the Eurostar platforms. At the front of the station, George Gilbert Scott's ornate Midland Grand Hotel, completed in 1877, and still boasting one of the world's greatest Gothic facades, will re-open in 2009 as luxury lofts and a hotel.

"People will want to visit St Pancras whether they're travelling or not, as they did when it first opened. It will be the antithesis of stations today," said Mike Luddy, project director for London and Continental Railways.

The reopening of St Pancras coincides with the £3bn regeneration project north of the station. This will see 50 new buildings erected on derelict goods yards, housing 250 new businesses and up to 2,500 new homes.

The irony is that all this history came within 10 days of demolition. In 1966 British Rail announced it was to merge the two stations, demolishing St Pancras in favour of a sports

All this history would have been demolished had Sir John Betjeman not come to its rescue

centre and social housing. A campaign led by poet laureate Sir John Betjeman (left) galvanised public opinion - already stung by the demolition of the old Euston station in 1962.

Letters to the Times, sit-ins and the gentle tones of Betjeman persuaded the bureaucrats to grant St Pancras a Grade 1 listing, stopping the bulldozers in their tracks.

Decades of decline followed, however, as passengers abandoned rail for road and air, and it was only with the building of the £5.8bn high speed link to the Channel Tunnel that Barlow's dream found it's modern fulfilment.

Fitting then, that when St Pancras re-opens in November, passengers on their way to Paris will pass a statue of Sir John Betjeman on the concourse, staring up at the building he helped to save.