Our city gets new restaurants virtually every week, but not many of them have to be towed into town up the River Thames… And yet, that’s exactly what happened with London’s newest restaurants, which have docked up in Canary Wharf. A pair of floating pavilions are now in positioned at Wood Wharf, in the heart of London’s financial district, and one of them will house a new bar and restaurant from Dubai-based The London Project.
Two floating pavilions have arrived in London’s Canary Wharf pic.twitter.com/Di4DRqN13d
— PA Media (@PA) April 14, 2021
As you can see, navigating the behemoths into place wasn’t exactly the easiest task, but by the looks of the press photos, they’re going to be very slick additions to the wharf. One of these floating pavilions is now destined to become the London outpost of The London Project, and whilst I just referred to it as a bar and restaurant, it’s actually quite a lot more than that. Besides the bar and restaurant, the space will also be a lifestyle venue with a strong focus on art and music – plus, it’ll even have its own gin distillery!
The other has become the Canary Wharf outpost of brilliant London steak restaurant Hawksmoor. It’s now welcoming diners, and while there’s no word on when its neighbor will open the doors, we can only hope it’ll follow shortly thereafter. The Hawksmoor Wood Wharf location is an exciting new venture for the much-loved chain, and sprawls across three levels with space for 150, and a bar with an all-new cocktail list. In a first for the group, the new restaurant also has an outdoor terrace, sure to become a must-visit spot when the sun peeps through the clouds.
The two restaurants will be linked to each other (and the dockside, evidently) with a series of boardwalks. Even if you’re stopping by for a wander rather than a dinner, you’ll find the pavilions to be a pleasant spot. They’ve been designed by Glenn Howells Architects, and make use of seating areas, aquatic planting, and open-end balconies to provide a space in which you can just watch the world drift by.
They’re eco-friendly too; each floating pavilion is made from sustainably sourced timber decking and aluminium extracted from hydro sources, and each has a green roof decorated with wildflowers and grasses, to encourage visits from insects and bees and to improve carbon capture. Finally, the pavilions will be primarily powered by energy from Canary Wharf’s Combined Heat and Power network, in a bid to lower the impact on the environment.
Hawksmoor Wood Wharf is now open, and hopefully you’ll be able to dine at both floating restaurants before the end of 2021!