King’s Cross and St Pancras walk

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE AREA

In the space of just 150 years, the area around King’s Cross and St Pancras was transformed from open fields and hamlets into a heavily industrialised and densely populated district of London.

This rapid change began in 1820 with the opening of the Regent’s Canal. This attracted industries, such as the Imperial Gas, Light and Coke Company, who saw the benefit of the cheaper transportation of coal, and built gasworks close to the canal.

The canal was soon followed by the railway, with the line to King’s Cross opening in 1852 and St Pancras in 1868. This meant even cheaper and faster deliveries of coal, encouraging more industry to open here. Just as important was the ability to bring to London bulk quantities of grain, potatoes and other vegetables, fish, etc from areas the line passed through.

This rapid growth meant thousands of workers were needed, along with houses to accommodate them. Many were hurriedly (and poorly) built, and as with the existing houses in the area, they soon became overcrowded, with whole families living in just one room.

This boom continued until the industrial scene began to change. Demand for coal was dropping, goods increasingly being moved by road more than by rail, etc. With gasworks, factories and railway yards closing, this previously thriving industrial area gradually become abandoned until by the mid-1960s it was virtually derelict.

Change happened, and probably the decision to relocate the Eurostar services from Waterloo to St Pancras was the catalyst for the regeneration of the entire area. With the help of government, local authorities and private enterprise, several years of studies and public consultation took place, culminating in a masterplan being created and in 2008. The King’s Cross Central Partnership was then created between the developer Argent, London and Continental Railways and DHL.

The regenerated area has been designated the ‘Knowledge Quarter’ by people in the science and tech businesses. It is now home to a quarter of London’s life science enterprises and a third of its AI companies.

The drugs giant GSK has opened an Artificial Intelligence hub just yards from the Google building, which is also the base for its own ‘Deep Mind’ AI company, and within walking distance to the Alan Turing Institute, the UK’s national centre for data science. In addition, Astra Zeneca have also opened offices here. Another major organisation to have opened recently, indeed next door St Pancras station is the enormous Francis Crick Institute building, which specialises in biomedical research.

These companies say they value the proximity to each other to enable them to share ideas and data as well as being close to Imperial College and the University College of London, both with advanced science laboratories and other research facilities. And as another major plus for companies opening here, it is only a 45-minute train ride from King’s Cross station to Cambridge, whose university is a world leader in science research.

STARTING THE WALK

The walk begins outside the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, which fronts the station.

To appreciate the hotel’s sweeping frontage, I suggest you start the walk at the front of the hotel building on the busy Euston Road.

The Midland Railway was formed in 1844 and combined three existing companies – Midland County, North Midland and the Birmingham & Derby. Whilst they had the monopoly of rail traffic in the Midlands, they had no direct route of their own to London. Instead, they had to transfer freight and passengers onto the Great Northern Line from Hitchin in Hertfordshire (the southern most part of their network) to King’s Cross. Hence the importance of building the line through to London and a new station at St Pancras.

The company wanted a very prestigious appearance for their new station and a hotel to go with it. They appointed the eminent architect, Sir George Gilbert Scott, and he built it in the magnificent Gothic-revival style that we see today, with its 300ft high clock tower.

Unfortunately, aspects such as bedrooms without private toilets or bathrooms meant that within forty years or so the Midland Grand was no longer so popular and it subsequently became unprofitable. It closed in 1935 and was used as offices for many years. In the mid-1960s there were serious plans by British Rail, who by then owned it, to demolish both the hotel and the station, which had become much less-used, partly due to the increase in rail traffic at the nearby Euston station.

Thanks to a campaign led by the poet and conservationist Sir John Betjeman, together with the Victorian Society and former Bletchley Park codebreaker Jane Fawcett (who earned the nickname of the ‘furious Mrs Fawcett’ for her passionate defence of the building), it was saved, just days before the demolition was due to have taken place, as both hotel and station were given Grade I heritage listings.

However, their condition continued to deteriorate but the decision to relocate the Eurostar terminus from Waterloo to St Pancras in 1996 saw a massive redevelopment take place, both within the station, the hotel and subsequently the entire area that we will be visiting today. You can read more about all of this if you click the button below:

Useless fact
St Pancras is said to be one of only seven stations in England to have multilingual signs, actually only in English and French, like Ashford in Kent, the other main station on the route to the continent. And In case you are interested, which I’m sure you aren’t really, the others with bilingual signs are Southall in west London, where there are signs in Punjabi; Wallsend Metro, which has a sign in Latin, (apparently because of its proximity to the end of the Roman-built Hadrian’s Wall); Hereford with signs in Welsh, whilst Moreton-in-Marsh has signs in Japanese, due to the popularity of the Cotswolds with Japanese tourists.

