St Pancras International Station, Kings Cross, London

This station is so spectacularly beautiful and well presented it seems like you have stepped back in time. Having been totally renovated travellers are treated to the luxury of diffferent boutiques and shops while they wait, and the upper floors also offer many pubs and restaurants of the highest quality. Bronzed statues evoke memories of times gone and adorn the station. My favourite is the giant statue near the euro tunnel entrance of the couple saying farewell-its really beautiful. I spent Sunday lunch in one of the gastro pubs nearby and watched as the BBC were filming what could have been a scene from Downton Abbey as actors and actresses were dressed in Edwardian costume and elegantly walked up and down during one of the scenes-and no wonder since the design of this station is one of a forgotten era of steam trains and foggy London reminiscent of many a Jack The Ripper drama. Worth a visit for just the architecture alone.

St. Pancras is quite simply the only station in London that it is a joy to visit. Even when running for a train or hanging around waiting for a delayed service I have enjoyed spending time here, and it really makes you wonder why more train stations can't be so pleasant!

One reason I love St. Pancras is the international element: I have to admit to still get a shiver of excitement when I hear trains to Paris being called, and I love the fact that you can jump on a train and be speaking French within a couple of hours.

But its main appeal is the stunning architecture. Truly uplifting, its glass atrium is on a par with Grand Central in the cool railway station stakes. It also has some great shops (Oliver Bonas, L.K Bennett and more), which makes a refreshing change from the usual rubbishy tourist traps although it still has the WH Smths and Accessorize we've come to expect from a station. It also has the very passable Betjemen Pub (see review!) if you fancy a pint.

+ Looking up in this station you say "Wow wee!!!" This is due to the airyness and the architecture of the building. I remember before the refurb the station seemed a bit empty as only the East Midlands services yet from here but this is not the case any more.

Haven't yet caught the Eurostar from here but i am so impressed by those trains and by the setting. Maybe it's the novelty of having to go up escalators from ground level to get to the trains. For people from "oop North" it seems much easier to connect to the Thameslink (First Capital Connect) services to Gatwick/Brighton than it used to be.

I liked the shop selection as well. Have not supped champagne here yet but i have played table tennis !

- It is a bit of a long walk from the tube to the platforms for Sheffield. If you're late then you have to do a Usain Bolt impression to get to the train before it departs.

∑ They have done a good job.

For my first QYPE review, I start with St Pancras International Station because it is the first place where you are when you are a little Frenchie which to get off the Eurostar train !
I like this station because it is a beautiful place with its Clock really big, its roof in glass very luminous and its English architecture.
Moreover, this station is very simple to use it, easy to access and you have a lots of shops and very good restaurants.

Okay, I admit it. I'm an anorak.

I'm crazy about train stations, and when St Pancras International opened after its long-awaited refurbishment, I visited late night on a Sunday on an architectural pilgrimage with camera and tripod.

I was honoured as a photographer to have one of my photographs of St. Pancras printed onto a large poster and installed into a 2m high display on the concourse of the station itself and featured in the Metro last year for a Valentine's promotion. (http://www.matsmithphotography.com/photolife-blog/mat-smi...)

I had the most glorious time admiring its historic beauty, the gorgeous monument to timekeeping that is the iconic Dent clock commissioned as a replacement for the original as part of the Eurostar refurb, the magnificent statue "The Meeting Place" by British artist Paul Day, and the Betjeman statue by British sculptor Martin Jennings; I wasn't the only one. At this time the station was filled with single old men wandering around gazing in awe with their cameras. Quite cute really.

Since then I have been back a number of times, not to travel, but just to enjoy.

The St Pancras Grand Brasserie, Oyster and Champagne Bar (Searcys at St Pancras) is a fabulous place to enjoy a glass of bubbles. If you sit along the concourse adjacent to platforms, the booths are designed like little train carriages, and when it's cold you can even grab a complimentary blanket and turn-on the seat heaters using a button below the table. It's one of my favourite places to drink Champagne.

The station also has a Carluccio's if you are that way inclined, and the station ground floor concourse has a whole host of places to shop, offering everything from precious gifts, useful travel purchases, M&S Simply Food, restaurants and decent small cafés - something for every budget.

St. Pancras is a destination in itself, a wonderful large open space when you are feeling London-claustrophobia, a place where you can pretend that modern train travel is still romantic, and a useful drop-in for convenience shopping when in the area.

And if you are an architect geek like me, you will love the stunning refurbishment of this historic building.

Beautiful station, i love st pancras not only because it means I'm on my way to Paris :) but also because it's the cleanest and most beautiful station i've seen in europe! All my friend coming from Paris are always very impressed, easy if u compare to french stations... You can also find some cool shops like paperchase, body shop etc in the station which can save you for a last minute present!!!

A beautiful station which is infinitely better than the concrete monstrosity of Euston station down the road. Plenty of nice places to eat and drink while you're waiting for trains too.

There are very few stations that I would actually visit when I'm not waiting for a train, but this is one of them. It's also one of the only places in the area that's open beyond 10pm, so great if you're looking for a coffee when everything else is shut.

Like others, I fail to see why the Eurostar terminal needed to relocate to St. Pancras. I suppose that travellers from Scotland and the North no longer have to schlepp all the way across London to make the connection.

