The Barrel Vault (JD Wetherspoon), N1

Brand new Spoons well described below with a decent choice of beers as part of the latest festival. I can think of much worse places to kill time waiting for a train!

This is only the ninth Wetherspoons that I’ve ever visited; I tend to avoid them as few are real pubs and this is no exception, even down to the deliberate lack of ‘spoons branding, presumably to foster a more upmarket image. It’s situated in the former clothing section of St. Pancras’ Marks & Sparks, me seated in roughly the area where I bought the boxer shorts that I was wearing. Opened on 1st October, the name is influenced by the station’s former undercroft’s use; it is now home to some quite swanky shops, but was originally used to store beer barrels freighted in from Burton-on-Trent, the barrels’ dimensions determining the height and distance between the metal columns. Once inside, the only clue that this is a ‘spoons are the four unattractive flashing games machines. Otherwise, it looks like any old modern station bar. On high, there’s a ceiling so bedecked with ductwork that it resembles an oilrig; conventional lamps along with wooden barrels hang from it. Beneath a tubular steel gantry, the marble-topped bar sweeps around much of the left-hand side and sports 12 different pumps; the bar’s front is decorated with herringbone slats of differing brown hues. The floor features a patterned tiled bar apron with the remainder laid in a combination of large ceramic tiles and wood laminate, all of which contributes to rather poor acoustics. Furniture is modern with leatherette opposing bench seats in semi-booths to the outer periphery, which look out onto limited pavement seating, delineated from the remainder of the pavement by planters. The centre of the interior features exclusively tall furniture with small rectangular tables along with some quite small circular steel tables without seating and all quite close together. Customers would seem to be drawn from rail travellers rather than the usual ‘spoons clients, but I expect they’ll turf up once word gets out. Ales: as mentioned, 12 including at least one mild with a suitably appropriate choice of Burton Bridge Brewery’s Burton Ale coming in at a very appealing £3.45-pint, in decent nick but not the most adventurous of choices, the result of other ales seemingly existing in pump only which shouldn’t have happened on opening day. Another nod to this outlet distinguishing itself from its brethren is that payment is taken after and not before your pint is drawn. This isn’t a bad place if you like railway station bars and can’t survive without beer, but it's not what I'd call a pub and I was rather put off by the security guard patrolling the interior. Also, the lavs are small by ‘spoons standards, but then this isn’t really a ‘spoons – or is it?

Official site of The Barrel Vault (JD Wetherspoon) - www.jdwetherspoon.com