Fortnum & Mason has revealed plans to open a 2,000 sq ft store at London’s King’s Cross St Pancras station.

The fine food and gift emporium, which trades primarily through its iconic Piccadilly store, will open the store in the former tickethall of the home of the Eurostar rail terminal later in November.

It will be the first standalone store since the flagship made its debut in 1707 and will create 25 jobs. The store will offer a range of Fortnum’s products, a tablecloth tea service and an “on-the-go” offer - a first for the company. It will also allow customers to design and order hampers through iPads in-store.

The retailer, owned by Wittington Investments, the investment vehicle of the Weston family, already trades from a number of small ‘concept areas’ or shops-in-shops selling mainly tea, biscuits, preserves and marmalades and confectionery lines in airport terminals.

“St Pancras is London’s Grand Central Station,” Ewan Venters, chief executive of Fortnum & Mason, said. “It’s a great opportunity. We feel the centre of gravity in London is moving north and east from Piccadilly.”

He added: “Thirty-five million people a year go through the station, and nearly a quarter of those people are going there to shop rather than to travel.”

The upmarket retailer reported a fall in operating profit from £1m to £345,000 in the year to July 15 2012.

It is understood Harper Dennis Hobbs acts for the retailer.

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