Free Weekend? A brief guide to art, history and food in King’s Cross

Deep within the noise and bustle of the King’s Cross regeneration lies a magical little place that, thankfully, has no desire to change.

“My customers have pleaded with us,” says Leo Giordini, 81, who has run grocery stores KC Continental for 45 years. “They come in and say, please don’t update anything in here.”

Step inside the shop, on the lower slopes of the Caledonian Road, and you can see why: dusty bottles of wine crowd the shelves with dozens of olive oils; boxes of panettone jostle with pyramids of Italian fizzy drinks; a well-stacked cool counter heaves with pecorino, parmesan, and salame Milano, and huge Parma hams sway from the ceiling at the rear. “This street was so different when I arrived,” reflects Leo, originally from Marche, in central Italy. “There was a fishmonger, tailor, a fruiterer, and all the stores were independent. Then things declined in the 80s. At least now,” he adds, with a smile, “they’re picking up again.”

He’s not wrong. After decades of decay, in which King’s Cross became synonymous with crime, vice and drugs, and more recently, when it has lurked behind boards, scaffolding and plastic sheeting, it has finally come full circle. St Pancras – with its £800 million restoration, as well as hotel and luxury apartments – is back to its world-beating Victorian glory (as is the more recently reopened Great Northern Hotel).

A £500 million plan to reboot neighbouring King’s Cross station with a semi-circular departures concourse opened in March 2012, its final detail the open-air plaza, scheduled for completion this September. And the land between and behind the two stations is being redeveloped with homes, offices and new roads as King’s Cross Central. Most impressive, of course, is Granary Square, the new piazza with its kiddie-friendly fountains, flanked by world-class restaurants and with Central Saint Martin’s college at its heart.

Feted local photographer David Bailey once commented that King’s Cross was the last place in London that felt like a port, its history being marked by tides of progress and decline. And this feeling of transience has always characterized the area: historically the Roman camp of Battle Bridge, King’s Cross was renamed in 1835 after a monument to King George IV, before the coming of the railways changed everything: first, the station opened in 1852 (at the junction where the original Cross stood) and later St Pancras, the largest single-span structure of its day, was completed in 1868 by the engineer William Barlow. Along with the opening of the Midland Grand Hotel (1874), designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott in gothic style – and the first hotel in London to have lifts – it truly signalled a new era.

Victorian ambition yielded to post-war decay, however, and mutating from a busy industrial district to a partially abandoned wasteland, King’s Cross in the 1980s was notorious for prostitution and drug abuse – the Pet Shop Boys even used it as a metaphor for decline in the track King’s Cross on their hit 1987 album Actually. But its cheap rents and central location were attractive to artists, and both Anthony Gormley and Thomas Heatherwick established studios in the area, which has set the precedent for the art scene today. A wealth of galleries now abound, including the excellent white space of the Gagosian (6 Britannia St), the intriguing Scarlet Maguire (104 Cromer St), King’s Place, the impressive multi-media building that also houses the Guardian newspaper; and the Wellcome Collection (Euston Road).

Despite the scale of the regeneration, history seeps out of every corner. Old St Pancras Church dates back to 313AD and, though rebuilt again and again over the years (much of it is now Victorian), it’s one of Europe’s most ancient sites of worship. Amongst the scattered monuments and gravestones is Sir John Soane’s tomb, the prototype for the red telephone box (and one of only two Grade 1-listed monuments in London); and The Hardy Tree, an ash surrounded by jagged headstones, named after 19th century writer Thomas Hardy’s involvement, as an apprentice, in the dismantling of tombs to make way for the railway. The Beatles were obviously impressed: they were photographed in these grounds to promote The White Album. And the church has been raising money all summer through a series of talks and concerts – maybe you’ve been to one?

Nestling behind is another hidden bucolic gem, Camley Street Natural Park, a two-acre haven for wildlife. Originally a coal drop in Victorian times (before the black stuff was loaded onto canal boats and trains), it was derelict by the late seventies but saved in 1983 from its dreary fate as a bus park by the London Wildlife Trust. And further along the canal is Battlebridge Basin, with its attractive painted canal boats, as well as the quirky London Canal Museum, with plenty of activities to occupy kids.

And St Pancras International (read our Free Weekend here) remains a real draw. Besides the restored Renaissance Hotel, with its Venetian-style bar and Gilbert Scott restaurant, the station is a major attraction itself. As regular users will know, it boasts an upmarket shopping mall, famous 300ft champagne bar (with button-operated, heated seats), as well as two examples of public art: The Meeting Place, Paul Day’s nine-metre bronze sculpture of a couple locked in an intimate pose; and Martin Jennings’ Sir John Betjeman, the man responsible for saving St Pancras from demolition in the 1960s. Hats off and all that.

Top 3 events Summer 2013

1. Skate King’s Cross – located in the West Handyside Canopy, the roller rink holds up to 100 skaters per session, with an adjacent bar and viewing area for onlookers, diners and drinkers. More info here

2. Varini viewing platform – check out the striking new geometric artwork by the Swiss artist, splashed across nine buildings in Granary Square.

3. Ace streetfood market KERB runs every weekday lunchtime – and is now monthly on Saturdays at Granary Square market (next one first Sat in September)

Eating

There really has never been such a good time to eat out in King’s Cross, with almost as many good options as Soho. Try Karpo (23 Euston Road), with its colourful exterior, for quirky Scandinavian flavours. Splash some cash? The Gilbert Scott is all cobblers, corned beef and turnips, a heritage British menu within the room’s Victorian grandeur.

Don’t miss Varnisher’s Yard, hidden in the Regent’s Quarter, for tiny Andalucian tapas joint Pepito and its rowdy sister restaurant Camino: order the tortilla del siglo (a deconstructed tortilla more like a crème brulee), pulpo con cachelos (octopus with potatoes and paprika) and chorizo asturiano. Nearby, gastropub The Fellow and La Rotunda, which has tables and deckchairs on the waterfront, are both worth checking out, as is the soft shell crab burner at Shrimpy’s, the tiny “Calexican” pop-up (it closes next year) by the canal.

But you might find that two grand openings around Granary Square fight for attention. Caravan opened here last autumn and is effortlessly cool: a vast converted granary store lit by industrial pendants and dripping candles, the food even better than the Exmouth Market original. Expect zingy seabass ceviche, chopped livers smeared on toast, crisp pork, velvety spinach dumplings. Even better, they have a terrace now for summer.

And now stylish Grain Store has just opened next door, Bruno Loubet in the kitchen and talented mixologist Tony Conigliaro at the helm of the bar. Vegetables are given “equal billing” to meat and fish – if not the “starring role”. Read our recent review here.