London Bridge reconstruction works

[Trackman]

I've never had time to sample burger bars at LB!
There is a Leon at Euston, coffee bar I think.

 

[Chrisgr31]

With the loss of that McDonald's and the one at Cannon Street my late night journeys home have become far healthier!

My breakfasts have become healthier! Well non-existent!

As regards Leon it does fast food arguably a better quality but more expensive!

 

[bicbasher]

Given Charing X trains are once again stopping, surely we can grab a Burger King there or a McD's at Waterloo for Waterloo East and change.

There's also a McDonalds less than a minute away from Charing Cross on The Strand unless that's also closed?

 

[Class377/5]

I'd recommend Five Guys outside Charing Cross.

 

[Trackman]

Never had time to eat or drink at LB. When things go pear shaped on the railway I usually head off to one of the local pubs that do food. (And plot my route home!).

 

[Deety]

I've been joking with my colleague that they were building the biggest Burger King in Europe behind the hoardings, so this is terrible news.

 

[ijmad]

One of the remaining empty retail units has now been plastered with Boots branding. So apart from that we have WHSmith, Oliver Bonas, Leon, Boots, Costa, and a small independent retailer selling coffee and donuts in the concourse, most of which are yet to open. This is real 'destination' shopping... Yeah.

 

[FOH]

One of the remaining empty retail units has now been plastered with Boots branding. So apart from that we have WHSmith, Oliver Bonas, Leon, Boots, Costa, and a small independent retailer selling coffee and donuts in the concourse, most of which are yet to open. This is real 'destination' shopping... Yeah.

With the mess this evening, Southern did their very best to allow shoppers plenty of time.

I do agree about the shops ... yawn

 

[Chrisgr31]

One of the remaining empty retail units has now been plastered with Boots branding. So apart from that we have WHSmith, Oliver Bonas, Leon, Boots, Costa, and a small independent retailer selling coffee and donuts in the concourse, most of which are yet to open. This is real 'destination' shopping... Yeah.

Arent there due to me more shops in the area where the pedestrian route currently zig zags from the underground station? There there are the shops under the News International building as well.

 

[redbutton]

One of the remaining empty retail units has now been plastered with Boots branding. So apart from that we have WHSmith, Oliver Bonas, Leon, Boots, Costa, and a small independent retailer selling coffee and donuts in the concourse, most of which are yet to open. This is real 'destination' shopping... Yeah.

Half the concourse is hidden behind hoardings and won't be revealed until the rest of the station opens in 2018. There are many more retail units yet to be seen.

I was told by one of the project managers that leasing the retail space to luxury brands was a main source of funding for the overall project. The impression he gave was that it'll be like the departure areas at Heathrow.

 

[Bald Rick]

Half the concourse is hidden behind hoardings and won't be revealed until the rest of the station opens in 2018. There are many more retail units yet to be seen.

I was told by one of the project managers that leasing the retail space to luxury brands was a main source of funding for the overall project. The impression he gave was that it'll be like the departure areas at Heathrow.

Future retail revenues are a source of income, which helped to justify the investment. The funding for the rebuilding comes from Government though.

 

[ijmad]

Half the concourse is hidden behind hoardings and won't be revealed until the rest of the station opens in 2018. There are many more retail units yet to be seen.

I was told by one of the project managers that leasing the retail space to luxury brands was a main source of funding for the overall project. The impression he gave was that it'll be like the departure areas at Heathrow.

Yeah, fair point. Also I guess the units behind the ticket gates will attract a different kind of shop to those in the Western arcade which are much bigger and open to the public.

Suppose we'll see when the rest of it opens...

 

[Deepgreen]

Half the concourse is hidden behind hoardings and won't be revealed until the rest of the station opens in 2018. There are many more retail units yet to be seen.

I was told by one of the project managers that leasing the retail space to luxury brands was a main source of funding for the overall project. The impression he gave was that it'll be like the departure areas at Heathrow.

Wonderful - complete with estimated walking times to the platforms?!

