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Kings Cross is located in central London, a mile and a half north of Charing Cross.
For several years, Kings Cross was Central London's poorest district firmly aligned with prostitution, drugs and homelessness. Naturally, the area then saw a decline in regards to railway goods especially to the north of the station and the neighbouring regions. This forced the introduction of heavy policing along with CCTV working to eliminate the unsavoury practices.
The lasting reputation still gave way to cheaper rents attracting a slew of artists and designers into the district. The turn-around from improvements made over the years to Kings Cross has seen the likes of Facebook and Sky place offices here…
King's Cross St. Pancras is the busiest and most well-connected interchange of the entire London Underground network of 270 stations. At peak times, more than 550 tube trains are in operation across the 11 coloured tube lines, 6 of which pass through here.
Interestingly, the station has a platform that non-magical people cannot see called Platform 9 ¾ with a single express train stopping at some sort of school called Hogwarts. A student named Harry Potter previously left his trolley here and it’s become a popular feature people queue up to observe.
St Pancras International of 1868 has been home to Eurostar since 2007 along with a collection of shops, restaurants and Europe's longest Champagne bar. William Barlow originally designed a single terminus on Euston Road to run from Bedford to London but you can now travel directly to Belgium, France, the Netherlands as well as various corners of England.
The frontage of the station is a jaw-droppingly Gothic display of beauty as the 300-roomed St Pancras Renaissance Hotel. George Gilbert Scott submitted this Victorian palace design with 150 bedrooms but the Midland Railway Company were so taken with his ideas, they doubled down on them for a much bigger and more expensive feat. Most rooms are about £250 a night but the Royal Suite is £10,000 a night. This is reasonable considering it recently cost £47,000 just to reapply wallpaper to one of the rooms.
Granary Square is a large public space roughly equal to the size of Trafalgar square and has become the beating heart of the district. The actual square lies in front of the Granary building originally conceived in 1852 by Lewis Cubitt as a useful place to unload goods from barges. The building is now a campus of UAL (University of the Arts London).
After redevelopment of the area, Granary Square opened in 2012 with a large water installation feature. A display of 1000 small fountain jets are used mostly by families with young children to cool down and have some fun in the sun. This spot hosts a range of art, culture and sport events, music and even ice-cream festivals.
As you walk through Granary Square you’ll notice restaurants conveniently placed for watching the view as you dine out. If you’re not fancying a bite to eat, a greenery section by the canal has been created where people chill with friends, read by the water or enjoy film viewings from a screen across the canal.
Walking down the slope or steps near Granary Square beside the greenery seating reveals the towpath along the canal which follows through with an inviting view of the boats. Wandering further along will eventually lead you to Word on the Water.
This floating bookshop on Regent’s canal has been here since 2011, well kind of. When they arrived then, canal regulations ordered them to relocate every two weeks. A mixture of squatting for six months straight and public outcry from a successful campaign of supporters forced the canal trust to finally relent and offer the boat a permanent berth. New and used titles are all accessible to browse in this cosy 1920’s Dutch barge whilst a soothing soundtrack of water and music emits in the background. Customers are very welcome to enter, get comfortable and page turn beside the woodburning stove. The boat hosts talks on the arts, technology, feminism and politics; and puts on musical performance and open mic nights.
These wrought iron frames you can see were Gasholders from the 1850’s in use up until the year 2000, they’d store and transfer gas as part of Pancras Gasworks...
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19 авг 2024
