Finsbury Park Station/City North Development

HolbornFox

I had the chicken salad as a main in the Granary the other night, it was awesome, such a good balance of flavour.

The new(er) waitress told me she lives in Hertford, made me wonder if they have a spot there as well.

lazyatom

> I haven't passed Goodwin Street in a while. Does anyone know what will happen (or has already happened)—if anything—to the nice old sorting office building there?

@Scruffy I think it’s been left pretty much as-is; I believe there’s a printing company in there at the moment. It’ll be interesting to see how it looks once all the building hoardings etc are down

Ali

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/j1hO5x3xug4LQAwCSNCuvAAmC3qrSzrokRFOoXQFPI3_gL9CZBpLx8UjWoUJ5NOCMd5bEPolUKXcdtLogPAkMSqH0yBmdfNebu5AKUrautdv6qoXgVzPZ0orxAmxYS0g0I4cboZiJcHiTGbZmDnX6W4JxMaGKaFjEzJ7L96CAB3DdcjyUvhD3W9r9toC0sBc2b9882L8GxT0PkJLxOOlObSi6UfjERciGEnwSdDhQDQzbE3oPCoNcuHkQUFx-xe3xmJ9fgHSwq_3TB-3P4hUt03InY4H0rmYClGJHuqmnyUaOq9AQsImwT6WBskA4grhUrQxX0evaGT5OsShZsJWWVm37BHJrMq7dO9Jl2ba6hfiGtAJNNsuGoe5mZvvj7yotye8yFFIb7UjDUY612YMb2BqPCO7Sy4Gw1AMUHzKlQTe6xRWoE0CA10-Ye2UEqusXiryzghPJSPIxj-3m4vAg9-9wvY61urI2w-n_FlvCdwxDwPoOhN-_5LEbSgaVHJOf0GZrYTj6hI_SDbPQs5F7fpOewkzln_6iY1dQSLLWPyOBL6raJNOU1UpVnDUnQchCCJbVwm8wRXsdkSLJRay6ehfYucnrdoQVaKDzuAgpOVfqa22y5dBr1kiU50WcjsTUTXKM2blp052IOwPQVRS00SbFci6CdtwD2Og2_RmV2m_d4e_wQ101K7no_z6GawJ6tO2tPD6rpbZzW1k9lDuuEBnv8GYVHfa0dKzserVldrxMRU=w556-h741-no

libertyhall

The last I heard about the old ticket hall is that it’s being used by the bus undertaking

adrienbe

https://www.islingtongazette.co.uk/news/new-entrance-to-finsbury-park-station-set-to-open-1-6421433

Ali

I wonder how much this will reduce traffic under the bridges as Wells Terrace itself is not open until Spring next year.

gardener-joe

Via Goodwin Street and not from where the W & 210 buses terminate/start, but at least it is progress.

Arkady

Very pleased to see that the 'Cineworld' cinema at City North will actually be a PictureHouse (the former owns the latter). Really great cinema chain.

lazyatom

@Arkady where'd you see that? I really like Picturehouse but then there's this: http://www.picturehouselivingwage.com/

adrienbe

Why is it better? The one in Crouch End is ridiculously expensive. Better have a bigger chain with more competitive prices like Odeon or Vue.

Arkady

@lazyatom - I saw the planning application for the cinema signage -see the planning thread.

@adrienbe - yeah, I'm am member at Crouch End, and that makes things cheaper, especially if you're having a couple of drinks. I'm very sensitive to distraction in the cinema and absolutely cannot tolerate any kids or wankers talking or otherwise making a racket, and that means I'm content to pay a bit more for a pleasant, licensed environment.

Arkady

@lazyatom I'm an idiot, I didn't post the app.

It's P2019/3519/ADV

The signage: https://planning.islington.gov.uk/NorthgatePublicDocs/00528985.pdf

I'd suggest the screening rooms are too small for a multiplex: https://planning.islington.gov.uk/NorthgatePublicDocs/00528987.pdf

therattle

@adrienbe, it's also a matter of film selection, and that's down to personal taste. My tastes are more that of Picturehouse than Odeon etc, so I prefer them - but youre right that there is a cost factor too.
I am aware of the Picturehouse living wage campaign and avoid their cinemas where possible.

