1. Lunch & 2. Oyster procedure, at Stratford

[Nicholas43]

Advice please.
On 16 September, my wife & I will be travelling from Brondesbury to Norwich. We plan to get to Stratford with an ultra-cautious margin ( ~ 1 hour) for our booked train to Norwich at 1338. We'll be using Oyster or contactless for the leg from Brondesbury.
a. Is there anywhere reasonably pleasant for for a light lunch at Stratford, without leaving the station?
b. If we don't leave the station, where can we touch out Oyster / contactless?
c. Given that we both hate shopping malls, are there bearable / good options for light lunch near the station?
Thanks in advance for all suggestions.

 

[Jimini]

A) Not really. There’s a Pret by the Jubilee line platforms but no seating.

B) There are Oyster / contactless validators within the station itself. The one I can think of off the top of my head is by the bottom of the stairs coming down from (I think) platform 10 in the subway at the country end. Sure there must be more though.

C) Not a lot as they’re mostly in Westfield. If you walk round the back of the station via the service road to Stratford International, there’s a decent enough coffee shop in there that sells baguettes, toasties etc. You can also access Tap East (a pub) there that’s technically part of Westfield but you can enter from the street level.

 

[Nicholas43]

Jimini: many thanks, exactly what I needed - and Tap East looks interesting.