The new Crossrail station at Canary Wharf will not be opening until 2018, but the area already looks very interesting. There are many restaurants and shops that are open at the ground level and also a garden that sits atop the station. Crossrail Place roof garden is quite a recent news for me, although it opened to the public in May 2015.
So, I was in Canary wharf for shopping last Saturday and thought I’d go see this garden. It was after dark and I must say I was quite enchanted by it. It is covered by a glass dome-like roof which is open to the sky and the elements in some spots. The tall buildings of the financial giants looming over a tropical garden, dancing shadows cast by the plants in the dim lights and a hush that is inherent to those wintry evenings – it all felt surreal. It is a space that makes it possible to completely lose the sense of the concrete jungle outside and bask in the tranquillity that a garden should offer.
Interconnected pathways
Have a wander around
HSBC building
Barclays building
The garden is designed to be divided into two parts. One part has the plants from the western hemisphere and the other from the eastern hemisphere. The shape of the building looks like a huge ship, representing how the flora from various parts of the world was brought to the UK in earlier times.
I really wanted to see the garden in daylight as well. It is quite close to where I live, and the idea of sipping my Sunday morning coffee there excited me. So, off I went again the next day with a flat-white and a book and all the me-time in the world!
On a crisp Sunday morning
From the outside
From Poplar DLR station
Good to know:
- Easily approachable
- Free access
- Poplar DLR, Canary Wharf Underground and DLR
- Parking – Jubilee Place Car Park: Entrance on Bank Street (use E14 5NY for sat nav). Free parking if you spend minimum £10 and get your ticket validated at the till.
- Other favourites in the area – Notes cafe, The Breakfast Club, Tiger (shop)
