Even if you’re one of the lucky few to have explored the gothic revival clock tower that rises above St Pancras station, chances are there wasn’t a performance of opera going on at the time.
On Sunday 19 July 2026, you can experience just that, as the charity Opera Prelude hosts soprano Nancy Holt and pianist Weng Soon Tee, performing an hour-long programme of music spanning Dido’s Lament from Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, through to If I Loved You from Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel.
Designed by George Gilbert Scott as the icing on the cake of the Midland Grand Hotel, the clock tower has long housed a private apartment, featuring a 10-metre-tall living room; this is in fact a false bell-chamber, designed to give the tower height. The clock tower has no actual bells in it though, as it turns out, the false chamber provides a stunning space for belting out a few arias.
Tickets for the performance cost £35, with proceeds going towards Opera Prelude’s work nurturing talented artists.
Londonist went inside the clock tower back in 2015; see the video above for a snoop around.
Opera Prelude at St Pancras clock tower, 19 July 2026
