I had occasion to do some work at Cottesmore in 2006/7 and I have to say it was the most unfriendly station I've ever been to, so I can see why some folks here have reservations about it. The Staish (SB) was one of the few people there that were genuinely nice to us.
I was under the impression that the Harrier pan was relatively new and one of my colleagues there had mentioned that it wasn't there during his TTTE days.