The Gilbert Scott (bar) at St Pancras Renaissance Hotel

The stand-alone bar at Marcus Wareing’s British brasserie is so seductive that you might decide to forego the Eurostar from St Pancras. Here’s a room to give the Gare de Lyon’s Le Train Bleu a run for its money. Restored to something approaching its original gilded gothic glory, it could double as a Merchant Ivory film set. Liquid sustenance features a monthly ‘top 10’ cocktail list: chipotle julep, a superb Tapatio Añejo-based Manhattan & nightingale’s sour (Grey Goose, absinthe, grapefruit, apricot, lemon & peach). Twenty wines appear by the glass: try Camel Valley Brut from a trio of English fizzes or a spicy 2004 Chateau Musar from the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon. Bar snacks include marinated artichokes, whitebait, potted shrimps, & potato croquettes inspired by 1930s’ society cook ‘Countess’ Morphy. Staff are several notches above their buffet-car contemporaries on Britain’s mainline trains.