LukeG

There's an Odeon 10 minutes walk away on Holloway, so having a more upmarket option isn't going to hurt anyone? I'm not saying anyone here is like this, but with my recent dealings with a few locals, it seems like anything redevelopment/upmarket is talked about really negatively which I don't understand.

Sutent

The Goodwin entrance was not open this morning. I was so excited when I woke up and was really looking forward to it. You can see the ticket gates from the tunnels. It looks as though TFL have gone with Cubic Transportation System Ticket gates. I really don't like them as the lag time of oyster resetting after you touch as well as the gates open and closing takes too long. It creates bottle neck at stations.

Arkady

It looked to me like maybe they were setting up for opening later today. From the glimpse I got, it doesn't look like many of the internal finishes are done yet.

mattleys

https://twitter.com/IamthatDan/status/1206942821145620481

Ali

from TfL

The new, larger entrance on the western part of the station which can be accessed between Goodwin Street and Fonthill Road is now open. This entrance, with a ticket hall and a ticket gate line, provides access to all platforms and a new, alternative step-free route to Tube services to ease congestion within the station.

As part of this upgrade, we have also been working with the developer City North Ltd, to provide a brand new entrance linking the station with the development being built on Wells Terrace/Fonthill Road.

This route between the new western entrance and Wells Terrace bus station will be made available at a later date, once the developer has completed the necessary road work. We will continue to work with them to bring this route in to use as soon as possible to ensure that you can experience the full benefits of these improvements.

Yours sincerely,

Marlon Osborne
Head of Customer Service Bakerloo & Victoria line

lazyatom

The entrance is open now (or was this afternoon, when I was down they were messing around with the entrance gate, maybe just checking it worked). Access to both underground lines and the national rail is open from this entrance, and the latter is still ungated from Station Place so if you want to have a wander round without actually going through a gate, you can do so by entering from "Station Place lift corridor" and walking to the very end.

It also looks like they are working very hard at finishing the linear building balconies and the paving on the Wells Terrace road (I _think_ this is going to be called "City North Place", based on the planning application stuff -- thanks @Arkady), which makes me wonder if we might get access to that sooner rather than later. That said, from the outside the cinema still seems to be extremely unfinished, so I wouldn't bet on it for a while.

Anyway, exciting times.

https://ibb.co/bJSgQFG
https://ibb.co/wQnqyRC
https://ibb.co/SKgHwk3
https://ibb.co/hXbMRsG
https://ibb.co/L5vKT55

Ali

sponsored by Smirnoff !

Arkady

Passed through earlier. You can now pretty much see right the way through from one side of the station to the other through the Network Rail tunnel - slightly disorienting! The final finishes in the station entrance are deadly dull, but it seems functional. The streetscaping within the development looks great though. As @lazyatom says, the new Wells Terrace street looks really close to completion too.

Arkady

Wells Terrace - so near and yet so far.

https://twitter.com/stroudgreen/status/1207231093260390400

rikki

I'm hoping this issue will be resolved when the Wells Terrace section opens, but I'm concerned there's currently ZERO new bike racks remotely near this entrance.

Fireddo

If it is of interest for anyone, Telford Homes has further delayed the delivery of the residential units.

Since they've done it at such short notice, we will need to find an Airbnb to go live while we wait for them. Their inability to plan more than a week ahead is staggering.

grenners

Wells terrace looking a bit bleak like a wind tunnel? Will there be any plants and seats to soften it?

Arkady

Yeah they have some nice stone planters, both on the corner and on the 'Wells Terrace Street' - quite substantial in the latter case. I notice some scumbag had already thrown litter in the corner one.

lazyatom

Wasn’t there some competition for art to be put in this space? Presumably that’ll be installed once the major construction is done.

Arkady

Oh god yeah. They chose my least favourite option, though you're the expert!

https://www.islingtongazette.co.uk/news/winner-chosen-in-finsbury-park-s-city-north-art-competition-1-5356502

LukeG

Carrie Reichardt said: “One of my main interests as an artist has always been to facilitate communities, explore their culture and heritage and find creative ways to capture their rich history.”

LukeG

This kind of BS is why we can't have good art