St Pancras - wonderful architecture - shame about the facilities ! (St Pancras Station)

Member Name: libertybell

Product:	St Pancras Station
Date:	13/08/00 (108 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: central London, near to Kings Cross, wonderful architecture

Disadvantages: few facilities, dubious area

St Pancras has been likened to a cathedral. If you have ever walked down Euston Road and seen the station – the hotel façade is the first thing to hit you – it’s an architectural marvel.

The station was built in 1868 by the Midland Railway Company (MR) to announce their grand entrance into London. It would have been the Canary Wharf of its time. The Midland up to 1868 was not a London based company – its centre of operation was effectively Birmingham and it operated on a northeast to southwest basis (though that is a gross over-simplification). Originally sharing the Kings Cross Station next door, both companies fell out and the building of St Pancras was effectively a 2-fingered gesture to their competitor next door. The MR also caused controversy when they dug up a graveyard, which lay in the path of the line.

As mentioned before, the front of the station was built as a hotel. It was lavish in its day but lost money. It eventually was turned into a BR office. At present there is a lot of restoration going on there and it’s a pleasure to see the photos. Its recent claim to fame was that it was used in the filming of the Spice Girls video – ‘Tell me what you want what you really really want…..’.

Inside the station is a 1 span roof.

I haven’t been to the station for years but there didn’t seem to be many facilities there – a bit like Kings Cross (I’ve written one about that too !!).

St Pancras is the station to travel from if you want to get to:

· Sheffield
· Nottingham
· Derby
· Luton/Bedford

Its served by the same tube station as Kings Cross. Being so close to its neighbour – the same comments apply about wandering outside at night.

The biggest change is yet to happen. St Pancras will become the destination of the new high-speed line between London and the south costs. Eurostars will begin from St
Pancras rather than Waterloo at present.

Perhaps when that happens, the station will get the facilities it deserves.

Summary: