Train GraphicClick on the map to explore geographics
 
I need help
FAQ
Emergency
About .
Travel & transport from BBC stories as at 16:35 02 May 2025
 
- Activists say ship aiming to sail to Gaza was attacked by drones
- Trump disliked Trudeau. Here's why Carney may fare better
Read about the forum [here].
Register [here] - it's free.
What do I gain from registering? [here]
 tomorrow - Walk to Pilning
10/05/25 - BRTA Westbury
10/05/25 - Model Railway Show, Calne
13/05/25 - Melksham TUG / AGM

On this day
2nd May (1999)
Last special train to Weymouth Quay (link)

Train RunningCancelled
16:23 Westbury to Swindon
17:34 London Paddington to Hereford
17:35 Swindon to Westbury
18:51 Evesham to Oxford
Short Run
15:22 Paignton to Exmouth
15:23 Exmouth to Paignton
15:55 Exmouth to Paignton
16:32 Exeter Central to Okehampton
16:50 Cardiff Central to London Paddington
17:04 Didcot Parkway to Evesham
17:15 Exeter Central to Barnstaple
Delayed
An additional train service has been planned to operate as shown 15:51 Exeter Central to Paignton
An additional bus service has been planned to operate as shown 16:23 Westbury to Chippenham
16:50 Plymouth to London Paddington
An additional bus service has been planned to operate as shown 18:13 Chippenham to Westbury
Abbreviation pageAcronymns and abbreviations
Stn ComparatorStation Comparator
Rail newsNews Now - live rail news feed
Site Style 1 2 3 4
Next departures • Bristol Temple MeadsBath SpaChippenhamSwindonDidcot ParkwayReadingLondon PaddingtonMelksham
Exeter St DavidsTauntonWestburyTrowbridgeBristol ParkwayCardiff CentralOxfordCheltenham SpaBirmingham New Street
May 02, 2025, 16:43:07 *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Forgotten your username or password? - get a reminder
Most recently liked subjects
[100] In memory of the Weymouth Harbour Tramway on the anniversary o...
[78] Steam excursion - except there's much more diesel than steam!
[72] 2025 - Service update and amendment log, Swindon <-> Westbury...
[53] Bath Spa station - dealing with future capacity issues - ideas...
[49] Low passenger numbers due to train unreliability
[43] Brighton Belle - merged topics
 
News: the Great Western Coffee Shop ... keeping you up to date with travel around the South West
 
   Home   Help Search Calendar Login Register  
Pages: [1] 2
  Print  
Author Topic: Ten of the best railway cafes in Britain  (Read 5202 times)
TerminalJunkie
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 919



View Profile
« on: May 13, 2009, 00:25:46 »


http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2009/may/12/railway-station-cafes-uk-food?page=all
Logged

Daily Mail and Daily Express readers please click here.
6 OF 2 redundant adjunct of unimatrix 01
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 2754



View Profile Email
« Reply #1 on: May 13, 2009, 00:38:36 »

i have been to one of the top ten and 3 of the highly recommended

but they missed okehampton?  Huh Smiley
Logged
eightf48544
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 4574


View Profile Email
« Reply #2 on: May 13, 2009, 11:20:12 »

I thought Didcot had a good cafe?

Ely was very good in the 80s we went there a couple of times on Chris Green's Network South East days to get the 86 out of Liverpool Street and the 47 on from Cambridge (3 minute engine change at Cambridge).

Must get to Stalybridge,
Logged
6 OF 2 redundant adjunct of unimatrix 01
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 2754



View Profile Email
« Reply #3 on: May 13, 2009, 18:50:07 »

I thought Didcot had a good cafe?

Ely was very good in the 80s we went there a couple of times on Chris Green's Network South East days to get the 86 out of Liverpool Street and the 47 on from Cambridge (3 minute engine change at Cambridge).

