End of catering on SWR

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SWR have cancelled their contract with Elior to provide on-board catering and today Elior started the official (minimum) 45 day consultation period prior to making redundancies. The official union representation is from RMT and the next meeting with Elior and RMT is Thursday 10 December. This affects those at the Bournemouth, Portsmouth, Salisbury and Waterloo locations.


Its a shame to see the end of on board catering particularly on the longer Pompey/Soton/Bournemouth/Weymouth/Exeter routes, but to be honest has always looked a possibility since Rail Gourmet lost the contract and the refurbed trains ripped out the buffet spaces.

 

[cakefiend]

to be honest has always looked a possibility since Rail Gourmet lost the contract and the refurbed trains ripped out the buffet spaces.

Dreadful news, although I’m not sure the relevance of RG losing the contract with the decision that’s been made.

 

[Bigfoot]

SWR have cancelled their contract with Elior to provide on-board catering and today Elior started the official (minimum) 45 day consultation period prior to making redundancies. The official union representation is from RMT and the next meeting with Elior and RMT is Thursday 10 December. This affects those at the Bournemouth, Portsmouth, Salisbury and Waterloo locations.


Its a shame to see the end of on board catering particularly on the longer Pompey/Soton/Bournemouth/Weymouth/Exeter routes, but to be honest has always looked a possibility since Rail Gourmet lost the contract and the refurbed trains ripped out the buffet spaces.

The buffet spaces being removed is also not a reason as they were so rarely used as a buffet, only when the trains were too busy for a trolley to pass through.

 

[py_megapixel]

Not particularly surprising, especially in the current circumstances. People are probably more hesitant to buy food given they're stuck in a mask for the whole journey so have no way to eat it.

Of course this is awful news for the staff affected, but from my personal perspective I don't consider it to be a huge problem. Just means if I'm travelling in that area of the country I might want to remember to pick something up before I get on the train. I probably won't miss it at all.

 

[lkpridgeon]

Could it be that they're changing supplier again and have no need for a contract right now due to the situation? I did a survey about 3 weeks ago over the future of their on train catering provision however this could've informed them to some degree it wasn't needed.

 

[NSE]

I have to say I’ve never used one. They’re expensive and a poor selection and they never have what I want. Admittedly approx 80% of my travel is within London and of the remaining 20%, probably only 5% is outside the London and South East commuter area, so I’m used to being close to shops (many 24hr) to buy what I want when I want. I appreciate that this won’t be the case for the customers of Yeovil!

Feel sorry the staff losing jobs of course, that goes without saying, but I personally won’t miss anything.

 

[swt_passenger]

The buffet spaces being removed is also not a reason as they were so rarely used as a buffet, only when the trains were too busy for a trolley to pass through.

...and of course that’s just a feature of 444s. Lack of a micro buffet would be irrelevant to the 450s and 158/9 services with trolleys...

 

[cakefiend]

Could it be that they're changing supplier again and have no need for a contract right now due to the situation? I did a survey about 3 weeks ago over the future of their on train catering provision however this could've informed them to some degree it wasn't needed.

I have no doubt that this will have been a factor.

 

[HamworthyGoods]

This affects those at the Bournemouth, Portsmouth, Salisbury and Waterloo locations.

Presumably also Axminster is affected?

 

[Butts]

Not particularly surprising, especially in the current circumstances. People are probably more hesitant to buy food given they're stuck in a mask for the whole journey so have no way to eat it.

Of course this is awful news for the staff affected, but from my personal perspective I don't consider it to be a huge problem. Just means if I'm travelling in that area of the country I might want to remember to pick something up before I get on the train. I probably won't miss it at all.

You are allowed to take your mask off whilst eating and drinking onboard.

 

[FlippyFF]

Not particularly surprising, especially in the current circumstances. People are probably more hesitant to buy food given they're stuck in a mask for the whole journey so have no way to eat it.

Come down to Southeastern territory where having food & drink on a train is a reason to leave your mask on the table or under your chin for the whole journey.

Simon

 

[Bletchleyite]

Not particularly surprising, especially in the current circumstances. People are probably more hesitant to buy food given they're stuck in a mask for the whole journey so have no way to eat it.

