Birmingham New Street — Attraction in Birmingham

Having using it last December (and once or twice 1-2 decades back), a pretty good station in the centre of Birmingham and within close walking distance of the main sites & attractions of Birmingham city centre. Also has train services extending to different parts of the UK (most of the West Midlands, the East Midlands, London, the South West, Wales, the North West, Yorkshire, the North East and Scotland) and is a station with tracks covering almost all directions which makes it one of the best and most convenient railway stations I've come across in the UK. Other things I really like is the Grand Central shopping centre above which has some nice shops and eating areas, it is easily accessible by public transport such as the tram (West Midlands metro) and even buses while rail services do cover different parts of the city, and the toilets I used were relatively clean & well maintained. The only things I'm not quite as fond of are the fact that most of the platforms in the station are enclosed, except for the easternmost & westernmost bits (which gives an underground feeling, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I do prefer stations that are exposed to the light), and it may not always be as reliable if trains are delayed (although thankfully the trains I used were on time). But apart from all that, I really like this station & I could use it more if I travel to Birmingham by...

Good luck when you get to New Street station. It looks fantastic but seems that looks have taken preference to passenger satisfaction. Depending on which end of the platform you get off at will determine how many ticket barriers you have to go through. Can never remember if a end or b end and then which colour waiting area is best but always seem to have a walk to change (mind you it seems the norm now that if you take public transport you must enjoy walking).

There also appear to be a random number of escalators that do not work so walking up or down these is an experience not to be missed. Even better walking up these with 200 other swearing passengers adds further to that enjoyment. Good luck listening to the announcements as well with platforms competing with other platforms announcements and then being interrupted by the mandatory offerings is another of the New Street experiences not to miss.

Food offerings are not to bad with large selection but can be a little (or a lot) overpriced. Having a WH Smith with one staff member running the tills, helping with the self checkouts and stocking the shelves offers those in a rush a lucky dip of getting served is an experience.

Need at least 15 minutes connection time to allow for delays, escelators not working, barriers and in the worse case scenario a platform change.

Apart from the above I always enjoy changing at...

I just had the worst experience not with the train or the food here but with the staff! Before I continue, my experience does not reflect anybody's experience here, it's only my experience.

-Birmingham New Street (BNS)-

So, I bought the open return ticket to Coventry from here then I went back to here, but I couldn't get in from Coventry station because the staff said it's supposed to be 2 tickets but when I purchased the ticket in the ticket machine there's only one that came out of it. Therefore, I had to purchase another ticket in order to go back to BNS but when I got back here I demanded refund. The staff I talked to was already rude at the beginning, the conversation was heating up and he was being even more rude, I said something that it's the mistake of the machine and he didn't believe me and he called somebody, then he was suddenly quiet probably because I was right and he's wrong. From there, he started to talk to me nicer but I was already upset and I felt disrespected for being accused that it was my mistake. He still insisted it was my mistake and he offered me to get the refund from the ticket I purchased in Coventry, I said ok. But still, it hurt me so bad when he kept saying it was my mistake and he did not apologize at all! Not only he was being RUDE and UNFRIENDLY but also he was being...