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It's the longest bar none
By Valentine Low, Evening Standard 13.11.07
Toast: Valentine Low catches a flavour of the new station
Setting the bar high: St Pancras is set to become the place to meet for a glass of Dom Perignon or Krug at the 100-yard long bar which is within feet of platform five as the Eurostar trains glide in from Paris
Look here too
It is the longest champagne bar in Europe - and now it has been christened by the Evening Standard.
Just before the first Eurostar trains are due to arrive at St Pancras International and several hours ahead of a party to launch it, the Evening Standard's representative became the first customer at the bar that is set to put the sparkle back into rail travel.
The bar is some 100 yards long - although the precise length is in dispute - and the Evening Standard can exclusively report that enjoying a glass of fizz at a bar that feels almost as long as the Channel Tunnel is indeed quite the most glamorous and romantic thing one can do at a railway station.
It may not make the trains run on time, but it'll help you forget you ever cared. Get the timing right, and you can even be enjoying your drink as a Eurostar pulls in six feet away. The platform is low so drinkers get a view of the whole train, bogeys and all, although anyone overdoing the Bollinger is prevented from falling on platform five by a glass wall.
With top end experiences come top end prices. A glass of house champagne (Jean-Paul Deville) starts at £7.50, rising to £25 for Dom Perignon, with the most expensive the 1949 Krug at £2,700 a bottle. You can accompany it with Sevruga caviar (£125 for 30 grams) or a cheese and chutney sandwich at £6.50.
For those whose tastes or wallets do not run to champagne, there's always the station pub, The Betjeman Arms.
The only question left open is just how long the bar is. A recent newspaper article put it at 295 feet, or 90 metres. However, over a glass of the Jean-Paul Deville, Ben Ruse, spokesman for London & Continental Railways, said it was 94 metres.
Just to make sure we asked John Nugent, who has been in charge of catering. "Ninety six metres," he said. "Well, 95.8. We measured it."
Whatever the case, it is very long - there's room for 120 people seated, and plenty more standing - and the St Pancras people clearly regard it as one of their crowd pullers. "We want you to come to St Pancras, whether you are getting on a train or not," said Mr Ruse.
"But we want you to be unmistakably in a station. You are within perhaps the most magnificent example of railway architecture. The trains from Paris glide their last 30 yards under the Barlow Shed and are almost within touching distance."
The bar - with a walnut top, leather seats and heated banquettes - is run by Searcy's, the company responsible for the bars at the Royal Opera House, National Portrait Gallery and the Gherkin.
Mr Nugent, the company's former chief executive who is off to run his own business, would not say how much champagne they expect to sell.
The bar was officially launched with a party hosted by GQ magazine and attended by design guru Stephen Bayley and Pineapple dance studios founder Debbie Moore.
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