Railway station refreshment prices

[xc170]

I’m guessing this subject has been done to death on here, but I’m currently sat at Derby station, feeling a little thirsty.

Being quite warm, I fancy a cold bottle of Pepsi Max, just been into WH Smith’s, £1.99, then I went into upper crust, £2.19! Yes, £2.19 for a warm bottle of Pepsi Max...

Do people actually pay these prices? It’s pure extortion! Even a bottle of water, none under £1.50...

Unbelievable.

 

[The_Engineer]

Do people actually pay these prices? It’s pure extortion! Even a bottle of water, none under £1.50...

Indeed they do; I rather think that motorway services and airports are similar.... not exclusive to railways.

 

[xc170]

Indeed they do; I rather think that motorway services and airports are similar.... not exclusive to railways.

Yeah, that’s true.

 

[cf111]

There's now a Costa in Inverness railyway station which charges about 20p more per item when compared to the Costa on Inglis Street, literally a two minute walk away. People will pay for the convenience!

 

[cactustwirly]

The Starbucks at railway stations are ridiculously priced compared to the high street.
That's why my business usually goes to Pret or AMT
Sainsbury's or boots are normally good for lunch or soft drinks.

 

[Mag_seven]

Indeed they do; I rather think that motorway services and airports are similar.... not exclusive to railways.

Indeed its called a captive market especially when "airside" at airports and now at stations with automatic ticket barriers.

 

[306024]

Pop out to a nearby supermarket and get a pint of chilled milk for 45p.
Unfortunately at some station outlets the price is nearer 85p

 

[higthomas]

Pop out to a nearby supermarket and get a pint of chilled milk for 45p.
Unfortunately at some station outlets the price is nearer 85p

I sometimes do that in the smaller supermarkets. All I want is liquid and for some ridiculous reason milk is cheaper than water. Madness!
(In larger one I end up buying 2 litre ones for 17p instead of 500ml for 80p, also ridiculous!)

 

[Mojo]

At many stations more conventional outlets (rather than SSP brands that you largely only see at stations, or overpriced shops like WHSMith) are popping up with more reasonable prices. Pret for instance is now at many locations; for instance and their hot drinks are well-priced.

 

[tiptoptaff]

I always find that Upper Crust hot drinks are reasonably priced, for their size. Can't say I buy their food or cold drinks, however. One thing I have noticed is that occasionally it is cheaper to buy a newspaper that you may not actually want as it comes with a free water, than to buy said bottle of water on its own.

 

[JetStream]

What I'll do in WHS is get the drinks on offer, so 241 or 2 for £3.

 

[cactustwirly]

What I'll do in WHS is get the drinks on offer, so 241 or 2 for £3.

Still not as cheap as 1l bottle of Ginger Ale from Sainsbury's (60p)!

 

[robbeech]

I drink a lot of water, although arguably still not enough some days, and I buy cases of 12 or 24 from a supermarket because it works out at about 12 - 15p per 500ml bottle. For this reason the crazy pricing of these hits even harder. £2.19 for the same bottle of water that costs 15p when bought as a pack of 12 or 30p individually in the local supermarket is one of the reasons we don’t drink enough of the stuff.

I absolutely think there should be a maximum permitted price for still bottled water. And I think it should be something reasonable, there’s no reason it should cost more than 50p for a 500ml bottle. It would get people who need to drink more but simply can’t afford to pay £2 for a bottle buying it and becoming healthier. It would make people think twice about spending £2.19 on some horrific (but annoyingly nice) fizzy drink when water is better for you.

I appreciate we have taps, and some of the cleanest tap water in the world but it’s not always easy to obtain it when you’re out and about. Most taps in public toilets are not suitable for drinking, and there are limits to other places you can obtain it ‘to go’ so to speak.

 

[xc170]

Thinking more into it, Derby is an example of a real captive market, with the station not being very centrally located I can't think of any reasonably priced shops nearby, possibly Wilko but that's a 10 minute walk away.

As it happened, I got off the train when I got back into Tamworth and picked up two bottles of Pepsi for £1 in Poundland, that makes one bottle 1/4 the price of WH Smith at Derby station!

 

[bramling]

I’m guessing this subject has been done to death on here, but I’m currently sat at Derby station, feeling a little thirsty.

Being quite warm, I fancy a cold bottle of Pepsi Max, just been into WH Smith’s, £1.99, then I went into upper crust, £2.19! Yes, £2.19 for a warm bottle of Pepsi Max...

Do people actually pay these prices? It’s pure extortion! Even a bottle of water, none under £1.50...

Unbelievable.

I won’t pay such prices unless desperate - out of principle.

Indeed WHS has developed quite a poor reputation in recent years for various reasons, its high street shops are similarly overpriced. I won’t patronise WHS, preferring to buy things like Modern Railways from a small newsagent where possible, or failing that Tesco.

But it’s a case of a captive market. Demand is more price inelastic in railway stations due to the convenience factor, so these prices can be charged. How WHS get away with it on the high street I’m less sure.

