King's Cross: the Parcel Yard
 

I'm surprised that the Parcel Yard (new pub and dining area at King's Cross)
hasn't been commented on here. It's at first-floor level between platforms
8 and 9, with rooms looking out onto both the suburban and mainline
platforms. I visited on Monday evening with my daughter and her boyfriend,
for a meal and drinks. Perhaps it would have been better to have waited
until some of the teething problems had been sorted out - problems with
hand-held card readers having no signal in some areas, and confusion over
the process for placing orders - but nevertheless it was an enjoyable
experience. I wonder who had the foresight to realise that this area was
capable of conversion in this way? Would I be right in thinking that this
area has listed status effectively preventing demolition? There is a
surprising number of interconnecting rooms in this area, and it would be
interesting to learn more about their previous uses.

One or two nit-picks about other aspects of the new concourse (which overall
I found very good):

Signage directing passengers to the main (ground-level) barrier line to
platforms 0 to 8 seemed to me to be insufficiently conspicuous; I came
across a few passengers who were clearly struggling to locate it.

The two main departure boards each have 20 panels, showing the next 18
departures or departures for the next 90[*] minutes, whichever is the
fewer; the 19th and 20th panels are summaries of departures and arrivals,
but with no 'headings' to show which is which - you just have to know, or
be capable of working it out.
[*] is 90 minutes the standard cut-off for stations managed by Network Rail?
At stations managed by East Coast, it's 99 minutes.

King's Cross: the Parcel Yard
 

On Wed, 21 Mar 2012 22:54:54 -0000, "John Salmon"
wrote:
[*] is 90 minutes the standard cut-off for stations managed by
Network Rail?
At stations managed by East Coast, it's 99 minutes.

I think it depends on the type of PIS. FGW's appears to have no
cut-off on the platform displays.

Neil

--
Neil Williams, Milton Keynes, UK

King's Cross: the Parcel Yard
 

"John Salmon" wrote in message
...

...There is a surprising number of interconnecting rooms in this area,
and it would be interesting to learn more about their previous uses.

I had a look at Camden's planning website about a week ago, back when we
were discussing fairly insignificant matters such as station access routes
and such like, in order to confirm that the pub was on the first and second
floors, and completely on the land side of the barriers.

The application number is 2011/4837/L, and Part 1 of 7 of the 'supporting
documents' appears to describe the building history. The pub outline
design was by Arup!

The two main departure boards each have 20 panels, showing the next 18
departures or departures for the next 90[*] minutes, whichever is the
fewer; the 19th and 20th panels are summaries of departures and arrivals,
but with no 'headings' to show which is which - you just have to know, or
be capable of working it out.

[*] is 90 minutes the standard cut-off for stations managed by Network
Rail? At stations managed by East Coast, it's 99 minutes.

No, I don't think there is a standard, I expect they just put up what will
fit the space available. Otherwise places like Waterloo would probably need
four times as many 'panels' as they've actually got...

Paul S

King's Cross: the Parcel Yard
 

On Mar 21, 10:54*pm, "John Salmon"
wrote:
I'm surprised that the Parcel Yard (new pub and dining area at King's Cross)
hasn't been commented on here. *It's at first-floor level between platforms
8 and 9, with rooms looking out onto both the suburban and mainline
platforms.

I haven't been up there yet, but wonder if this is in the area of the
old indoor tennis courts that were sealed off (literally) in the late
1980s due to an Anthrax scare? When I worked in the Telephone Enquiry
Bureau (remember those) I often wandered around all the abandoned west
side offices (including the tennis courts).

I passed trough very briefly on Tuesday and got poked by a young girl
with one of those big foam pointing fingers. She was taking her remit
to send people to the departure hall a little too literally. All good
natured stuff but she really was most insistant that I didn't want to
go into the arrivals hall.

Having been a Biggleswade commuter for 20 years (not now) I had to put
up with the idiosyncrasies of the main concourse vs no concourse (1-8
vs 9-11) shambles so I guess FCC passengers have probably gained most
from being in pole position for either main shed or Suburban
departures and with decent facillities. Long overdue.

Richard

King's Cross: the Parcel Yard
 

In message
, at
08:58:07 on Thu, 22 Mar 2012, Fat richard
remarked:
I passed trough very briefly on Tuesday and got poked by a young girl
with one of those big foam pointing fingers. She was taking her remit
to send people to the departure hall a little too literally. All good
natured stuff but she really was most insistant that I didn't want to
go into the arrivals hall.

I was surprised to see lots of retail still in the Arrivals hall this
morning, I was expecting it to have closed along with the ticket office.

It seems odd to restrict outgoing punters to the choice in the departure
hall, if there's a wider choice by including the arrivals hall.
--
Roland Perry

King's Cross: the Parcel Yard
 

On Mar 21, 10:54*pm, "John Salmon"
wrote:


I'm surprised that the Parcel Yard (new pub and dining area at King's Cross)
hasn't been commented on here.