 

[redbutton]

Wonderful - complete with estimated walking times to the platforms?!

Well the train crews are allowed five minutes to make connections between platforms or get from the crew room (near the ticket office) to any platform. On paper at least, that's how long it takes at all times and all conditions. I don't think there's a need for dynamic displays?

But I think what the manager I spoke to was describing was the concept of a shopping mall with transport attached, like LHR (maybe Gatwick post-refurbishment is a better example) or Berlin Hauptbahnhof. Though it sounds as if Bald Rick is much more involved with the project than I and according to him the finished station may not be quite as shopping-focused as I was led to believe.

 

[tsr]

Well the train crews are allowed five minutes to make connections between platforms or get from the crew room (near the ticket office) to any platform. On paper at least, that's how long it takes at all times and all conditions. I don't think there's a need for dynamic displays?

As it so happens I do find walking around the station to be surprisingly quick, but I still find 5 minutes to be pushing it to walk to the right place on the platform when it's even slightly busy. 7-8mins would be better.

 

[FOH]

I still don't get the split between upper and lower concourses in terms of passenger information. I could hear the bloke doing the usual cancellation and apology announcements though not clearly enough to understand him - wasn't on any loud speakers downstairs. Do Southern and Thameslink just abandon their passengers on the lower concourse or is this part of the design?

 

[QueensCurve]

I still don't get the split between upper and lower concourses in terms of passenger information. I could hear the bloke doing the usual cancellation and apology announcements though not clearly enough to understand him - wasn't on any loud speakers downstairs. Do Southern and Thameslink just abandon their passengers on the lower concourse or is this part of the design?

Could there be a difficulty with announcements potentially reaching different places out of phase and becoming inaudible? I believe some cinemas had to lose whole rows of seats due to this.

 

[FOH]

Numerous puddles on the floor of the new lower concourse this morning with a bloke in full orange hi-vis mopping up. An auspicious start for our new 'world class' station.

 

[Stew998]

I'm often struck by the congestion on the upper concourse, it's a pity there aren't any "no waiting" corridors across the concourse so that passengers waiting for a platform don't form an obstacle course for people moving to the gateline.

 

[ijmad]

Costa's open!

 

[physics34]

Costa's open!

Great news lol

 

[QueensCurve]

Costa's open!

Bad news for coffee lovers.

 

[hwl]

Piling has been completed and the penultimate concrete column (for track 1/2 viaduct) is about to be cast.

 

[swt_passenger]

Piling has been completed and the penultimate concrete column (for track 1/2 viaduct) is about to be cast.

Just saw a youtube timelapse video from 15th Nov which illustrates your latest info? https://youtu.be/la5nla8VWT0

You can see the second half of the column formwork being craned into position at about 2m 05s in. Work proceeding apace on the last column's pile cap just behind the tower crane in the left of the picture.

 

[FOH]

Numerous puddles on the floor of the new lower concourse this morning with a bloke in full orange hi-vis mopping up. An auspicious start for our new 'world class' station.

The lower concourse looked a sorry state this morning. I reckon about 25% of it was barriered off and ticket barriers covered with tarpaulin to protect them from cascading water from the roof.

 

[ijmad]

I noticed they'd changed the route through the Western Arcade when I went through earlier. It now snakes behind some of the future barrel vault shops. Could have been a couple of weeks, I don't go from the tube to trains very often.

 

[telstarbox]

Southeastern have a 'Meet the Manager' session tomorrow morning at London Bridge:

https://www.southeasternrailway.co.uk/about-us/meet-the-manager

 

[ijmad]

Looks like the final set of bridge decks went up last weekend.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nF2vn5voxLc

Also: some other exciting news: Leon is now open.

 

[GodAtum]

not sure if this has been posted before:

London bridge layout by GodAtum2015, on Flickr

 

[WelshBluebird]

This may have been previously mentioned, but once finished I hope the walk between the mainline station and the underground station becomes less maze-like, because atm the route through the arches and tunnels certainly seems like a long winding maze!