LEAVING THE STATION

As you leave the station the stock-brick frontage facing you across Pancras Road is part of the German Gymnasium, which I’ll explain about shortly. Cross over to the ‘giant birdcage structure’ – (if you look back at the station you can see the sheer size of the original building, including to the rear the extension built for the Southeastern railway terminus).

You are now in Battle Bridge Place, so named because near here was a bridge over the River Fleet (now buried underground) where it is dubiously said Queen Boadicea (nowadays called Boudica) fought her last battle with the Romans – and lost. Even less credibly, she is alleged to have been buried under platform 9 or 10 in King’s Cross station, which we pass shortly.

But first, the giant birdcage. This 29-foot-high structure is called the ‘IFO’ – The Identified Flying Object (note the lack of ‘Un’ in front!). It was designed in 2011 by Jacques Rival, a French artist and architect and was only meant to be here for two years. However, such was its popularity it has become a semi-permanent exhibit, with the swing that hangs in the middle regularly used – and by all ages!

Before we move on, I’ll say a little more about the German Gymnasium. It’s certainly had a distinctive history.

It was built as a gymnasium in the early 1860s by the German community living in London. And in 1865 it was one of the venues for a series of indoor athletic contests, which were a forerunner to the modern Olympic Games. It was one of the first purpose-built gyms and one of the first athletic clubs in Britain to hold classes for women – and that was back in 1866!

The building has been Grade II listed though part of it had to be demolished for the widening of Pancras Road, as part of the construction of the new St Pancras rail terminal. Not used as a gymnasium since the 1930s, it has since been offices, arts and exhibition space and now a very popular restaurant.

Next we pay a quick visit to King’s Cross station. The station itself is quite simple and built of brick without any facing – nothing like as grand as St Pancras next door – they simply didn’t have the money. In 2005 the huge renovation started, to refurbish the station and add more platforms.

We enter through the doorway on the far left (to the left of the wide stepped entrance that leads down to the Underground lines). This left-hand entrance leads you into the rear of the new part of the station. Pass the new platforms 9 and 10 (beneath which Queen Boadicea is improbably said to have been buried).

Immediately ahead of you (usually hidden behind a waiting crowd) is Platform 9¾ – made famous of course by the Harry Potter books. There’s nearly always a queue of people waiting to have their photo taken pushing the luggage trolley through the wall and onto the fictitious platform. (There is a Harry Potter gift shop here as well).

Ahead you can see what an amazing job the architects have done in creating this new spacious extension on the outside of what was the original exterior wall of the station. The new spectacular glass and steel ‘half semi-circular roof’ opened in 2012. The designers described it as a ‘striking new ‘diagrid’ shell structure … supported by perimeter tree columns and a central funnel structure.’ This means it is structurally independent of the Grade I listed building and is the largest single-span structure in Europe. In total, around £500 million was said to have been spent on the renovations.

Continue walking up the right-hand side, passing the new offices of Universal Music. A ten-storey block, it was built on the site of the largest gasholder of the 23 that were once at King’s Cross. As a result, the architects have used exposed weathering steel, giving it a passing nod to the gasholder. As part of the redevelopment of the area, the gasholder was taken down and erected on a new site, which we see later in the walk.

The building has spectacular roof gardens and ponds, with two restaurants and a large reception area on the ground floor. On the right, is the Havas building (one of the world’s largest communication groups).

At the top, cross over the road known as Goods Yard and carry on over the recently constructed bridge. It was named the Espérance Bridge by the children of the nearby King’s Cross Academy primary school, who had learnt that it was close to what was once the ‘Esperance Club’ and the ‘Maison Espérance’.

Espérance means ‘Hope’ in French, which is what the children – both then and I’m sure now – still want. It was a ‘pioneering social project that had been set up in the 1890s to help relieve poverty in the area by providing education for girls and to teach them skills to assist their employment opportunities’. It was also a dressmaking co-operative that helped the extremely poor women who were working in the clothing industry in the area.

