The Isle of Dogs

The Isle of Dogs has long been bubbling under as London’s East End heritage-rich neighbourhood overshadowed by the iconic cluster of commercial, glass clad towers dominated by the pyramid-topped One Canada Square. Recently voted the best place to live and work in London, the Isle of Dogs has finally surfaced to get the attention it deserves as an expanding residential district.

The Isle of Dogs peninsula is a horseshoe shaped area surrounded by the Thames on three sides. From Canary Wharf business centre to the north, the Isle of Dogs stretches south facing Greenwich at Island Gardens.  Entirely in Travel zone 2, its postcode is E14 and it forms part of London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Today, the Isle of Dogs draws people across the Capital to its quiet riverside paths and serene waterways peppered with remnants of its dockyard engineering, as well as to its boutique developments and luxury residential towers promising the latest urban living comforts and facilities.

The regeneration of the Isle of Dogs, the transformation from an industrial wasteland into a residential postcode, followed the closure of the docks in the 1970s and the subsequent setting of the London Docklands Development Corporation which was to secure new life for the entire Docklands area.

The opening of One Canada Square in 1990, the iconic 244m tower, which was until recently the UK’s tallest building, marked the turning point for the Isle of Dogs. The new business district was born with many banks (HSBC, Barclays, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley) and newspapers moving to E14. Transport investments followed with the new London City Airport, DLR transport network and the Jubilee line extension in 1999.

The arrival of new residential housing schemes and plans for the Crossrail station at the heart of Canary Wharf open another chapter for the Isle of Dogs. Once the Elizabeth line starts running Bond Street will be 13 minutes and Heathrow 39 minutes away from Canary Wharf’s new station.

Residential developments currently being built

Canary Wharf Group, one of the biggest London office, retail and leisure space developers, is investing in a large mixed-use, ultra modern district at Wood Wharf, on the eastern edge of Canary Wharf and the Isle of Dogs. The scheme will deliver approx. 3,100 residential homes, offices, shops, restaurants and cafes at One Park Drive and 10 Park Drive developments.

Larger scale developments still to complete on the Isle of Dogs are: The Madison, Landmark Pinnacle, South Quay Plaza, The Spire, Wood Wharf, the Wardian and the Newfoundland Tower.

Recent & earlier residential developments

The high-rise towers of Pan Peninsula were finished in 2009 and Baltimore Wharf completed in 2012. In 2017 we saw completion of Arena Tower (Baltimore Tower) and the Dollar Bay development, followed by Providence Tower and Horizons Tower.

Most of earlier, low rise developments were built on redundant wharves on the east side of the Isle of Dogs.  

Earlier developments include:  Ambassador Square, The Ancorage, Burrell’s Wharf, Caledonian Wharf, Cascades, Clippers Quay, Cumberland Mills, Compass Point, Cyclops Wharf, Duckman Tower, Discovery Dock, De Bruin Court, Felstead Gardens, Friars Mead, Horseshoe Court, Indescon Square, Jamestown Harbour, Landmark East and West Towers, Lincoln Plaza, Lockes Field, London Yard, Plymouth Wharf, Pierhead Lock, Quay West, St David’s Square, Timber Wharves Village, Transom Square, West India Quay, Port East Apartments, Talisman Tower ...

Popular developments overlooking the Thames

Some of the most sought-after developments overlooking the river are: Burrells Wharf, Cumberland Mills, Calders Wharf, Cascades, Landmark East and West Tower, Millenium Harbour, Pierhead Lock, St David’s Square, Seacon Wharf, Westferry Circus no name a few.

Arts & Leisure

Cultural events are becoming more common on the Isle of Dogs but the most popular larger happening are: The Winter Lights Festival of stunning installations taking over public spaces, the summer live music festival running in the heart of Canary Wharf and the London Marathon race which fills the streets with thousands of runners. The Docklands Sailing and Watersports Centre as well as Millwall Park, Mudchute Park & Farm and Island Gardens are closer to the Thames and offer year-round outdoor leisure activities for families and children.

Museum of London Docklands is the biggest museum on the Isle of Dogs. It is set in a converted warehouse close to West India Quay DLR. The museum tells a story of London’s docks and ports, from Roman settlement to the development of Canary Wharf.

The Space is a popular local theatre on the Isle of Dogs, managed by St Paul’s Arts Trust and supported by patrons Sir Ian McKellen and Marie McLaughlin.

Crossrail Place is a vibrant, traffic free public realm featuring a large, semi open-air roof garden at the top of Crossrail station. There is a large selection of shops and restaurants in this area, which is also home to a luxury Everyman Cinema too. 

The Isle of Dogs name origin

No one is quite sure where the name Isle of Dogs came from. The area was a marshland known as Stepney Marsh that flooded regularly a long time before West India Docks and East India Docks were built in the early 1800s, 300 years after the name 'Isle of Dogs' was first used. 

One of the most common explanations, dismissed by the local historians though, is that hunting dogs were kennelled and kept in the area for noblemen keen on hunting.

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