Press release -
Virgin Trains hops onboard with Marston’s
- Virgin Trains welcomes Marston’s EPA as latest guest ale onboard its trains
Virgin Trains has welcomed Staffordshire brewery, Marston's, to showcase its ale as part of its latest guest ale spotlight.
Marston’s EPA (English Pale Ale), which is brewed at Burton-upon-Trent, will be available from Virgin Trains’ onboard shop, as the inter-city operator showcases ales local to the West Coast Main Line.
Customers travelling along the route, as far as Edinburgh, Blackpool, Glasgow and Holyhead will be able to taste the refreshing, light, golden ale that is brewed 29 miles from Stoke-on-Trent station until Saturday 15th September.
Toby Radcliffe, Customer Proposition Director at Virgin Trains, said: “We like to champion local businesses and showcase produce made along our route. Our guest ale spotlight allows us to do just that, whilst surprising our customers with something different. We’re excited to welcome Marston’s EPA onboard and hope that our customers get to enjoy it at 125mph before it’s gone.”
Pat McGinty, Head Brewer at Marston’s, said: “Marston’s EPA makes the perfect travel buddy on Virgin Trains journeys. It’s an easy-drinking, refreshing, light Blonde ale from the Marston’s Brewery in Burton Upon Trent, the spiritual home and UK capital of brewing.”
ENDS
Topics
- Food, Drink
Categories
- regional news
About Marston’s
We started brewing in Burton-Upon-Trent in 1834. Then in 1898 we got itchy feet. So we moved down the road to the Albion brewery. We still like it so we’ve not moved again since.
We came to Burton for the water. Well, for the rocks the town was built on to be precise. The water trickles down through a thick layer of gypsum before we bring it back up again through our well. That’s what gives our beers the depth of flavour, character and crisp refreshing bitterness that you won’t find anywhere else in the world.
Scotland has Whisky. Detroit has cars. Burton has beer. And we’re the oldest brewer in town.
About Virgin Trains
Stagecoach and Virgin are working in partnership to operate the West Coast inter-city route under the Virgin Trains brand, revolutionising travel on one of the UK’s key rail arteries.
The network connects some of the nation’s most iconic destinations including Glasgow, Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester and London.
Virgin Trains is committed to delivering a high speed, high frequency service, offering shorter journey times, more comfortable travel and excellent customer service. Customers consistently rate Virgin Trains ahead of other long-distance rail franchise operators in the National Rail Passenger Survey (NRPS) commissioned by industry watchdog, Transport Focus.
Virgin Trains has a proud record of challenging the status quo - from introducing tilting Pendolino trains, to a pioneering automated delay repay scheme, introducing the industry-leading onboard entertainment streaming service, BEAM, and becoming the first franchised rail operator to offer m-Tickets for all ticket types.
Virgin Trains operated the East Coast route between March 1, 2015 and June 24, 2018. In that time, we invested £75m to create a more personalised travel experience, including over £40m in the existing fleet. Customers have benefitted from 48 additional services between Edinburgh and London every week, and an extra 22 Saturday services between Leeds and London – a total of 1.74 million additional seats since May 2015.
Working together, the partnership railway of the public and private sectors has published a long-term plan, called In Partnership for Britain’s Prosperity, to change and improve Britain’s railway. The plan will secure almost £85bn of additional economic benefits to the country whilst enabling further investment and improvement, and contains four commitments which will see rail companies: strengthen our economic contribution to the country; improve customers’ satisfaction; boost the communities we serve; and, create more and better jobs in rail. For more information go to Britain Runs on Rail.
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