The Station Buffet Part Three

             The first big game changer was the development of compartment corridor stock, beginning for elite travellers towards the end of the nineteenth century and becoming more widespread during Edwardian times. Now, toilets and on-board refreshment services could be provided and some examples of the latter would eventually become very well thought of. This also meant that trains could complete their journeys more quickly and station stops could be planned with maximising passenger numbers in mind, rather than offering relief to those already on board.

As attention switched to how best to provide food and drink whilst on the move, station refreshment rooms remained largely under the direct control of the railway companies. This pattern continued during the change of ownership that brought the various operators together on a regional basis as the Big Four, in 1922. While the railway companies now focussed their attention on railway hotels and dining car services, some stations opened tea rooms to try to shed their boozy reputation, as at London Liverpool Street and Lowestoft. Some provided free newspapers to try to improve the tone. Other efforts to improve things included the GWR’s Quick Lunch Bar at London Paddington and the London Midland and Scottish Railway’s Leeds City Milk Bar in 1938. The lack of restaurant cars during World War Two put extra pressure on refreshment rooms as platform trolley services were also withdrawn, though disruption did not prevent the LMS introducing on-board Railbar refreshment kiosks in 1943.

In 1939 there were 767 station refreshment rooms, falling to 595 by 1944, of which some had succumbed to enemy bombing. Post 1945, rationing affected the range and volume of produce available, as arrangements moved towards greater self-service provision. The London North Eastern Railway began its own refurbishment scheme in 1947, and the Southern Railway moved catering back in-house after the war to try to raise standards.

When the Big Four amalgamated to make a nationalised British Railways In 1948, there were still 595 refreshment rooms at stations across Britain, with a total of 20,000 people employed in buffets, railway hotels and on-board train catering. In the same year, the Railway Executive Superintendent for Catering set about reforming a refreshment room service, which though profitable in 1949, was in decline. Many station refreshment rooms had become dingy, un-inviting and had lacked refurbishment over a long period. Train and station catering became strands of the Hotels Executive and table service-style cafes were gradually replaced by self-service cafeterias.

Art Deco at Leamington Spa station refreshment rooms