Blimey, aren't the marketeers at St Pancras desperate to whip up a festive frenzy of excitement? Not to get you to come and ride on Eurostar, that's not their job. Nor even to get you to come and admire the station's great architecture, nothing so innocent. Oh, no, they want you to come shopping. Please.
I first noticed the Pancras PR squad's advertising onslaught on Friday, when some underpaid lackey outside Holborn station tried desperately to force a free copy of the Evening Standard into my hand. The newspaper had a glossy wraparound cover full of arty snowflakes, plus a dangly luggage label stickered to the front on a bit of string. On the back cover was a very long list of all the special events being held at St Pancras over the next three weeks. No times or anything, just dates, but that's still considerably more useful than the Flash version on the website where you can't see the entire list in one go (and, indeed, will probably have fallen asleep before you've clicked through to the end). And inside the cover sheet, in full blue and gold technicolour, a double page spread inviting London to visit "the world's largest advent calendar". So yesterday I went to have a look.
The world's largest advent calendar is indeed very large. It covers one entire end of the majestic Barlow Train Shed, which must slightly piss off anybody who's turned up specifically to take photographs of the original building. Yes the famous station clock is still visible, but it's been incorporated into the central logo and appears somewhat overwhelmed. And what of the 24 windows? We're promised on the website that "Every day at 10am a door the World's Largest Advent Calendar will be opened by a celebrity or intriguing character". That sounds exciting, doesn't it? Except it's not. I do hope you weren't expecting revealed images of any religious significance. Day 1's picture is some orangey-pink Art Deco flower fairy abomination, with the logo of Boots the Chemist slapped rather blatantly across the bottom. This is no Advent Calendar, this is the world's largest Advert Calendar. Is nothing sacred any more? Well, no, obviously not.
Elsewhere inside St Pancras, a Victorian Christmas has arrived. Everywhere I turned yesterday, the crowd was peppered with top-hatted gentlemen and ladyfolk in crinoline dresses and lacy shawls. Their job seemed to be handing out mini Advent Calendars, each a small rectangle of glossy card, again with 24 windows just begging to be ripped open. I couldn't resist taking a peek. "Thursday 06" <rip> "Singles Dance Card Dating Night". "Friday 07" <rip> "Mulled wine and shopping evening". It was at precisely this moment that I realised there are no litter bins anywhere inside St Pancras station. Damn. So I ended up taking the calendar home and blogging about it instead. Cunning that.
Children were rather better catered for. Outside the Body Shop a crowd of almost-animated kids were watching a bunch of costumed actors performing something melodramatic on a mini stage. Further up the undercroft, past the big artificial Christmas tree, Santa was in his grotto. He'd arrived by Eurostar on Saturday morning (from Paris, presumably, or more likely EuroDisney). If you should turn up on a weekday when he's not in, never fear, there's a Father Christmas Post Box you can visit instead. It's also fat and red, but this time surrounded by a circular Habitat-sponsored seating area. A big sign on the front of the box warns children to ensure that their letters to Santa have a stamp on them, otherwise they might not receive a reply. And the postbox slot is filled by a solid black block with a narrow slit across the middle, presumably so that evil terrorist children can't post letterbombs to Santa instead. Such is a 21st century Victorian Christmas.
And does all this shameless marketing work? Yes of course it does. St Pancras was crawling with people yesterday, with far more of them downstairs in the undercroft (where the shops are) than upstairs where the pretty architecture is. There's nothing people like better at Christmas than standing around in a shopping mall buying gift sets of organic body scrub whilst sipping cappucinos, and clearly the King's Cross area has been sadly lacking in such retail opportunities. Up until now, anyway.
Look hard enough at the what's on list and you're bound to spot several interesting-looking events being held at St Pancras between now and Christmas, especially if you like historical guided tours, film screenings, carol singing or munching pfeffernüsse. But if you're not really into shopping or travelling to Paris, and you just want to bring your camera for a good look round, you might want to hold back until January 7th.
The world's largest advent calendar is indeed very large. It covers one entire end of the majestic Barlow Train Shed, which must slightly piss off anybody who's turned up specifically to take photographs of the original building. Yes the famous station clock is still visible, but it's been incorporated into the central logo and appears somewhat overwhelmed. And what of the 24 windows? We're promised on the website that "Every day at 10am a door the World's Largest Advent Calendar will be opened by a celebrity or intriguing character". That sounds exciting, doesn't it? Except it's not. I do hope you weren't expecting revealed images of any religious significance. Day 1's picture is some orangey-pink Art Deco flower fairy abomination, with the logo of Boots the Chemist slapped rather blatantly across the bottom. This is no Advent Calendar, this is the world's largest Advert Calendar. Is nothing sacred any more? Well, no, obviously not.
