September 27, 2007

Europe | England | London

Chunnel Vision at Kings Cross

By Mark Jolly

London to Paris in two hours and three minutes. For $11 billion.

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If your prevailing portrait of Kings Cross was formed by scenes of Bob Hoskins squiring a prostitute through the mean streets of Mona Lisa, then you’re in for a pleasant surprise. What was until recently one of central London’s skankiest areas has been reborn. Come November, the hood will be home to Britain’s new Eurostar terminal, replacing Waterloo and opening up record-breaking fast trains to 50-million passengers a year traveling to France and Belgium. Sure, the new Channel Tunnel link — or High Speed 1 as it’s now to be rebranded — will cut the London-Paris journey by 25 minutes (to two hours and three minutes). But the $11-billion project will also redraw the travel map of southeast England, with high-speed domestic trains running on the same line.

For international visitors, however, the glam factor extends far beyond train timetables. The area’s regeneration has already produced an outpost of New York’s Gagosian Gallery, Britain’s hottest organic restaurant (Acorn House), and London’s trendy new rooftop bar (Big Chill House). The refurbished station itself, at St. Pancras Chambers, will house the world’s longest champagne bar, as well as some truly luxe lodgings. Built as the Midland Grand Hotel in 1868, the landmark neo-gothic building was celebrated (and reviled) as one of the wackiest flourishes of Victorian architecture. But now, after decades of neglect, St. Pancras has been resurrected: by 2009 it will open as a Renaissance hotel — 70 years after the last paying guests checked out.