Duncan wrote:
I wondered that when I was there yesterday. The FCC ticket office had
quite a queue building up even with all the ticket windows open, but the
EMT ticket office next door was empty. There appeared to be no clear
guidance over which ticket office to use, so I expect most people were
just using the first one they came across.

For some reason the MML (EMT) ticket office never seems to be fully
staffed, although as you say it isn't that busy. Once the high-speed
Southeastern services commence in 2 years then the use of both ticket
offices will increase significantly.

I assume there is no incentive for FCC to direct some of their customers
to the EMT office as they will lose the commission on the sale.

An interesting point. Once Southeastern move in I wonder whether they'll
sell tickets themselves or just leave it to the existing TOCs at StP -
in any case there won't be any more ticket office booths/stalls if the
map on the official StP website is accurate.

These also stopped working when I was yesterday evening. The screens on
the Low Level platforms were just displaying 'listen to announcements
for details'.

The whole station still seemed unfinished to me.

In fact, the station *is* unfinished - the bulk of the remaining work
will be complete next year (see further comments for details).

I can't understand why a lot of the retail units have still not been
fitted out. If WHS and M&S can manage by the opening, why are others
struggling weeks later? At the moment it hasn't got the feel of a
shopping centre, which they were aiming for, nor a station.

The retailers aren't responsible for the retail fit-out works. The
fit-out works in general were behind schedule (I watched the recent
documentary on StP a few weeks ago) and the station was 'opened' on
November 14 only because the Eurostar fit-out works were prioritised.
The guy responsible for getting the retailers in place was quite ****ed
off when the decision was taken to put the retail fit-out on the back
burner, but it was a decision that most certainly spared the blushes of
LCR as the station may otherwise have not been ready for Eurostar
services on November 14.

Personally I think there are too many fancy shops. Most of the
passengers there, e.g. domestic travellers, I'm sure will just want
snacks and something to read on the journey. Those retailers that have
been allowed in, such as WHSmith, have units far too small for the
number of passengers trying to use them.

As you have gathered LCR have gone for an upmarket theme at StP, but
there will be some High-Street brands coming on stream over the coming
year (2008). Most of those units are in the Circle (located adjacent to
the domestic ticket office and currently hoarded off) and are being
fitted out.

Here are the maps of StP if you're interested:
Street level - http://tinyurl.com/yqtmxv
Platform level - http://tinyurl.com/2zebvy