Living in Canary Wharf: area guide to homes, schools and transport links
A little over 30 years has seen Canary Wharf transformed from an industrial east London wasteland left to rot after the closure of the docks, to one of the world’s leading financial centres, home to the European operations of many top banks and other business institutions.
This hub of glass-and-metal towers rose five miles east of central London at the edge of the Thames, built for business, not family life: frenetic from the early hours but with lights out at night, and hauntingly quiet at weekends. However, a recent policy change has brought new family homes.
Canary Wharf’s shopping centres and the new restaurants in Crossrail Place — the stunning Foster + Partners-designed development above the new station for the east-west London link — buzz with families out enjoying themselves, while watersports and a growing social scene are on the doorstep.
Canary Wharf is welcoming new residents like never before. Eighties office blocks are being replaced by gleaming residential towers, including Europe’s tallest. Over the next couple of years, thousands of flats will be built, of which 25-35 per cent will be “affordable”.
This will be a “people place”, with homeowners valuing the chance to live where they can walk to work. The largest of many schemes is Wood Wharf, a 23-acre waterside site where the masterplan includes 3,600 new homes including up to 900 “affordable”, plus two million square feet of offices, 380,000sq ft of shops, restaurants, community facilities, a new primary school, a GP surgery and eight acres of green space.
At the western end of West India Quay, Chinese developer Greenland Group is building Spire London, the tallest residential tower in Europe at 771ft and 67 storeys. The £800 million tower will have 861 flats.
Local Chestertons estate agent Tushar Wadhwani notes a big switch from “buy-to-let” investors. “We see a lot of first-timers with budgets of up to £600,000 deciding to live in Canary Wharf or the Isle of Dogs rather than residential south-west London.”
The property scene
Modern flats dominate but there are pockets of period homes and some warehouse conversions. The most expensive home for sale now is a four-bedroom penthouse duplex in Belgrave Court, Westferry Circus, at £4.3 million.
The most expensive period house is a four-bedroom Victorian terrace in Manchester Road, for £2 million. At Port East Apartments, a warehouse conversion in West India Quay, flats are for sale from £625,000 to £1,325,000.
What's new?
One Park Drive, centrepiece of Wood Wharf, is a 58-storey tower with 483 homes. Studios from £665,000, with one-bedroom flats at £775,000, two-bedroom flats at £1.08 million and three-bedroom flats at £1,625,000.
Three-bedroom “sky lofts” with big balconies on the 32nd floor start at £2.75 million. Call 020 7001 3800.
Spire London, overlooking West India Quay, will be Europe’s tallest residential tower at 771ft and will have a 35th-floor club with residents’ gym, infinity swimming pool, bar and cinema.
Studios/one-bedroom flats from £665,000; two-bedroom flats from £1,193,500 and three-bedroom flats at £2,020,000. Completion 2020. Through CBRE and JLL (020 3841 6565; spirelondon.com).
South Quay Plaza by Berkeley Group, in Marsh Wall, has 888 homes in one 36-storey tower and a 68-storey block of 722ft.
There will be shops, eateries, a 2.6-acre park and a residents’ club. Studios from £780,000, one-bedroom flats at £855,000, two-bedroom flats at £1,187,500 and three-bedroom flats at £1.55 million. Call 020 3468 7975.
Also in Marsh Wall, EcoWorld Ballymore’s Wardian has 764 flats with private “sky gardens” in two towers, one 50 storeys, the other 55 storeys. Studios from £623,000, one-bedroom flats from £726,000 and two-bedroom flats at £980,000 (wardianlondon.com; 020 7436 1222).
Completing in 2020, Harbour Central has 642 studios, one- to three-bedroom flats and penthouses in five buildings including 42-storey Maine Tower in Mastmaker Road.
Off-plan sales of one-bedroom flats start at £725,000, with two-bedroom flats at £1.1 million and three-bedroom flats at £1.2 million. Call Galliard Homes on 020 7620 1500.
The Madison in Meridian Place is a 53-storey block by LBS Properties. From £589,000 for a studio, £765,000 for a one-bedroom flat, £973,000 for a two-bedroom flat, £1,418,000 for a three-bedroom flat and £1,733,000 for penthouses.
Completion mid-2020. Through JLL on 020 3797 4529 (themadison.co.uk).
Chalegrove Properties’ Landmark Pinnacle at South Dock, completing 2020, will also be one of Europe’s tallest residential blocks, with 75 floors, 822 flats and 162 serviced flats, a garden, play area, two dining rooms, a gym and a top-floor terrace.
From £595,000 for a one-bedroom flat to £1.55 million for three bedrooms (020 3905 6826; landmarkpinnacle.com).
Renting
Buy-to-let investors have piled into new build, as many people working locally on short-term contracts want short-term lets. Longer term, you’ll pay about £400 a week for a modern one-bedroom flat, ranging up to £1,800 a week for a three-bedroom flat at Pan Peninsula in Marsh Wall.
Staying power
Chestertons local estate agent Tushar Wadhwani says families are beginning to settle in Canary Wharf. “When I first worked here [nine years ago] no one ever asked about schools.
Now all our agents are well briefed about what is available and the new Canary Wharf College is proving a big draw. We have seen rises in house prices close to the school at the southern tip of the Isle of Dogs.”
