Great Western Coffee Shop

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2009/may/12/railway-station-cafes-uk-food?page=all (http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2009/may/12/railway-station-cafes-uk-food?page=all)

i have been to one of the top ten and 3 of the highly recommended

but they missed okehampton?  ??? :)

I thought Didcot had a good cafe?

Ely was very good in the 80s we went there a couple of times on Chris Green's Network South East days to get the 86 out of Liverpool Street and the 47 on from Cambridge (3 minute engine change at Cambridge).

Must get to Stalybridge,

yes stalybridge was one of them (when i was younger) used the ghost train

I have been to 1, 4 and 7.

But the Carnforth one is not actually the room they filmed Brief Encounter - it is even the wrong part of the station! I think they used a station cafe on the Settle and Carlisle line.

they forgot worcs shrub hill,dont look much but cracking bacon butty

Have to say, I'm gobsmacked that Westbury gets a mention whilst Chippenham doesn't. I mean, nothing against Westbury in terms of cleanliness, but the range on offer is nothing like that served at Chippenham, where it's all fresh local produce and prepared on the spot. By (oddly enough) mainly French staff, no less. What was it someone up there was saying about gourmands? I'm not even sure there's hot food available at Westbury, let alone sizzling local bacon and free range eggs.

Mind you, I've never forgiven Westbury for closing the near-perfect replica of the Brief Encounter cafeteria they had over on Platform 1 - all that can be seen of it now are the stained glass window lights. I'd love to know if there's any original fittings left inside. For some years the facilities it provided to customers were replaced by a little hut located between Platforms 2 and 3; which in turn has recently been replaced by basically the same little hut, but squeezed into the corner of a steel and glass waiting room.

A hut lodged within a steel and glass waiting room which The Guardian chooses to highlight as amongst the finest railway cafes in Britain. I despair, I really do.

I can confirm that (these days, at least), Didcot just has the standard Pumpkin Cafe (platforms 2/3 island) and a Cafe Ritazza in the booking hall. It also benefits from a Spar which is actually very helpful because it's actually open most of the time (0600 - 2200 7 days), just a shame they don't accept my bite card...

Not sure if I'd count it as among the top 10 in the UK, and I'm not absolutely sure if it's still there, but there was a cafe on Evesham station where you could get a nice cup of tea and a very creditable, freshly-cooked bacon sandwich.

Never noticed it - the station isnt big enough to have a cafe in it and I've never noticed a fixture in the car park! 

Yes, it's still there - though I can't vouch for the quality of what it sells.

is the old cafeteria on plat1 westbury now the crew room? if so i doubt there are any original fittings left.

What about the Buffet's at Liskeard and Bodmin Parkway...?!

Also there is a rather good Breakfast Van in Castle Cary Station's Car Park ;D

I can't understand why the van at Pershore isn't on. ;D

Any body thinking that Journalist's have toured Britain seaching out the Very Best Station Cafe's think again.

With no disrespect to the listed Cafe's, it does say on the Guardian's page that they ASKED Railway experts for their favourite station Cafe.

Of course IF journalist's had toured Britain to find the Best 10 Station Cafe's you can be sure as Eggs is Eggs that they would also do the WORSE 10 station cafe's in Britain.

HOWEVER I'm delighted that the Good man Richard Burningham of the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership is in their list of Railway Experts. That man should be Knighted IMHO.

In my humble ignorance?  :-*

Correction made.

There are others that are now just a memory - such as the very similar (and licensed) cafes at the very similar stations of Kilmarnock and Pontypridd.  A long way apart but I have lived near both!  Both buidlings are still there on the platform - Ponty's closed about 1990 and not too sure about the other one - I am sure it was open in 2003. 

It would be brilliant to see the one at Ponty re-opened, though with a Wetherspoons and the tidy Greyhound Inn over the road I don't think it ever will.  The "new" bar / pool hall at the street entrance didn't last long. To ATW's credit they have re-opened the old wating room/ticket office and put old pictures in there for you to look at - even if the room does stink of decay!

In Merthyr we still have the world-famous Station Cafe, which has never been a railway cafe but until the station moved it effectively was Merthyr station's cafe but is always worth a visit.  The first coffee machine in Wales was in that very cafe!

Thank you for your kind words, Smokey.