All aboard the BRITs Express – inside the star-studded train journey to Manchester’s Co-op Live arena

HELLO! magazine has been lucky enough to attend the Warner Music Group BRIT Awards after party for many years, where we have celebrated with the great and the good of the music world. 

In the past, we have hobnobbed with stars including Dua Lipa, Kylie Minogue and Charlie XCX in exclusive London clubs straight after the prestigious awards ceremony has taken place. 

But, the news that the annual recording industry celebration was to take place in Manchester for the first time ever this year meant that organisers of the exclusive Warner soiree had to think hard about how best to get journalists up north from the capital to attend their star-studded event.

Fortunately for us, the solution they came up with meant we were ferried up to Manchester in one of the most luxurious modes of transport available in the UK: the British Pullman, a Belmond train which took us straight back to the golden age of luxury travel. 

A step back in time 

Hosted by Warner and Hennessy, around 200 party people were swept up to the North from London’s Euston station to Manchester Piccadilly in a manner which felt like a real step back in time to an age where we half-expected Miss Marple to poke her head around the corner.

The whole train, made up of nine passenger carriages plus one for staff and another for baggage, is decorated in a classic, Art Deco style with crystal glassware and bone china at every table. Silver service waiters tended to our every need, reminiscing with us about the times they served royalty and celebrities, including the Prince and Princess of Wales and the Rolling Stones.

Upon arrival at a special entrance at London’s Euston, we were whisked into our four-person coupe and given our seats. We were allotted places on Gwen – all carriages bear traditional female names – which dates back to 1932 and once conveyed the late Queen Elizabeth to Brighton. 

These were not exactly the same as the vinyl covered carriages we usually experience when travelling on regular UK trains. Instead each passenger sits on an individual armchair covered with a thick patterned chintz which offers the perfect opportunity to rest in your seat and take in the rolling landscape from outside the giant picture windows. 

Each table is laden with crisp white linens, heavy silver cutlery and a classic vintage-style table lamp, with individual printed menus placed on each setting.

Attentive staff made sure our glasses were always full, serving everyone Veuve Clicquot champagne and a choice of wines, as well as bottled water, as soon as we left the station. 

The meal on the way out comprised of a starter of Wye Valley Asparagus with creamy ricotta followed by a main course of pan seared Scottish salmon with a confit of baby vegetables and an English pea velouté. Dessert came in the form of a panna cotta with Yorkshire rhubarb and toasted buckwheat, before we were served coffee and handmade petit fours.

Starry-eyed passengers 

Throughout the four-hour journey, guests were welcome to walk up and down the train, with many famous faces spotted enjoying the experience. 

Love Island stars including Amber Gill and Cach Mercer mingled with Selling Sunset’s Bre Tiesi while, further along, actress and DJ Jaime Winstone read tarot cards for friends Nick Grimshaw and The Gossip frontwoman Beth Ditto. 

Further up the train, The Good Wife star Cush Jumbo chatted with HELLO! about her BRITs memories – the actress attended the BRIT School and used to go to the ceremony in the pit at the front of the stage with her fellow pupils, but this year was a guest of Warner Music – while Saltburn’s Archie Madekwe chatted quietly with his friends, as did The OA star Patrick Gibson. The group was later seen indulging in a wholesome game of Uno. 

In a nearby coupe, Lennon Gallagher, son of Oasis star Liam and Patsy Kensit, had his headphones firmly clamped to his ears as he relished the solitude, taking particular pleasure in shutting the door to his carriage when he heard other guests playing Tina Turner. 

Meanwhile, Geri Halliwell’s daughter Bluebell, spent time taking videos of her friends and Romeo Beckham’s DJ girlfriend Kim Turnbull kept a low profile, perhaps thinking of the set she was to spin later in the night at the official Warner after party, as did Lennon’s ex-girlfriend, model Isobel Richmond. 

Landing in Manchester 

After four hours, we disembarked in style, bereft that our journey was over. Fortunately, we returned on the same train the following day to travel back to London and this time we – and a group of dark sunglass-clad celebrities, including Harris Dickinson and Rose Gray – were greeted by smiling waiters who were holding the perfect hangover cure, Bloody Marys. 

After nursing our sore heads in luxurious comfort, we were treated to a traditional Sunday roast, complete with roasties and Yorkshire pudding followed by a Brioche bread and butter pudding, all washed down by glasses of wine and yet more champagne.

This was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience, one that will feel like a very distant memory when we have to get the tube into the office tomorrow morning.