There’s been a bridge here across the Regent’s Canal since the canal was constructed in the 1820s. That bridge was replaced by a stronger bridge to allow trains to bring coal from the mainline through to coal works closer to King’s Cross station. This second bridge was taken down in the 1920s when rail freight began to decline and the one you see today has only recently replaced it.

As you cross over the canal on your left you can see what were the brick-built Fish and Coal Buildings, which have now been restored. These were the offices of the clerks responsible for keeping tally of the goods arriving here. (On the other side of the building you can just make out the wording ‘Coal office’). The building was seriously damaged by fire and rebuilt and is now the head office of Tom Dixon, the designer, known for his innovative lighting and furniture. You get a better view of it once you’ve crossed the bridge.

On your right are a series of canal-side steps which, in the summer at least, are covered with artificial grass making it an attractive and popular place to sit, particularly on warm summer afternoons and evenings. Various outdoor music and other performances take place here, and a large screen is erected for regular cinema events. These include the showing of major sporting events, such as the Wimbledon tennis championships. Drinks are often served here as well. I will just say that it is sometimes humorously known by locals as the King’s Cross Riviera!

Before you go any further, I suggest you pause for a moment to get your bearings.

On your left the inclined road leads down to the newly redeveloped Coal Drops Yard – you can see the building from here and the gasholders, both of which we visit shortly.

Ahead is Granary Square, so named because the large brick building on the opposite side was built as a granary in 1852. Here trains from Lincolnshire and East Anglia would bring wheat from farms to be stored before being sold to London’s bakers. More on this in a moment. Another major crop brought here was potatoes, which had their own storage warehouses.

The square was originally a water-filled canal basin. Barges would enter from the canal and pass into the Granary building where they would be directly loaded with goods from trains. (Two lines came into the rear of the building) – an excellent example of how efficient the distribution of goods here had become).

We’re going to head across to the Granary, which has the popular Caravan restaurant on the left-hand side of the front, passing the lovely fountains, a popular highlight of the square. There are four banks of fountains, containing over 1,000 jets, all with individual pumps and coloured lights. It can be great fun to watch children running in and out of the jets, not knowing which ones would suddenly spring into life, whilst others would almost disappear.

Apparently, the fountains were also linked to an ‘app’ called the ‘Granary Squirt’ which allowed those who downloaded on to their smartphone to play a real-time version of the computer game ‘Snake’. However, the app is not currently in use.

Walk to the right of the Granary, passing the The Lighterman bar and restaurant – extremely popular in the summer, especially as it overlooks the canal. (A lighterman was somebody who would unload ships or barges – thus making it lighter – and transferring it to a small barge or onto the quayside. Many were employed at this very busy canal interchange.)

As you walk between the Granary and the Lighterman notice the railway track still set in the ground and the ‘turntable’ that allowed individual railway wagons to be rotated.

Walk down the side of the Granary and on your left is the wide entrance into the building, which we turn into next.

But first I’ll just mention the building on the right. This was called Regeneration House and was once the offices of the Goods Yard and responsible for the moving of freight across the yards. Badly damaged by bombing in the Second World War, it was rebuilt by the London Regeneration Consortium and is now the home of the Art Fund, the charity responsible for fundraising to help museums and galleries to purchase works of art. It is also the home of Queer Britain’s national LGBTQ museum.

The area ahead under the restored steel and glass canopy was the Eastern Transit Shed (the Western Shed was on the other side). In addition, whilst King’s Cross station was still being built, it was turned into a temporary station to enable Queen Victoria to travel by train to Scotland. After the main station had opened, it was where fish, potatoes and other perishable foodstuff would arrive by train and be unloaded. Until the canopy roof was installed the amount of vegetables that could be handled was limited, and it helped protect both the food and the men who were unloading. Perishable produce such as vegetables had to reach Covent Garden in the early hours, and the hours before dawn were always very busy here. (To give you an idea of the size of the vegetable trade, around 100,000 tons of potatoes would arrive at King’s Cross each year!)

Special fish trains also ran here as early as 1852 from as far north as Sunderland and Edinburgh. A major staple were herrings, either fresh, salted or smoked. Later, express goods trains, which ran at passenger train speeds, came from Aberdeen, Hull and Grimsby, which were then the major east coast fishing ports. These would arrive at King’s Cross throughout the night and be transported as quickly as possible to the Billingsgate Fish Market. (Fish was sold here on Sundays when Billingsgate was closed).

Milk also became an important commodity, as I explain here:

The area is now used for markets, particularly the Canopy Market on Sundays, when a wide range of stalls are set up here, several selling excellent and interesting food.

