Food on Virgin Trains 1st class weekend

[Ianmel1969]

Could anyone please tell me what food is offered to 1st class passengers on Virgin Trains? I am booked on the 1740 Glasgow to Euston this Saturday. I realise it won't be cooked food but am hoping for at least sandwiches/crisps with the tea and coffee. Thanks.

 

[ATW Alex 101]

Snackboxes, you get stuff like biscuits, pretzels, raisins and other poor quality food.

 

[Class 92]

I have never traveled First Class with VT but if the food is poor quality then whats the point in having the biggest kitchen in Europe on board there Pendos?

 

[GatwickDepress]

I have never traveled First Class with VT but if the food is poor quality then whats the point in having the biggest kitchen in Europe on board there Pendos?

So they can brag about having them.

Is there a market for hot food on weekends? I should think there would be, especially on longer journeys.

 

[Squaddie]

I have never traveled First Class with VT but if the food is poor quality then whats the point in having the biggest kitchen in Europe on board there Pendos?

Biggest kitchen in Europe? That must be some train.

 

[IslandDweller]

Manage your expectations downwards. A bag of crisps and a cup of tea - and you usually have to go to the buffet to collect (show your ticket). No at seat service and no free booze.

 

[Late Trains uk]

Could anyone please tell me what food is offered to 1st class passengers on Virgin Trains? I am booked on the 1740 Glasgow to Euston this Saturday. I realise it won't be cooked food but am hoping for at least sandwiches/crisps with the tea and coffee. Thanks.

Do they offer the £10 upgrade from standard on that journey?like they do on Wolves-Euston on a Saturday.

 

[GatwickDepress]

Manage your expectations downwards. A bag of crisps and a cup of tea - and you usually have to go to the buffet to collect (show your ticket). No at seat service and no free booze.

There's not even a slice of cake.

 

[1E05]

Could anyone please tell me what food is offered to 1st class passengers on Virgin Trains? I am booked on the 1740 Glasgow to Euston this Saturday. I realise it won't be cooked food but am hoping for at least sandwiches/crisps with the tea and coffee. Thanks.

Do they offer the £10 upgrade from standard on that journey?like they do on Wolves-Euston on a Saturday.

No, the £10 first class supplement is only valid between the West Midlands and Euston (&stations in between).

I believe there is a flat supplement of £15 for all other journeys & trains.

 

[ainsworth74]

I have never traveled First Class with VT but if the food is poor quality then whats the point in having the biggest kitchen in Europe on board there Pendos?

Because they serve hot meals during the week?

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Because they serve hot meals during the week?

If you call grilling a bit of bacon and some (microwave ?) scrambled eggs the use for a "kitchen". Not quite like DB where last year , on a Sunday , had a most impressive lunch with properly prepared vegetables and so on. (cooked more or less to order - and indeed , there was a decent full meal trade - cost around 10 Euro with a bottomless bread basked and the finest rail served coffee on this planet)

A previous manager used to be proud of their "award winning shop" ......

Cynic that I am - I am always sorry for people who say "am going 1st class on Virgin at weekend , what is the food like" - apart from space and so on , bring your own is my considered view.

 

[Class83]

As others have said I can sadly confirm that the weekend food is somewhere between poor and non-existent. Take your own, you should get free tea/coffee/soft drinks though.

 

[Tetchytyke]

Expect to have to walk to the shop to collect them though. On the plus side, it does help prevent deep vein thrombosis.

Though to be honest, I think the extra seat space is worth £15 on many Sunday trains.

 

[rebmcr]

I think the extra seat space is worth £15 on many Sunday trains.

Especially if it's the last train.

 

[route:oxford]

East Coast wins hands down on the weekend offering.

Last time I travelled first on Virgin at the weekend, nothing was served at seat - not even tea/coffee.

 

[snail]

Not quite like DB where last year , on a Sunday , had a most impressive lunch with properly prepared vegetables and so on. (cooked more or less to order - and indeed , there was a decent full meal trade - cost around 10 Euro with a bottomless bread basked and the finest rail served coffee on this planet)

Very different markets. How long were you on the train?

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Very different markets. How long were you on the train?

Re DB "outing" - all the way from Zurich to Hanover via Frankfurt - on a Sunday in December.

Maybe so - but even on a short hop Berlin to Braunschwig(sic) on a winter Saturday I have lunched on a hot meatloaf , red cabbage and roasted potatoes - even the Bord Bistro is an excellent alternative.They seem to do a decent trade too.

 

[snail]

Re DB "outing" - all the way from Zurich to Hanover via Frankfurt - on a Sunday in December.

Maybe so - but even on a short hop Berlin to Braunschwig(sic) on a winter Saturday I have lunched on a hot meatloaf , red cabbage and roasted potatoes - even the Bord Bistro is an excellent alternative.They seem to do a decent trade too.

Was that a short hop for you or the train? To make a 'proper' meal service viable you need either a reasonable number of customers or very high prices. Much more likely on a long distance route than the relatively short journeys in the UK.

 

[Broken Viking]

Even in the week, VTs 1st class service can offer less than one might expect. I did a 1st class bash earlier this year (1G23, ex EUS 13:23 on a weekday) and though the lunch served was far better than the oft-mentioned snack box affair and service was offered at my seat, it was composed of a sandwich and selection of other cold items...And I must admit that I had been expecting a cooked meal on this one.

