Lets Discover · Canary Wharf
Best Restaurants, Bars and Things to Do in Canary Wharf, London
Canary Wharf is a major financial and commercial district in east London, built on the former West India Docks on the Isle of Dogs and connected to the rest of the city by the Jubilee line, the DLR and the Elizabeth line. The area is dominated by skyscrapers housing global banks and professional services firms, but its food and drink scene has grown significantly beyond the expense-account dining it was once solely associated with. The covered shopping malls, the rooftop garden at Crossrail Place, the waterside restaurants along the dock edges and the growing cluster of independent openings around Wood Wharf together create a more varied eating and drinking landscape than the towers suggest. Creators on Lets Discover have recommended venues across Canary Wharf covering restaurants, bars, coffee shops and cultural venues.
What's on in Canary Wharf
Upcoming events at venues in the area
Mon 1 Jun to Wed 27 Jan
By Appointment Only: Romani Art, Culture and Heritage
London Museum Docklands
A free display at London Museum Docklands centred on three Romani artists, Corrina Eastwood, Delaine Le Bas and Dan Turner, honouring Romani creativity, livelihoods and resistance. On until January 2027 with live events in June.
Wed 24 Jun
Performance: Calling Card 24062026 after Adrian Piper
London Museum Docklands
Delaine Le Bas's performance work moves through the galleries of London Museum Docklands for one hour, riffing on Adrian Piper's confrontational Calling Card interventions. Free and ticketed, and genuinely hard to find at this price.
Wed 24 Jun
Alternative Narratives: Romani Visual Activism in Museum Spaces
London Museum Docklands
Delaine Le Bas, Dan Turner and Corrina Eastwood discuss navigating cultural institutions with Romani identity at the centre. A frank and rare panel tied to the museum's summer display.
Creator picks in Canary Wharf
Verified recommendations from Lets Discover creators
- 1London Museum Docklands
Recommended by Ana Sheppard · From skyline views to farms, play cafés, galleries, and museums - here’s your ultimate autumn inspo to keep young London…
- 2Canary Wharf
Recommended by Ana Sheppard · From skyline views to farms, play cafés, galleries, and museums - here’s your ultimate autumn inspo to keep young London…
- 3Ice Rink Canary Wharf
Recommended by Ana Sheppard · ⛸️ London festive ice rinks for 2025/26❄️⛸️ Bundle up, grab the kids, a mate, or a date and head on down to these Londo…
- 4Skuna - Sauna, BBQ, Hot Tub & Igloo Boats (Canary Wharf)
Recommended by raisingislainlondon_ · Skuna Igloo Boats are setting sail for the final time this spring! Bookings available until May 11 only, but don�t worry…
- 5WatchHouse
Recommended by makeitmarylebone · It�s COMPETITION time! ?? As the weather gets cooler, it�s only right you enjoy your favourite hot drinks whenever you …
- 6Boisdale of Canary Wharf
Recommended by knightsbridge_ldn · Poetry, candlelight and a very good reason to celebrate on a Sunday night ?? ?????????????? ? Burns Night, high above t…
- 7Gallio
Recommended by hellofitzrovia · ???? ROSETTE MOORISH SICILIAN RESTAURANT ?? @norma_ldn ?? Sister to @gallio.uk ?? Goodge Street or Tottenham Court Roa…
- 8Shake Shack
Recommended by coventgardenldn · Covent Garden�s guide to eating vegan and vegetarian ?? @chez_antoinette @cothanhlondon @flooziecookies @shakeshackuk …
- 9Captain Cook Cruises
Recommended by Living London History · I paid a visit to the UK�s first major exhibition about mudlarking at the Museum of London Docklands! It covers lots o…
- 10Billingsgate Market
Recommended by liquidhistorytours · Big hankerings for some traditional fish & chips, and where better to indulge then just uphill from the Old Billingsgate…
About Canary Wharf
Canary Wharf is better for eating and drinking than most people who have never worked there would expect. The concentration of high-spending professionals working in the towers has attracted serious restaurant operators over the years, and some of the group restaurant openings that anchor the malls are among the stronger outposts of their respective operators. The independent scene has grown more recently, particularly in the Wood Wharf development to the east, where a more varied mix of food and drink businesses has arrived alongside the new residential population.
The waterside setting is a genuine asset. The dock edges around Canary Wharf, West India Quay and South Dock provide outdoor terrace settings that are hard to match elsewhere in London, and in good weather the area becomes one of the more pleasant places in the city to eat and drink outside. The Crossrail Place rooftop, with its unusual planted glass canopy and the restaurants beneath it, adds a different kind of destination that works year-round.
Lets Discover creators who cover Canary Wharf tend to work in or visit the area regularly and know which of the options are worth choosing over the others — a useful distinction in a neighbourhood where the gap between the best and the adequate can be significant.
The Canary Wharf estate's three main retail areas — Canada Place, Cabot Place and Jubilee Place — each contain clusters of restaurants ranging from reliable group operations to the occasional independent worth knowing. Crossrail Place, the development above the Elizabeth line station, has the most architecturally interesting setting and some of the area's stronger restaurant options on both the ground floor and the rooftop. West India Quay, across the water from the main estate, has a run of waterside restaurants in the converted Georgian dock warehouses that are among the better settings in east London for a longer meal. The Wood Wharf district to the east of the main estate is newer and more mixed in character, with independents arriving alongside the residential development. South Quay Plaza and the streets around Heron Quays have a quieter character with venues that cater primarily to the residential and business population.
History and culture in Canary Wharf
The land that Canary Wharf now occupies was for centuries at the centre of London's global trade. The West India Docks, opened in 1802 as the world's first enclosed commercial dock system, were purpose-built to handle the rum, sugar and hardwood arriving from the Caribbean colonies. At their peak in the Victorian era, the docks employed tens of thousands of workers and were the engine of an empire's commerce. The docks declined through the 20th century as container shipping rendered their infrastructure obsolete, and the last commercial cargo was handled in 1980. The redevelopment of the Docklands from the mid-1980s, led by the London Docklands Development Corporation under the Thatcher government, transformed the derelict docklands into one of Europe's largest financial centres in under a decade. The first towers were completed at Canary Wharf in the early 1990s, and One Canada Square — at 235 metres the tallest building in the UK for much of the 1990s — became an instantly recognisable part of London's skyline.
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