The building across on the right inside the covered area was the Midlands Goods Shed and now a Waitrose supermarket. I like the way in which they have managed to retain just a little of the evidence of the building’s previous use, such as the few faded painted signs on the walls. Waitrose has an excellent café area and toilets, should you be in need of either.

Turn now into the Granary through the entrance on the side and into the long ‘corridor’.

The Granary was built by Lewis Cubitt in 1852, who also built King’s Cross station, to enable grain, primarily from Lincolnshire and East Anglia, to be stored. It would be brought here by train and the sacks would either be stored on the floors above or put into the waiting adjacent canal barges or horse-drawn wagons.

If it was stored here, then it would be raised up by hydraulic power, then when it was needed, a system of chutes enabled it to be moved down through the floors and into the waiting delivery carts below. Around 60,000 sacks, holding 5,000 tons of grain which would make some nine million loaves of bread, could be stored here, to be sold to London’s bakers.

The building has been cleverly renovated and restructured to be the home of the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design.

When you reach the end, or front, of the Coal Drops building turn left. There are two separate flights of steps. The first, a narrow flight takes you down to where there were more stables, which now house several little shops and cafes.

We’re going to walk down the second, wide flight of steps into the Coal Drops Yard.

Before you do though, I’ll just mention that the wide-open space to your right is Lewis Cubitt Square, leading into Lewis Cubitt Park. Cubitt was the builder of King’s Cross station and much of the original industrial area you are in. From here you also get another idea of the size of this brownfield redevelopment area.

The office building on the left side of Lewis Cubitt Square is the second, and smaller, of the two new Meta buildings within the King’s Cross development. (For those who are not familiar with the name ‘Meta’, it is the holding company of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and other divisions.) With nine floors and a wraparound terrace on the fifth floor, it provides just under 200,000 square feet of office space.

Also, you can see the enormous, redeveloped gasholders, which I’ll explain more about shortly.

On the right side at the far end where the yard widens, you’ll see a double-arched opening between two shops. Go through here and you’re on the bank of the Regent’s Canal. (In this, and the other archways that are now shops, was The Cross nightclub, which I’ve mentioned above). On the other side of the canal you can see Camley Street Natural Park, which we see again shortly. Within the double-arches there are time-line history plaques.

Despite Henry VIII’s Reformation, Elizabeth I allowed the Catholic Latin Mass to continue here in St Pancras Church, and no doubt as a result, several of London’s well-known Roman Catholics as well as French and German immigrants were buried in the graveyard. They include Johann Christian Bach, the youngest son of Johann Sebastian Bach and known as the ‘English Bach’. He became the music master to Queen Charlotte, wife of George III, and was buried here in 1787. His name is on the Burdett-Coutts Memorial.

Two other prominent Catholics buried here include William Franklin (the illegitimate son of Benjamin Franklin), and the writer and founding feminist philosopher Mary Wollstonecraft. In 1792 Mary wrote ‘A Vindication of the Rights of Woman’ as well as novels, a history of the French Revolution and a children’s book.

Also buried here, but as with Mary Wollstonecraft his grave was destroyed during the building of the new railway line, was the Chevalier d’Eon, at the time a well-known French diplomat and spy. He had become ‘famous’ because whilst working as a spy he dressed in women’s clothes but became reluctant to relinquish them afterwards. I write just a little more about him here:

Finally, Charles Dickens had a number of connections with the churchyard.

If St Pancras Old Church is open, then I recommend taking a look inside. It is like walking into an old, rustic English church. Whilst it is ‘Church of England’, it subscribes to the Anglo-Catholic tradition, which means it emphasises the ‘Catholic rather than Protestant heritage of the Anglican Communion’.

And if you’d like to make a donation towards the upkeep of this special church then because of the many burglaries, they now have credit card reading machines in the entrance porch, rather than accepting cash.

Whilst this church is now known as St Pancras Old Church and still used as the parish church for this part of London, St Pancras New Church was built on the Euston Road in 1819. Its design is based on the Erechtheum, an iconic temple on the Acropolis in Athens. The octagonal tower is copied from the Tower of the Winds, also in Athens. Extensive renovations and restorations took place in the early 1950s and today it is Grade I listed as the earliest Greek Revival church in London and one of the most important 19th-century churches in England.

When you are ready to leave, the exit is just past the church. Go down the steps and turn left down Pancras Road.