Whatever the time of day, train passengers arriving at or departing from a station were allowed to use the refreshment room. To the cunning, this allowed the opportunity to drink all day on a Sunday, even outside the permitted hours. All you had to do was buy a cheap ticket to the next railway station. And that was your ticket to all-day drinking.
Obviously, the killjoy police wanted to prevent this.
Drinking at Railway Stations.
Mr. Muskett appeared on behalf of the Commissioner of Police at the West London Court, on the 28th ult., to prosecute twelve persons for infringing the Licensing Act by being on licensed premises during prohibited hours. The police, he said, desired to put a stop to a practice at Latimer Road Railway Station which amounted really to an evasion of the law. It appeared that it was the custom of certain individuals, chiefly of the working class, to go to the station on Sunday morning, take penny tickets, whereby they might gain access to the platform, and then proceed to the refreshment saloon for the purpose of drinking. Under the Licensing Act, of course, persons arriving at, or departing from, a railway station by train were entitled to have access at all times to a refreshment saloon bar, but in this case it would be proved that none of the defendants had any intention of proceeding by train.
Sub-Divisional Inspector Evans stated that on Sunday, October 26th, he called at the station; after the 11.29 train had gone he went up to the platform, entered the refreshment saloon, and found several persons there. One individual proved to him that he had just come by train. All the defendants, who were present, held 1d. tickets for Shepherd’s Bush, but as a matter of fact there was no train due for an hour and a half.
Mr. Oswald Hanson, who represented the owner of the refreshment saloon, informed the magistrate that his client was pleased the police had instituted proceedings, because he was placed in a very awkward position when persons, who were apparently passengers by train, applied for refreshment.
Mr. Rose said anyone was entitled to evade an Act of Parliament if he could, but in this case the defendants had failed. He imposed a penalty of 3s., with 2s. costs.
The Brewers' Journal vol. 38 1902, December 15th 1902, page 725.
The culprits mostly being working class, it's no surprise that the police clamped down on the activity. Though, without impacting on genuine travellers, it would still have been possible to dodge the restrictions. For example, by buying a return ticket to the nearest station that also had a refreshment room. Kick off with a few pints in the departure station, have a few more at the destination, then come back and have a few more at the departure station.
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This was still a thing on Good Friday in Ireland until 2018. I never did it myself, but I understand that the bar at Connolly Station, as a Railway Refreshment Room, was open when pubs were closed by law. Bar staff wouldn't serve people holding tickets for local trains, only intercity, so you needed to buy a single to Drogheda to stay in and drink.
Unlike the bars beyond security at airports, all the pubs I can think of at railway stations in the North of England are open to non travellers, although the only one which opens outside normal hours is the Wetherspoons at Leeds station (which was one of the first in the country to obtain a twenty four hour licence).
I'm reading the novel Too Far Afield by Günter Grass at the moment, set in East Berlin between the Wall coming down in November 1989 and reunification in October 1990, so the last year of the DDR. Even when they get their hands on some Deutschmarks after the currency reform, the characters still prefer to drink in the cheaper railway station refreshment rooms rather than the bars of tourist hotels or fancier places in the western half of the city.
"Mr. Rose said anyone was entitled to evade an Act of Parliament if he could, but in this case the defendants had failed."
In other words, "Nice try, lads - better luck next time!". Not a common verdict in English law.
Do you still need a platform ticket if the adult refreshment room is on the platform? Are platform tickets even a thing these days?
Also until the 1970’s lots of people in Dublin becoming members of the Royal Dublin Society in the run up to St Patrick’s day. As the dog show in the RDS on St Patrick’s day served drink.
Oscar
"Kick off with a few pints in the departure station, have a few more at the destination, then come back and have a few more at the departure station."
Perhaps prepare an engaging talk of about an hour. Carry a few niche monographs to offer to interested punters...
From when I was maybe seven years old Dad and I would go into the refreshment room at Newcastle Central Station, I would have a pineapple juice (unheard of luxury in the 1950s) and he would have a lager, no doubt Carlsberg.
There's a pub I believe near every station between Ormskirk and Liverpool Central. Hop on, hop off, etc.
"For example, by buying a return ticket to the nearest station that also had a refreshment room. Kick off with a few pints in the departure station, have a few more at the destination, then come back and have a few more at the departure station."
You would want to time your arrival at the departure station just a minute after the last train to your destination station had left, and also be sure that there was a decent amount of time between departures!
A bit of planning, but worth it I'm sure with a group of friends
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