Without getting into the technicalities of the wording of the law or the merits or otherwise of masks, as this is for the COVID subforum, convention on most TOCs (other than the ever-has-to-be-different Northern) appears to be that you can take it off if you are at the time consuming food or drink.

The issue is simply that there are hardly any passengers there to buy any. It wouldn't surprise me if the supplier was enthusiastic to withdraw from the contract. Catering is barely remunerative even when the trains are packed, because most people buy before they board.

 

[hexagon789]

Hardly surprising, Chiltern did the same a few years ago. I think before long it will be almost exclusively longer-distance InterCity type workings with catering still.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Hardly surprising, Chiltern did the same a few years ago. I think before long it will be almost exclusively longer-distance InterCity type workings with catering still.

I suppose with SWR you have the quirk of it having a couple of what might be termed long distance IC workings, i.e. Weymouth and Salisbury/Exeter. It wouldn't totally surprise me to see it reinstated on those only once COVID is done with.

With regard to the commuter services, there's basically no point, you get better coffee at the station or take your own. I think it's actually the advent of quality coffee that's done a lot towards killing trolleys - why pay over £2 for a cup of instant when you can pay that for something of more quality? And it's much easier to provide that quality at the station, where in many cases there are old, underused buildings with lots of surplus space to put it in.

 

[FQTV]

If it's a long term or permanent removal, then it'll be another little dent in the attractiveness of taking the train to and from Southampton for those making onward maritime connections. The lack of dedicated luggage space is already a challenge, and carrying vittels from the station when dragging said luggage is a non-starter. With the demise of flybe, and once cruising and crossings restart, there might be an opportunity for SWR to take some small part of the traffic that would hitherto have flown.

Admittedly, the real demand is principally on Cunard embarkation days, but on those days, the number of seats that were stacked with cases out of Waterloo was something to behold. And the incredulous Americans' reactions to what they'd presumably expected to be some kind of Boat Train was sometimes rather spectacular, too.

 

[Bletchleyite]

If it's a long term or permanent removal, then it'll be another little dent in the attractiveness of taking the train to and from Southampton for those making onward maritime connections.

Will it really? A lukewarm cup of instant coffee and a curled up cheese and tomato sandwich?

It's not making money because people are buying it at Waterloo or wherever and getting nicer coffee and better sandwiches from M&S. The journey isn't long enough to need two cups.

Trolley cases mean it's perfectly feasible to carry a coffee in the hand that's not pulling the case. People don't use classic suitcases any more.

 

[swt_passenger]

Will it really? A lukewarm cup of instant coffee and a curled up cheese and tomato sandwich?

It's not making money because people are buying it at Waterloo or wherever and getting nicer coffee and better sandwiches from M&S. The journey isn't long enough to need two cups.

Trolley cases mean it's perfectly feasible to carry a coffee in the hand that's not pulling the case. People don't use classic suitcases any more.

Pre-lockdown SSP had just about every brand they own positioned all along the Waterloo gateline. For a simple coffee they were very conveniently placed to compete with the onboard trolley, you didn’t have to deviate much from your route at all...

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

I think that’s a shame, I used to travel from Woking to Yeovil Junction every month or so when I was younger to visit family friends, and we would often use the trolley on the train home. Food was limited to junk food and overpriced at that in my experience, I would have definitely preferred healthier options but it was useful as Yeovil Junction has no cafe

 

[route101]

What routes did SWR have catering on?

I know they had catering between Salisbury/Basingstoke and London when i took SWR from Exeter to London. I never seen trolley from Exeter though.

Last catering on third land?

 

[FQTV]

Will it really? A lukewarm cup of instant coffee and a curled up cheese and tomato sandwich?

It's not making money because people are buying it at Waterloo or wherever and getting nicer coffee and better sandwiches from M&S. The journey isn't long enough to need two cups.

Trolley cases mean it's perfectly feasible to carry a coffee in the hand that's not pulling the case. People don't use classic suitcases any more.

