Pump Up the Jam
It was the petrol filling station with a shop where clubbers would call in for bottles of water on their way to Bagley’s rave when the back of King’s Cross was an urban desert. Then the team behind Bistrotheque, one of Hackney’s most popular restaurants, opened a pop up called Shrimpy’s at The Filling Station in July 2012. Behind architects Carmody Groarke’s undulating fibreglass screen, the station forecourt was transformed into an outdoor seating area and the former kiosk turned into a 50 cover Latin American seafood residence. The meanwhile use would become permanent; the temporary building would remain just that.
In the days before Small Plates, the menu was traditional in its order of Starters, Main Courses and Puddings, while modern in its ingredients. Typical courses were seabass ceviche, plantains (£8.50); monkfish, quinoa, almonds, courgettes (£19.00); and poached quince, crème fraîche, almonds (£6.00). Cocktails (£8.50 to £9.00) included Lavender Tea: gin, lavender, grapefruit, camomile tea. Pound signs were stripped off the menu in a futuristic nod to minimalism. Unusually for its time, Shrimpy’s was cashless. Another sign of things to come was the 12.5 percent service charge when 10 percent was the norm.
It was all terribly buzzy; we sat up at the bar next to the singer Bryan Ferry. We attended the Christmas tree press party a few months later in December 2012. Clearly full of the joys, after dashing from Ballymore’s Embassy Gardens launch party in Vauxhall, we reported, “Across town, we joined opera singer Camilla Kerslake and fashionistas Giles Deacon and Jonathan Saunders at King’s Cross Filling Station. The tenuous editorial link? Vauxhall. A Christmas tree made out of Vauxhall Amera car parts was unveiled. Moving parts mechanically grooved to a techno beat as fluorescent orange light and frosted air filled the forecourt. Lady Gaga’s erstwhile designer Gary Card dreamt up the tree. Mince pies, mulled wine and dancing kept us warm.”
Gin Works – a bar, restaurant and micro distillery for Kent winemaker Chapel Down – took Shrimpy’s place in 2017. Guy Hollaway Architects, the practice behind Rocksalt restaurant on the harbour front in Folkestone, designed a replacement two storey building with an industrial aesthetic. The entrance along Goods Way is set in a curved sweep of finned coloured glazing. The Regent Canal elevation is framed by the fragments of a cast iron Victorian gasworks. Cladding maintains the pop up appearance. After Gin Works closed, the owners of Camden Town Brewery and Mare Street Market in Hackney opened The Gas Station in the building in 2021. A wild garden designed by Richard Wilford, Head of Garden Design at Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, surrounds the beer garden overlooking the canal.
The buzziness is back. We’re sat at a marbleised top table for two on the ground floor of the two storey restaurant and bar. There are wallflowers (not us) climbing up the staircase walls. Sticking to savouries for sharing, Snacks are mushroom arancini, porcini mayo (£7.00) and whipped cod roe taramasalata, toasted flatbread (£7.00). Small Plates are mussels and clams on sourdough, garlic, lemon, samphire (£11.00) and blackened leeks, nori, leek aioli, warm hazelnut vinaigrette (£9.00). Our Large Plate is aubergine steak, smoked babaganoush, sourdough croutons, caponata, basil (£14.50). The vibe is high end pub grub. Cocktails are a speciality of the bar at The Gas Station. Monte Mule (£11.50) is Amaro Montenegro, Old Jamaica Ginger Beer and lime. “Gas” is Dublin slang for great fun. And The Gas Station is just that.
