Kaz and WM might be interested ....

[TheOstrich]

.... to know I revisited Birmingham New Street Station today, for a spare hour , having narrowly missed an (admittedly ambitious) one minute connection for an onwards train to Hereford for the footy.

The single bench opposite Starbucks has been removed, Kaz! There is now nowhere for anyone to perch other than on those 9 inch high steel tubes surrounding the roof supports !!

And I priced out the cost of a Traditional Cornish in the Pasty Shop for you, WM. £4.70 !!!

Quite honestly, at that price, they can stick it up their Mousehole !!

[Kaz]

Blimey Os I'd want fillet steak in my pasty for that price

Ah memories eh?

[Workingman]

Now there's a thing.

Ria and I were the last to leave and when Ria left I still had about an hour to wait for the coach.

The steel bench opposite Starbuck's was well used so I went in to 'Bucks (also devoid of seats) for a very expensive coffee.

The Customer Services/Information kiosk was next door, so on my way out I popped in and suggested that they review their communal seating arrangements.

I meant for them to improve them, not scrap them altogether.

[TheOstrich]

Now there's a thing .......

I meant for them to improve them, not scrap them altogether.

that's hilarious ..... don't they call it the "Law of Unintended Consequences", WM ?

[Kaz]

[saundra]

thats disgusting prices
and tourists havent a clue what they pay
money makers

[cruiser2]

One reason why when we drive down to Southampton or other long journeys we take our own coffee and butties.(Sandwiches for the posh people) If we have to get a coffee from Starbucks we ask for and get black coffee with cream. This means we get a cup full of coffee and can add as much ceam as we want as this is given in a separate carton. The top half is not full of creamy bubbles with some of the other coffees.

[Diflower]

Blimey Ossie, even down here - a real tourist hotspot - the pasties aren't that much!
I will do a bit of research for up to date prices when I next go down towards the quay.
There is an actual Cornish Pasty Co shop, which I assume is the most expensive, but several other independent shops too.

As with ice creams, I suspect there will be at least one that's reasonable - probably the very same (tiny) one that we got to for ice creams

[JoM]

What a rip off!

I was fuming about New St, and trains in general, last week when I took Tom into town. I bought our tickets from the machine at our local station, it's an unmanned station, and it cost £11 for returns for both of us, even though we could only get half way home after the concert as trains go no further than Walsall after 10 on a Sunday night. The ticket machine takes cards only so if you don't have a card you pay cash to the conductor, who also checks tickets. Except no conductor walked along the train, and once in New St there was no one manning the ticket barriers so we walked through unchecked. On the way home the barriers were again devoid of staff and no conductor checked our tickets on the train. We got off in Walsall and there was no one checking tickets there either, so we could have done the whole journey - there and back - without buying a ticket.