This business area in east London is so smart and clean, it makes the other parts look like hippie villages.

Canary Wharf is all about the 9-5 and convenience – although the people living here play as hard as they work.

The area is packed with chilled-out restaurants and it also has great spots for a couple of after-work pints. Mix Manhattan’s skyscrapers, London’s green squares and Amsterdam’s canals and you get Canary Wharf – with a swift-moving pace and atmosphere you won’t find anywhere else.

Why Canary Wharf?

If you work in this financial hub, it’s ideal to live here, so you don’t have to worry about the last Tube home. Canary Wharf has good connections to central London, the City and Stratford.

This area breathes business, and if you want to network, the bars between skyscrapers and docks will outplay LinkedIn.

Don’t move here if… Extreme party people might want to avoid Canary Wharf – as would families.

Tailor-made for careerists, this area offers conveniences in all aspects, but only excels in one – work focus.

“Don’t move here if you want to have a crazy nightlife where you’ll be going to clubs until 3am because they don’t really exist in Canary Wharf,” warns Andrew Groocock, of estate agent Knight Frank.

The people As well as bankers, Canary Wharf attracts advertising businesses, and a mix of students who are tired of dirty flatshares. And the area is on the up.

“In 10 years, Canary Wharf will go from 100,000 people working here to 200,000, and that will ultimately bring a lot of different businesses to the area. So it will diversify the type of people quite considerably,” Groocock says.

Where to hang out

On warm days, enjoy food and drinks in West India Quay’s big bars such as Henry’s, which has a huge outdoor area next to the water as well as spacious rooms for the 11 months of the year when Londoners are not blessed with sun.

If you want something fancier, Gordon Ramsay’s The Narrow pub by the river is not far away.

 

The connections

Canary Wharf is on the Jubilee line with Stratford and Waterloo a 10-minute ride away. The DLR stations are around every street corner, bringing you to Bank and the Central Line in 13 minutes.

If you’ve got time, the nicest way to get to central London is probably by river bus. Half an hour on the water to Embankment is a perfect start for a night out in London.

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What you can rent

If you’re sick of bad insulation and mouldy walls, you don’t need to leave London – just escape to the cleanliness of Canary Wharf.

Most of the buildings are fewer than 20 years old and the majority are glassy high-rise buildings.

Flats normally have marvellous bathrooms and granite works in the kitchen.

“The majority are all new and modern with slick interiors – that’s what people want,” Groocock adds.

E14 Info

Borough Tower Hamlets

Council Tax £1195.34 Band D

Travel time to London 20mins

Getting there Canary Wharf Tube, Canary Wharf DLR, Heron Quay DLR, West India Quay DLR, Canary Wharf River Bus

Average roomshare £155pw

Average rental (1-bed) £1445pcm

 

Photos: Getty; Thinkstock