Crossrail Place at Canary Wharf opens with a weekend of celebrations

The public are invited to come and celebrate the opening of Crossrail Place on Friday 1st May, with a series of exciting activities for those looking for something to do over the Bank Holiday weekend. As part of the celebrations, come and see live music and eat at one of the pop-ups in the beautifully landscaped roof garden – open to the public for the first time.


What is planned and when:

Friday 1st May, from 11:00am:
• The Big Easy restaurant at the roof garden is going to be hosting a May Day Extravaganza consisting of live music from their house band performed in the Crossrail Place performance space, while a pop-up restaurant will serve lobster rolls, burgers and drinks

• Listen to live music from vocalist and guitarist Gwyn Jay Allen and Jamie Balcanquall and three piece band Harry Cash & The Loose Change to name a few

• Trikes will be serving complimentary food and drink throughout the site (popcorn, candy floss, juices and waffles) and look out for complimentary prosecco and bucks fizz in some of the bars and at minus 1 level Quayside


Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd May, from 11am:
• Listen to live music from vocalist and guitarist Gwyn Jay Allen and Jamie Balcanquall and three piece band Harry Cash & The Loose Change to name a few

• Beats Boutique will be performing in the roof garden – listen to the sounds of summer with DJ Miss Mavrik who will be spinning her Hed Kandi and Café Del Mar inspired tracks alongside a talented saxophonists and percussionist

• Trikes will be serving complimentary food and drink throughout the site (popcorn, candy floss, juices and waffles) and look out for free prosecco and bucks fizz in some of the bars


Where: Crossrail Place, Canary Wharf, adjacent to One Canada Square

Directions: Easy to get to via the Jubilee Line, exit Canary Wharf station, or DLR exit Heron Quay or Canary Wharf

Cost: It will be free of charge to attend the events and the roof garden and there will be limited complimentary refreshments from Crossrail Place-branded trikes, but the general public will need to pay for food and drinks elsewhere.


More details:

Three years before the Crossrail station opens, Crossrail Place consists of a four storey, 97,000 sq. ft. of leisure space with shops, restaurants, bars and Everyman Canary Wharf Cinema. This includes The Breakfast Club, Sticks’n’Sushi, CPRESS Juice Bar and Notes Cafe (see boiler plate for full listings), opening on a phased approach. The mix of these lifestyle and retail brands will be placed within the six storey development, designed by Foster and Partners which covers the station with a semi open-air timber lattice roof, partially covering this new publically accessible roof garden.

Designed by Gillespies, the roof garden draws on the area’s heritage as a trading hub. Many of the plants are native to countries visited by ships of the West India Dock Company, which unloaded their wares where the station now sits. Foster and Partners has created a unique roof, with its intricate latticed roof to complement the design. The garden will provide the general public the opportunity to enjoy the space and its views out onto the water and across the surrounding area.

The design of the garden responds to the architectural language of the roof in the creation of a unique and sheltered planting environment. Gaps in the roof structure were created to accommodate the tallest trees in the garden and enable the ‘forest concept’ to be created. The garden is designed to evoke a ship laden with unusual and exotic specimens from around the globe.

The garden will also be used by the local community and schools, as a new resource including a new amphitheater and spaces that can be used for public events. The St Paul’s Art Trust which runs the Space Arts Centre will be hosting a programme of arts and entertainment for the community from May to August.