Great Western Coffee Shop

My first visit to Birmingham New Street since (part of) the new concourse opened.

The bit that is open at the moment is not much wider than the existing concourse, but with significant extra seating areas.
It is also currently a bit light on catering establishments.

When I went to catch my Cross Country train to Cheltenham on Platform 12B, I found a temporary sign that said that said that access to platform 12 was via platform 10/11.  So I went down onto platform 11 only to find that the only sign for P12 was to a permanent sign directing me to Platforms 1-9 and 12 and this directed me back where I came. Only when I went back up to the concourse and found a staff member was it explained that I had to go along P11 to the old escalator, up onto the old concourse to access P12 from there. 

Some temporary signs on P10/11 to follow through from the sign at the top would have cost very little and would have made things much easier for me and, I expect many others.

Nowhere on the station did I see a map of the new layout that would have helped me navigate this either and  the otherwise very good map on the Network Rail Site (http://www.networkrail.co.uk/birmingham-new-street-station-map(from28April2013).pdf) does not mention that P12 stairs/escalators from the new concourse are not finished yet.

I too recently travelled through Birmingham New Street, when changing trains en-route between Aberystwyth and Exeter St David's.  I was disappointed to find the area which I walk through between platforms completely stripped back, with very few outlets available to use for passengers changing trains, as the majority are now housed in the new concourse, which is only accessible for passengers beginning and ending their journeys at New Street.  This is not what I expected from the improved concourse, and one can only hope that things will improve for connecting passengers in 2015, when the redevelopment is completed!