Postcode
Canary Wharf is in E14, the Poplar postcode; it includes both Poplar and the Isle of Dogs.
Best roads
More the best blocks: Two Ballymore developments — Pan Peninsula on Marsh Wall and Charrington Tower, formerly Providence Tower, at the eastern end of Canary Wharf in nearby Poplar; Galliard Homes’ Baltimore Tower overlooking Millwall Inner Dock, and Mount Anvil’s Dollar Bay at the eastern end of South Dock.
Up and coming
Chestertons’ Tushar Wadhwani tips the area of Georgian and Victorian houses on the eastern side of Canary Wharf between Prestons Road and the river. A listed four-bedroom Georgian house with a garden overlooking the river in Coldharbour is for sale here priced £1.3 million.
Travel
Crossrail will boost Canary Wharf hugely as a place to live and work. From December the Elizabeth line will slash the journey to Liverpool St from 21 minutes to six and to Paddington from 33 minutes to 17. From December next year the trip to Heathrow airport will be cut from 55 to 39 minutes.
For now, Canary Wharf depends on the Docklands Light Railway with stations at West India Quay, Canary Wharf, Heron Quay and South Quay with trains to Bank, Tower Gateway and Stratford. Canary Wharf is also on the Jubilee line and is six stops from Bond Street.
London City airport is two miles away, reachable by DLR. Thames Clippers ferries go from Canary Wharf pier, taking half an hour to Waterloo. All stations are in Zone 2 and an annual travelcard costs £1,364.
Council
Tower Hamlets council is Labour controlled. Band D council tax for 2018/2019 is £1,280.37.
Lifestyle
Shops and restaurants
Canary Wharf has extensive covered shopping malls at Cabot Place, Canada Place and Jubilee Place with over 120 mainly mid to top of the range brands.
Waitrose has its largest branch here selling clothes and homewares as well as food. Top brands in the shopping malls include Gant, Jo Malone, Karen Millen, LK Bennett, Maje, Marks & Spencer Simply Food, Michael Kors, Miller Harris, Monica Vinader, Paul Smith, Penhaligon’s, Reiss, Space NK, Superdry, Tesla, Topshop, Whistles and Zara.
The opening of Crossrail Place has brought many new restaurants to the area including Indian restaurant Chai Ki, much liked by Evening Standard restaurant critic Fay Maschler; Island Poké for Hawaiian food; Ole & Steen, a Danish bakery; Sticks‘n’Sushi for Japanese food and The Breakfast Club.
Giant Robot in Crossrail Place is home to Street Feast with a daily choice of street food traders. More street food stalls can be found Tuesday through to Friday in West India Quay.
Long-standing favourites are Boisdale, serving British food and live music, in Cabot Place and Japanese ROKA in The Park Pavilion.
Chestertons’ agent Tushar Wadhwani recommends Gordon Ramsay’s gastropub, The Narrow in Narrow Street in nearby Limehouse and Kinkao, a Thai restaurant in St Davids Square on the Isle of Dogs.
Open space
There is a new roof garden on the top floor of Crossrail Place, the development above the new Crossrail station. Elsewhere sheep can be found grazing at Mudchute Park and Farm, a city farm on the Isle of Dogs where there is also a riding stables.
The 32 acres of green hilly space were created from the earth spoils dug out when the docks were excavated, and were saved from development in the Seventies.
Leisure and the arts
Canary Wharf has two cinemas: Cineworld in West India Quay and the Everyman in Crossrail Place. The Space in Westferry Road is the local arts centre in a converted chapel. It also puts on shows in the roof garden on top of Crossrail Place.
The Third Space in Canada Square describes itself as Europe’s largest luxury health club with a swimming pool and 230 classes a week. The nearest council swimming pool is at Tiller Leisure Centre in Tiller Road.
Schools
Primary schools
There are “outstanding” primary schools in Poplar to the north and in Limehouse to the west. In Poplar they are: Mayflower in Upper North Street; Bygrove in Bygrove Street, and Culloden in Dee Street. The “outstanding” Limehouse primary is Cyril Jackson in Three Colt Street.
Free Schools
One enterprising local parent has opened three state Free Schools. Canary Wharf College East Ferry is a primary school in East Ferry Road which opened in 2011; the second, Canary Wharf College Glenworth, is another primary school, in Saunders Ness Road, opened in 2014.
Both are judged to be “outstanding” by Ofsted. A secondary Canary Wharf College (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) also in Saunders Ness Road, opened in September 2016 but has not yet been inspected by the schools watchdog.
Comprehensive
The closest comprehensive schools with a “good” rating are Langdon Park (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Bright Street in Poplar and George Green’s (co-ed, ages 11 to 16) in Manchester Road.
The nearby “outstanding” comprehensive school is Sir John Cass’s Foundation and Redcoat CofE (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Stepney Way. St Paul’s Way (co-ed, ages four to 18) in St Paul’s Way in Mile End is an all-through school judged to be “outstanding”.
Private
With so many new homes being built it is surprising that only one private school has opened, the River House Montessori School (co-ed, ages three to 16) in Millharbour.
There are two top private schools in the City: City of London (boys, ages 10 to 18) in Queen Victoria Street and City of London Girls (ages seven to 18) in the Barbican.