QYPE*

I’ve used this outlet of M&S Simply Food on a number of occasions before catching trains up the West Coast main line (largely because I’m a sucker for their avocado salad sandwiches).

Although, as Amethyst says, the shop is large enough to have a decent range, there isn’t nearly enough circulating room in my view, and the queues seem permanently long (in stark contrast to the Victoria or Paddington branches, for example).

My last experience felt like something out of the game 'Twister’ as, at 11:00 in the morning, (so hardly a peak period) I had to manoeuvre myself and my overnight bag past other customers, with lots of polite requests for others to move so I could actually reach the relevant shelf on the sandwich display.

More contortions were required to navigate past yet more luggage-carrying passengers to the checkouts, and yet more to get out of the store. The simply act of buying a sandwich and paying for it took well over ten minutes, and others found the experience pretty stressful too.

Next time I’ll stick my head in and judge how busy it is before committing myself!