 

[185143]

Motorway services most certainly do it too.

On my recent journey from London to Manchester with Megabus, I paid more for a packet of crisps in the services than for my coach ticket.

Hardly encourages drivers to take a break now does it...

 

[yorksrob]

Some stations have independent buffets which often provide reasonable prices. Huddersfield is one which springs to mind as I use it quite often.

 

[nlogax]

A question that's been missed here; how much do stations and airports charge the likes of Smiths, Pumpkin et al in terms of business rent? We acknowledge paying a small fortune for stuff in these places, but is it really the same when nipping into, say, a Smiths on any random high street?

 

[johntea]

Thinking more into it, Derby is an example of a real captive market, with the station not being very centrally located I can't think of any reasonably priced shops nearby, possibly Wilko but that's a 10 minute walk away.

As it happened, I got off the train when I got back into Tamworth and picked up two bottles of Pepsi for £1 in Poundland, that makes one bottle 1/4 the price of WH Smith at Derby station!

I think there may be a couple of newsagents straight across the road from the main station entrance but I can't fully remember...

It's also the convenience factor at play with the 500ml, I could buy a 2 litre bottle of pop for about 30p from Aldi or wherever but it won't be much fun carrying that round all day!

 

[Jonny]

In his book "The Undercover Economist", Tim Harford argued that the main cost for the businesses (that drives prices) is the cost of premises rent. That tends to be high, and is reflected in the prices. Supermarket mini-branches (in station premises), on the other hand, are much more reasonably priced.

 

[stevetay3]

I think a lot of these high prices are forced upon the establishments concerned, by the owners of the stations charging rip-off rents for their shops, so you are charged extortionate amounts for basic items, then get hit again at the booking office.

 

[SteveP29]

I’m guessing this subject has been done to death on here, but I’m currently sat at Derby station, feeling a little thirsty.

Being quite warm, I fancy a cold bottle of Pepsi Max, just been into WH Smith’s, £1.99, then I went into upper crust, £2.19! Yes, £2.19 for a warm bottle of Pepsi Max...

Do people actually pay these prices? It’s pure extortion! Even a bottle of water, none under £1.50...

Unbelievable.

Bite Card, 10% off, would bring the price in Upper Crust down to less than the WHS

Motorway services most certainly do it too./QUOTE]

Mother was giving me a lift to Newcastle Central yesterday for my train to Edinburgh, passed Washington Services, BP garage, £1.45.9 for a litre of diesel, local petrol stations are around £1.25

 

[mallard]

It's often quite literally (thanks to break-of-journey restrictions on common tickets) a captive market. People pay these prices simply because they have little choice; even when there are normally-priced shops just outside the station, they're often not allowed to use them (and even when BoJ is permitted on their ticket, barrier staff can be unhelpful). At least with motorway service stations, you have the option to drive to the nearest supermarket where prices are a lot more reasonable.

The nearest equivelent to on-station retail has to be airside retail at airports, where transferring passengers also have no other options. At least at major aiports, there's often free water available (usually unadvertised) and some attempt at 24-hour opening for at least some of the outlets, unlike stations where getting anything after about 6PM outside London is rare and free water is more-or-less unheard of.

 

[tony_mac]

and free water is more-or-less unheard of.

They were making announcements about it at Lime St on Sunday...
https://www.networkrail.co.uk/feeds/5000-bottles-refilled-as-free-water-proves-a-hit-in-stations/

 

[Bletchleyite]

They were making announcements about it at Lime St on Sunday...
https://www.networkrail.co.uk/feeds/5000-bottles-refilled-as-free-water-proves-a-hit-in-stations/

New St has it as well - though I don't entirely get why they have to wibble on about it being a "hydration station" where they could just call it a tap.

 

[yorksrob]

I'd rather a cup of tea for 50p (or some such) than free water.

 

[Howardh]

Yesterday at Piccadilly station I went to the Cornish Pasty Shop on the concourse (below Virgin's 1st class lounge) and although they looked delicious, I saw the price (£5-something) and walked away. Directly outside the station is a Gregg's and I paid about £1.50 for a pie. Of the two outlets, one had a queue.....

At Buxton station the vending machine had a packet of crisps at £1.
Charge around 50-60p and I would have bought one!

 

[itznonbine]

When I go to station I look for Sainsbury's as there meal deals are the same as their other shops. My go to shop at Waterloo is out of the station via the elephant/mcdonalds level and go across the road to the Tesco's for cheap as chips prices

 

[Groningen]

In the Netherlands everything on the station is owned by the NS. Prices are everywhere the same.

 

[Comstock]

Thinking more into it, Derby is an example of a real captive market, with the station not being very centrally located I can't think of any reasonably priced shops nearby, possibly Wilko but that's a 10 minute walk away.

There are a couple of pubs opposite the station where you could possibly get lime cordial or orange squash for cheap providing you've got time to drink it there.

Try the fish and chip shop opposite or the Mr Booze next to it, they may do cans or bottles of water.