What is the usage on West Coast's lounges outside London like? With trains from both Birmingham and Manchester now every 20 Min, and only customers of Virgin Trains being allowed to use them, I wonder what the usage is like.
I'm sure in the days of XC being operated by Virgin the use of lounges at places like Birmingham N St was a lot more, although the increase in customer numbers might have outdone this, particularly with customers on Advance tickets who may turn up earlier in case of delays (at least Virgin allow Advance ticket holders access!)
Manchester is surprisingly busy. It's quite small (but nice) and during very busy periods Advance ticket holders are occasionally turned away.
Crewe is fairly well used, but most people seem to be either Advance ticket holders or those travelling on cheap VT Only tickets to Manchester. Most of the funding for the Crewe lounge came from the local council (it's called the "Cheshire Lounge"), so I can't imagine it closing any time soon as Cheshire East council would kick up a fuss!
Birmingham New Street has been very quiet on the odd occasion I've used it. The ones in Wolverhampton and Birmingham International have always been empty when I pass by. The ones in Coventry and Stoke generally have one or two people in them (although at Stoke anyone can gain access for £5, which is a bargain if you've got a Standard AP and have a long wait).
Liverpool Lime Street seems to be well used.
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Since the turnaround times take a while, I suppose the only people needing to wait long before the departing train arrives at Manchester (etc) are those on cheap advanced tickets that are "train specific". But those people aren't paying the full price anyway.
You'd be surprised! The FOS is £211.50. Every Manchester train departing Monday-Thursday between 05:55 and 07:55 is £194 for a First AP, no matter how far in advance you book. That probably explains why, when I travelled on some of those services during my ALR, there was an abundance of empty tables for me to sit at when departing from Crewe (which is the last stop before London Euston).