The Parcel Yard, N1

Located at the far end of the concourse at the recently redeveloped Kings Cross station, the Parcel Yard is apparently the largest station pub in the UK, built in the station’s former Parcel Office. To reach the pub you have to climb a flight of stairs, although lift access is also available. You enter into a seating area with tables set up more for diners and menus printed to look like old fashioned postcards. A corridor of sorts leads you down the left hand side of the pub with a couple of smart seating areas off it with a mix of sofa, high stool and standard seating. These rooms have neutral coloured walls and wooden flooring made from materials recovered from the original Parcel Office. The servery runs along the back wall, with a sizeable open space opposite for vertical drinking. Opposite is the pub’s centerpiece – a large flagstone floored room with internal windows on all four sides and a very high glass ceiling giving it a bright look that contrasted nicely with the rest of the pub. The seating in here is a mix of comfy chairs and high stools and on my late morning visit, there were a few people taking advantage of the natural light to read their paper over a coffee. There’s even room for a potted tree in one corner. A narrow corridor runs down the right hand side of this room, giving access to the toilets and yet furnished with low benches, which didn’t look like an appealing place to settle down. The décor includes a few bits of railway memorabilia, although not as much as I’d expected, and some brewerania. This is a Fullers pub and on the bar there was pretty much the entire Fullers range, including London Pride, ESB, HSB, Seafarers, Discovery, Bengal Lancer, Chiswick, Black Cab Stout and Jack Frost, plus guests in the shape of Butcombe Bitter and Brains Rev James. The keg range included Fullers London Porter and Honeydew, Meantime London Lager, Veltins and Leffe, whilst the full range of Fullers bottled beers appeared in the fridge, including some from the Past Masters series. This place is a bit pricey, which you might expect given its location, but putting that aside, I think they’ve created a really nice pub for a transient customer base to spend a bit of time whilst waiting for a train. By London standards, this is a very good station pub.

Large rambling pub at he north end of the new station concourse its a rather interesting place being part of the old building and the addition of the railway memorabelia is a nice touch. Nice effort and a chance for real ale at a station.