Why is Bristol Temple Meads so far from the city centre?

[221129]

I was proposing turning a car park (the post-Brunel trainshed extension) into a retail and restaurant concourse. Provided that (not very large) car park was replaced in some form, e.g. by double decking some of the existing parking or building a multi storey to replace all of it, how would creating that concourse disadvantage you?

A good way of trying this out for effectiveness might be to stop it being a car park now and get "pop-up" food vendors in?

There is nowhere near enough parking as it is! to get rid of some (with no other real space to replace it) is madness!

 

[Wychwood93]

There is nowhere near enough parking as it is! to get rid of some (with no other real space to replace it) is madness!

If the arena thing is to be up near Filton then the space near the eastern access would be handy for those from south of the City - apart from the somewhat sketchy road access.

 

[Bevan Price]

To me Bristol's city centre is from where the Watershed is to where Cabot Circus is and on the north western side of Bristol Bridge - sort of banana shaped.

Others have suggested walking it which, depending on your fitness ranges from 10 to 20 minutes or there is the Temple Meads Connection.

Looking at both Weston and Southport, both stations are a fair trek from the sea.

Southport station is in one of the main shopping streets, and only a short walk from the others. On some days, you can just see the sea from the outer end of the pier; only when there is a very high tide does the sea sometimes reach the promenade.

Worcester Foregate Street is pretty close to the city centre; Shrub Hill is several minutes walk away (and poorly signposted from the city centre when I was last there.)
From memory, Gloucester is fairly close to the shopping areas, but Coventry, Rugby, Crewe, Northampton & Southampton are all some distance from the centres / main shopping areas.

 

[adrock1976]

UCE? BCU thanks guys, i don't want to feel that all that work on the rebranding when i was working in the uni's marketing dept at the time went to waste

Of course, the aforementioned university was the old Birmingham Polytechnic when it was based at Perry Barr many moons ago.

 

[adrock1976]

Southport station is in one of the main shopping streets, and only a short walk from the others. On some days, you can just see the sea from the outer end of the pier; only when there is a very high tide does the sea sometimes reach the promenade.

Worcester Foregate Street is pretty close to the city centre; Shrub Hill is several minutes walk away (and poorly signposted from the city centre when I was last there.)
From memory, Gloucester is fairly close to the shopping areas, but Coventry, Rugby, Crewe, Northampton & Southampton are all some distance from the centres / main shopping areas.

Regarding Coventry station, when the (unique I believe) helter skelter ring road was being designed, it was originally designed as a perfect circle. This would have put Coventry station inside the ring road so as not to make it feel like it is detached from the central area of the city. However, the school (King Georges?) had objected to the ring road passing so close, which explains the kink in the ring road in that area. This subsequently placed Coventry station on the outside of the ring road, thus giving the feel that it is disconnected from the central area of the city.

 

[camflyer]

To be fair, I do think Temple Meads is in need for some more retail / food outlets. At the moment, compared to other stations of similar size and importance, the choices are pretty limited, especially when you consider the lack of places nearby. Apart from the hideously expensive pasty shop, there isn't really an option for hot food for example (and even that is pretty useful after around 6pm when they start to run out of things).

On a recent trip to Bristol I was disappointed to see the Reckless Engineer pub had closed down and had been replaced by something too modern looking. The Reckless Engineer was always a bit of a dive but it had a certain amount of character and I used to hang out there regularly when I was a student in the 90s.

The only other pub close to the Temple Meads I could find now was a new looking Wetherspoons in the redeveloped area around the side of the station.

 

[Mikey C]

Southend Central is very, well central

On the high street and a short distance from the sea.

 

[trash80]

Of course, the aforementioned university was the old Birmingham Polytechnic when it was based at Perry Barr many moons ago.

To be honest as it was the poly when i first went there (as a student) i've always thought of it as that, secretly of course when i worked there!

 

[Brissle Girl]

The only other pub close to the Temple Meads I could find now was a new looking Wetherspoons in the redeveloped area around the side of the station.

Only two minutes walk away and definitely an option for food and drink if you have the time. (Maybe not on a Friday after work as it’ll be too busy.) Though it’s hardly new, it’s been there at least 16 years.

 

[cuccir]

To me Newcastle is really central as well

It's not that central; or a least, it's only on one side of the city center - head south or west from the station and you're very quickly out of the center of Newcastle. But I agree it's not as extreme as many of the examples here.