Must get to Stalybridge,

yes stalybridge was one of them (when i was younger) used the ghost train
Logged
Btline
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 4782



View Profile
« Reply #4 on: May 13, 2009, 19:26:31 »

I have been to 1, 4 and 7.

But the Carnforth one is not actually the room they filmed Brief Encounter - it is even the wrong part of the station! I think they used a station cafe on the Settle and Carlisle line.
« Last Edit: May 13, 2009, 19:33:37 by Btline » Logged
smithy
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 471


View Profile
« Reply #5 on: May 13, 2009, 20:43:42 »

they forgot worcs shrub hill,dont look much but cracking bacon butty
Logged
Phil
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 2062



View Profile
« Reply #6 on: May 13, 2009, 21:37:58 »

Have to say, I'm gobsmacked that Westbury gets a mention whilst Chippenham doesn't. I mean, nothing against Westbury in terms of cleanliness, but the range on offer is nothing like that served at Chippenham, where it's all fresh local produce and prepared on the spot. By (oddly enough) mainly French staff, no less. What was it someone up there was saying about gourmands? I'm not even sure there's hot food available at Westbury, let alone sizzling local bacon and free range eggs.

Mind you, I've never forgiven Westbury for closing the near-perfect replica of the Brief Encounter cafeteria they had over on Platform 1 - all that can be seen of it now are the stained glass window lights. I'd love to know if there's any original fittings left inside. For some years the facilities it provided to customers were replaced by a little hut located between Platforms 2 and 3; which in turn has recently been replaced by basically the same little hut, but squeezed into the corner of a steel and glass waiting room.

A hut lodged within a steel and glass waiting room which The Guardian chooses to highlight as amongst the finest railway cafes in Britain. I despair, I really do.
Logged
inspector_blakey
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 3574



View Profile
« Reply #7 on: May 13, 2009, 22:58:07 »

I can confirm that (these days, at least), Didcot just has the standard Pumpkin Cafe (platforms 2/3 island) and a Cafe Ritazza in the booking hall. It also benefits from a Spar which is actually very helpful because it's actually open most of the time (0600 - 2200 7 days), just a shame they don't accept my bite card...

Not sure if I'd count it as among the top 10 in the UK (United Kingdom), and I'm not absolutely sure if it's still there, but there was a cafe on Evesham station where you could get a nice cup of tea and a very creditable, freshly-cooked bacon sandwich.
Logged
Mookiemoo
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 3117


View Profile Email
« Reply #8 on: May 14, 2009, 00:23:01 »

I can confirm that (these days, at least), Didcot just has the standard Pumpkin Cafe (platforms 2/3 island) and a Cafe Ritazza in the booking hall. It also benefits from a Spar which is actually very helpful because it's actually open most of the time (0600 - 2200 7 days), just a shame they don't accept my bite card...

Not sure if I'd count it as among the top 10 in the UK (United Kingdom), and I'm not absolutely sure if it's still there, but there was a cafe on Evesham station where you could get a nice cup of tea and a very creditable, freshly-cooked bacon sandwich.

Never noticed it - the station isnt big enough to have a cafe in it and I've never noticed a fixture in the car park! 
Logged

Ditched former sig - now I need to think of something amusing - brain hurts -I'll steal from the master himself - Einstein:

"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe."

"Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love"
IndustryInsider
Data Manager
Hero Member
******
Posts: 10457


View Profile
« Reply #9 on: May 14, 2009, 00:39:18 »

Not sure if I'd count it as among the top 10 in the UK (United Kingdom), and I'm not absolutely sure if it's still there, but there was a cafe on Evesham station where you could get a nice cup of tea and a very creditable, freshly-cooked bacon sandwich.

