Railway station refreshment prices

[ChiefPlanner]

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

But how does that compare to say the chains like Albert Heine ?

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Bit like airports and captive pricing - in terms of W H Smith in such places I buy only a newspaper ...(and take my own sandwiches - even on EasyJet rather than pay a lot of money for low quality junk food)

 

[Typhoon]

Indeed WHS has developed quite a poor reputation in recent years for various reasons, its high street shops are similarly overpriced.

A failure to adapt like BHS, Comet, ToysRUs etc.

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.

I'm not certain they do! (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42801171)​

 

[Tracked]

WHS voted UK's worst High Street Shop;
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44274654

Oh dear ...

Not surprised, seeing that reminded me of the time I went to Carlisle last month, went in the one near 13/14 on Picadilly early morning for a meal deal for breakfast. Shelving covered in promotion of this meal deal, but the snack I got from that shelf wasn't in the meal deal, the person at the counter pointed out stuff that was on a separate shelf nearby (it was marked as part of the meal deal though, it just wasn't on the main meal deal shelves ...).

Got to Carlisle and as it was one of the Saturday's when the line to Scotland was closed there was a queue of people outside the station, so went into WHS again and the exact same thing happened. Thought it might have been me the first time but I did wonder how many people would be attracted in by the meal deal but end up paying more, just because they were in a rush ... (2nd time I left it on the counter and headed off to Greggs, rather than mess about with a queue behind me).

The one in the shopping centre here is on two levels, and the stairs there are a useful shortcut.

 

[Dentonian]

I never shop at WHS anyway; They have shops landside at Manchester Airport, full of London Tourist Board tat. You wouldn't sell United shirts at the Etihad.................... Besides, they have a Spar and Boots nearby both of which undercut them massively on snacks and drinks eg. Fizzy water from 50p in Spar (330ml). I don't use Greggs there though, as apart from a 20% mark up on High Street prices, its the only branch I know where "hot" food isn't..........

I take it as read that Rail Station prices for snacks and drinks are exorbitant, so prepare in advance. Bus Stations slightly different as the availability varies widely, with many having nothing at all.

 

[PeterY]

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.....

A!

Not am I only to to do all the railway lines in the UK but it seems like I'm trying to use every Gregg's in the UK as well.
I try to use private station buffets if I can. I must admit I do like the occasional Uppercrust roll . If I have to have an expensive tea, I prefer Starbucks tea.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I never shop at WHS anyway; They have shops landside at Manchester Airport, full of London Tourist Board tat. You wouldn't sell United shirts at the Etihad.................... Besides, they have a Spar and Boots nearby both of which undercut them massively on snacks and drinks eg. Fizzy water from 50p in Spar (330ml). I don't use Greggs there though, as apart from a 20% mark up on High Street prices, its the only branch I know where "hot" food isn't..........

I take it as read that Rail Station prices for snacks and drinks are exorbitant, so prepare in advance. Bus Stations slightly different as the availability varies widely, with many having nothing at all.

Really? That sounds like every Greggs in the country!

(Apparently it's to do with VAT and if you're lucky you can get pasties and the like that ARE warm, if they just happen to have made a fresh batch).

 

[NorthernSpirit]

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

The Station Buffet at Huddersfield is a decent one, I and a few of me mates use it on occations especially if we haven't had time for breakfast.

 

[Howardh]

Really? That sounds like every Greggs in the country!

(Apparently it's to do with VAT and if you're lucky you can get pasties and the like that ARE warm, if they just happen to have made a fresh batch).

Can't say I even begin to understand - but in Buxton last week I ordered a snack from Greggs and was asked if I wanted to eat it inside or outside on the chairs, I did and another 50p was slapped in it. Is that a rule about eating inside premises, or because it was hot when given and had I not hung around I could have had a VAT-free cold one?

 

[transmanche]

Can't say I even begin to understand - but in Buxton last week I ordered a snack from Greggs and was asked if I wanted to eat it inside or outside on the chairs, I did and another 50p was slapped in it. Is that a rule about eating inside premises, or because it was hot when given and had I not hung around I could have had a VAT-free cold one?

It's the VAT. But, on this occasion, not based on the temperature of the food but because VAT is charged for eating 'on the premises'.

A hot sausage roll would not attract VAT if it was taken away to eat and it was hot merely because it had only recently been baked. But it would attract VAT if it was subsequently re-heated. And regardless of temperature, it attracts VAT if eaten on the premises.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

It's the VAT. But, on this occasion, not based on the temperature of the food but because VAT is charged for eating 'on the premises'.

A hot sausage roll would not attract VAT if it was taken away to eat and it was hot merely because it had only recently been baked. But it would attract VAT if it was subsequently re-heated. And regardless of temperature, it attracts VAT if eaten on the premises.

I recall a stunning turnround on this by one George Osbourne .....

Anyway - apart from paying nearly a fiver for a Cornish pastie on New Street station , the huge insult of nearly being injured by the lava like consistency made me swear to never again buy off such premises.

