war memorial, with brass nameplates naming local men who fell during the wars, discreetly flanks the entrance to platform 1.

There is both a tiled passenger subway and a passenger operated lift connecting platform 1 with platforms 2 and 3. Northbound trains usually depart from platform 2, which has a newly refurbished waiting room, ladies' and gentlemen's toilets. Platform 3 is a short bay platform used by some regional trains to Manchester Piccadilly.

Managed today by Virgin Trains, the station has three passenger platforms, and one central through line without a platform which is scheduled to be removed. The entrance to the station is from Winton Square, opposite the North Stafford Hotel, into a large modern booking hall and level access to platform 1 from which southbound and eastbound trains normally depart. On this platform are the main buildings, refreshment room and bar, newly refurbished toilets, a refurbished waiting room, a first class lounge and offices for the British Transport Police.