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London is often described as a collection of distinct urban villages rather than a single sprawling metropolis, due to the way it developed over time. Discover each neighbourhood's unique character and charm.
Two great railway stations, a Gothic hotel, and a goods yard rebuilt as squares, fountains and a library.
Named after a statue. A monument to George IV stood at the crossroads from 1830 to 1845; it was mocked, then used as a police station and a pub, then pulled down, and the name outlived it. The two stations are a lesson in Victorian nerve. King's Cross, by Lewis Cubitt in 1852, is plain to the point of severity: two enormous arches and no ornament at all. St Pancras, finished in 1868 next door, is the opposite, with William Barlow's train shed, the largest single span in the world when it went up, hidden behind George Gilbert Scott's red Gothic hotel. St Pancras was nearly demolished in the 1960s and was saved by a campaign led by John Betjeman, whose statue stands on the platform looking up at the roof. Behind them lay the goods yard, coal drops and gasholders, and after the freight left it became the most notorious quarter in central London. The rebuilding since the 1990s has been the largest in the city: Granary Square with its fountains, the coal drops turned into shops, and the gasholder frames re-erected round a park and a block of flats. Three things anchor it now. The British Library holds a copy of nearly everything published in Britain and shows the Magna Carta and Beatles lyrics for free; Central Saint Martins fills the granary with art students; and Eurostar leaves from St Pancras for Paris.