Can't afford it to comment on it.

--
Nick

King's Cross: the Parcel Yard
 

In article ,
Neil Williams wrote:

On Wed, 21 Mar 2012 22:54:54 -0000, "John Salmon"
wrote:
[*] is 90 minutes the standard cut-off for stations managed by
Network Rail?
At stations managed by East Coast, it's 99 minutes.

I think it depends on the type of PIS. FGW's appears to have no
cut-off on the platform displays.

I think I've remarked on this underused platform befo

http://www.ucs.ed.ac.uk/~ercm20/BTM-P4-2.jpg

Bristol TM, platform 4 a few years ago.

Sam

--
The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in
Scotland, with registration number SC005336.

King's Cross: the Parcel Yard
 

On Mar 22, 4:18*pm, D7666 wrote:
On Mar 21, 10:54*pm, "John Salmon"
wrote:

I'm surprised that the Parcel Yard (new pub and dining area at King's Cross)
hasn't been commented on here.

Can't afford it to comment on it.

--
Nick

Not going to be a wind up location then?

Richard

King's Cross: the Parcel Yard
 

On Mar 22, 4:28*pm, Fat richard wrote:
On Mar 22, 4:18*pm, D7666 wrote:

On Mar 21, 10:54*pm, "John Salmon"
wrote:

I'm surprised that the Parcel Yard (new pub and dining area at King's Cross)
hasn't been commented on here.

Can't afford it to comment on it.

--
Nick

Not going to be a wind up location then?

Richard

It would appear to be almost under discussion on the wind up group,
but I am a seldom participant these days, indeed, not going this
evening

--
Nick

King's Cross: the Parcel Yard
 

I'm surprised that the Parcel Yard (new pub and dining area at King's Cross)
hasn't been commented on here.

Can't afford it to comment on it.

--
Nick

ESB £3.95/pint - so very much towards the top-end but not as
expensive as some in London.

Possibly not significantly more expensive than it's ghastly
predecessor -(a Coopers, wasn't it ?)

I think Fullers is a fairly decent fit for the station pub. (Probably
better than the slighly dopey Geronimo/Betjeman next door.)

King's Cross: the Parcel Yard
 

On Thu, 22 Mar 2012 16:16:43 +0000, Roland Perry put finger to keyboard and
typed:

In message
, at
08:58:07 on Thu, 22 Mar 2012, Fat richard
remarked:
I passed trough very briefly on Tuesday and got poked by a young girl
with one of those big foam pointing fingers. She was taking her remit
to send people to the departure hall a little too literally. All good
natured stuff but she really was most insistant that I didn't want to
go into the arrivals hall.

I was surprised to see lots of retail still in the Arrivals hall this
morning, I was expecting it to have closed along with the ticket office.

Well, it will be closing when the extension is demolished. My guess is that
the retail operators have a lease until that time and will stay open until
then. Obviously, they're not going to be making as much money over the next
few months as they did before, but unless it becomes a complete lossmaker
there's no reason to close before they have to.

It seems odd to restrict outgoing punters to the choice in the departure
hall, if there's a wider choice by including the arrivals hall.

They're clearly concerned about people not understanding that they have to
go to the new departures hall in order to buy tickets or get on a train.
Given the propensity of the travelling public to completely ignore signs
and directions, that's probably reasonable in the short term.

Mark
--
Blog: http://mark.goodge.co.uk
Stuff: http://www.good-stuff.co.uk

King's Cross: the Parcel Yard
 

Just home from a look around the station, but mainly to check out the Parcel
Yard.

I'm impressed by the pub, although I don't know what the interior of the old
parcels office looked like. The impression is that a lot of the interior and
wood has been left intact creating an amazing number of rooms, snugs and
hidden corners. It is on two floors with the upper floor more food focused.
Some random railway stuff on the walls, but parts of the place oozes old
railway. Minimal historic data on a couple of boards but a more detailed
info board/leaflet would be good. OK the beer was London prices, but I had
expected it to be London plus surcharge and it wasn't that expensive. Much
of the Fullers portfolio on the handpumps.

I'll reserve full judgement on the station as St P impressed me at first
until I realised it was a crap station (good architecture and shopping I
agree though). Not sure if the arrivals/departures were to be kept
completely separate, but there is a temporary looking way through currently
next to the gates at the south end. Amused by the huge Japanese (?) school
party queuing to be photographed one by one at platform 9 3/4.

The centre footbridge gives impressive views of the trainshed. I will almost
certainly use this way to the platforms, at least for now, as fewer
passengers know of the route. Once it gets known it may be different. EC had
already perfected the art of not announcing your train until the last minute
and I do wonder if irregular passengers departing from platform 0 especially
will miss their train - time they've found where to go, fought with the
gates etc?

