Nestled in the front corner of St. Pancras Station, Betjeman Arms, the latest upscale boozer from the Geronimo Inns chain, serves up a range of ales – Meantime Wheat and Raspberry, Duvel and several Aspels, among them – as well as wines and champagne to quench the thirsts of sophisticates zooming off to Paris and Brussels; to quell their hunger are British bar meals such as Lancashire Hotpot, Welsh Rarebit and sausages from Devon (St. Pancras Station; 020 7837 0052).
The sultry retro-boudoir feel of Farringdon newcomer Tart Restaurant & Bar is set with its walls bedecked with ’50s-style pictures both pornographic and merely suggestive (tarts scoffing cake, natch) and banquettes in dark-red leather; the sweets-and-camp theme continues with cocktails like Gingerbread Sour and Rhubarb Crumble Custard, sure to appeal to jaded sorts yearning for something new (117 Charterhouse St.; 020 7253 3003).