Local MEP hails new St Pancras Station
Monday, 3rd December 2007
 East Midlands MEP Roger Helmer has been using the new St Pancras Eurostar terminal, and is delighted by what he's found.
Previously Eurostar services from Brussels and Paris came in to Waterloo -- which some say may have caused offence to the French by reminding them of their greatest military defeat. But since Nov 14th, the new high-speed service comes in to St Pancras -- a big advantage for travellers from the East Midlands, who can now connect direct with Eurostar services, and avoid the trek across London to Waterloo.
Helmer was particularly impressed by the restoration of the station, with the ironwork supporting William Barlow's original 1868 roof-span now painted in the original powder-blue colour. He also admired the realistic statues, including one of the former Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman (see photo). Betjeman campaigned in the sixties against modernists who wanted to demolish the magnificent but "old-fashioned" Victorian brickwork, and replace it with modern glass and concrete. "This building is a national treasure", said Helmer. "It would have been an extraordinary act of vandalism to destroy it. We can now see a spectacular Victorian building which nevertheless makes an ideal 21st century rail terminal".
The MEP has always been a Betjeman fan, and was delighted to see quotations from Betjeman's well-loved poems are inscribed on slate slabs, set in the floor both around the statue and along the walkways.
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