Business of the week: Piebury Corner’s long-awaited opening in King’s Cross

It was the most anticipated Caledonian Road shop opening in a generation.

It’s rare to see people queuing to get in a restaurant on a Thursday lunchtime, but not every restaurant is Piebury Corner.

Yesterday, owners Paul and Nicky Campbell opened a second shop – on former haberdashery and ice cream parlour premises – near the junction with Pentonville Road.

After opening in Holloway Road in 2011, the pie shop already has legendary status among Arsenal fans.

The new branch, with a capacity of 50, will be themed around people who have lived and worked in King’s Cross. It will target office workers and travellers using King’s Cross station, and has also paired up with Deliveroo.

It was packed in the first hours of trading yesterday lunchtime, and Paul said: “We were completely under it. It was very stressful. Almost – but not quite – overwhelming.

“It’s great. We started on our front garden [selling pies on Arsenal matchdays in Highbury]. Now we’ve opened a second shop.

“It’ll be the same, though. We don’t take ourselves too seriously. Two fellas just came up to me just then, saying they’d be coming back.”

Paul’s next project will be finding an upgrade to its Holloway Road site: “We outgrew it years ago.”