Interiors: London’s newest retail and design hub Coal Drops Yard is now open in a revamped King’s Cross
Dressed in high-vis, I stood in the autumn sunshine in King’s Cross for my sneak peak of the newest district to open within its regeneration project – Coal Drops Yard, which opens today.
While I waited for my tour, I was diverted by a hording plastered with covers of The Face from 1991 – magazines I remember all too well. They’re from the same era in which I queued outside The Cross and Bagley’s nightclubs, tucked down York Way, where sunlight never seemed to penetrate – a dodgy part of town if ever there was one.
Today, both these venues are born again – the designer Tom Dixon works and sells out of the arches that were once The Cross (he remembers it well), pumping music out himself. Now Bagley’s has been transformed into a restaurant, where those in the know will still see some of the old rough paint on the walls.
In step with the times, the vision for Coal Drops Yard and the wider footprint of King’s Cross has been to embrace the industrial heritage and enhance it for contemporary living. Design – whether that’s architecture, fashion, interior design, product design or academic study – is fast becoming a bedrock of what’s making the area so desirable.
As yet, the decades-long project feels open, welcoming, energising and decidedly on the front foot. From the balcony of the show apartment in the stunning Gasholders residential development adjacent to Coal Drops Yard, I looked out to the animated scene around Regent’s Canal, cleaned up from its 19th-century working life, to be a cruising ground for jaunty narrowboats and a towpath for joggers. The view seems timeless, yet modern. I hardly feel I’m in London. Nearby, the fountains at Granary Square have already defined the campus of Central Saint Martins as a happening venue and attractive landscaping is emerging.
This is place-making of the highest order – a vision to curate a public and private realm for ease and enjoyment of city-centre living (at a price. Apartments start from £825,000). It’s made possible by many ingredients – partnership working by talented people is crucial – but fundamentally the 67-acre estate (the size of Covent Garden) was bought in 2004 by a single owner, the King’s Cross Central Limited Partnership, and planning could begin.
Coal Drops Yard, as the name suggests, is where the trains bringing goods to London in the 1850s would drop the eight million tonnes of coal a year needed to power the capital; and the brick arches were the stables for the horses that would distribute it, now converted into trendy boutiques. From a long-list of 1,200 companies, 50 have been chosen to open their doors within this Heatherwick Studio-designed complex – 100,000 sqft of shops, bars and restaurants with an open events space in the centre (Christmas by Design is slated for December).
Established names include Paul Smith, a flagship Cos, Tom Dixon, Samsung, Barrafina, Fred Perry, Caravane, Wolf & Badger and Miller Harris among others; but the vision is to curate an interesting mix, from design successes to stylish first-timers, and each outfit gets to make up their own interiors within the existing brick arches. Lower Stable Street is home to pop-up and experimental stores, linking into Central Saint Martins and giving students from all over the world that otherwise elusive first foray into selling.
Times change, and the raw sweaty hedonism of 1990s clubbing and the fag-butt strewn streetscape of old King’s Cross is no more. Let’s hope this particular phoenix proves to have heart and soul that goes further than just retail. The signs are good.
Visit coaldropsyard.com