> On Thu, 31 Jul 2008 19:33:25 +0100, "Paul" nospam.eclipse.co.uk>
> 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. "