Kings Cross Local Environment

USA Pizza & Burrito Bar seeking permission for late-night activities

The Community Bulletin Board has just been advised that an applicatiion has been received by the Islington Council Licensing Team on 3 September from USA Pizza & Burrito Bar located at 65 Caledonian Road (at Northdown Street), London, N1 9BT seeking permission for the following licensible activities:

• Permit the sale of alcohol between 11:00 and 05:00 on Mon. to Sun.

• Permit the provision of late night refreshment between 23:00 and 05:00 on Mon. to Sun.

Local residents can comment on this Application, but must do so before 1 October 2009.  Send your email to: [email protected].  Be sure to provide your name and address and refer to the name and location of the establishment.

For more information contact:

Dominic Ping
Licensing Support Officer
Licensing Team
Islington Council
Tel: 020 7527 3031
Alternative contact: Emma Rolls 020 7527 3421

What's your opinion?  Will you be supporting or objecting to this application.  Let your neighbours know by commenting below - (note that comments made here are not part of the formal planning process).

Canal Music Tour world premier at King's Cross this Wednesday

This autumn SoundUK brings you two of Britain’s brightest folk and electronics artists, Lisa Knapp and Leafcutter John, who collaborate for the first time to create new music inspired by the culture and history of the British waterways. 

Following the world premiere inside the London Canal Museum at 7.30pm on Wednesday 9 September, the 1930s narrow boat The Chiswick will journey up the once thriving trade route from London to Birmingham, Britain’s longest single stretch of canal. Serving as a floating stage, The Chiswick stops for performances along the banks of five canal side settings, each chosen for their natural beauty and significance to the history of the canal. 

Highly acclaimed folk singer Lisa Knapp and leading electronics artist Leafcutter John will capture the spirit of the UK waterways in a contemporary celebration of canal life, playing new work inspired by the canals as well as their own existing music. 

The Artists 

Mojo Folk Album of the Year winner Lisa Knapp is a spellbinding singer and fiddle player. Her radiant folk merges traditional tunes with self-penned songs, and blends fiddle with sonic delights from the technological age. “Knapp sounds like a young Maddy Prior with the girlish inflection of Bjork” Uncut.

Leafcutter John has been hailed as one of the finest exponents of folktronica, combining guitar and voice based writing with more experimental electronic sonic forms. He is currently working on his fifth solo album (Young God Records), as well as being a member of the Mercury nominated Polar Bear. “Like Leonard Cohen is having a cup of tea with Warp Records in a truck stop outside of Denver” The Stool Pigeon.

The Museum

London Canal Museum (map)is a treasure trove of canal curiosities with a particularly interesting history. Audiences here can peek inside a narrow boat cabin and peer into the huge Victorian ice well that stored vast quantities of ice imported from Norway, used by famous the local Swiss Italian Carlo Gatti to make early ice cream. 

The Boat 

The beautifully restored 1930s narrow boat The Chiswick plays a key role in Canal Music. With her own colourful history in entertainment she is perfectly placed to serve as an unusual stage for these unusual artists. She appeared in a 1970s BBC drama, features in a number of books about Canal history and today takes part in canal rallies and festivals, and offers Halloween trips through the Islington tunnel.

Book your tickets here.

Update on dead body in canal

Stephan reported on the sad case of a body being found in the canal a couple of weeks ago.  I followed up with the police who have provided this statement.  They don't think there are suspicious circumstances, our sympathies go out to this poor man's family.  Am trying to get more statements out of the police when things happen in the area - they are keen to tell the local paper but often forget that we reach 300 people a day through this website.  Police statement begins:

On 14th August 2009, at approximately 06:20 hours, police were called to reports of a body floating in the Grand Union Canal, near York Way N1.
Upon police arrival, the body of a male was recovered and was pronounced deceased at the scene by LAS.
Next of Kin have been informed and the male has been formally identified as Mr Brain Marsh, aged 51, (date of birth, 26 November 1958), from Millard Terrace, Dagenham.
A post mortem was held on Wednesday 19th August 2009 and the cause of death was confirmed as drowning, although toxicology results are still outstanding.
An inquest opened on Thursday 20th August 2009 at St Pancras Coroner's Court.
Camden Police are treating the death as unexplained at this stage.