Yes, it's still there - though I can't vouch for the quality of what it sells.
Logged

To view my GWML (Great Western Main Line) Electrification cab video 'before and after' video comparison, as well as other videos of the new layout at Reading and 'before and after' comparisons of the Cotswold Line Redoubling scheme, see: http://www.dailymotion.com/user/IndustryInsider/
smithy
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 471


View Profile
« Reply #10 on: May 14, 2009, 19:29:25 »

Have to say, I'm gobsmacked that Westbury gets a mention whilst Chippenham doesn't. I mean, nothing against Westbury in terms of cleanliness, but the range on offer is nothing like that served at Chippenham, where it's all fresh local produce and prepared on the spot. By (oddly enough) mainly French staff, no less. What was it someone up there was saying about gourmands? I'm not even sure there's hot food available at Westbury, let alone sizzling local bacon and free range eggs.

Mind you, I've never forgiven Westbury for closing the near-perfect replica of the Brief Encounter cafeteria they had over on Platform 1 - all that can be seen of it now are the stained glass window lights. I'd love to know if there's any original fittings left inside. For some years the facilities it provided to customers were replaced by a little hut located between Platforms 2 and 3; which in turn has recently been replaced by basically the same little hut, but squeezed into the corner of a steel and glass waiting room.

A hut lodged within a steel and glass waiting room which The Guardian chooses to highlight as amongst the finest railway cafes in Britain. I despair, I really do.

is the old cafeteria on plat1 westbury now the crew room? if so i doubt there are any original fittings left.
Logged
thetrout
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 2612



View Profile
« Reply #11 on: May 15, 2009, 23:17:55 »

What about the Buffet's at Liskeard and Bodmin Parkway...?!

Also there is a rather good Breakfast Van in Castle Cary Station's Car Park Grin
Logged

Grin Grin Grin Grin
Btline
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 4782



View Profile
« Reply #12 on: May 15, 2009, 23:20:17 »

I can't understand why the van at Pershore isn't on. Grin
Logged
smokey
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 1129


View Profile
« Reply #13 on: May 16, 2009, 08:51:50 »

Any body thinking that Journalist's have toured Britain seaching out the Very Best Station Cafe's think again.

With no disrespect to the listed Cafe's, it does say on the Guardian's page that they ASKED Railway experts for their favourite station Cafe.

Of course IF journalist's had toured Britain to find the Best 10 Station Cafe's you can be sure as Eggs is Eggs that they would also do the WORSE 10 station cafe's in Britain.

HOWEVER I'm delighted that the Good man Richard Burningham of the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership is in their list of Railway Experts. That man should be Knighted IMHO ('in my humble opinion').
« Last Edit: May 16, 2009, 09:40:43 by smokey » Logged
TerminalJunkie
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 919



View Profile
« Reply #14 on: May 16, 2009, 09:32:49 »

IMHI.

In my humble ignorance?  Kiss
Logged

Daily Mail and Daily Express readers please click here.
Do you have something you would like to add to this thread, or would you like to raise a new question at the Coffee Shop? Please [register] (it is free) if you have not done so before, or login (at the top of this page) if you already have an account - we would love to read what you have to say!

You can find out more about how this forum works [here] - that will link you to a copy of the forum agreement that you can read before you join, and tell you very much more about how we operate. We are an independent forum, provided and run by customers of Great Western Railway, for customers of Great Western Railway and we welcome railway professionals as members too, in either a personal or official capacity. Views expressed in posts are not necessarily the views of the operators of the forum.

As well as posting messages onto existing threads, and starting new subjects, members can communicate with each other through personal messages if they wish. And once members have made a certain number of posts, they will automatically be admitted to the "frequent posters club", where subjects not-for-public-domain are discussed; anything from the occasional rant to meetups we may be having ...

 
Pages: [1] 2
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.2 | SMF © 2006-2007, Simple Machines LLC Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!
This forum is provided by customers of Great Western Railway (formerly First Great Western), and the views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site if you feel that the content provided by one of our posters contravenes our posting rules via admin@railcustomer.info. Full legal statement (here).

Jump to top of pageJump to Forum Home Page