Canary Wharf

Canary Wharf is the place where we are going to work. It’s London’s new financial center, rivalling with the City. There are located the three tallest buildings in the UK : the Canary Wharf Tower, the HSBC Tower and the Citigroup tower. The name “Canary Wharf” comes from the sea trade with the Canary Islands in the Atlantic ocean. From 15 000 in 1999, its working population has quadrupled to 63 000 in 2004. Now, a lot of famous banks have their European headquarters in Canary Wharf : Credit Suisse, HSBC, Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers, Citigroup, Bank of America, Barclays Capital, …

As a consequence of its increasing professional activity, it became very expensive to have an apartment in the area, even if it’s a bit far away from London’s center where the rents are astronomic.

It’s possible to go to Canary Wharf through the DLR (Docklands light railway) or by tube (Jubilee Line). The first time we went there, it seemed very similar to “La Defense”, which is the Parisian financial center.