KXFS

I like this pop up. I wonder how long a pop up can call itself such once its been there awhile. It’s a former petrol station and is slap bang in the middle of the re developing yards area behind Kings Cross proper. Walk up the new path betwixt Kings Cross station concourse and St Pancras, past the lighted swing and towards the largest fountain area in Europe (so the Kings Cross guide peeps told me. I don’t believe them).
Cross the road and you have the guardian offices. The new Google hq is being built and the UC London arts campus is next door. so this is an area in transition. With all this in mind KXFS is a bit of a gem but has development prospects. We came here on a pretty chilly night but in summer it will be heaving. lots of outside space, hotdogs and a very simplistic drinks menu. Plastic payment only… but none of this is a problem. I look forward to coming back on a balmy night… maybe I’ll get some food next time but for drinking this was good.

No better place to be in north/​central London on a nice sunny day. Great vibe – I thought it would be students, but very much a liberal, Guardian professional crowd.
If it is crowded and you can’t snag a table, have no fear – just loiter on your feet by the railing canal-​side.
My only complaint was the frozen margarita tasted a bit piña colada – something to work on.
But a great place to be for an after-​work summer drink. I will be sad when this pop-​up goes away.

I thought this place was a building site being hidden by boarding!
Once you slip around the side and get canal side it is a pretty amazing little haven. Locked away from the building works of kings cross and with just one outlook onto the canal, they have one beer, one cider and a prosecco on tap as well as a BBQ.
Service was pretty slow and haphazard, but you have to forgive somethings sometimes. We didn’t manage to get a seat as it was full of media types from the Guardian office across the way, but still a good address for after work beers (just the one type though).

Great pizza, a simple choice of drinks, plenty of seating, friendly service and a happy crowd. Good times.
The stand-​out of KXFS is its location. Previously a filling station, so conducive is its canal-​side setting to summer drinking that one wonders why it wasn’t a bar to begin with. Most of the tables overlook the canal, making for a very relaxing drinking experience, however excited the crowd here might get. And though classed as a pop-​up bar, much work has gone into giving it the appearance of something more permanent, with a neon sign advertising its presence (KXFS) to the world, comparatively luxurious temporary toilets, and a bar.
The limited choice of drink — Bitburger lager, one red wine, one white wine — is normally something that I’d be complaining loudly about, but that’s not what KXFS is about. Rather, it’s about enjoying the company of friends in this canal-​side and rather unusual setting. And for that purpose it’s good enough.
The pizza is also good, much better than I was expecting. Reasonably priced too, at around £10. Service is quick, friendly and efficient.
The oddity of KXFS is its music: instrumental versions of everything ranging from Star Wars, Lady Gaga to Raiders of the Lost Ark cranked out on a honky-​tonky keyboard by a guy in what looked like a scarecrow outfit. Personally I quite liked it, in a rather amused-​at-​its-​oddness way. But as you’ll see from the other reviews, this is far from a view universally shared.
The crowd was young, good-​looking and happy. Yet another factor that made for an enjoyable evening here.

London seems awash with pop-​up bars but what makes this place stand out is the amount of seating on offer. I usually think of pop-​ups along the same lines as drive-​throughs. Rock up on your wheels of choice, grab your food and drink, and then linger in an empty parking lot while you proceed to demolish your meal. The idea of spending several hours there is usually a foreign concept yet it seems to work for KXFS.
The bar staff are quick and efficient and for roughly 10 ft of bar have 5 – 6 people working it (pretty good proportions and something other pop-​ups could learn from — I’m talking to you Frank!). Homeslice has also taken up residence and plunked their mobile wood fired oven behind the bar to serve up some truly delicious pizza. The drinks on offer are a Bitburger lager, Hogan’s cider, Prosecco (on tap nonetheless), and a mango-​orange margarita. There may be wine, but I didn’t see any unless you get it from Shrimpys. Also, the bar is CARD ONLY which is a bit of a switch but much more convenient for all of us in this age of plastic.
There is live music but you never quite know what you are going to get. We had an oddly dressed man who sort of looked like Penn (from Penn & Teller) crossed with the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland. His selection ranged from Star Wars themed songs to classical piano and then some remixed versions of popular hits. It didn’t work for me and was a tad loud for the space. This isn’t club, dude, and I’d like to be able to talk without screaming at the person next to me!
Overall, I quite enjoyed the time we spend playing Alex S’s horrible card game (which is awesome!) and would definitely be back on another sunny day.

A popup bar at an old filling station. Because when I see a disused filling station I think ‘I want an expensive, trendy, mediocre beer surrounded by a whole lot of people who inexplicably keep bumping into me’. At least it’s outdoors and there are houseboats on the canal so you can watch the residents go about their houseboat business which, as I found in Seattle, is really very entertaining.

Drinking at a former filling station. Who could hate this?
Actually, this may be the perfect summer bar. It’s outdoors, right next to the canals, serving drinks like margaritas slushies. What could be better.
I really enjoyed my time at KXFS (stands for King’s Cross Filling Station, by the way.) To get here, walk south from the station down York Road. When you’ve come to the long white building with a neon sign that reads «The Filling Station» on top, you’ve struck gold. Walk around to the back and get yourself a drink.
The menu is small. You want a beer? They have one option. One option for cider, one for slushie, etc. They also make a decent slice of pizza (thin crusted wood fired and not amazing but tasty with some beer, but solid at £3 a slice and £9 for a pie.)
The space is a little awkward. There’s the bar and then a row of tables right up against the canal wall. There’s a big dance floor in the middle but when I was there it was filled with science decorations (as they were having a science techno music night) and it didn’t seem like they wanted people on it, so everyone just awkwardly stood around it. Still, there was a bunch of space to stand near the tables and it got more and more crowded as the night went on.
A fun bar for sure and a great one to have during summer.

I really liked it here.
The canalside location, the delicious pizza, the card-​only payment system (I never carry cash), the buzzing atmosphere, the friendly smiles from the bar staff.
There are a couple of negatives:
1. the beverage selection is extremely limited and changing barrels results in a very long wait for your beer with only cider or prosecco as an alternative.
2. That damned pianist playing the most eclectic mix of melodies at full volume. Sure he was talented but give our ears a rest please.
Also, they close at 10pm but I guess that’s because it’s an outside thing. Still, it’s cool here and if you’re lucky the young guy on the barge opposite will swim in the canal in his white underwear.

Went to the popup bar KXFS at the filling station in Kings Cross. From the people behind Bistrotheque and Shrimpys, KXFS is under cover and have a superb pop up pizzeria ‘HomeSlice’ this Summer here. We had some lovely frozen Margaritas (£5) alongside our £3 slices of Margheritas. Chilled atmosphere, ideal for a pre– dinner drink before hitting the town.