Still, I do have to say that the service overall was worth the FDS Advance fare that I had got it on even without the cooked meal I'd thought I would receive (My apologies to VT for running all the coffee pots dry! ) and though I'm back to using standard class on VT, this is more because the way I like to travel (In the vestibule with headphones blaring) means there are no additional benefits in having a 1st class ticket, in my case.

Still...I'm hoping to give FGWs Blue Pullman a go at some point, and that'll be an altogether different experience indeed! hock:

 

[island]

East Coast wins hands down on the weekend offering.

Last time I travelled first on Virgin at the weekend, nothing was served at seat - not even tea/coffee.

Agreed. I went up and down from London to Edinburgh yesterday (for which I am slightly questioning my sanity, especially as I totted up 11 hours on trains going the scenic route via Metheringham on the way back south). Every hour or so there was tea, coffee, soft drinks, water, sandwiches, crisps, shortbread, and rocky road snacks.

And on top of that, I got the tickets for nothing with my reward points!

 

[Squaddie]

I don't travel first class for the freebies - in fact, I wish the TOCs would put an end to them, as the meal service completely destroys the ambience of a quiet carriage and the free food and drink also tends to attract the wrong type of person to first class - but the "snack box" that Virgin offers at weekends is an insult. A box barely bigger than a kitchen-size box of matches with about 30p-worth of rubbish in it: what's the point? I'd much prefer an occasional trolley service selling decent coffee and sandwiches (although even then they wouldn't be as good as you can get at M&S before boarding the train).

But it looks as though the weekday service isn't up to much, either. The menu on the table yesterday included the following description of the offering for trains to and from the West Midlands:

Enjoy a choice of two seasonal warm options... without spoiling your appetite for when you get home.

In other words, don't expect much.

 

[185]

Just about to travel myself, enroute to Heathrow. Catering will be supplied by Marks and Spencer and coffee for £1 from Carluccio's. WiFi will be supplied by ...me.

I'm not using London Midland, I am actually using Virgin, but their dreadful catering is losing money as more and more people go elsewhere, people who ten years ago would have trusted the onboard offering.

 

[route:oxford]

their dreadful catering is losing money as more and more people go elsewhere, people who ten years ago would have trusted the onboard offering.

That's the problem - there is the risk that the onboard offering will be most unsatisfactory.

At Euston, there's all the time-killing required as the platforms rarely show until a few mins prior to departure.

 

[306024]

........but the "snack box" that Virgin offers at weekends is an insult. A box barely bigger than a kitchen-size box of matches with about 30p-worth of rubbish in it: what's the point?

You were lucky to be insulted. No such feast on the train I am currently on!

I take that back. No sooner have I posted this than the drinks wagon has arrived, complete with the afore mentioned complementary tuck box. A poor substitute for Sunday lunch though.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

I suspect the so called "award winning shop" on VT loses masses of money and the "snack box" with (as someone said) 30p worth of tat is really quite an insult. Compare to the BR West Coast Pullmans and the 1976 buffet and resturaunt menu - open to all on a newly introduced HST....(as an impecunious student was always welcomed for a full and freshly cooked hot lunch) ..

Yes - take your own. I always do..

 

[dk1]

Just about to travel myself, enroute to Heathrow. Catering will be supplied by Marks and Spencer and coffee for £1 from Carluccio's. WiFi will be supplied by ...me.

I'm not using London Midland, I am actually using Virgin, but their dreadful catering is losing money as more and more people go elsewhere, people who ten years ago would have trusted the onboard offering.

I was under the impression onboard catering always had lost money. Station offerings are also hugely better these days. Saying that i still visit the buffet/shop at least once on every long distance trip.

 

[Squaddie]

At Euston, there's all the time-killing required as the platforms rarely show until a few mins prior to departure.

That really is soul-destroying, isn't it? Milling around on the crowded concourse until five minutes before the scheduled departure time, then the mad rush for the seats. It's as bad as Ryanair. The departure board claimed the train was being "prepared" but when we boarded the tables were covered in the remnants and wrappers left behind by the previous passengers (including the unwanted contents of several snack boxes).

The first class lounge at Euston was hardly any better, either, with spills and stains on the seats, black-and-yellow hazard tape on several sections of floor and barely anything to eat, drink or read. It was grim.

Britain's railways really are the pits.

 

[Carlisle]

I'm no great fan of Virgin but in my experience it rare to board a train starting at Euston that has not been cleaned

 

[Moonshot]

That really is soul-destroying, isn't it? Milling around on the crowded concourse until five minutes before the scheduled departure time, then the mad rush for the seats. It's as bad as Ryanair. The departure board claimed the train was being "prepared" but when we boarded the tables were covered in the remnants and wrappers left behind by the previous passengers (including the unwanted contents of several snack boxes).

The first class lounge at Euston was hardly any better, either, with spills and stains on the seats, black-and-yellow hazard tape on several sections of floor and barely anything to eat, drink or read. It was grim.

Britain's railways really are the pits.

I was just looking at Virgins facebook page, fully expecting it to be plastered with comments reflecting your post.....and failed to find any !!

 

[SGS]

I was under the impression onboard catering always had lost money. Station offerings are also hugely better these days.

It makes we wonder if the on-train caterers aren't missing a trick. The sheer number of catering outlets at major stations, together with customers stocking up for the journey, certainly indicates that people want to eat/drink on long journeys. Maybe if the on-train buffets and shops offered better value, then many of the coffees and snacks I see being brought onto the train might instead be purchased onboard?