Unfortunately I am not blessed with quite the same writing skills as the legendary eightblack, so instead of my own description of the beauty of Euston Station I will quote from the great Wikipedia who generously describe the station under the heading “Architectural Controversy”,
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Euston's 1960s style of architecture has been variously described as "hideous", "a dingy, grey, horizontal nothingness" and a reflection of "the tawdry glamour of its time" entirely lacking in "the sense of occasion, of adventure, that the great Victorian termini gave to the traveller". Writing in The Times, Richard Morrison stated that "even by the bleak standards of Sixties architecture, Euston is one of the nastiest concrete boxes in London: devoid of any decorative merit; seemingly concocted to induce maximum angst among passengers; and a blight on surrounding streets. The design should never have left the drawing-board — if, indeed, it was ever on a drawing-board. It gives the impression of having been scribbled on the back of a soiled paper bag by a thuggish android with a grudge against humanity and a vampiric loathing of sunlight".
But at least there’s a First Class Lounge!
So it was off to the First Class Lounge to enjoy some peace and quiet over a cup of coffee and have a quick catch up with the world via the free Wi-Fi on my iPad.
However, the lounge was pretty packed out which is rarely the case and I actually had to suffer the pain of walking right the way to the back where I find a seat with a view, okay it was a view of the station but it was better than that of the business types that populated the lounge. Anyway, the Wi-Fi was pretty fast, the coffee surprisingly drinkable and the 20mins or so in the lounge was soon over and it was time to get my train.
After exiting the lounge I made my way through the “dingy, grey, horizontal nothingness” to my seat in Coach J near the back of the train.
Virgin First Class operates in a 2-1 seating plan with a mix of face to face seats with a table in between them or a table attached to the seat in front. Luckily I was on the 1 side facing forwards, unluckily I had a seat mate which meant my picture taking would be kept to a minimum.
Rolling slowly out of the station First Class service begins with a tea and coffee run, followed by a ticket check.
I’m not sure what happens if you get caught with the wrong ticket after having taken the free coffee but I can’t imagine it ends well. Food service is a choice of wraps, Sandwiches or salads, served with crisps, pre-packed cakes and muffins. Soft and slightly harder drinks were available. This trip I settled down with a beer, a spicy bean wrap, a piece of cake and a nice bag of crisps.
The pictures here are from my last trip, a tasty Greek Salad. A little while later a follow up drinks run took place and suddenly I was half way there. Flying through the countryside of Northern England, from my comfy seat, beer at my side what could be better.