London Bridge reconstruction works

[Bald Rick]

Blackfriars is shocking - after the tiny Smiths closes there's nowhere to get a drink, not even a vending machine.

The coffee shop at the south end? Always seems to be open when I go through.

And if all else fails, there is always the Black Friar PH, one of London's finest pubs.
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So is Blackfriars connected directly to London Bridge at the moment?

No...

 

[ComUtoR]

Tesco is open pretty late

 

[ijmad]

Re the BTF do you mean the 1976 production "Operation London Bridge"?

Yes thanks! Brilliant.
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Blackfriars is shocking - after the tiny Smiths closes there's nowhere to get a drink, not even a vending machine.

Also Smiths is often closed at 8:30am. So much for a ninja costa on my way in to work...

 

[Chrisgr31]

Regarding coffee shops AMT as a brand appear at numerous stations so assume they are a Select catering brand as Select seem to do most of the retail operations in stations.

I'd like to see prices in stations reduced. Food in them is ridicously priced

 

[jon0844]

I don't think AMT is, as it doesn't accept Bite cards (not that these days that means much).

 

[Tio Terry]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9irIhwYmRqxTHBMa0RrX3Q2NE0/view?pref=2&pli=1


Thanks for the link to that. I worked on that project, it brought back a lot of memories. Anyone watching that who knew that period will notice how much Health & Safety has improved!

 

[carriageline]

Blackfriars is only connected to Cannon St via the Met Reversible. As well as Elephant and Castle, of course!

 

[Antman]

Regarding coffee shops AMT as a brand appear at numerous stations so assume they are a Select catering brand as Select seem to do most of the retail operations in stations.

I'd like to see prices in stations reduced. Food in them is ridicously priced

And it's normally blamed on exorbitant rent!

 

[infobleep]

I don't think they are as calculating as to deny exit routes just to increase retail revenue. ISTM they've done something opposite at Waterloo, where they've moved much of it off the main concourse...

Is it more about removing the temptation for passengers to crush load the front of the train because that is where the exit is? Despite the massive rebuild the platform ends are still very constrained in width - and that sort of 'end fed' entry/exit design probably fails all sorts of risk assessments.

So by design London Bridge bound passengers using through trains need to be in the middle of the train, leaving the front for those heading to Cannon St or Charing Cross... Maybe.

Except for the back of Boots, which annoyingly gets I the way of the subway exit on platforms 11 and 12. It means for one of those two platforms, I think 11, you have to walk round. That's not convent at all in my opinion.

 

[swt_passenger]

Except for the back of Boots, which annoyingly gets I the way of the subway exit on platforms 11 and 12. It means for one of those two platforms, I think 11, you have to walk round. That's not convent at all in my opinion.

That's a somewhat different issue to what was being discussed, namely that the platform end ramps at London Bridge were being lost to force people past the shops in the ground level concourse. The equivalent at Waterloo would possibly be closing the peak time subway and forcing everyone to use the main concourse.

I'd agree that building that Boots on a platform is pretty stupid, but it is a different situation to London Bridge I think.

 

[infobleep]

That's a somewhat different issue to what was being discussed, namely that the platform end ramps at London Bridge were being lost to force people past the shops in the ground level concourse. The equivalent at Waterloo would possibly be closing the peak time subway and forcing everyone to use the main concourse.

I'd agree that building that Boots on a platform is pretty stupid, but it is a different situation to London Bridge I think.

Fair enough.

Of course the peak time subway is closed outside of peak and I'd rather it wasn't but I won't start that discussion here.

 

[davetheguard]

I don't think AMT is, as it doesn't accept Bite cards (not that these days that means much).

I think AMT started off at Oxford and was run by three fellas whose initials make up the name of the business.

Unfortunately, I don't know if they still own what must now be quite a valuable company; or if they were bought out at some stage.

 

[QueensCurve]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9irIhwYmRqxTHBMa0RrX3Q2NE0/view?pref=2&pli=1


Thanks for the link to that. I worked on that project, it brought back a lot of memories. Anyone watching that who knew that period will notice how much Health & Safety has improved!

I was struck by the plus ça change aspect of the works. 40y on a new major rebuilding project to achieve very similar aims.

 

[FOH]

New announcements at LBG this evening. Waiting on Platform 15 with the speakers regularly announcing on P15 "the train at platform 8 does not stop here, please stand clear of the train at platform 8".

That's going to get annoying until August!

 

[neilm]

New announcements at LBG this evening. Waiting on Platform 15 with the speakers regularly announcing on P15 "the train at platform 8 does not stop here, please stand clear of the train at platform 8".

