The coming months will see a range of improvements to our public spaces and services at St Pancras as we begin roll out the first phase of an ambitious programme to expand and reorient our site in London. The programme will develop over a period of several years, but Readers and visitors to St Pancras will start to enjoy the first benefits as early as this summer, with substantial improvements to our catering offer.

The first of these will be our new coffee provider Origin Coffee who will take on the running of the Euston Road espresso bar and a new coffee cart service for the Front Hall at St Pancras.

Front Hall image by Paul Grundy.

Origin is a Cornwall and London based company that specialises in artisan coffee, sourced directly from providers all over the world. The firm already supplies major names such as SoHo House Group, Steins Restaurants and Selfridges UK, and will offer a range of guest coffees along with a high quality food offer. The coffee cart will begin operating in April – in time for the Punk exhibition – and Origin will take on the espresso bar later this summer, after a brief refit period.

The main catering provision at St Pancras – which includes the public restaurant, the café on the Upper Ground Floor and The Last Word café on the Piazza – is currently being re-tendered and will see the appointment of one or several providers later in the year.

At the same time, we will create a new members’ lounge on the second floor and a new staff restaurant on the third floor. Designs are still being developed, but we expect the new public restaurant – developed with the involvement of the new catering provider and opening in the winter – to be a significant improvement on the current set-up, with more and better spaces for users of the Library to enjoy an improved range of food and drinks.

The improvements to our catering are part of the first phase of a programme to develop the St Pancras campus that will eventually lead to the creation of new gallery, learning and research spaces, along with the development of the 2.8 acre site to the north of the existing Grade I-listed building. For an overview of the programme, watch the video above or visit the programme web page.

Over the next year there will be a programme of engagement with our neighbours, users and other stakeholders, all of whom will have a hand in shaping the future development of the Library’s St Pancras campus. If you are interested in contributing, please contact [email protected]

Patrick Fleming

Head of Business Change, Campus Programme