The Gazette has a bit more here from what i can make out Mr Marsh worked at the old York Way tube station on York Way where fire equipment maintenance work is carried out.

Artist Residency @ King's Cross Central

Arts Council England are offering a new artist residency in partnership with Argent King's Cross. They say:

We are looking for an artist with a strong practice that relates to the process of construction and regeneration. The artist will be based on site and must be a robust self-starter with great people skills. In view of the breadth of audience that will come across the artist’s work, interpretation of the artistic process is important and we expect the artist to appoint a curator/mentor to help communicate in an imaginative way.

The brief is available to download from here. Deadline for submission of your expression of interest is 5pm, 18th September 2009.

King's Place - Variation to Condition 6 (hours of operation) - pursuant to their original application

 

This is a tricky matter that will mainly impact the folks living on the Canal facing King's Place.  I will do my best to explain what I think is going on.

To recap:  The original King's Place Planning Application P032145 was approved with one key Condition - No. 6 which stated that The proposed A3 uses shall not operate outside the hours of 08:00 - and 23.00 on any day.

As you will remember during 2008 King's Place subsequently filed a Licensing Application which sought permission to use their outside space until midnight, but because of the prior Planning constraint there was a problem.  Although the Licensing Application was approved and the License seems to state that they can sell Alchol on and off the Premises until 00.00 (Click to see the online details), the Minutes (and I only have a draft copy) from the Council Meeting stated that:

139 (a) iv)That licensable activities shall cease on the outside terrace area at 22:30 and the outside terrace area to be cleared by 23:00. And

13. The outside areas shall not be used

• For regulated entertainment by way of any amplified sound

• After 22.30

From this latest Planning Application it appears that King's Place is seeking vacate the original Condition 6 from Planning so that they can eventually seek to gain permission from Licensing (if they don't already have it) to use the outside space until midnight.

The Bulletin Board has welcomed comments from the parties involved (King's Place, Islington Planning and/or Licensing) to clarify this assumption (please use the Comments section below).  We have now heard from John Nugent of King's Place, so please see his response in the section below marked Comments.

This latest Planning Application is No. P091689 (Download Council_notice) and the Planning Case Officer is Stella Bailey.  Any comments about this specific application must be received by the Planning Department by 10 Sept and can be sent via email to [email protected].

This applicaiton should also appear on the Council's website, (it's not up yet), and you will be able to submit your comment on the application online.

The Battlebridge Cockatiel

A fantastic sight at Battlebridge Basin on the Regent's Canal behind King's Cross Station today: this beautiful cockatiel swooping over the canal with its distinctive cry. (Photo: Jean James.)

Although we think it must have escaped from someone's home not too far away, it didn't seem distressed. Quite the opposite - it came to a human call, played on the guttering on Gatti's Wharf and amazed us all as it stood its ground against well known hoodlum Emily (of the Charlotte & Emily Jackson nee Bronte feline crime family whose operations in and around the basin have us all quaking with fear). Emily backed off and the cockatiel remained! It was finally scared off by the racket from a woodpigeon, hopefully to find its way back home. 

If you know that this cockatiel is missing from home, do contact us. We can alert people around the canal to keep an eye and hopefully help return it safely.

New Bus Stop - York Way and Crinan Street

This AM I received a notice through my letterbox from Camden Council that a new bus stop was being created on York Way.  According to the notice:

The new bus stop is needed to replace the existing bus stop opposite Copenhagen Street, which will be closed on the 20th of September. This is due to ongoing construction for the Kings Cross Central development. The footway on the western side of York Way will be closed to enable the construction of a new hous'ing block. A new wider footway and bus stop wtill eventually be provided once construction is complete.

Implementation of the new bus stop just south of Crinan Street will involve installing a new bus stop sign on the footway and installing a yellow bus stop marking on the carriageway. This will take one day to complete.  If the weather allows, works will happen on September 4th 2009.

