Great British Breakfast Gives a Taste of First Class at Weekends

LONDON - Passengers will be invited to celebrate the return of the weekend by tucking in to a Great British Breakfast bargain on selected Virgin Trains on Saturdays and Sundays this month.

Complimentary food including breakfast or brunch will be offered to customers who upgrade to First Class on 16 weekend trains in an experiment to test demand on routes between London Euston and Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Liverpool, Preston and Manchester.

A Weekend First upgrade costs an extra flat-rate GBP15 per single journey on Virgin Trains for holders of most Standard Class tickets, but people travelling with Standard Anytime tickets can upgrade without making any extra payment. At-seat food service is complimentary in First Class on the trains involved in the trial between 6 and 28 June inclusive.

“Weekends are back! That’s our advertising slogan to celebrate the opportunity to enjoy fast and frequent trains at weekends following completion of the GBP9 billion modernisation of the West Coast Main Line. Now hot food, served at your seat, is available too as a trial offer to test the market,” said Bob Powell, On Board Director for Virgin Trains.

“Customers in First Class already enjoy our unique at-seat service of complimentary ‘Best of British’ food between Mondays and Fridays, something no other train operator provides within Britain. Now we are trialling it on Saturdays and Sundays too, on trains where Weekend First will be an even better bargain,” Mr Powell added.

The Great British Breakfast offers outdoor-reared British pork and herb sausage, sweetcure back bacon, free-range fried egg, potato rosti and grilled tomato (or there is an equivalent vegetarian grill). Alternatively, customers can have a roll with bacon or sausage or vegetarian sausage, or a fruit plate. The main course is accompanied by toast and marmalade, orange or grapefruit juice, water and tea or coffee.

Later in the morning (and in early afternoon on Sundays), brunch is offered. This is the breakfast menu but with the option of a “light bite” snack as an alternative.

The usual weekend offering of tea, coffee and biscuits will continue to be available at other times.

The trial will be available on these trains:

Saturdays, 6th, 13th, 20th and 27th June.

0748 LIVERPOOL LIME ST - LONDON EUSTON, 0755 MANCHESTER PICCADILLY - EUSTON, 0800 EUSTON - MANCHESTER, 0806 WOLVERHAMPTON - EUSTON, 1023 EUSTON - WOLVERHAMPTON, 1030 EUSTON - GLASGOW CENTRAL (south of Warrington only), 1035 MANCHESTER - EUSTON, 1040 EUSTON - MANCHESTER.

Sundays, 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th June.

0805 WOLVERHAMPTON - LONDON EUSTON, 0900 PRESTON - EUSTON, 0920 MANCHESTER PICCADILLY - EUSTON, 0920 EUSTON - MANCHESTER, 1115 EUSTON - LIVERPOOL LIME ST, 1235 MANCHESTER - EUSTON, 1238 EUSTON - BIRMINGHAM NEW ST, 1255 EUSTON - MANCHESTER.

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Virgin Trains is the brand name of Virgin Rail Group. We have operated the West Coast passenger train franchise since 1997; the current franchise runs to March 2012.

Virgin Rail Group is owned 51 percent by Virgin Group and 49 percent by Stagecoach.

Virgin Trains has been listed as the Best Train Operator in a survey by the Institute of Customer Service and has been voted Best Rail Company by Travel Weekly magazine and Best UK Domestic Train Service by Business Traveller magazine.

Source: Virgin Trains

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