Birmingham New Street is the biggest of the mainline stations in Birmingham but its very old and tired looking, very dark and dirty.

The station is where Virgin & London Midland trains run to/from London, around the West Midlands and also Cross Country run across the UK so a very busy station.

As you enter the station its rather small for the amount of passengers in the forecourt area, there is a large travel information board helping you locate which platform your train will leave from and also information on arrivals for people who maybe meeting someone off a train, this is a bright & clear board so very easy to read. There's also two double sided stands with leaflets & timetables on here along with a large travel centre if people need assistance. I didn't so didn't go in but having a quick look as I walked past it looked dark and unwelcoming.

After getting a Burger Kings brekkie, which is one of plenty of eateries and stores in the station to grab a bit to eat, a paper or drink, I walked towards the platform gates, these are old wooden doors with staff at to check tickets rather than modern automatic ticket barriers like at other mainline stations. The lady on the gate was smiling and friendly, I asked her which direction platform 3A was and she smiled and pointed me in the right direction, very friendly no problems there.

The platforms are old and dark, its down under the station that the trains go so rather dingy and misserable looking, could do with brighter lights and being cleaner, but the area was free of litter.

The station is undergoing a massive refurbishment so I look forward to hopefully dramatic change in the future.

Would use again but only if I must it wasn't a pleasant station but wasn't that bad neither.