West Somerset Railway General Discussion

But, Minehead has a large number of people staying on holiday. If as I understand is the case the dominant passenger flow is from BL to MH, there must be capacity to run traffic from MH to BL. At which point, one has to ask how a trip to a trading estate near Taunton can be made attractive.


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I would change that question to whether a trip to a trading estate near Taunton could be made attractive, and even if it could, whether that would be worth the bother. Most people starting from Minehead will surely be travelling either just for the ride or to visit one of the intermediate places.

 

Taunton could justify a day out of a week's holiday at Minehead - good shops, brilliant County Museum, restaurants and plenty of pubs. Personally, I think it's quite a classy town - and I'm a Devonian!

John

 

My impression from travelling twice week on the WSR during spring and summer is much of the travel from MH is to intermediate stations and back often using the freedom of the line tickets. From what the TTIs have told me the first departure from BL is by far the busiest many going to MH. The reality is that BL is not a "destination" as such but should th station farm developement ever happen then that may change but is will IMHO destroy he ambience of the staion itself though I can see some of the advantages.

 

Butlitz - there’s no escape!

 

I make a very good snake and pigmy pie!!

 

The cafe at the Talyllyn Railway's Wharf Station has built up a substantial Sunday Lunch business serving local people.

 

Given the developments that have already occurred, the ‘ambience’ of Bishops Lydeard as a country wayside Station is long gone.

The original 1860 / 70’s buildings are still there, albeit blighted with modern extensions and additions. But they are grouped together, which is helpful.

Sensitive handling of the development might significantly improve the ambience of the historic buildings while providing facilities to be expected of our southern terminus.

Vision and hard work to make it a reality.

Or, of course, we can continue building plastic palaces and collecting portacabins as we have done recently.

Robin

 

That's how they manage to stay in business and provide the WSR with some pull-through revenues. The alternative is that they cease trading with significant harm to the local economy.

 

Indeed, attracting non-passengers seems to have been the key to its turn round to profitability. I was intrigued by several suggestions above (if I have interpreted them correctly) that the WSR should not compete with local businesses. I think it would be difficult to operate railway shops and catering on a non-competitive basis. How many good eateries is too many? And do you stop selling bags of crisps because the newsagent does? There is of course a decision to be made as to whether to offer more than a sarny and a bag of crisps, and profitability is not guaranteed in catering despite rather sweeping comments on here, but that is a different analysis. Based on a (much) earlier comment in the thread, when someone asked where was a good place to eat in Minehead someone replied that there was a pub which served pizza, which rather suggests there is an unserved market.

 

The last time I stayed in Minehead - about 18 months ago - I had difficulty finding eating places in the evening. It seemed to be a choice between fish and chips or Wetherspoons. The owner of the fish and chip shop told me that there was no market for evening meals in Minehead - it was purely a day trip resort with the food demand being confined to fish and chips or burgers or pizzas in the daytime.

 

There really is nonsense posted here about eating in Minehead. Besides the Turntable Cafe on the station, within 10 minutes walk of the station are the following pubs, all serving 'proper' meals both lunchtime and evening - Stones, The Hairy Dog (particularly caters for families), The Queens Head, The Hobby Horse, The Quay and The Old Ship Aground. If you want a cafe/teashop there's Brambles, Strand Cafe, Toucan, Owls, Chambers, Cream ... Plenty of choice I would suggest.

If you want something other than a pub for the evening, then try Mullions or The Wheelhouse, both within 200 yards of the station.

For more choice you could try the Indian, the Chinese or the Italian.

 

You only have to recall the vitrolic comments, and I do mean that, expressed by approx half the catering outlets in Dunster , when the National Trust applied for permission to open a cafe near their main Castle entrance, to see the sense in Aldfort's postings. There were local campaigns, shop window posters, and banners opposing the plan, and the NT manager at that time had to endure considerable invective. NT staff and volunteers were made unwelcome in some venues. [These people of course ignored the fact that majority of visitors to Dunster probably come because of the Castle, management of which they were branding as devils incarnate. ] In the end they never did open a cafe at that location, though I believe more because the set up costs were frightening than anything to do with the local opposition. In a way its a shame the NT did not go ahead, as some of these people deserved to be put out of business for their negativity, but that is not a good reason for making a business decision!

 

I was at Kidderminster yesterday , it was bitterly cold and I wasn't able to get a bowl of soup around lunch time .

Johofwessex , surely it is up to the Plc who should be making the plans , it is they after all who have the responsibility of running the Railway .

 

Absolutely agree. There is plenty to choose from, and Owls do a good lunchtime selection of meals.
Robin L.

 

That's a very jaded, inaccurate and narrow view of things!

As listed in another post there are plenty of places to eat in the evening though one thing is lacking and that is a decent seafood restaurant.

Most other tastes are already catered for. In my view the Old Ship Aground offers the best pub food and pretty decent beer.

Dunster also offers several quite acceptable eating possibilities in the evening.

 

That is why I have added the original poster to my very short ignore list.

 

I stayed and ate at the Old Ship Aground on my last visit to a gala in 2014 and it was very good, prior to that I usually stayed and ate in Dunster ( usually Yarn Market Hotel for accomodation, and the bar of the Lutrell Arms for my evening meal.

Hoping to visit for the Autumn Gala, which is the same weekend as the L&B Gala ( with Lyd visiting and the first time it is due to operate with Lyn ).

 

I find this discussion interesting for its lack of thought. Nearly every one keeps repeating that food is available without considering what food is actually available. Snacks are available at Bishops Lydeard station and we now learn that a nearby outlet has a larger range of snacks.

WE WOULD LIKE TO BE ABLE TO PURCHASE A MEAL AT BISHOPS LYDEARD STATION AFTER TRAVELLING SEVERAL HOURS FROM HOME. We do not want a snack, We do not want to wait even longer until we've reached further along the line and walked somewhere. The burger van apparently provided during gala provides snacks NOT meals. We don't regard something served inside bread or pasty with disposables a meal.

Furthermore. Remember that not everyone arrives by car. Those of us who don't might want to spend our day on the railway and are not interested in exploring the towns or villages for a meal. The WSR is the only railway we regularly visit that does not provide meals and its snacks are poor compared to many of the rest. We would visit the WSR more often if meals were available.

All we can normally do is grab fish and chips whilst changing trains at Minehead. The best day we've had on the WSR for a while was the gala when a rail connection from Taunton was provided and we had a delightful breakfast on the Belle from Bishops Lydeard. The only sensible suggestion I've seen here is that the Belle provides meals in the platform when not otherwise in use.

Just to reiterate in conclusion. Meals and snacks are not the same thing.

 

Since you saw my partner off this forum I hope that's me.