BUT ... I now have to schlepp across London, instead of just walking to another platform at Waterloo!

(Could it be that the French took exception to arriving at a station named after a battle they lost? :D)

However ... quick, clean, efficient ... no more to say, really.

It used to be a dive, now it's glamourous! And yet it's a station.

The champagne bar doesn't seem all that impressive when you get there, although you probably should be meeting your French lover and wooing them there, so perhaps that makes it more romantic.

There's three little branches of WH Smiths which all stock the same three things, rather than one decent sized one which stocks everything which is irritating.

If your journey takes you through St Pancras, then it's a lovely place to wait for a train and there's plenty of decent places to eat for once.

Especially compared to dodgy Euston Station up the road, St. Pancras must be the holy grail for train- and train-station-spotters. I for myself am always flabbergasted when entering the station and seeing the huge, airy design of the interior and the glass ceiling. Never gets old.

And with the people waiting for their loved ones arriving with the Eurostar, St. Pancras gives you a feeling what the golden age of train travel must have been like. Even the toilets set standards for other train stations (hu, Euston?).

St Pancras is truely one of the world's greatest train stations. The refurbishment of the station has been outstanding, creating a really pleasant environment.

Lots of good food available too from quality hamburgers to sushi to crepes. Well worth a visit even if you're not catching a train!

This is what a train station should be. It is beautiful, romantic, and bustling. I especially love the wooden floors in the Eurostar area.

It is a gorgeous station that makes travelling a pleasure.

Imagine this:
- You decide to stay up all night to catch your 6am flight from Luton.
- You get to the station where you’re supposed to take your train to thei airport at 4am and you find out it’s closed. Shut. Opens at 5am.
- You’re not from London and you didn’t know that Kings Cross and St. Pancras were two different things.

When I saw that the station was indeed open and I wasn’t going to miss my flight I immediately fell in love with St. Pancras Station. It was actually open, clean and safe and there was an open Starbucks as well. Phew.

There is a very clean, bright and airy feel to this building. It has a large choice of shops and eateries and provides good links to the tube and bus stops in London.
The arrivals / departure screens are clear and easy to understand, and the toilets were clean and pleasant to use, despite the volume of customer that go through every day.

Kings Cross and St. Pancras is a wonderful station and a tribute to fine London design in that it manages to maintain a vintage charm whilst still offering advanced services. One reservation is the layout. You seem to do endless amounts of walking in here just to get the most basic activities done.

Is it a station? Is it a shopping centre? Is it the gateway to Paris?

Well, it’s all three rolled into one (took them long enough to finish it though). Now don’t get me wrong, i’m not a trainspotter and nor do I spend my days inspecting the merits of train stations but St. Pancras is pretty cool.

With M&S, WH Smith, Pret a Manger, Gourmet Burger Kitchen, Boots and more (including bars) all you’re commuting needs are taken care of.

When it first opened I went along and though really awe-struck by the architecture I sort of wondered what the point of it was with the poncy champagne bar and strange statues. As the year’s gone by I can’t go into another station in the country without wishing I was in St Pancras’ epic grandeur surrounded by the brilliant shopping and restaurants they’ve so artfully presented. I just wish it was a little easier to find my way around. Sometimes you just need to go to a chemist, get a coffee or buy something to read and the signage is truly truly awful and really infuriating when you’re in a hurry. I’ve learned now, but I’d hate to be fresh from France and trying to navigate the station.

I used this station for the first time a couple of days ago.

Walking up from the tube station, at first I wondered whether I’d come to the right place. Is this a station, or is it a shopping mall? -- or is it a station with shops, or a mall with a station? -- does it matter?! Well, yes, actually: if this is the future of station architecture -- bung as many “retail outlets” (what you and I might rather quaintly call 'shops’) into the available space as possible -- what does that say about us? That there are so many shopaholics around nowadays that it would be unreasonable to deny anybody their fix? Or that business is so rich and powerful nowadays we couldn’t possibly deny them the chance to extract a few more pennies from our overspent, recession-hit wallets? Hmmm.

Having said all of that, St Pancras is a gorgeous station that has been refurbished to an amazingly high standard. Please excuse the anti-capitalist rant; I’ve only recently found out that my Dad votes Tory and I’m still coming to terms with it.

Slowly the new station at St Pancras is growing on me. Obviously everything is new, so it’s all super shiny and modern looking which makes it stand out from other stations - not to mention the sheer size of it!
There are two types of transport available from this station - the Eurostar and national trains, as well as the tube.
You could realistically spend an hour or two in St. Pancras without being bored due to the variety of shops and cafes they have there, which range from Boots to Paperchase and Starbucks to M & S (infact - they have 2 M &S’).
The only downside to this station is the fact the have no bins - due to security risks I presume. This can be a pain sometimes but I respect their decision not to have them.
I enjoy using this station!

A gorgeous piece of architecture. They took a couple of years redoing this station and the results are stunning: a beautiful atrium with a vast roof, beautifully clean and tidy walkways, loads of natural light, easy access, and trains leave for Paris round the clock. A wonderful place. If you’re arriving on a domestic train it’s a fair walk to the Underground, but that’s about the only downside to a truly spectacular train station.