In the last decade or so, the railways of Great Britain have seen a resurgence in on-train dining, offering customers the joy of a freshly cooked meal with a changing landscape while they undertake their journey.
There are some luxury train experiences in Great Britain from the Royal Scotsman to the Northern Belle, but this isn’t about those, even though I’d love to sample them. We’re talking about regular intercity trains, without bells and whistles, that ply Britain’s mainline routes serving everyday journeys between major cities – some with restaurant experiences onboard.
Britain is fairly unique in how its passenger railway works. The set-up today is a product of the 1997 privatisation. This resulted in twenty-four different operators running the passenger services in the country split by geography – an unusual model compared to the rest of Europe which typically see one nationalised operator and one or two private operators. This is beginning to change as operators start becoming nationalised again under the current Labour government.
This past quarter century of railway privatisation has led to a unique set-up where some parts of the country have a different rail service brands – and their own onboard services to match as they try to stand out from other operators.
If you’ve seen a few of my travel reports, you’ll know that I love an onboard restaurant carriage and I’ve been lucky enough to experience these on regular trains across Europe.
In July 2024, I planned a trip with some friends to sample some of the best catering offers onboard regular intercity trains in Great Britain. We devised an itinerary that would take in all three of these in just one day – an ultimate ‘Dining Day Out’ – and fair to say it was a proper endurance with a lot of food. This trip would more than serve our needs for breakfast, lunch and evening meal and probably for the coming days!
Great Britain is my home country, and this is actually the first time I’ve written a travel report on Britain’s railways, aside from the Eurostar – the high speed train from London direct to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam. There are some wonderful train journeys to be experienced in Great Britain – so rest assured that this will be changing in the future as I plan to feature one or two journeys closer to home.
| No. | Journey | Operator | Meal |
| 1 | 08:30 Manchester Piccadilly to Cardiff Central, arriving 11:53 | Transport for Wales – Premier Dining | Breakfast |
| 2 | 13:18 Cardiff Cental to London Paddington, arriving 15:15 | GWR – Pullman Dining | Lunch |
| 3 | 17:33 London King’s Cross to Harrogate, arriving 20:30 | LNER – First Class (Complimentary Offer) | Evening Meal |
Train 1: Manchester Piccadilly to Cardiff Central with Transport for Wales
Kicking the trip off, we all met up in Manchester’s Piccadilly station first thing. First on the menu was the Premier Dining onboard Transport for Wales, which we’d sample en route to Cardiff Central.
Every hour, a train operated by Transport for Wales (TfW) departs from the ‘capital of the north’ bound for the Welsh capital, crossing the border from England to Wales in three-four hours.
Not every train on the route offers the Premier Dining, as these are operated by different types of trains – so do check before you book. Every other hour, a train is operated by a former intercity train of the east coast main line – known as the InterCity 225. These trains which have been shortened considerably from their original nine carriages to only four (most likely to accommodate shorter platform lengths), operate instead of its counterpart regional train that departs in the other hour.
If the train is operated by a InterCity 225 then Premier Dining is available, cooked by an onboard travelling chef and offered exclusively for First Class passengers. This requires either a First Class ticket or a supplement to be paid on top of a Standard Class ticket. The food onboard comes at an additional charge.
When the InterCity 225s were transferred to TfW, they retained their onboard kitchens and TfW grabbed the opportunity to expand their Premier Dining offer from their originally one train per day from Holyhead to Cardiff to more services on the popular Manchester to Cardiff route.
Shortly after departure, the Train Manager came around to check our tickets. Most of us had paid for Standard Class tickets and paid the upgrade fee, then the host came around to introduce herself and take our orders.
On the menu, in English and Welsh languages, a selection of five cooked options were available for breakfast, all priced at £11.50 ($14.50 / €14,00) or less.
Heading to Wales I deemed it appropriate to opt for ‘Y brecwast Cymreig Ilawn’, or ‘The full Welsh breakfast’, served with toast and butter and a complimentary cup of tea. As tempting as it was, there was a large version of the same breakfast – ‘The big breakfast’. However, as we had another two train meals it was necessary to be sensible and save some room!
The main meal of the day was delicious, fresh and filling. It was served by a friendly host, who checked that we were satisfied in the drinks department at frequent intervals so we could arrive well rested over the border and into Cardiff.
The InterCity 225 is a comfortable train with well padded seats and spacious carriages. Dining or no dining, it’s worth waiting an extra hour to enjoy the trip on one of these train types for the long trip. When booking, these are the trains that offer First Class fares as the regional train doesn’t offer First Class. If you book on the booking engine of the Transport for Wales website you can see the Premier Dining marked to give you absolute certainty.
There is an earlier departure at 06:27 from Manchester Piccadilly, should you wish to have some more time in Cardiff.
Train 2: Cardiff Central to London Paddington with GWR
Next up, we had a choice. Either we could spend a couple of hours enjoying Cardiff, squeezing in a visit to the castle or a Welsh pub, or we can focus on the mission and head to a station earlier on the train’s journey to increase our chances of getting a table! Most of the group opted for the latter and so we headed to Bridgend on a regional train to catch the Great Western Railway (GWR) service to London Paddington.
GWR operate the mainline routes from the UK capital to the west from London Paddington to Bristol, Plymouth, Penzance and to Cardiff and Swansea.
The particular service we would be catching originates in Swansea and the Pullman Dining operates only one service in each direction to/from Wales per day, so do check before you book.
