[Brighton] Brighton Station memories

[Justice]

I remember turning up and just buying a ticket instead of having to plan any journey weeks in advance.

I remember as a teenager not buying a ticket and bunking the train to some Northern hell town to watch the Albion

 

[Man of Harveys]

They absolutely need to open up the steps down to Trafalgar Street again. Give the old khazi a very thorough deep clean and it would make a nice bar/cafe: I remember that passageway as quite a grand bit of Victoriana down there, even if it did smell like the laundry room at an old people’s home.

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

As a teenager I used to work at WH Smith in the station in its previous iteration as a walk-in shop close to where we now queue for Falmer trains. We had a stock room under platform 8 from where I would go and collect drinks and sweets. The manager was a very nervous man named Tony Llewellyn who had a stammer.

I worked in the two iterations before that. The one at the East end of the station looked a distinct step up on the ones from the late 70s and early 80s.

Mind you, working "Sunday early earned me enough for my beers at the weekend and an Albion ticket.

 

[banjo]

I think they do tours of the tunnels under the station. I’m sure I saw something on the local news about it.

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

Huddersfield had a very decent pub at the station. Horrible ground, horrible weather, amazing pub crawl.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Up until a few years, well, 10 years ago, the barbers chairs were still down there. I think they may have gone now.


Yup, after that we had The Cyclist on the opposite side where the BTP office used to be, but that didn't last long.

York Station has an absolute belter of a pub on the platforms.

The Cyclist was a brilliant station pub that deserved to do much better. Think it was zapped by the cruel train strikes of 2016. Tho it wasn't exactly conducive to an extended drinking session on account of having no toilets other than a disabled toilet. On a good day there would be an impromptu and civilised baton-passing of the key to the disabled toilet. On a bad day the bar staff would give you 20 pence to use the station loos next door

 

[Brovion]

I think they do tours of the tunnels under the station. I’m sure I saw something on the local news about it.

Yeah, I did a tour once as part of the Brighton festival. They showed us the old rifle range and the old entrance where the horse-drawn vehicles used to come up. There were big scored marks in the brickwork as they use to have to jam their wheels against the wall to stop their vehicles from rolling back down the slope.

 

[nordicgod]

Started as a student working Sunday mornings and Tuesday evenings at Casey jones in 1989 till it closed some characters working there and then turned into quicksnack with its microwaved burgers ,I managed the bar next door for a while , more characters there coming in like Dave the paint and Dublin Joe RIP . Used to close whenever Millwall visited the goldstone. Am still up the station 36 years later but have progressed well .

 

[HeaviestTed]

Slam door trains were so cool, none of this “doors close 30 seconds before departure” nonsense

 

[Skuller]

There are some epic real ale bars in stations, especially up North (proper North, not Haywards Heath). I recently went to the one in Sheffield station - about 10 real ales on the bar and a beautiful room, to boot.

I agree, but we have our own. There’s Steamworks in Seaford railway station which is well worth a visit and Steamworks in Glynde railway station (which I’ve not tried yet).

 

[Uh_huh_him]

There are some epic real ale bars in stations, especially up North (proper North, not Haywards Heath). I recently went to the one in Sheffield station - about 10 real ales on the bar and a beautiful room, to boot.

Had to change at Crewe on the way back on Saturday.

There was a large bar on the platform I had to change on.

 

[The Antikythera Mechanism]

I well remember these things . My father worked there on the ticket barriers for a time.
The toilets down the stairs were something, I recall gleaming copper pipes and marble floors. Wasn’t it a ladies hairdresser that made the smell?
It was great to get out quickly to Trafalgar Street if you wanted London Road , I always missed that entrance coming back . Happy days when we were younger…..

The ladies hairdresser smell was eggy whereas the Gents toilets was akin to the fishmongers at the Open Market.

 

[AnotherArch]

Slam door trains were so cool, none of this “doors close 30 seconds before departure” nonsense

And there were some with no corridor. Once you were in that compartment, you were in!

 

[rebel51]

Started as a student working Sunday mornings and Tuesday evenings at Casey jones in 1989 till it closed some characters working there and then turned into quicksnack with its microwaved burgers ,I managed the bar next door for a while , more characters there coming in like Dave the paint and Dublin Joe RIP . Used to close whenever Millwall visited the goldstone. Am still up the station 36 years later but have progressed well .

I remember a few oldham lads had to dive behind the bar in there to get away from some albion yobos, although they did come down the following year and it was a different story.

 

[bobbab5]

As a teenager I used to work at WH Smith in the station in its previous iteration as a walk-in shop close to where we now queue for Falmer trains. We had a stock room under platform 8 from where I would go and collect drinks and sweets. The manager was a very nervous man named Tony Llewellyn who had a stammer.

I worked at WH Smith in Haywards Heath Station for 10 years, I knew Tony quite well

 

[Cheshire Cat]

And there were some with no corridor. Once you .were in that compartment, you were in!

Or toilets. You definitely didn't want anything to come out if you were in one of those.

Mostly the four carriage trains on the Coastway service to Bognor or Chichester.

 

[Guinness Boy]

And there were some with no corridor. Once you were in that compartment, you were in!

And then there was “the guard’s van” where Harry Clipper lived, looking after a random’s bike and three packages wrapped in brown paper.

 

[AnotherArch]

How did we keep our tickets back then without losing them? Made of cardboard, just over 2.25 inches long and 1 inch wide and could be torn in half to separate the 'out' from the 'return'.
For the 'football special' fares (long before the Seagull Specials) the ticket office bloke sometimes had to handwrite the destination on this tiny piece of cardboard.
I remember in 1965, Stockport was 45/- and Darlington 66/-. Some people did those two return journeys on successive days at Easter, but we stopped in Manchester in between.

 

[BrightonCottager]

I agree, but we have our own. There’s Steamworks in Seaford railway station which is well worth a visit and Steamworks in Glynde railway station (which I’ve not tried yet).

True. I've been to both and they're excellent. It's especially welcome having the one at Glynde since the sad demise of the Trev.

 

[Pliny the Gull]

Might be corrected on this.
Back in the 70s there were more pubs in one square mile of the station than anywhere else in England.
Windsor tavern was a pre match venue.
Remember the Bosun !