Great Western Coffee Shop

EAST Coast will abolish its last restaurant cars later next month
http://www.railnews.co.uk/news/general/2011/04/13-east-coast-restaurants-seem-set.html
Instead, all passengers in First will be offered complimentary food at their seats, following a practice established by Virgin on the West Coast route almost a decade ago.
 Meanwhile, the British restaurant car still survives ^ just ^ on four First Great Western trains each day. The company said it had no plans to withdraw them.

At the time of writing I note that an early day motion has been supported by 14 MPs - but only two in FGW land - and both of those in West London. http://www.edms.org.uk/2010-2011/1442.htm (http://www.edms.org.uk/2010-2011/1442.htm)

I am a firm supporter of Pullman Restaurant cars and believe they add to the journey's attraction over other forms of transport.

If I have a morning meeting in the West Country I can travel down on the sleeper and then have a proper meal at lunchtime on the way back - and then work the rest of the day and into the evening without having to worry about self-catering.

Alternatively I can travel down on one of the evening trains, eat on the way, and stay in a hotel - knowing I will have arrived after most food places of any quality have closed.

It sounds like a backward step, but that is known as progress !
It must however be said that the meals to be offered at-seat instead do appear to be proper meals, rather than the hot snacks offered by FGW on travelling chef services.

On the other hand, the food offered by Virgin SOUNDS quite attractive, but I have been very dissapointed with that actually provided.
Nothing like the meals on FGWs few remaining restaurants which are excellent.

I can say I've never eaten in an east coast restaurant car but I do know - they are pretty good....

Peterborough to KGX is about an hour but I have yet to have them fail to provide me with almost anything from the menu - and the lasagna at 6.50 is bloody good

Details and pictures of the new East Coast First Class food offering can be found here:

http://www.businesstraveller.com/news/east-coast-unveils-first-class-food-revamp

LOOKS OK, but so does the airline food offered by Virgin.
I fail to see how offering free food is going to save money, as is implied.
I also doubt that serving food throughout first class, as appears to be proposed, will be popular with those who dont wish to dine.
The serving and consuming of food and drink involves a certain amount of disruption and is unlikely to be popular in the quite coach.
It might be better to confine the food service to the first class vehicle next to, or incorporating the kitchen, this would minimise the staff time and trouble and avoid disturbance elswhere in the train.
To avoid wastful or needless requests for food, it might be better to charge for the meals, not perhaps the full cost including all the overheads of running a railway, but a charge of from ^10 up to ^30 say, according to what is ordered
At busy times, this service should be for First class passengers only, though if space permits it might be reasonable to admit standard class as well. It would be well to advertise the facility, perhaps calling it a "restaurant car"

I took a trip up the ECML last week and the revamped catering arrangements are being given plenty of advertising at stations.  My train was on time both ways, with a well stocked trolley service, an on-train cleaner.  I was impressed, as I had some horror journeys back in the much maligned GNER days.

A recent report in a railway magazine is very negative indeed about the new arrangements.
It is reported that "food is free, so we dont have to provide anything" and that sandwidges are offered promptly, and THEN the menus are brought around, with those who have partaken of a sandwich refused a meal.

Time to bring proper restaurants back and end this failed experiment I feel.

I would disagree. The new service is excellent, having used it many times over the last year. There is a decent quantity of food, the staff are very friendly. On a 3 hour journey, it is possible to have 6 cups of tea, 6 soft drinks, and 3 rounds of food (sandwiches, hot meal crisps and cake).

Before this, you had to pay for the food. Why on earth would I pay extra to travel First Class and then have to pay more for refreshments? This way of doing First Class is here to stay. The sooner FGW modernise their offering the better.

Perhaps have some proper meals served (like the VT Primo option), but it should still be included in the ticket price. There is a reason restaurant cars have been axed.

In the interests of fairness and correctness, FGW does not require you to pay a first class fare to use the Pullman restaurant: it's open to standard class passengers, subject to there being available space, and although they are technically expected to return to standard class accommodation at the end of their meal I have not heard of people being rushed to finish their food. So not strictly true to say you'd have to pay for a first class fare and then again for the food.

Fare enough, but the current excellent complimentary service was being compared to the old service, where you had to pay for the food after paying for a 1st class ticket.

Obviously 2nd class passengers can have a meal in the restaurant car, but this is a waste of space. If you want to eat, go First Class and enjoy the complimentary service!

The VT/EC method also makes it easier for busy commuters to do work, whereas I'd imagine that it would be frowned upon if someone got out their laptop/papers in the restaurant car!

A 161 page thread with over 2500 posts, the majority negative, about East Coast's 1st Class Comps is running over at RailUK Forums.

http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=44279

No need to read the whole lot. Pick a few pages at random and you'll find negative comments and reviews which paint a very poor picture.

My last two trips on East Coast have been Standard Class so I'm yet to experience the 1st 'service'. On one of those trips I could've chosen a relatively cheap 1st Class Advance but chose not two partly because of the peer reviews I'd read about the poor service.

Why don't you try it then?

Remember that Railforums is mainly enthusiasts and staff members - not a cross section of the travelling UK public. I'd imagine that most feedback is positive - you get plenty of high quality food and the drink keeps flowing without transactions! ;)

As I said, I'll take the judgement of my peers. Many contributors to the RailUK thread are business travellers who happen to be rail enthusiasts. That said I may well try it soon, but one trip may not be representative. That's why I'm more than happy to believe the poor reviews from regular users.

If I were on Business from say, London to Edinburgh, and could afford First Class i'd rather the option to buy a properly cooked meal than sandwiches and a microwaved meal if i'm lucky.

Lets face it, FGW's Pullman and Travelling chef is far better than East Coast's junk, i've tried both, you get what you pay for!

Never tried the Pullman service, but I rate the Travelling Chef very highly indeed.