Bicester Village announcements

[Gathursty]

Announcements made at Bicester are made in English and another language from what I heard the other day. I presume it is Chinese.

What is the history behind the extra announcements for Bicester Village?

 

[pdeaves]

Announcements made at Bicester are made in English and another language from what I heard the other day. I presume it is Chinese.

What is the history behind the extra announcements for Bicester Village?

Mandarin Chinese, I believe. It is for the benefit of the many, many visitors to the shops there who largely visit from Oxford.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Seems to be the reason...

 

[Bletchleyite]

Mandarin Chinese, I believe. It is for the benefit of the many, many visitors to the shops there who largely visit from Oxford.

I would love to know just how an outlet shopping centre (not really any different from the other outlet shopping centres) ended up on the tourist trail like that.

 

[Chris Butler]

Bicester Village is a major attraction for Chinese with around half of Chinese visitors to the UK visiting it. In my experience they don't mainly come from Oxford, but change there from London.

 

[goldenarrow]

Started back in 2017 I believe. By some measures, Bicester Village is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the country. Quite an achievement for what is basically a glittery retail park.

 

[pdeaves]

Bicester Village is a major attraction for Chinese with around half of Chinese visitors to the UK visiting it. In my experience they don't mainly come from Oxford, but change there from London.

OK, my few uses of the Oxford-Marylebone service suggested that visitors to Oxford 'had to do' Bicester as well, but that was admittedly a small sample.

There must be a joke somewhere about Chinese whispers and why so many people want to go to Bicester.

 

[Chris Butler]

I would love to know just how an outlet shopping centre (not really any different from the other outlet shopping centres) ended up on the tourist trail like that.

The Chinese have a habit of following the recommendations of other Chinese to a bizarre degree. See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-engla...descending on,gardens and against parked cars. As a result,places can go viral.. Bicester Village however has managed to keep itself popular with its image and focus on products the Chinese adore.

 

[Parallel]

I believe there is another language too played at the station, as well as Mandarin. Possibly Hindi or Arabic but I’m not 100% certain.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The Chinese have a habit of following the recommendations of other Chinese to a bizarre degree. See https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-37820663#:~:text=Chinese tourists are descending on,gardens and against parked cars. As a result,places can go viral.. Bicester Village however has managed to keep itself popular with its image and focus on products the Chinese adore.

To be fair I've been on guided tour holidays where they took you round a "typical residential area" and the likes. I've always found that a bit uncomfortable, to be honest - by all means drive the coach down there, but stopping and wandering round seems a bit off.

 

[py_megapixel]

To be fair I've been on guided tour holidays where they took you round a "typical residential area" and the likes. I've always found that a bit uncomfortable, to be honest - by all means drive the coach down there, but stopping and wandering round seems a bit off.

I'd hate to be a resident in such an area if coach tours kept stopping off. Would get awfully irritating after the novelty had worn off.

 

[Gathursty]

I'm still mystified by the attraction of Bicester Village. If they want to go to Oxford/London, surely there's enough shops providing what they want there without needing to stop at Bicester too.

I wonder what extra languages they should put on the Metrolink when arriving at The Trafford Centre or Liverpool ONE etc...

 

[Cherry_Picker]

I would love to know just how an outlet shopping centre (not really any different from the other outlet shopping centres) ended up on the tourist trail like that.

Presumably Bicester Village spend a lot of money on advertising in places where rich Chinese people who holiday in Europe will see it.

 

[northampton]

The three languages that are used on these automated announcements are as follows:

• English
• Chinese Mandarin
• Arabic

So i am guessing that those from Arabic countries (probably the six rich Gulf State ones like, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, etc) are probably the second largest group of visitors after those from China (who are by the far the largest group of visitors there).

I have no idea why they want to come to the UK and waste their time travelling to another town to go shopping. There is a lot of better things to do. But each to their own i suppose. I imagine it must be promoted in China. It is probably on all the UK tourist books they have in China.

Another thing i find strange is why the Bicester Village shopping place is called that when it is located in a town rather than a village. Bicester is a town and always has been so i do not know why they decided to name the shopping place that.

First Great Western never had automated announcements in any other language when they served the station (back when it was much more sensibly named as Bicester Town instead) so i think Chiltern Railways introduced these when the new line opened. It certainly makes it interesting hearing announcements in other languages. I think the Eurostar (and of course all of Wales as well) is the only other place this happens.

 

[Mikey C]

The three languages that are used on these automated announcements are as follows:

• English
• Chinese Mandarin
• Arabic

So i am guessing that those from Arabic countries (probably the six rich Gulf State ones like, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, etc) are probably the second largest group of visitors after those from China (who are by the far the largest group of visitors there).

I have no idea why they want to come to the UK and waste their time travelling to another town to go shopping. There is a lot of better things to do. But each to their own i suppose. I imagine it must be promoted in China. It is probably on all the UK tourist books they have in China.

Another thing i find strange is why the Bicester Village shopping place is called that when it is located in a town rather than a village. Bicester is a town and always has been so i do not know why they decided to name the shopping place that.

First Great Western never had automated announcements in any other language when they served the station (back when it was much more sensibly named as Bicester Town instead) so i think Chiltern Railways introduced these when the new line opened. It certainly makes it interesting hearing announcements in other languages. I think the Eurostar (and of course all of Wales as well) is the only other place this happens.

Bicester Village is nothing to do with the town of Bicester, it's a self contained retail "experience" outside the main town centre. Bicester Village is effectively a brand name, and such a good one that the station was renamed after it...

It's a bit bizarre, but really successful and brilliant for Chiltern as it provides lots of off peak business!

