Five years and a £42 million renovation have created six floors and 91 high-ceilinged rooms with tri

The £550 million regeneration of King’s cruise ship reviews ports of call Cross from a seedy London district more associated with prostitution and drugs to an area alive with new restaurants, businesses — French property firm BNP Paribas Real Estate has just announced plans to open a £80 million office block here — and new hotels is almost cruise ship reviews ports of call complete. For new hotels read historic hotels spruced up. The St Pancras Renaissance opened to huge fanfare, while further along the road the Great Northern has been steadily cutting a dash since last year.
The strikingly curved building, which first opened in 1854 to passengers for the new age of steam trains, was designed by Lewis Cubitt, architect behind much of Victorian London including King’s Cross station itself.
Five years and a £42 million renovation have created six floors and 91 high-ceilinged rooms with triple-glazed floor-to-ceiling windows leading off expansive corridors. Attention to detail is key. To the far end of each, tiny pantries hold sweet-shop-style jars of jelly babies and retro Wagon Wheels.
Awkward-shaped rooms with walls that cannot be removed due to the building’s Grade II-listed status cruise ship reviews ports of call are fitted with £800 bespoke panels with silver coat hooks (instead of wardrobes). Litres of Farrow Ball paint in foodie colours — olive, cream, aubergine — grace walls and are a nod to dinner later.
A guided tour with owner and operator Jeremy Robson, whose investment company Ram owns six hotels, reveals cruise ship reviews ports of call a picky perfectionism — well, he did  train as an architect. I last witnessed such behaviour when having dinner with the manager of a hotel in Mexico who couldn’t stop himself from jumping up to correct a table laid the wrong way. Similarly, while proudly showing me a sleeper-style couchette room, he frowns over the framed SNCF poster. It’s not strictly relevant to the hotel, although the Eurostar terminus is just a 25m sprint away. Expect it to have been replaced by the time you check in.
I have to say I loved it all. Our family were in one of the top-floor Wainscot rooms — the décor is masculine, with clubby black American walnut panelling from which the room takes its name. It’s like the practicality of Ikea with the classiness of bespoke Italian furniture. Walls are painted a deep, rich shade of aubergine. It’s striking but for me too dark for the limited space. But the bathroom is bright, with Victorian-style Lefroy Brooks shiny chrome fittings and white porcelain.
Passing the public spaces en route to dinner reveals these are no less inventive: a small confined space is a quirky snug bar crammed with drinkers on a wintry Friday night. The main chandelier-filled GNH bar was equally rammed. The hotel backs on to the King’s Cross Western Concourse, where the hole-in-the-wall tiled kiosk sells hot roast and cured meat on artisan cruise ship reviews ports of call bread, relieving today’s rail passengers of the option of a soggy sandwich from the main concourse.
But the showstopper is the 90-cover Plum Spilt Milk, headed by chef director Mark Sargeant, who earned a Michelin star as head chef of Gordon Ramsay at Claridge’s. The back of the menu features paintings of plums and an explanation of the name — the nickname for the original LNWR dining car, painted in the railway’s livery colours.
The dark paint continues — a kind of teal shade even on the ceiling, which is hung with a central cruise ship reviews ports of call feature of 120 hand-blown smoked-glass pendants. Curved banquettes add a cosiness to the dramatic styling. There wasn’t a single empty table. When you eat unfashionably early as a family (our daughter is nine) you generally cruise ship reviews ports of call have the place to yourselves.
The seasonal British food did the décor justice. My partner and I ordered the prawn cocktail, a classy take on that Eighties staple, due in equal part to the quality of the prawns and the delicate cruise ship reviews ports of call hand with the dressing, faithful cruise ship reviews ports of call to the original Marie Rose sauce without being cloying.
Our daughter bravely ate two of her three succulent Maldon oysters, minus the chilli sauce, but not for the first time her parents envied her choice of main — large, juicy pork chops, slightly smoky from the grill, with beef dripping chips. Until ours arrived. cruise ship reviews ports of call A whole roast chicken jointed to share, accompanied by a jug of rich gravy, sweet honey-roast parsnips and soft, buttered cruise ship reviews ports of call greens. Perfection. For those with less time, a new 45-minute, £21 two-course express menu has just launched.
Our eaves room was dark and quiet — usually the recipe for a perfect night’s sleep (unless your child decides to get in bed with you). A promptly served hot latte and a breakfast of smoked salmon and scrambled eggs helped.
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