The Pullman Dining utilises the First Class section of the modern dark green liveried ‘InterCity Express Train’ train sets of the GWR and is offered to customers who are making trips of fifty minutes or more.
Conversely to the TfW Premier Dining, the GWR Pullman Dining doesn’t actually require a First Class ticket. If you have a First Class ticket, though, you can reserve a seat on the GWR website – handy for when it’s busy to guarantee you the experience. For this trip we were travelling with Standard tickets which doesn’t guarantee you a table hence why we opted to get onboard as soon as possible. As it happened, there was plenty of space onboard and only another couple of diners on this particular trip.
This particular train is actually formed of two 5-carriage trains coupled together with no way to walk between the trains. The Pullman Dining is only offered in one portion and unhelpfully it isn’t advertised on the departure board which portion the Pullman Dining is located. Knowing that First Class is located at the front and middle (the front carriage of each set) facing London, we decided to optimum place to stand would be towards the front.
In my experience of joining this train twice before, the Pullman Dining is normally located in the middle of the train in the rear 5-carriage train. A top tip is to look out for the table cloths in the front carriage of each set. The Pullman Dining hosts also meet and greet on the platform so you can look out for them too.
Once we had checked availability with the hosts we were onboard and seated – and we were in for a real treat. Some fine dining beckoned.
The GWR Pullman Dining menu is a set menu with a choice of two or three courses on offer. Two courses will set you back £37.00 ($47.00 / €45,00) while three courses are £44.00 ($56.00 / €53,00), making it virtually impossible to decline dessert. Soft drinks and water are on the house, but for those wanting to splash out a little more, the wine menu is worth perusing.
I opted for the pressed ham hock for my starter, panko breaded salmon for main course and lemon meringue pie for afters. I washed this down with a fruity bottle of Chenin Blanc. It was all splendid.
The hosts then came around with some free tea or coffee and after dinner mints.
The GWR Pullman Dining was a wonderful experience. The crews were warm and engaging and the food simply delicious. The other benefit of Pullman Dining with a Standard ticket is that the seat is yours for the remainder of the trip. So sit back, relax and treat yourself.
The experience is a little on the pricey side, but makes for a memorable trip and is completely worth it in my opinion. The service was of a high quality and attentive with nice features such as tablecloths and flowers on the table. A wine cooler was also provided.
Having taken this particular service a few times, it’s a shame to see it not being well utilised. The dedicated hosts are always keen for us to pass the word on, so here I am doing my bit! Go and experience it folks – you’ll love every minute.
Train 3: London King’s Cross to Harrogate with LNER
After to a visit to a London pub for a pricey beer, at least when you’re used to prices in the north, it was a quick trip across the capital on the Hammersmith and City Line to King’s Cross for the final leg of the trip.
Long distance LNER trains operate from King’s Cross up the east coast main line, serving key cities such as Leeds, York, Newcastle and Edinburgh. These services mainly use similar trains to GWR, branded as the ‘Azuma’, the Japanese word for ‘east’ but there are also a few InterCity 225 sets still in circulation.
For this trip, we wouldn’t be alighting at any of these cities and instead we opted for one of the direct LNER services to the North Yorkshire town of Harrogate.
The deal with food on LNER is once again a different set-up. All meals are included in the ticket for First Class passengers. All you need is a valid First Class ticket to take advantage.
There are usually four different menus in circulation which offer a different menu depending on the specific train – these are categorised into ‘Brunch’, ‘Deli’, ‘Dish’ and ‘Dine’, with the latter being the most premium offering. Check out the LNER website to check your menu at the time of booking and learn more about the menus.
I did unfortunately forget to capture the specific menu on this trip, but here is an example of the main course and dessert that is offered on a train with the ‘Dine’ menu from the LNER website.
On this trip I opted for BBQ Pork with Spiced Rice served with ready salted crisps and the cheese plate to finish, which was a delicious end to a very hard day of… eating. We recounted our crazy day trip to the friendly onboard host, who couldn’t believe what we managed to squeeze in.
Booking and Fares
Fares for each of the individual train legs are dynamically priced, meaning fares they tend to increase the closer to departure that they are booked. Book early for the best deals.
Tickets can be booked at any of Great Britain’s operators websites or from any National Rail station. Details of the service offerings are also available on the relevant operators websites.
| Journey | Ticket required | Tickets cost | Booking Online Direct |
| Manchester to Cardiff (Transport for Wales) | First Class ticket or First Class InterRail pass | First Class Advance from £25.30. or Standard Class Advance from £16.90 + £27.20 supplement | Transport for Wales website |
| Cardiff to London Paddington (GWR) | First Class ticket / Interrail (guaranteed dining) or Standard Class ticket / Interrail (subject to availability dining) | Standard Class Advance from £31.00 or First Class Advance from £48.00 | GWR website |
| London King’s Cross to Harrogate (LNER) | First Class ticket / InterRail pass | First Class Advance from £62.20 | LNER website |
Conclusion
The Dining Day Out Extravaganza was highly enjoyable, sampling three of the restaurant experiences on Britain’s rails while enjoying great service and views on regular intercity trains. As anticipated, there was a lot of food to consume in one day, but 100% worth it for the novel opportunity to experience three dining trains in one go. All three were wonderful, with freshly cooked meals and great service from the onboard crews. There’s some great experiences out there for those in the know.
Have you dined onboard any of Great Britain’s intercity trains? Share your experience in the comments below!
This travel report was first published in December 2024.
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