Haddenham and Thame Parkway major station upgrade officially unveiled

[whole diary]

[JayMac]

From Chiltern Railways:

Today, celebrity chef Raymond Blanc OBE officially unveiled Haddenham & Thame Parkway, marking a major upgrade to the facilities at the station.

The station building has been completely rebuilt and now has a larger ticket office and coffee shop area as well as brand new toilet facilities. Chiltern Railways has also upgraded the cycle parking, car park lighting and created a motorcycle parking zone.

Raymond Blanc, Chef Patron of Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat^Saisons which is a short drive from Haddenham & Thame Parkway station, said: "I, like so many others, rely on a fast and frequent service in and out of London - Chiltern Railways provide that for me and thousands of commuters. Our local station, Haddenham and Thame is just a few miles from Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons.^

The rebuild has been made possible due to a ^500K investment by Chiltern Railways, Network Rail, Bucks County Council and Sustrans. 

[Chris from Nailsea]

Raymond Blanc, Chef Patron of Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat^Saisons which is a short drive from Haddenham & Thame Parkway station, said: "I, like so many others, rely on a fast and frequent service in and out of London - Chiltern Railways provide that for me and thousands of commuters. Our local station, Haddenham and Thame is just a few miles from Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons.^

Blatant self-advertising, or wot ?? 

[JayMac]

Have eaten at Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons.

Many moons ago mind. It was a staff do from when I worked for Forte. We had M. Blanc cooking for us on the Sunday we visited. If memory serves me correctly we were there because our Forte Posthouse had come top in some intra-company competition. At the time the Posthouse menu had just been re-jigged by this up and coming chef call Marco Pierre White, and he was a friend and former pupil of M. Blanc.

I remember having an absolutely divine Chateaubriand steak. And far too much wine for a Sunday afternoon...

M. Blanc was also a close friend of Sir Rocco Forte who at the time we had this staff meal had just lost control of Forte Group to Coronation Street Granada. Not only did World In Action Granada take Sir Rocco's company in the hostile takeover, they also took his name. Thanks to that 'upstart caterer'* (Crown Court Granada chief exec Gerry Robinson) Sir Rocco was prevented from using the name 'Forte' for any hospitality business from 1996 until The Krypton Factor Granada divested themselves of their hospitality businesses in 2001.



*'upstart caterer' (with an additional very harsh four letter word) was John Cleese's totally apt name for Gerry Robinson.