Victoria Coach Station — Attraction in London

EDIT: I would like to add that somehow my review was hidden so I have reposted it. Not sure how, I guess some people just dont like bad news. Furthermore, this review is about the station itself, for the National Express service I have never had an issue.

Been here once before but I didn't wait long so never got to truly experience this station in full.

But, oh my god this place was a living nightmare.... aside from the dingy smelly atmosphere (and the birds sleeping in the Starbucks defacating on the tables, well that can't be helped I guess).

If you have never been here before, I will tell you that theres two separate parts to the station. I am here basically at midnight to 1am. One half was not in use but there was a Starbucks there so I went there to wait with many others who were (the platforms 9 and 10 have NO seating areas available). About 20 minutes later, someone in their wisdom decides, even with a lot of people waiting in this Starbucks, to shut off access to the first half of the station. This left me confused, but I had an hour to wait so I thought not much of it. Anyway, I observed as people decided to walk into the first half through the side entry doors to the coaches and staff simply told them they werent supposed to enter that way. So they were deterring people and asking people with their piles of luggage to go all the way round to enter back in again, despite being able to simply unlock the doors and let them in. I luckily slid myself into an open door after avoiding the heckles from a homeless man sitting by the coach exit and then a staff told me off for doing so???

How lovely to be treated like a piece of crap citizen!!!

Absolute jobs worth

Then I went to my lovely platform with no seats to sit on the floor only to be told to move it rather unpolitely by the cleaner so he could clear up an extra square foot of floor.

Toilets were also disgusting, but I never expected more than that.

The station could potentially have a nice feel with some redecorating and I like the way it was built but its run awfully, at least from when...

If you want to watch a day in the life of the travelling public then this is a good place to be. The angst on the faces of most people as they try to find the right departure bay shows humans under a lot of stress stress.

From a function point of view it works despite the chaos at times. As you enter the coach station you can see some electronic notice boards. The notice boards display the different departures, in alphabetical order.

The times of departure and, essentially, the departure bay number. Now here I think that there is a problem, unless you have travelled from the station before. The departure bays are split into two separate areas.

They are divided by buses departing to their destination. Yes you have to cross a road albeit small. I stress is not easy if you are late for your departure and you have luggage to drag along.

The departure bays themselves have large electronic tv like screens displaying information about coaches due to depart. If all else fails staff are roundabout to ask.

There are cafe's and toilets available but I have to say that observing people as we await for our coach many seems to be in a trance by it all.

We have even seen people dashing to get to their coach, at the last minute and being unsuccessful. This is because the actual doors leading into the embankment area for your coach are closed and locked 2 minutes before the actual departure.

This is to keep that area totally clear of the travelling public as the coaches first have to back out of their parking space. And sometimes this maybe half a dozen or more coaches leaving at the same time.

A sensible health and safety precaution but one that has caused many a late traveller much distress. They bang on the locked doors to no avail as they see their transport back home slip away from them.

Once those doors are shut and locked they are not opened again until the next coach is due to start boarding. But a shouted warning is given about coaches preparing to leave before those...

Victoria Coach Station in the City of Westminster is the largest coach station in London, and a terminus for medium and long distance coach services in the United Kingdom. It is operated by Victoria Coach Station Limited, a subsidiary of Transport for London. As of 2017, there were 14 million passenger and 472,000 coach movements annually.

Victoria Coach Station was commissioned by London Coastal Coaches, a consortium of coach operators, and opened on 10 March 1932 by Minister of Transport John Pybus. Wallis, Gilbert and Partners' distinctive Art Deco building was originally built with spaces for 76 coaches, and a booking hall, shops, buffet, restaurant, lounge and bar. London Coastal Coaches' headquarters and other offices occupied upper floors.

During World War II coach travel was restricted and the War Office requisitioned the premises.

By the 1960s, operation of the station had passed through industry consolidation to Tilling Group and British Electric Traction, whence it was reorganised by the Transport Act 1968 to become part of National Bus Company. Subsequently it was transferred to London Transport in 1988, and Transport for London in 2000.

Freehold owner, Grosvenor Group, announced in 2013 that it wished to redevelop the site and relocate station operations elsewhere in London, though the following year English Heritage designated the building Grade II listed.Nevertheless, several of Transport for London's leases on the station were due to expire by 2023 and proposals were made to relocate to Royal Oak, but in 2019 the move...