Move over Shoreditch, make way Marylebone high street, fashion and design has found a new home in the capital: King’s Cross. Formerly known as the badlands of the city, the area has now transformed into a lively neighbourhood.
Following the Guardian, who moved into the music and art hub Kings Place in 2008, the legendary fashion and design school Central Saint Martins, which counts Alexander McQueen and Stella McCartney among its alumni, took up residence in neighbouring Granary Square in 2011. More recently, big cultural players including Google, the House of Illustration, Universal Music, the Knowledge Quarter and Time Out have also arrived – bringing with them more people, ideas and creativity.
Nine Belokabylskaya (left), 32, media manager, and Lynn Wyatt (right), 66, retired, from Brighton
But King’s Cross is far from “all work”. Making use of the Victorian brick viaducts that once held London’s coal store, the bright and airy 20,000 sq ft Coal Drops Yard has taken on a new life as a shopping and dining nirvana. The impossibly stylish redesign – undertaken by the award-winning King’s Cross-based architect, Thomas Heatherwick – is topped off with an already iconic “kissing roof”, which will soon be home to Samsung’s new flagship store.
“I know that Londoners who were old enough to go to [clubs such as] Bagley’s or The Cross lament the decline of King’s Cross as a raving destination,” says James Manning, city life editor of Time Out. “But over the last 10 years or so it’s been fascinating to watch the area transform from a fairly rundown interzone into a place that people actively want to hang out.”
Linnea Nordquist, 24, fashion design student
And hang out they do. King’s Cross, which is home to one of the capital’s main railway arteries and the Eurostar terminal at St Pancras, has always been busy with people passing through but, now, it’s a destination in its own right.
Already home to an enviable collection of foodie hotspots and cultural highlights – from the KERB food market that sets up for lunch service in Granary Square three days a week, to the nearby British Library and Wellcome Collection, both just a short walk away – when Coal Drops Yard arrived in October 2018, it was seen by many as the icing on the cake. Home to more than 50 stores and restaurants, many of which are young, independent businesses, every archway is filled with thought-provoking products and tantalising flavours.
When it comes to fashion, Coal Drops Yard is definitely adding to the conversation, with a unique and eclectic range of brands and boutiques; from a three-storey Cos store (which doubles a space to celebrate the art and design that inspires their clothes) and stylish Fred Perry outlet, to independent boutiques such as S120 and Form&Thread, and menswear heavy-hitters, Universal Works, to name but a few.
Amanda Croskell (left), 30, youth worker, and Lord Montana-Blue, 37, tattooist (right)
“We’ve always envisioned King’s Cross as a microcosm of the city – it’s a diverse community where people live, work, study and socialise,” explains Anna Strongman, partner at Argent. “In Coal Drops Yard, we’ve aimed to create a unique destination that connects all types of visitors through our combination of shops, restaurants and a vibrant year-round cultural events programme.”
With so much change taking place in such a short space of time, it’s fair to say the area’s blossoming into a creative neighbourhood has taken some people by surprise. “When I first moved to London almost seven years ago, I wouldn’t have imagined King’s Cross would be considered a ‘fashion hub,’” says Central Saint Martins alumni and 10 Magazine’s fashion and features assistant, Helena Fletcher.
Jordan Ismain (top), 26, procurement consultant, London, and Yulka Agano (bottom), 24
Not everyone is as shocked by the area’s metamorphosis, though. “Generally, when creative industries move into a space in any city, that space then becomes desirable over time,” explains Adam Murray, fashion lecturer at Central Saint Martins.
For Henry Graham, creative director and co-founder of Wolf & Badger, which has a three-storey concept store in the main yard, Coal Drops Yard is a destination that really stands out from the competition. “In what is an increasingly homogeneous retail landscape, the King’s Cross Central Limited Partnership should be applauded for their courage in proactively seeking out innovative and unique fashion and lifestyle retailers, all of whom, through their stores in Coal Drops Yard, bring a new experience not only to the immediate area but London as a whole,” he says.
To discover more about Coal Drop Yard’s unique stores, restaurants and packed diary of cultural events, head to coaldropsyard.com