You've quite clearly never seen how much luggage Cunard passengers have with them! They're often on multi-month trips, of which the sailing may only be part. Indeed, some of the sailings themselves last months.

 

[Bletchleyite]

You've quite clearly never seen how much luggage Cunard passengers have with them! They're often on multi-month trips, of which the sailing may only be part. Indeed, some of the sailings themselves last months.

If you can afford that, you can probably afford (and are likely to choose) a taxi to the port. You're talking holidays costing upwards of £10K there.

 

[FQTV]

If you can afford that, you can probably afford (and are likely to choose) a taxi to the port. You're talking holidays costing upwards of £10K there.

In which case, there wouldn't have been cases stacked high on passenger seats on Southampton trains.

The cost of the holiday might be £15k rather than £10k if every port or airport transfer was private, and why shouldn't a traveller from Delaware or Dortmund assume that the mainline train service from the nation's capital city to it's principal passenger cruise port would have sufficient luggage racks or the facility to buy a drink?

 

[Grecian 1998]

What routes did SWR have catering on?

I know they had catering between Salisbury/Basingstoke and London when i took SWR from Exeter to London. I never seen trolley from Exeter though.

Last catering on third land?

On Waterloo-Exeter services catering was provided east of Axminster, but not west of it. The trolley would join eastbound services and leave westbound services there.

Axminster tends to be the point at which long distance passengers start to outnumber short distance passengers on eastbound services and vice versa. Travel to/from Exeter generally drops off sharply afterwards whilst travel from Salisbury / London picks up, so it made some sense.

 

[akm]

What routes did SWR have catering on?

I know they had catering between Salisbury/Basingstoke and London when i took SWR from Exeter to London. I never seen trolley from Exeter though.

Last catering on third land?

Trolleys on the Portsmouth services, both on the Portsmouth Direct and via Eastleigh.

 

[philthetube]

you would need a bus for the luggage some carry, I have seen a couple take 2 taxis from station to docks.

 

[21C101]

The old Southern Railway deliberately subsidised catering and ran it at a loss as they felt it more than paid for itself in extra fare revenue by making the overall package more attractive.

In truth though it has been in decline since the 1920s when the wealthy first bought cars resulting in first class receipts cratering.

Wouldn't be surprised to see it return on Exeter and possibly Weymouth services, especially if the West of England line gets the Midland Main Line Meridens in a couple of years.

 

[davetheguard]

Will it really? A lukewarm cup of instant coffee and a curled up cheese and tomato sandwich?

It's not making money because people are buying it at Waterloo or wherever and getting nicer coffee and better sandwiches from M&S. The journey isn't long enough to need two cups.

Trolley cases mean it's perfectly feasible to carry a coffee in the hand that's not pulling the case. People don't use classic suitcases any more.

Oh God, not that old railway curly sandwich thing again!

Buying at Waterloo is fine, but by the time I've got to Salisbury, I'm ready for a second cup, and it's still a long way to Exeter. If this is a permanent change I'll certainly be travelling with GWR more often.

 

[Carlisle]

Im unsure why staff couldn’t have been offered station or train cleaning duties as Scotrail, TPE & possibly others have with their caterers temporarily , rather than redundancy

 

[cactustwirly]

Oh God, not that old railway curly sandwich thing again!

Buying at Waterloo is fine, but by the time I've got to Salisbury, I'm ready for a second cup, and it's still a long way to Exeter. If this is a permanent change I'll certainly be travelling with GWR more often.

The amount of passengers travelling all the way to Exeter from Waterloo is very small I'd imagine. It's essentially a local stopping service west of Salisbury.
Most people travelling to Exeter will use the much faster GWR services which ofc have catering.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Oh God, not that old railway curly sandwich thing again!

Buying at Waterloo is fine, but by the time I've got to Salisbury, I'm ready for a second cup, and it's still a long way to Exeter. If this is a permanent change I'll certainly be travelling with GWR more often.

Whether curly or not, a trolley has a limited selection of sandwiches compared with a station M&S or your kitchen!

The use-case is basically tea (more so than rubbish instant coffee). I'm not sure that will ever pay its way, though if we see it back it'll be on those two services (Exeter and Weymouth).