That's going to get annoying until August!

I noticed that as well with platform 9, also why announce them on the southern side?

 

[physics34]

Regarding coffee shops AMT as a brand appear at numerous stations so assume they are a Select catering brand as Select seem to do most of the retail operations in stations.

I'd like to see prices in stations reduced. Food in them is ridicously priced

Pleased to say that AMT are still privately owned and are not part of SSP.

Unfortunately Cafe Nero (yuk!!) took up their spots at Victoria and on the old London Bridge footbridge. They offer 10% for staff if you flash your ID.

Upper Crust and all the others used to be quite pricey but was always good quality, now its all way overpriced and the quality has gone down. Used to love a Emmental Slice from Le Croissant shop.

Bring back Casey Jones!

 

[ijmad]

You'll all be pleased to know th exciting announcements about Platform 8 have stopped.

 

[FOH]

Oh no they haven't, just heard one now

 

[ijmad]

Does anyone have info (or memories!) about the changes made to London Bridge when the Jubilee Line extension opened?

In particular, I was wondering if this was when the current Western concourse was built, or was that there before?

Anyone know?

 

[jon0844]

Pleased to say that AMT are still privately owned and are not part of SSP.

Unfortunately Cafe Nero (yuk!!) took up their spots at Victoria and on the old London Bridge footbridge. They offer 10% for staff if you flash your ID.

Upper Crust and all the others used to be quite pricey but was always good quality, now its all way overpriced and the quality has gone down. Used to love a Emmental Slice from Le Croissant shop.

Bring back Casey Jones!

Well, I have to admit that my Bite card is now saving me a fortune.

You see, since the discount dropped from 20% to 10% I don't buy anything at any of their establishments. I either go without or buy from someone else, perhaps outside the station.

I'd Tweet SSP about my newfound savings, but their last Tweet for Bite cards is back in 2014 and the description still says the cards give 20% off...

 

[ijmad]

So apparently part of a roof canopy collapsed on to the tracks this afternoon due to winds, anyone know anything more about what happened? Services were totally shut down at Charing Cross and Waterloo East for several hours 70 mins.

 

[Peter Sarf]

Suppose that would be one of the old through platforms (4, 5 or 6) since it affects the route to Waterloo East. Hopefully not one of the new canopies on the Brighton side. Nice if they had to put a proper overall roof back though !.

 

[Bald Rick]

Part of the new platforms 7&8. Presumably incomplete work, although obviously it shouldn't have moved as it apparently did.

Line was shut for 70 minutes (rather than the 'several hours' quoted above)

 

[ijmad]

Fair enough on the timings. It wasn't clear from Twitter. Obviously took a lot longer to recover this evening's services.

Guess it's good to know it wasn't a finished part of the roof otherwise you'd start asking if they were fit for purpose, but even so I'm sure it's going to get commuters and tabloids and MPs riled up....

 

[hwl]

Part of the new platforms 7&8. Presumably incomplete work, although obviously it shouldn't have moved as it apparently did.

Line was shut for 70 minutes (rather than the 'several hours' quoted above)

Surely 6&7 (or 8&9) as 7&8 are on different islands unless there were 2 bits of roof?

 

[Bald Rick]

Surely 6&7 (or 8&9) as 7&8 are on different islands unless there were 2 bits of roof?

Just saying what I heard! Presumably as the tracks for 7&8 are together, if it had blown off it could have landed on either/both.

 

[tsr]

From what I heard it involved some sort of scaffolding or other temporary structure collapsing, which meant that part of the roof ended up on the track.

 

[Bald Rick]

From what I heard it involved some sort of scaffolding or other temporary structure collapsing, which meant that part of the roof ended up on the track.

Nothing landed on the track, but something came loose that could have done. Temp scaffolding went up (very quickly!) to fix everything back into place.

 

[FOH]

Fair enough on the timings. It wasn't clear from Twitter. Obviously took a lot longer to recover this evening's services.

Guess it's good to know it wasn't a finished part of the roof otherwise you'd start asking if they were fit for purpose, but even so I'm sure it's going to get commuters and tabloids and MPs riled up....

Given the high winds the platforms generate on a normal day, let alone a windy one, you'd hope they could withstand a little wind.

 

[FlippyFF]

Blackfriars is shocking - after the tiny Smiths closes there's nowhere to get a drink, not even a vending machine.

I think there's a coffee shop (Costa???) being constructed at the northern end of P2,3&4 at Blackfriars.

Simon