The Anonymous Widower

Around Blackburn Station

I stayed in the Premier Inn by Blackburn station and I took these pictures of the area around the station and the nearby Blackburn cathedral.

It is an arrangement, that gives the visitor a good welcome to the town. It has the scent of the unexpected about it.

Note these points about the station and the trains.

• The station has recently been rebuilt, but the new trains won’t arrive for a couple of years.
• There are a lot of direct trains across the North from the station to places like Blackpool, Leeds, Manchester, Preston and York, with a couple of rural branch lines in the interesting category.
• Station staff are not very numerous, when you need them.
• You’ll have to hunt the ticket machine.
• There is a Booking Office for buying Ranger and Rover tickets.
• Some parts of the station are showing poor quality construction.
• A return ticket up the Clitheroe Line to Clitheroe cost me £2.50 with a Railcard.

I think with the new trains and some more services, things can only get better.

I might even close the Booking Office, put two ticket machines on each main platform group; 1 to 3 and 4, and get the staff more visible.

In the morning, I had a walk around the part of the town centre nearest to the station.

• There are no maps and just a few finger posts, but it’s not really a place to get lost.
• I bought my paper in a convenient Morrisons about two hundred metres from the station.
• I made the mistake going into the large Shopping Centre, but it was designed like a maze and I didn’t find what I was looking for.
• One gem, I did find later was Cafe Northcote in the Cathedral, where I had an extremely delicious gluten-free egg sandwich.

You could certainly waste an hour or so enjoyably in Blackburn, whilst waiting for a train.

If I compare it to various mid-size towns and cities, where you might miss an hourly train home or get seriously delayed, you get the following.

• Brighton, Cambridge, Liverpool Lime Street, Oxford and Reading – Acceptable for everybody including gluten-free, as there’s an M&S Simply Food in the station.
• Colchester, Ipswich and Norwich – Except for hot drinks and sandwiches, there’s nothing. And you’re away from the centre!
• Derby, Doncaster, Leicester, Nottingham and York – Dreadful, if like me you’re gluten-free.
• Rochester – You’re just across the road from the centre.
• Romford and Southend – You’re in the large town centre, with an M&S, pubs and cafes nearby.

In addition to being better than many in my list, in my view, Blackburn is certainly a better place to get stuck than Blackpool, Burnley or Preston.

Blackburn has certainly raised the stakes about creating a welcoming station.

October 16, 2016 Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Blackburn, Cathedral, Stations | 3 Comments