Canary Wharf is a major business district in Tower Hamlets, East London. It is one of the United Kingdom's two main financial centres, second only to the traditional City of London. It contains many of Europe's tallest buildings, including the second-tallest in the UK, One Canada Square.^[1][2] Canary Wharf is located on the West India Docks on the Isle of Dogs.

West India Dock Company

From 1802 to the late 1980s, the Canary Wharf Estate was a part of Millwall, Limehouse and Poplar and was one of the busiest docks in the world. West India Docks was primarily developed by Robert Milligan (c. 1746–1809) who set up the West India Dock Company. After the 1960s, the port industry began to decline, leading to all the docks being closed by 1980.^[3][4]

Canary Wharf today

The Canary Wharf of today is a complete reworking of the old dock area into a new business area. Initially, the City of London saw Canary Wharf as a threat. Recovery in the property market generally, and demand for Grade A office space, improved the level of interest. A critical event was the much-delayed start of work on the Jubilee line extension, which the government wanted ready for the Millennium celebrations.

Public transport

Canary Wharf has stations on the Jubilee Line and the Docklands Light Railway and since 2022 the Elizabeth Line.