Brexit - What Impact (Negative or Positive) Will It Have On Our Heritage Railways?

A barrister during the week could become a barista at the weekend ?

 

A barrister's life - preparing cases long into the night or in the early morning, meeting clients before court or negotiating a settlement, has meant that the quality of available coffee has always been a matter of importance. I have broken off from reading some papers at the moment and ground my own coffee and 'cafetiered' it.

On a serious note, some years ago I ran a passenger survey for the Bluebell Railway and an interesting conclusion was the predominance of visitors were in the 'A, B, and C1' socio-economic categories, suggesting that an up-market offering would match the audience. 'Good' coffee costs very little extra to provide but the profit margin is far, far higher.

Kind regards

Robin

 

thanks for explaining that for everyone.

 

Funnily enough when I had the second court case in my divorce (assuming of course I was married in the first case which was debatable) it was held in Trowbridge which my Barrister hated because there wasn't anywhere decent for food & drink. He used to pop back on the train to Bradford on Avon.

Interestingly enough although he wasn't an enthusiast he went everywhere by train so he could work as he travelled

 

And sales will be higher as those of us who have a taste for decent coffee won't buy instant.

 

I for one will be looking forward to having more time for visiting heritage railways. I was seconded full-time to the leave campaign a few month ago and it has more or less taken over the last four months of my life. I'm looking forward to the return of normality. I did manage a day at Swanage for their brilliant spring gala in April but otherwise have not ridden behind - or taken a decent photo of - a steam loco since the date of the referendum was announced.

 

...... and Cornwall!

 

That's great a positive result of the referendum for HRlys - one visitor will now have the chance of an occasional visit, somehow that small gain is unlikely to make up for the potential massive losses (a bit like the UK in general?). . . . . .

 

If it hasn't already been passed....

 

Thanks - so would a fair summary be that EU grants to heritage railways are rare, but of considerable value to those few who have received them?

My own gut feeling is that fixating on grants from the EU is probably a red herring: the really big issue is going to be simply what impact Brexit has on the economy. We are all essentially part of the tourism business, and any spending by the public visiting railways (or additional spending in cafes, bookshops etc. once there) is basically discretionary. So I'd suggest an economic downturn is likely to have a negative impact across the sector.

The one possible silver lining (pace @Robin White above, and her thoughts on the demographics of visitors) will be to what extent any economic effects are not distributed evenly across social groups, and whether those social groups map cleanly onto the demographics of our visitors. No idea of the answer on that one, but it would be an interesting area to study, and in particular might suggest developing product ranges that are well suited to people who will be less adversely impacted by a Brexit. I suspect (but no more) that favours quality over quantity - witness the discussion about coffee above.

Tom

 

Shame on you indeed!

 

Old post but I have just started reading this thread.

I have sort of assumed that Ms Sturgeon aims for Scotland to 'not leave' the EU when England and Wales do, rather than have to rejoin. If this were the case, then 'new joiner' rules don't apply. The EU may not play ball, and the threat of areas of other countries wishing to leave those countries may give them a reason to do so, but retaining part of the former UK in the EU could be seen as making that risk a price worth paying. The circumstances do differ significantly from when Scotland voted to remain in the Union - then , it was the easy way of staying in the EU.

Steven

 

Well that went well.

 

Something very similar has been found in other parts of the south too, and I think that the success of both the Watercress Belle and the RAT suggest that this is so also. I think it is generally the case that it is better to chase "margin" than "volume" unless you're in commodities.

 

I realise the emotions of Brexit run high, but any chance we could keep the politics and "Brexit - good or bad" discussion confined to the other thread in NGC, and just use this one to concentrate specifically on the impact it might have on Heritage Railways?

Tom

 

But I can buy Yorkshire Tea!

 

I'm sure there is one SVR volunteer who doesn't know that.

 

And genuine Cornish tea