South Wales Pullman Dining 

Dining on the line has long been a favourite way to enjoy rail travel around the UK for me and it is clear I am not alone when premium dining seats on special trains that cost upwards of £300 are always the first seats to sell out.

Add to that the huge popularity of dining services on preserved railways and it is clear there there remains a strong desire by passengers to travel by train in style and enjoy some fine dining at the same time.

So it seems remarkable to me that restaurant services were allowed to largely disappear from our national rail network post-privatisation, yet there is one outpost where, at least on weekdays, it is still possible to enjoy fine food and wine on the move.

Ignoring the inclusive service offered to First Class passengers only on LNER and Avanti West Coast, where the experience seems to depend on the quality of the catering crew and many simply think they are doing you a favour, the only real opportunity now, apart from the erratic TfW offering, is GWR Pullman Dining.

Having been thwarted in a planned trip to Cornwall on 14 August by cancellation of a 07.30 departure from Reading to Paignton, I opted instead to take a trip to South Wales and return aboard the one and only GWR Pullman Dining service from South Wales, departing Swansea for Paddington at 12.23.

I have had a number of very enjoyable dinners in the recent past on the 18.16 from Plymouth to London Paddington, so was keen to sample the service and fare on the only other GWR route to offer a full dining service.

It has always struck me as ludicrous that the entire GWR IET Class 80x fleet is equipped with full kitchen facilities, yet none even has a buffet counter and there are just three weekday dining services – two from Plymouth to London and one from Swansea.

German train operator DB is currently getting a bad press for reliability issues, but travelling on its extensive ICE high speed network you can be sure that every service will boast a “Bord Restaurant” or “Bord Bistro” where any passenger can get a decent meal at a reasonable price.

There was a time when that was also true of British Rail Inter-City services, and more recently of those provided by GNER, but times change and standards are sadly allowed to slip, along of course with the comfort of DfT-specified seats in passenger rolling stock.

August is a very quiet month in the GWR restaurant cars, according to the friendly stewardess who served me, but given the quality of offering, and the bonus of a free upgrade to First Class for those of us with a Standard Class ticket, it did seem rather disappointing that I had only two fellow diners on the 12.23 Swansea-Paddington.

For those with a taste for restaurant car fare and perhaps unable to stump up £300+ for Premier Dining on a charter special I can recommend the ham hock terrine starter and Sage stuffed chicken main course from the current GWR £39.50 three-course menu, along with the Selection of British cheeses to polish it off. 

That inclusive menu price includes bread roll, coffer or tea and water, while from the wine list I can vouch for the South African Chenin Blanc at a modest £19.00 a bottle. It is one of the most civilised ways I know of to travel our UK rail network, so if you find yourself travelling between London and the South-West or South Wales I would seriously recommend sampling the service.