London Kings Cross - Very Nice Now

Badonde

Badonde

Well-known member
Just back from a trip to the smoke.
Spent some time mooching about the area behind KK before getting the evening train home.
(If I'd typed this back in the eighties you would have thought I was up to no good :LOL:)
I remember going to 'The Church' nightclub in the nineties and the area was a right tip

Wowsers. o_O
The place is unbelievably smart.
Just shows what can be done with a bit of political will and a serious amount of hard cash.

I knew that the station itself was upgraded (back in early 2000's or so??) but the area around it is now amazingly smart.
Made me a little sad just thinking about how big the north/south divide has accelerated.
Hey-ho maybe we'll get our 'nice things' soon?
 
Badonde said:
Just back from a trip to the smoke.
Spent some time mooching about the area behind KK before getting the evening train home.
(If I'd typed this back in the eighties you would have thought I was up to no good :LOL:)
I remember going to 'The Church' nightclub in the nineties and the area was a right tip

Wowsers. o_O
The place is unbelievably smart.
Just shows what can be done with a bit of political will and a serious amount of hard cash.

I knew that the station itself was upgraded (back in early 2000's or so??) but the area around it is now amazingly smart.
Made me a little sad just thinking about how big the north/south divide has accelerated.
Hey-ho maybe we'll get our 'nice things' soon?
Click to expand...
Spoiler; we wont
 
Coal Drops Yard is a lovely area isnt it? in summer you can sit on the grassy banks of the Regents canal. There's artificial grass laid along some of it. There's a quaint little barge called 'Books on the Water; where you can climb aboard and look at their book supply. I think you can also buy coffee and tea there.
 
Mountain Climber said:
Coal Drops Yard is a lovely area isnt it? in summer you can sit on the grassy banks of the Regents canal. There's artificial grass laid along some of it. There's a quaint little barge called 'Books on the Water; where you can climb aboard and look at their book supply. I think you can also buy coffee and tea there.
Click to expand...
Coal drops yard is so good. It's amazing what they have done with what was a desolate and grimey wasteland. As others have said it shows what CAN be down with the right investment. I like the way companies are also trying to create areas were like minded people can thrive. Both Google and the London Research Institute built headquarters there specifically because Central St Martins moved in. They wanted their staff to be moving with other clever, creative people.

It's a really nice area and such a change from the ladies of the night that used to frequent it
 
It’s good there now. Apparently they’re planning the same sort of upgrade around Darlo station - summat to do with the treasury. The houses in that area aren’t the greatest but they’re going like hot cakes so developers can do em up and rent them airb&b to treasury types midweek.

So the whole treasury thing is development ‘in’ a region and not development ‘of’ a region.
 
SmallTown said:
Coal drops yard is so good. It's amazing what they have done with what was a desolate and grimey wasteland. As others have said it shows what CAN be down with the right investment. I like the way companies are also trying to create areas were like minded people can thrive. Both Google and the London Research Institute built headquarters there specifically because Central St Martins moved in. They wanted their staff to be moving with other clever, creative people.

It's a really nice area and such a change from the ladies of the night that used to frequent it
Click to expand...


Its wonderful how they have retained the same facade of the old brown bricked station facilities and modernised inside. These are London bricks which are synonymous with the capital.

There's so much to see and do. Somewhere to look around of you've got time while waiting for a train from Kings X back to the NE.
 
Whilst it is nice, I feel a bit nostalgic for the old Kings Cross which was my first impressions of London as a young lad. It was grimy and it was run down, but it provided an essential area for artists and other people priced out of the rest of London, and was "exciting" with its backstreet pubs and hidden nightclubs.

I love this lecture from Rob Elms about how "slums" provide an essential area for cities to function as cities rather than just a playground for the rich.


Also tragically, you also dont need to go to far into Somers Town to see real deprivation, I spent last week peeling veg at a foodbank a couple of streets behind Kings Cross and talking to the volunteers they described it as "almost like the Victorian times" in some areas - and so whilst it's nice to pop into APC or Dishoom, there's some real horrible circumstances just yards away from the glitz and glamour of Coals Drop Yard.
 
It's certainly a million miles away from what it was when I moved here in 1995! It's incredible what they've done to the place. The whole Pancras Square/Granary Square/Coal Drops area is brilliant now.

Beer & Burger is a fave of mine. Behind the Waitrose on the edge of Granary Square/York Way.
 
Yep it’s unrecognisable.

I do kind of miss the old Kings-X to though. It’s not as if there’s nowhere else nice to go boozing in London.
 
When I argue for more investment and better tax treatment of places like Teesside, I always have in min d how many areas of London have been transformed in the last 40 years, but Teesside has if anything gone backwards. When people say left behind areas, thats actually a very mild description.

London Docklands, Kings Cross, St Pancras. O2/London Dome, Paddington Canal, Brentford Canal Basin etc
 
Might be an unpopular opinion but there's a market in London for these shops, the restaurants etc where there just isn't in a place like Teesside (and many other parts of the country) . There's also a critical mass of people to make these areas viable that isn't offered even in other cities.

A huge amount of the money that's been put into the area is private rather than public and there are benefits back to the tax payer within short periods, making it a good investment.

London is one of the best cities in the world and should be celebrated rather than compared to a small post industrial town. They're incomparable.

All of the above said, I do appreciate the massive gaps and disparity in the funding of the north/south. Levelling up should genuinely take place, not just for equity of opportunity, but because there's a very clear financial case for doing so
 
It is very nice, however I don't understand how Granary square is always heaving but Coal Drops yard is deserted. I was there last Friday lunchtime and I was literally the only person walking around. Whilst pleasant having a look in a very quiet Paul Smith and APC store I had to pretend I was seriously going to buy a £400 jumper 😂

Carhartt and offspring stores around the corner were packed out.
 
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Mountain Climber said:
Coal Drops Yard is a lovely area isnt it? in summer you can sit on the grassy banks of the Regents canal. There's artificial grass laid along some of it. There's a quaint little barge called 'Books on the Water; where you can climb aboard and look at their book supply. I think you can also buy coffee and tea there.
Click to expand...
Was there this morning - Caravan in Granary Square! Coal Drops Yard is a strange place. Samsung UK Concept Store plus some high end retail that are always empty. Google building almost complete and it is massive
 
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