Journey’s end
Whisky Magazine’s barfly Kate Portman discovers
an oasis of whisky at the end of the line.
Welcome to the fine country of Britain! That’s was surely the statement intended for train travellers arriving from Europe to justify the impressive £800 million refurbishment of St Pancras station. This new London hub for the high-speed Eurostar rail service linking the UK to its European neighbours would be the perfect opportunity to proudly show off our nation’s finest exports.
So when the renovated station was unveiled in late 2007,we enthusiastically greeted visitors to Britain with a bar dedicated to… a drink made in France. Yes, the main attraction of this flagship station was the St Pancras Champagne bar. Not just any old Champagne bar, mind you, but Europe’s longest Champagne bar – 96 metres long in fact! (Why anyone would want to boast about the length of a bar, I do not know - it makes getting the bartender’s attention more difficult for starters.) Quaffing a glass of fine fizz is admittedly much more glamorous than the usual British train station offering of a soggy Cornish pasty and tepid coffee. It also fits with the cosmopolitan buzz of the station more than a twee British tea shoppe serving scones ever could. However,my problem with the Champagne bar is that a more patriotic drinks offering of Scotch had been ignored… until now, that is.
A new whisky bar has just opened within Searcy’s St Pancras Grand restaurant and Oyster bar on the upper concourse to readdress this oversight. The bar itself is not overly long but the whisky list is, with .....
To read the rest of this article you can buy this issue
or subscribe to Whisky Magazine to have every issue delivered direct to your door.
You can unlock and read this entire article with 1 of your community tokens by clicking here.
By Kate Portman
Section : Bar review
Page number : 36