The helpers with their giant foam fingers pointing the way are a novel idea.
They have a little leaflet to hand out with the plan and info on the new
station.

David

King's Cross: the Parcel Yard
 

On 22/03/2012 18:36, David Thornhill wrote:
Just home from a look around the station...

Been there today too and had a wander about. What I feel is lacking in
the concourse is a /large/ sign saying platforms 0-8 clearly visible
from the exit from 9-11 which is where you come in from St. Pancras if
you exit from there halfway up rather than the Euston Road. Also another
/large/ sign saying Underground that makes it obvious where the head of
the multiple escalators are hidden round the back of the retail units.
Oh and a nice big analogue clock hung from the central roof support
would have been a nice touch and would have made a good meeting point.
--
Phil Cook

King's Cross: the Parcel Yard
 

In message , at 22:54:54 on
Wed, 21 Mar 2012, John Salmon remarked:

The two main departure boards each have 20 panels, showing the next 18
departures or departures for the next 90[*] minutes, whichever is the
fewer; the 19th and 20th panels are summaries of departures and
arrivals, but with no 'headings' to show which is which - you just
have to know, or be capable of working it out.

It's true - they've forgotten (or decided not) to add those 'headings'
to these boards, which are commonplace elsewhere.
--
Roland Perry

King's Cross: the Parcel Yard
 

In message e.net, at
18:30:43 on Thu, 22 Mar 2012, Mark Goodge
remarked:
It seems odd to restrict outgoing punters to the choice in the departure
hall, if there's a wider choice by including the arrivals hall.

They're clearly concerned about people not understanding that they have to
go to the new departures hall in order to buy tickets or get on a train.
Given the propensity of the travelling public to completely ignore signs
and directions, that's probably reasonable in the short term.

But there's a (possibly temporary) passage from the arrivals hall to the
departures hall, which currently makes that the best way to get from the
original ticket hall to the departures hall.

There are people with "foam fingers" trying to dissuade you, but I think
they protest too much!
--
Roland Perry

King's Cross: the Parcel Yard
 

In article , (Roland Perry)
wrote:

In message
,
at 08:58:07 on Thu, 22 Mar 2012, Fat richard
remarked:
I passed trough very briefly on Tuesday and got poked by a young girl
with one of those big foam pointing fingers. She was taking her remit
to send people to the departure hall a little too literally. All good
natured stuff but she really was most insistant that I didn't want to
go into the arrivals hall.

I was surprised to see lots of retail still in the Arrivals hall this
morning, I was expecting it to have closed along with the ticket
office.

It seems odd to restrict outgoing punters to the choice in the
departure hall, if there's a wider choice by including the arrivals
hall.

Only in the short term, surely?

--
Colin Rosenstiel

King's Cross: the Parcel Yard
 

In message , at 15:18:44
on Thu, 22 Mar 2012, remarked:
I was surprised to see lots of retail still in the Arrivals hall this
morning, I was expecting it to have closed along with the ticket
office.

It seems odd to restrict outgoing punters to the choice in the
departure hall, if there's a wider choice by including the arrivals
hall.

Only in the short term, surely?

Until the Spring, anyway.

Sorry, just come back from a meeting in Westminster where it was
explained (for the umpteenth time) that Spring lasts from February to
November.
--
Roland Perry

King's Cross: the Parcel Yard
 

On Mar 22, 10:09*pm, Roland Perry wrote:
[...]
Until the Spring, anyway.

Sorry, just come back from a meeting in Westminster where it was
explained (for the umpteenth time) that Spring lasts from February to
November.

Aha, government seasons!

King's Cross: the Parcel Yard
 

On Mar 22, 7:38*pm, Phil Cook wrote:

On 22/03/2012 18:36, David Thornhill wrote:

Just home from a look around the station...

Been there today too and had a wander about. What I feel is lacking in
the concourse is a /large/ sign saying platforms 0-8 clearly visible
from the exit from 9-11 which is where you come in from St. Pancras if
you exit from there halfway up rather than the Euston Road. Also another
/large/ sign saying Underground that makes it obvious where the head of
the multiple escalators are hidden round the back of the retail units.

Agree with both.

Oh and a nice big analogue clock hung from the central roof support
would have been a nice touch and would have made a good meeting point.

King's Cross: the Parcel Yard
 

In article , (Roland Perry)
wrote:

In message , at
15:18:44 on Thu, 22 Mar 2012, remarked:
I was surprised to see lots of retail still in the Arrivals hall this
morning, I was expecting it to have closed along with the ticket
office.

It seems odd to restrict outgoing punters to the choice in the
departure hall, if there's a wider choice by including the arrivals
hall.

Only in the short term, surely?

Until the Spring, anyway.

Sorry, just come back from a meeting in Westminster where it was
explained (for the umpteenth time) that Spring lasts from February to
November.

Not as long as summer then? ;-)

--
Colin Rosenstiel