Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
CANARY WHARF
Docklands
The architectural embodiment of smash-and-grab capitalism according to its
critics or a blueprint for inner-city regeneration to its free-market supporters
- the Docklands area has always provoked extreme reactions. Despite the
catch-all name, however, Docklands is far from homogeneous. Canary Wharf,
with its Manhattan-style skyscrapers, is the most visible landmark, but it's by
no means typical; warehouse conversions, industrial-estate sheds, left-over
council housing and Costa del Thames apartments in a whole travesty of
styles, are more indicative. Travelling through on the Docklands Light
Railway (DLR), the area comes over as a fascinating open-air design museum,
not a place one would choose to live or work necessarily - it still feels apart
from the rest of London - but a spectacular sight nevertheless.