 

[Clayton]

I believe there is another language too played at the station, as well as Mandarin. Possibly Hindi or Arabic but I’m not 100% certain.

It’s Arabic, accurate according to my colleague

 

[Bletchleyite]

Bicester Village is nothing to do with the town of Bicester, it's a self contained retail "experience" outside the main town centre. Bicester Village is effectively a brand name, and such a good one that the station was renamed after it...

It's a bit bizarre, but really successful and brilliant for Chiltern as it provides lots of off peak business!

In essence it's Bicester Shopping Village - I don't know if it ever had the "missing word" but it's not an unusual thing to call that sort of place, and describes the shopping place itself, not where it happens to be located.

Bicester I find a bit of an odd place these days. It used to be a fairly quaint market town, a Newport Pagnell sort of place, but then they added the big Sainsbury's and cinema complex and multi-storey car park which are on a different scale and don't seem to fit.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

If I rightly recall, Gatwick Express services used to have automated announcements in English, French and German when approaching the Airport, normally activated as the train passed Horley station.

 

[SeanG]

Northern and TPEs CAF units sometimes randomly announce in Spanish...
Though I think that is more to do with the dubious quality of them...

 

[The Planner]

I'm still mystified by the attraction of Bicester Village. If they want to go to Oxford/London, surely there's enough shops providing what they want there without needing to stop at Bicester too.

I wonder what extra languages they should put on the Metrolink when arriving at The Trafford Centre or Liverpool ONE etc...

It is discounted designer gear all in one place, that is the attraction. Oxford certainly isn't what I would call a shopping "destination" even with the new Westgate.

 

[S&CLER]

There used to be signs in Japanese at Oxenholme (and maybe Windermere, though I'm not sure of this). Are they still there? Even more bizarrely, some of the signposts on the Brontë Way up on the moors around Haworth are in English and Japanese.

 

[si404]

Bicester I find a bit of an odd place these days. It used to be a fairly quaint market town, a Newport Pagnell sort of place, but then they added the big Sainsbury's and cinema complex and multi-storey car park which are on a different scale and don't seem to fit.

Perhaps preempting the large-scale house building in the town a bit too early.

 

[jimm]

Precious few of the Chinese visitors to Bicester Village ever go into Oxford. Those seen at Oxford station have mostly come from Paddington, for whatever reason, and simply change trains there.

There were Mandarin signs at Bicester North years ago, long before Chiltern opened the Oxford link. Someone may know when Arabic appeared as well.

There used to be signs in Japanese at Oxenholme (and maybe Windermere, though I'm not sure of this). Are they still there? Even more bizarrely, some of the signposts on the Brontë Way up on the moors around Haworth are in English and Japanese.

What's bizarre about it? In normal times there are large numbers of Japanese visitors to Haworth - the Brontes being big in Japan. And the same goes for the Cotswolds, which is why FGW/GWR installed Japanese signs at Moreton-in-Marsh station a decade ago.

We lag well behind most other countries in making an effort to welcome and help overseas visitors in this way.

Perhaps preempting the large-scale house building in the town a bit too early.

I'd far rather someone got in early with infrastructure, shops, etc than building lots of houses first and then trying to catch up with the other things afterwards, which seems to be the usual pattern in this country. There are a lot of places where railway stations have finally appeared as catch-up projects years after they were needed.

 

[Alex27]

Travelling on the line fairly regularly I practically know the announcements off by heart (Not quite tho ) It kinda makes an average comutor service a bit more interesting, but the 3 car turbos are never enough at the weekends

 

[coppercapped]

It is discounted designer gear all in one place, that is the attraction. Oxford certainly isn't what I would call a shopping "destination" even with the new Westgate.

Quite! All in neat, clean and tidy surroundings - all, in my opinion, a bit 'Disneyesque' (if that's a word?).

The owning company (Value Retail) runs a dozen or more of such sites across Europe and China. Bicester at least - and it may be true of the other 'Villages' - is aimed at the growing free-spending middle class in China and is heavily promoted in the Chinese media.

It always struck me as bizarre in some ways. Many of the these up-market products are made in China and other parts of the far east and are then shipped to the UK. They are subsequently purchased by travellers from China who then carry them back...

Of course, now we have had Covid 19 and China being now out of favour, who knows what will happen. Chiltern will certainly see a big drop in passenger numbers for Bicester Village for some time into the future.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Perhaps preempting the large-scale house building in the town a bit too early.

Could well be the case. At present it's rather hemmed in by the ring road, but I guess there are plans to "Milton Keynes-ise" it a bit by building outside of there. There's certainly some new-build down by, er, Bicester Village.

 

[Kingsbury Jn.]

https://www.tbvsc.com/bicester-village/en/services/instant-tax-refund

An easy to access VAT refund system for non-EU shoppers can be a great attraction.

 

[Bletchleyite]

https://www.tbvsc.com/bicester-village/en/services/instant-tax-refund

An easy to access VAT refund system for non-EU shoppers can be a great attraction.

Must admit I do not understand why we allow such refunds. They are luxury goods, and if we feel luxury goods should be taxed, they should be taxed for everyone.

 

[trebor79]

Yes I don't understand the VAT refund thing either. But since other countries have similar schemes I believe. I think you can reclaim sales tax when purchasing items in the USA, for example? It's that because you're meant to pay local taxes when bringing them into your home country?

 

[Mikey C]

Must admit I do not understand why we allow such refunds. They are luxury goods, and if we feel luxury goods should be taxed, they should be taxed for everyone.

Presumably because the foreign visitors reclaiming their VAT will also be spending lots of money on hotels, restaurants etc