Escorts on the Isle of Dogs, E14: who is close, and how soon
Seven o'clock on a November evening, the river black on three sides of the island and the domes of Greenwich lit up across the water at its southern tip. Nobody comes to the Isle of Dogs for its nightlife, and nobody pretends otherwise. Yet within the bend of the Thames, or a short walk beneath it, lie a theatre in a Victorian church, a museum in a Georgian warehouse, a view Canaletto once painted and, across the river, a whole row of national museums.
That is the case for spending an evening with Isle of Dogs escorts on something other than a hotel room: the island is closer to the city's culture than its towers suggest. Nobody from the board keeps a home on the island, so she makes the trip east from town; give it around an hour after the booking is settled, more when the traffic is heavy, and watch the chat for her exact time, with each length on the rates.
On the ground
Isle of Dogs in practice
Landmarks on the arrival slip
By postcode, never by nameE14 9SH, E14 9SJ, E14 9TP.
Nearest stations
Walking timeSouth Quay, 3 minutes. Crossharbour, 5 minutes. Island Gardens, 8 minutes.
Getting there
E14Travel is included across Zones 1 and 2, and counted from the moment the hour is set rather than from when she leaves.
On the board
Nearest prints to Isle of Dogs
Who works here
On the board in Isle of Dogs
The six prints above are a first shortlist for Isle of Dogs tonight. Any of the twenty eight on the who is free page can be asked for by name instead.
Note 02
The view Canaletto painted
Island Gardens, the small park at the very tip of the island, faces the Old Royal Naval College across the river. In the eighteenth century Canaletto painted Greenwich Hospital from this bank, as the college then was, and his picture now belongs to the National Maritime Museum on the other side of the water.
The view has barely changed. Wren split the hospital into two matching halves so that the Queen's House behind them kept its sight of the river, and from the railings of Island Gardens the small white house still sits framed in the gap between the domes, with the park rising behind it. At dusk, with the buildings floodlit, it is the island's finest free exhibit.
Note 03
Under the river to the museums
From the gardens, the Greenwich Foot Tunnel runs beneath the Thames and comes up beside the Cutty Sark. On the far side, within a few minutes of each other, stand the National Maritime Museum, the Queen's House and, on the hill, the Royal Observatory with its planetarium.
The Queen's House, designed by Inigo Jones, is the one to choose for paintings, with portraits and sea pieces from the national maritime collection hung in rooms built for a queen. The museums keep daytime hours, so this is an afternoon's culture rather than an evening's, but an afternoon that ends with a walk back under the river and dinner on the island is a very good afternoon.
Note 04
A warehouse full of the docks
At the northern edge of the island, on West India Quay, the Museum of London Docklands fills a Georgian warehouse built when these docks handled sugar and the other goods of empire. Its floors tell the story of the river, the port and the people who worked it, from the building of the docks through the Blitz to the towers that replaced them.
It does not look away from the uncomfortable parts. A gallery is given over to London's role in the slave trade, the trade that paid for warehouses like this one. It is a thoughtful place to spend an hour before dinner, and the quay outside has restaurants within a few steps of the door.
Note 05
A stage in a Victorian church
The island's own theatre is The Space on Westferry Road, a small arts centre in a converted Victorian church. Its programme runs to new plays, comedy, music and community work, and its scale is part of the pleasure: a seat there is never far from the stage.
For something larger, Greenwich Theatre stands on Crooms Hill on the other side of the river, a short walk up from the far end of the foot tunnel. Between the two, an evening at the theatre never needs to go anywhere near the West End.
Note 06
The arena that crossed the water
For years the island had its own big venue. The London Arena on Limeharbour held concerts and ice hockey until it closed in the mid 2000s, and flats now stand where the crowds once queued. The island has a long habit of giving its crowds away: Millwall football club was founded here by factory workers before it moved south of the river.
Today the big concerts happen at the O2 on the Greenwich Peninsula, one Jubilee line stop from Canary Wharf at North Greenwich. For a guest staying on the island, the arena is closer by train than most of London's concert halls, and a show there fits neatly into an evening that begins and ends in E14.
Note 07
Sculpture on the estate next door
Walk north past South Quay and the Canary Wharf estate turns out to be something of an open air gallery, with a collection of sculpture and public art set around its squares, parks and dock edges. None of it needs a ticket, and much of it is at its best after dark, lit against the water.
The estate also has a cinema and changing exhibitions in its public spaces, which makes it the easiest culture on the island's doorstep for a weekday evening, when the working crowd has gone and the art is left to anyone who wanders past.
Note 08
Getting back after the curtain
Island Gardens on the DLR is the station at the foot tunnel end, and the island is small enough that everything on this page lies within a short ride of it. An evening built around a play at The Space or a show at the O2 ends with the simple question of which way home is quickest.
The neighbours are all close: Canary Wharf directly north, Greenwich under the river, and Limehouse a short way upstream, with its own old riverside and a church by Hawksmoor. Escorts on the Isle of Dogs are as easily booked around a curtain time as around a table.
From The Roundup
Two notes worth reading for Isle of Dogs
Asked most often
Isle of Dogs, asked and answered
Where is the nearest stage for a play?
Can we see the Canaletto view for ourselves?
Which museum is best for an hour before we eat?
What happened to the old London Arena?
Is the maritime museum worth crossing the river for?
One zone either way
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Last strip
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