Kings Cross station - more public amenity lost

The retail realignment of the Kings Cross area continues as more business move or are forced to move from the south east end of the neighbourhood - Alastair from Network Rail has been in touch:

'Just to keep you up to date, a couple of changes on the station regarding the shops. Over the weekend, both Burger King and the Bagel shop have closed. This is to make way for toilet facilities which will move from their current position as the station redevelops.'

As Daniel and Sophie have both written the move of Thameslink from Pentonville Road and now the shops from under the green canopy are realigning the human geography of the area.  The eventual regeneration is good but the community pays a human price as long established trading and walking patterns are altered.  For some facilities move further away across busy roads or intimidating spaces, for others such as traders the loss of footfall comes at a bad economic time, making things even worse.  In common to all these moves is a loss for the Islington and Clerkenwell sides of the Kings Cross area.

Comments

[Andrew]

Does anyone have the time lines/plans for the canopy coming down. Rumour has it that the canopy won't be coming down for years, so what will the canopy be used for in the meantime? Is this in the planning application to Camden (does it need to be)?

[M@]

I don't have anything in writing, but on a recent guided tour, Alastair from Network Rail told me the canopy is staying until after the glass concourse area is built (i.e. work won't start on the demolition until 2012).

I guess that people waiting for trains have to have somewhere to hang about. They can't really demolish until the new facilities are in place.

[Alastair]

The green canopy will indeed be taken out after the new concourse is built. The main driver for this is that we need to keep the station operating to full effect during the Olympics. After the Olympics, the canopy will be removed to make way for a new public square.