London Banter - View Single Post

Solario

On Aug 1, 12:33*am, M Platting wrote:
On Thu, 31 Jul 2008 19:33:25 +0100, "Paul"
wrote:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7528342.stm

I keep forgetting to check when I'm up at Euston, but am I right in thinking
the arch would not have been in the way of the 1960s development anyway?

Paul

I rather like John Betjeman's comments about the demise of the old
Euston and its replacement.(written in 1972)

"What masterpiece arose on the site of the old station? No
masterpeice. instead there is a place where nobody can sit; and
underground taxi entrance so full of fumes that drivers, passengers
and porters alike hate it. A great hall of glass looks like a
mini-version of London Airport, which it seems to be trying to
imitate. On its expanse of floor and against its walls passengers lie
and await trains, which they are not allowed to enter from the
platforms below without the permission of uniformed gendarmes at the
barriers, who imprison the travellers in the hall until the last
possible moment. A constant stream of lengthy official verbiage pours
over the waiting queues: 'buffet car and refreshment facilities wil be
available on this service' , ' will Mr McAlpine awaiting a passenger
from Crewe kindly contact the information desk'. Hygienic and slippery
buffets may be glimpsed on upper floors and less hygienic and more
slippery bars are entered from the hall itself. The telephone boxes
are open to the full blast of the Tannoy system and the Irish drunks
who have always haunted Euston. You can see people with their hands to
one ear and the receiver to the other, trying to make themselves
understood. The smell of sweat and used clothes, even in winter, is
strong in this hall, for there is something funny about the air
conditioning...... I have heard the excuse made for this disastrous
and inhuman structure, which seems to ignore passengers, that British
Railways originally intended to make it pay by adding multi-storey
hotels and office blocks to the flat roof. this seems a lame excuse
for so inhospitable a building. "

Ah, the prose of Sir John. It is always succinct, and always
accurate.