Due to the way it's grown out of several different towns in the post-railway era, Stoke is another location where the station is quite a way out of town.

 

[camflyer]

Only two minutes walk away and definitely an option for food and drink if you have the time. (Maybe not on a Friday after work as it’ll be too busy.) Though it’s hardly new, it’s been there at least 16 years.

Well, it's new by my standards - I was a student in Bristol over 20 years ago

 

[WelshBluebird]

On a recent trip to Bristol I was disappointed to see the Reckless Engineer pub had closed down and had been replaced by something too modern looking. The Reckless Engineer was always a bit of a dive but it had a certain amount of character and I used to hang out there regularly when I was a student in the 90s.

The only other pub close to the Temple Meads I could find now was a new looking Wetherspoons in the redeveloped area around the side of the station.

I am well aware of the pubs around (too well aware! haha). I was more talking about hot food on the go when you have say 15 minutes to wait.
There used to be a retail unit where the AMT coffee unit now is that did some wraps etc that they could toast for you, but now you only have the option of the Pasty shop or whatever overpriced stuff Pumpkin cafe is selling (not even sure if they sell stuff they can heat up, but assuming they do).

 

[221129]

I am well aware of the pubs around (too well aware! haha). I was more talking about hot food on the go when you have say 15 minutes to wait.
There used to be a retail unit where the AMT coffee unit now is that did some wraps etc that they could toast for you, but now you only have the option of the Pasty shop or whatever overpriced stuff Pumpkin cafe is selling (not even sure if they sell stuff they can heat up, but assuming they do).

Also options in WH Smith, Starbucks and AMT too....

 

[Urban-Savage]

Isnt this the same reason as 'why did they build Windsor Castle so close to Heathrow Airport'

 

[HowardGWR]

Isnt this the same reason as 'why did they build Windsor Castle so close to Heathrow Airport'

Or why did they name a planet after a Walt Disney character?

 

[Statto]

Tring is a good couple of miles from the station to the Town Centre.
Crewe a good 15-20 minute hike to the Town Centre.
Southport though is right in that Town Centre, the main entrance goes to the now pedestrian street.
Winsford is a bit of a distance to the Town Centre

 

[snowball]

Or why did they name a planet after a Walt Disney character?

Because Pluto was sniffing Uranus?

 

[vlad]

Isnt this the same reason as 'why did they build Windsor Castle so close to Heathrow Airport'

Her Majesty travels a lot - it's convenient to live near the airport.

 

[takno]

Her Majesty travels a lot - it's convenient to live near the airport.

Don't be silly. Windsor Castle was built ages and ages ago. I bet Croydon was still the main airport back then

 

[Dai Corner]

Don't be silly. Windsor Castle was built ages and ages ago. I bet Croydon was still the main airport back then

No, His Majesty always flew with his Flying Corps from their Northolt base.

 

[6Gman]

Southport station is in one of the main shopping streets, and only a short walk from the others. On some days, you can just see the sea from the outer end of the pier; only when there is a very high tide does the sea sometimes reach the promenade.

The CLC station at Southport was actually on Lord Street (the main thoroughfare).

 

[Ianigsy]

I was thinking about this when I was in Harrogate the other day- there, you emerge from the station, cross the road and the main shopping streets are right in front of you. The high-end hotels are further away, on the other side of the Valley Gardens, but any guests arriving by train would be taking a taxi in any case. I suppose it's an example of a town which developed the way it did because the railway enabled people to reach it quickly.

 

[philthetube]

Are there any large English cities whose station is really right at its centre, rather than (at best) on om edge of the city centre ? Only ones I can think of, of the cities I've been to, are Portsmouth and Sunderland

I think Bletchleyite has cited a key issue:




EDIT... Just thought of Brighton, which is a counter-example to my arguments. Reasonable local rail network with historically quite frequent services, but station not as close as it could be to the main shopping area. I wonder if in that case the reason might be the pull of the seafront, with the town centre tending to move towards the sea because that's where tourists would want to go?

I think you are right in that the geography would not allow brighton station to be any closer to the sea.

Worcester Foregate Street is pretty close to the city centre; Shrub Hill is several minutes walk away (and poorly signposted from the city centre when I was last there.)
From memory, Gloucester is fairly close to the shopping areas, but Coventry, Rugby, Crewe, Northampton & Southampton are all some distance from the centres / main shopping areas.[/QUOTE]

Worcester Foregate St. has to be the winner