UPDATE: This from Dr Strabismus
Au contraire.
I saw this the other day and thought to myself “how pointful,
informing the plebs and oiks who aren’t purchasing franchised
comestibles that all and sundry may sit here without fear of
ejection, thereby depriving your humble correspondent of a comfy spot to sit and
write postcards”.
Although a forest of similar seats has suddenly appeared
beneath the departures board, albeit already inhabited by the homeless (despite
the absence of a pointless sign).
UPDATE: This from Geddes Axe...
Surely the sign is to tell passengers that seating in what may appear to be a food area (where the passenger might expect a seating-only-for-food-purchasers policy as applies to every other similar space) is in fact available to everyone, without their having to buy food or drink. That is information that needs communicating if passengers are to take advantage of the concession.
Given the size of penalty facing the Advance ticket holder who misses their train, the rational behaviour of the cash-conscious passenger is to aim to arrive at the departure station a long time before their train, in case you get held up on the way. That means that one often ends up with considerable time to kill at the station. Not sure about the new KX, but at St Pancras, that usually means standing up (or sitting on the floor) if your budget doesn't run to eating out - there were (when I last counted) just ten public seats available for East Midlands passengers wanting to sit down while they waited for their train.
Station operators pay little concern for the needs of the passenger who doesn't want to spend money with their retail tenants: I think you should celebrate (rather than mock) this modest gesture to the needs of the less affluent.