Paul Corfield wrote:
On Thu, 03 Oct 2013 14:50:11 +0100, Recliner
wrote:

The St Pancras Renaissance Hotel opened in 2011 after a decade of
restoration of the former Midland Grand hotel, which had closed in
1935, after which the increasingly shabby and run-down building was
used by BR as offices until 1985. After a campaign to save it, the
restored building now has a new life. Luckily no real damage was done
to the interiors, which have now been lovingly restored, and the old
building is used for a mixture of hotel rooms and apartments, liked by
the famous Grand Staircase. The hotel also a new modern bedroom Barlow
wing, which I didn't look at.

I finally managed to take an upstairs tour this week, having
previously only seen the parts open to the public at lobby level.
Here's some ultra wide angle pics (18mm, in 35mm terms), for whose
who've not been able to see the hotel's sumptuous interiors:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/recline...7636148343593/

Thanks for those. I've often wondered what it was like inside. I
wasn't aware the old ticket office had survived. I can recall buying
tickets there.

There is a flower art exhibition this week and next and part of it is
apparently in the hotel so I'll see if I can get a little look off the
back of that.

There are sunflower beds at various points in and in front of the station
and hotel. They do look a little out of place in a grey London October ...

It was interesting seeing the new King's Cross piazza from the hotel. I'd
been in the piazza the day before the official opening, and saw it full of
Murphies busily slicing paving stones, etc, and was astonished to see it
being officially opened and looking competed on the TV the next day. The
reality, as the pic shows, is that much of it is still fenced off and full
of scurrying Murphies, so the public opening was a bit of a sham; the TV
cameras must have been very carefully placed to keep the fences out of
shot. The Tube station entrance from the piazza is in the uncompleted area,
and therefore remains closed.