Will EMR first class lounges ever reopen?

[emrtraveller]

It's been years and their lounges are still closed. Why? Should I give up hope of them returning?

 

[Spaceship323]

Derby's first class lounge is now open to anyone, no coffee or biscuits though

 

[emrtraveller]

Interesting, are there any other lounges open as well? Sheffield and St Pancras are still closed, unfortunately.

 

[Iskra]

The Sheffield one is a big miss, the ordinary public waiting room has the ambience of a prison and the station generally is a cold and draughty place to wait.

 

[LowLevel]

I'd say it is most unlikely. The first class season ticket holders they were targeted at largely aren't a market anymore. You literally saw the same people each day, on first name terms with the hosts etc.

They've gone for opening them up to anyone in theory in some locations, with decent ish furniture and space for working and this seems to have gone down fairly well, as has the more general waiting room revamp. The only real difference is you don't get any freebies.

 

[emrtraveller]

Is there something unique to EMR that makes proper lounges unviable for them? My assumption was that all train operators would be facing the same challenges, but LNER's first class lounges were open even during COVID times back when I was living in one of their cities.

 

[LowLevel]

Is there something unique to EMR that makes proper lounges unviable for them? My assumption was that all train operators would be facing the same challenges, but LNER's first class lounges were open even during COVID times back when I was living in one of their cities.

Different markets. EMT first class was targeted mostly at commuters. LNER also caters for many well heeled genuine long distance customers paying a large premium.

 

[Iskra]

Is there something unique to EMR that makes proper lounges unviable for them? My assumption was that all train operators would be facing the same challenges, but LNER's first class lounges were open even during COVID times back when I was living in one of their cities.

LNER and Avanti are always going to have more tourists on their routes due to serving London, York, Edinburgh, Manchester, Glasgow (for the Highlands and islands) and the Lake District. All operators will be seeing reduced business travel but EMR doesn’t get as much tourist trade to offset that.

Although I still don’t think that’s adequate reason for the lounges not to be used, they’re there and paid for already so may as well be open. Just remove the refreshments to save on staff and have station staff walk through every now and again to check all is okay.

 

[TheManOnThe172]

Is there something unique to EMR that makes proper lounges unviable for them?

Lack of competition making them unnecessary?

No real rail competition, and too short for air competition.

 

[higthomas]

Lack of competition making them unnecessary?

No real rail competition, and too short for air competition.

The real competition is almost always the car.