As mentioned previously on this blog, we are currently making a wide range of improvements to our site at St Pancras. The latest milestone in this extensive programme of activity is the appointment of a new caterer, Graysons, who will help provide a substantially improved food and drink offer for Readers and visitors in our public restaurant and cafés, as well as for members in our new membership space, due to launch later this year.

 

Feedback from Readers who completed last year’s catering survey helped inform the selection process. Graysons have a strong background in providing public and event catering and already serve the neighbouring Francis Crick Institute. They will take on the new contract in October.

The appointment of Graysons follows the launch of Origin Coffee’s coffee bar in the Entrance Hall in April. The Euston Road coffee bar has now closed for refurbishment and is due to be reopened by Origin later in the summer.

Along with these developments we will be increasing the space available for public catering on Floor 1 and introducing a new Membership Scheme and Members room on Floor 2. In order to make these changes it will be necessary to relocate our staff catering facilities from their current locations on Floors 1 and 2 to a new facility on Floor 3. This space is currently occupied by the Cotton Room and Friends Lounge and, as a consequence, these areas will close in late July and will no longer be available for visitors to use.

We do, however, hope that the overall increase in and enhanced quality of the spaces offered within both the new public restaurant and Members’ room will represent a major improvement to the facilities available to all those using our building.

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, visit the programme web page.

We have started to engage 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. On Saturday 7 May and Tuesday 7 June, 12 members of staff from across the Library ran ‘drop in’ sessions on the Piazza, engaging with a variety of our users, including regular Readers, exhibition goers, tourists and local people. As a result of this engagement we received nearly 100 completed feedback forms and are able to identify key priorities for our users.

It is likely that we will run another Piazza drop in session towards the end of summer to keep this conversation going. If you are interested in contributing, please contact [email protected]

Rachel Hart

Service Improvement Manager