Due to the delays to general traffic travelling north of York Way, double yellow lines will be installed on York Way between Goods Way and Wharfdale Road on the western side of the road. This will remove parking in the evenings and weekends to improve the flow of traffic in this location. These works will be done approximately during the week starting Monday 28th October 2009.

If you have any queries, please contact Bec Hayes the Camden Engineer at (020) 7974-6946.

I spoke to Ms. Hayes about this matter and according to her, this was already agreed to by Camden and Islington Councillors and was a fait accompli, so I don't know if any disagreement can be registered at this point.  For a copy of the original notice - Download Notice_from_Camden.

 

Great Northern Hotel next to station - developer announced

It looks like there is a future yet for the poor old Great Northern Hotel.  The hotel never really fitted into Kings Cross, a clumsy addition to Cubits station.  Let's see if this lot can make a go of it.  Kings Cross has vast numbers of hotel rooms, few of them good quality and only a couple of  'boutique hotels' as far as I know. Piece from hotelsmag.com follows:

>>

CBRE Hotels are delighted to announce an operator has been selected to redevelop the Great Northern Hotel at Kings Cross, N1. A consortium assembled and led by Robson Asset Management (RAM) will redevelop the hotel as a luxury boutique hotel. The 19th Century Grade II listed building will be restored, refurbished and brought stunningly back to life in good time for the London Olympics in 2012. King’s Cross Central retains freehold ownership of the hotel, granting a 125-year lease to the RAM consortium.

A new boutique hotel, complete with 94 luxury bedrooms, a bar and restaurant, is set to open in late 2011 in the unrivalled location of King’s Cross Central. The RAM-led consortium has been selected by King’s Cross Central – a partnership between Argent, London & Continental Railways and DHL – to refurbish and recreate the unique Great Northern Hotel following a six month selection process run by CBRE Hotels.

Oxford Hotels will be the development manager, working with MACE and GB Building Solutions Ltd as construction providers. They will begin work on refurbishing the Victorian-built Great Northern Hotel early next year. The hotel, which first opened in 1854, sits at the southern end of the 67 acre regeneration site and is ideally located for both King’s Cross station and St Pancras International, with connections to mainland Europe and the rest of the UK.

Oxford will manage the refurbishment and fit-out of the iconic building, which will open its doors to guests in time for the London 2012 Olympics. King’s Cross Central and the hotel consortium will work together to achieve the necessary planning and listed building consents from Camden Council, in close cooperation with English Heritage.

CBRE Hotels oversaw the operator selection process from the initial marketing campaign to the signing of heads of terms with the consortium.

Folk in the cellar

If you were one of the thousand people that came along to TolpuddleKX at Edward Square in April you'll remember how local band Northern Celts set, towards the end of the day, got us all dancing. They played a blinder, and if you'd like to see them again, now is your chance. If you missed the festival but enjoy good rootsy folk then you'll love this. If you don't like folk but love live music, give this a go - you will not regret it (and that recommendation comes from a hip hop fan)!

Support local live music at The Constitution. Thanks to Les and all the Celts!

Camley Street Festival Sunday 6th September - it's free, all welcome

Alison O'Connor sent this in from the London Wildlife trust - if you haven't been to the Camley Street Park yet it's a wonderful urban wildlife habitat on the banks of the canal well worth a short walk from Kings Cross (map).

Text begins
>>Time: 11am – 7pm
Date: Sunday 6th September
Location: Camley Street Natural Park
Transport: King’s Cross St Pancras
Free entry
www.wildlondon.org.uk/getinvolved

A brilliant FREE event from London Wildlife Trust in an extra special urban jungle, with lots to make, do and learn, plus a carnival procession and live music on the mound in the afternoon.

Great for kids and adults alike, everyone’s welcome.

Throughout the day there’ll be:

• arts and crafts
• bushcraft in the yurt
• carnival procession (from 2pm)
• face painting
• gardening workshops
• live music (from 3.30pm on the mound)
• mask making
• mini beast hunting
• photography workshops
• pond dipping
• wildlife spotting

and lots more…

London Wildlife Trust is the only charity dedicated solely to protecting the capital's wildlife and wild spaces, engaging London's diverse communities through access to our nature reserves, campaigning, volunteering and education. www.wildlondon.org.uk