 

[Busaholic]

I recall a stunning turnround on this by one George Osbourne .....

Anyway - apart from paying nearly a fiver for a Cornish pastie on New Street station , the huge insult of nearly being injured by the lava like consistency made me swear to never again buy off such premises.

Believe me, because a pasty has been made in Cornwall and is therefore able to call itself a Cornish pasty (providing other criteria are met, like meat content) it is no guarantee of quality. In my adopted home town of Penzance there are many bakers and pasty merchants and I wouldn't accept a free one from most of them! The best ones don't even call themselves Cornish, just steak pasties.

 

[Dentonian]

Really? That sounds like every Greggs in the country!

(Apparently it's to do with VAT and if you're lucky you can get pasties and the like that ARE warm, if they just happen to have made a fresh batch).

Never have a problem elsewhere, including the one outside Piccadilly. I suspect it is simply because the Airport staff can't co-ordinate supply with demand.

 

[takno]

Never have a problem elsewhere, including the one outside Piccadilly. I suspect it is simply because the Airport staff can't co-ordinate supply with demand.

It's highly dependent on the time of day you go, how busy the branch is, how much of the custom comes in unpredictable clumps vs continuous traffic levels, and how popular the thing you are ordering is in that branch. If you go into a town centre branch at lunchtime and order a steak bake or sausage roll, just like 10 other people in the last 10 minutes, then you will probably get a warm one. If you go mid-afternoon when they haven't seen another customer for half an hour then nothing is going to be warm. The airport branch might be slightly worse because if they have to deal with sudden clumps of traffic which aren't predictable then they'll have to bake more stuff in advance of it being needed. Overall though I'd say if all the other places you've been to have served you warm pasties, you've been exceptionally lucky.

 

[WelshBluebird]

Believe me, because a pasty has been made in Cornwall and is therefore able to call itself a Cornish pasty (providing other criteria are met, like meat content) it is no guarantee of quality. In my adopted home town of Penzance there are many bakers and pasty merchants and I wouldn't accept a free one from most of them! The best ones don't even call themselves Cornish, just steak pasties.

I worked in a Cornish Pasty shop when I was at uni. Horrible, especially during the summer (I needed two showers after work to feel human again) but was brilliant for free food after a shift! I did find it incredibly wasteful though that our supplier was based somewhere up north but the pasties were made in Cornwall. So to get to us, they had to be transported from Cornwall to somewhere up north and then back to to us in Bath.

 

[underbank]

It's the VAT. But, on this occasion, not based on the temperature of the food but because VAT is charged for eating 'on the premises'.

A hot sausage roll would not attract VAT if it was taken away to eat and it was hot merely because it had only recently been baked. But it would attract VAT if it was subsequently re-heated. And regardless of temperature, it attracts VAT if eaten on the premises.

"Catering" is standard rated VAT. "Food" is zero rated VAT. So, wherever you eat it, on the premises or takeaway, anything heated purposely to eat there and then is "catering" and standard rated which is why things like pizzas and fish & chips are still standard rated even when not eaten on the premises. The confusion arises with the likes of cooked chickens, hot sandwiches, sausage rolls, pies, etc., as to whether you are intentionally buying it hot to eat as a takeaway, or whether the fact it's hot is merely incidental as part of the baking/cooking process. That's why things left to cool naturally after baking/cooking can be zero rated, whereas things intentionally kept warm, i.e. sausage rolls in a warm cabinet are standard rated. This confusion arises only with things that can be eaten hot or cold, i.e. a sausage roll, and doesn't apply to things you'd eat hot and wouldn't eat cold, such as fish & chips, a cup of coffee, a burger, etc which are always standard rated. Eating in is also always standard rated even if you are eating cold food which would have been zero rated if you'd bought it to eat outside or later, as eating in is "catering".

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Believe me, because a pasty has been made in Cornwall and is therefore able to call itself a Cornish pasty (providing other criteria are met, like meat content) it is no guarantee of quality. In my adopted home town of Penzance there are many bakers and pasty merchants and I wouldn't accept a free one from most of them! The best ones don't even call themselves Cornish, just steak pasties.

I worked in a Cornish Pasty shop when I was at uni. Horrible, especially during the summer (I needed two showers after work to feel human again) but was brilliant for free food after a shift! I did find it incredibly wasteful though that our supplier was based somewhere up north but the pasties were made in Cornwall. So to get to us, they had to be transported from Cornwall to somewhere up north and then back to to us in Bath.

The "protected status" (can't recall the official designation right now) of Cornish pasties has lead bakeries across the land to rename their pasties after the county they're in, so in Denby Dale I can go into the bakery and have a Yorkshire pasty and so on.

However, some bakeries have responded more creatively, and altered the fillings too to better reflect local cuisine. This means that if you're from out of the area, you may have to awkwardly ask the bakery staff which way they've gone with their "Rutland/Shropshire/Norfolk pasty"!