St. Pancras station enters the 21st Century
Eurostar began its 186 mph service from London’s St. Pancras station to France yesterday. St. Pancras station has been through an amazing $1.6 billion refurbishment over a 7 year period and is now a station that can rival the likes of New York’s Grand Central Terminal; it can even lay claim to the title of having Europe’s longest Champagne bar, at 300 feet long. (They served 4,500 glasses of Champagne on the first day!) The front portion of the station won’t open until 2009 but will be home to a development from St. Pancras Chambers consisting of a five star hotel and 67 luxury flats which were sold off-plan back in 2005 (and have already risen by about 60% in value). Eurostar are offering up to 17 connecting trains a day to Paris (takes just over 2 hours), and 11 to Brussels (takes just under 2 hours), with fares set to compete with regional airlines.
Gosh, Its been nearly 2 years since St Pancras opened. Been through the station a lot, but never stopped off in the Champagne Bar, I literally only leave enough time to get from Euston, check in and board. Its far more convenient than Waterloo as you can walk between the 2 stations so you know how long it will take. No queues or train breakdowns can delay you. Of course if you are carrying too much luggage or are unfit it is a very short taxi hop.