Kings Cross, London

King's Cross is an area of London divided between the London Borough of Camden and the London Borough of Islington. It is an inner-city district located 2.5 miles (4.8 km) north of Charing Cross. The area formerly had a reputation for being a red light district and run-down. However, rapid regeneration since the mid 1990s has rendered this reputation largely out-of-date. Since November 2007 the area has been the terminus of the Eurostar rail service at St Pancras International, with services to France and Belgium. Regeneration continues under the auspices of King's Cross Central which is a major redevelopment in the north of the area. Many more hotels, restaurants, and cultural venues have made the area a cultural centre in the 2000s, and there is also substantial business activity and residential accommodation.


In popular culture


For readers of Harry Potter, King's Cross is where the schoolboy hero boards the train for Hogwarts. The railway station has capitalised on tourist interest by putting up a sign for the fictional "Platform 9 3⁄4" described in the books, and burying a luggage trolley, apparently, half into the wall.
King's Cross and its surrounding streets were also the setting for the 1955 Ealing comedy, The Ladykillers and Mike Leigh's High Hopes 1988. Anthony Minghella's 2006 film Breaking and Entering is also set in King's Cross.
The Irish rock group The Pogues were founded in King's Cross.
The British pop music duo Pet Shop Boys recorded a song featured on their 1987 album Actually named "King's Cross": the melancholy track discusses the hopelessness of the AIDS epidemic during that time and uses the Kings Cross area as the "backdrop" of the story, trading on the area's associations with drug use and prostitution. Tracey Thorn covered the song in 2007. Songwriter David Gedge also wrote a song called King's Cross while recording under the name Cinerama.
King's Cross is the setting for the Christopher Fowler mystery, Bryant & May on the Loose (November 2009)
Comedian Ricky Gervais lived there for a while and mentions it in his HBO special.
King's Cross was referred to several times as the drop off and arrival point for characters in the 2010 period drama Downton Abbey.


Transport


London King's Cross and London St Pancras are the principal National Rail services in the district. St Pancras is also the Eurostar terminus for International services to Paris and Brussels. Euston station is a half-mile to the west.

In the beginning of 2010 Chinese authorities announced a bold plan to link Chinese high speed national railway directly to London King's Cross international railway station. This would allow passengers to reach London from Beijing in just two days.
The nearest London Underground stations is King's Cross St. Pancras.