Kings Place

I love Kings Place and have had an opportunity to experience this new venue on various very different occasions now. It works best as a cultural centre and host of interesting talks. The auditorium is very slick and perfectly built for purpose.
I have also had a very pleasant evening celebrating with friends who had booked the function room and terrace behind Kings Place. Bubbly always goes down well and the nibbles were delicious.
Most recently I arranged a meeting here which was the most disappointing experience so far. The receptionist rather flippantly mentioned that the free wifi hardly ever worked, not that he cared … scrambling for something under his desk. Hopefully just caught him on a bad day, but must admit I was rather taken aback by the attitude which was so out of keeping with the sleek surroundings.
The café is a self-​service counter in the corner and leaves you wondering how many baristas it takes to make a coffee … one guy at the till and three huddling around the coffee machine — you’d expect the cappuccinos to pop out in record time! The reality is long waits and frustrated customers.

Similar to Barbican and Southbank, King’s Place offers a very wide range of quality music from classical, jazz and more. It is probably the smallest venue of the three, which is ideal for small ensembles. I have been to a cappella concert and a baroque chamber music here.
In addition to stand-​alone concerts, they seem to have themed series of events that dig deep into particular genre every year. They ran a series called «Bach Unwrapped» for the past 2 years or so. This year (2015) it seems the theme is minimalism. You will see a section called «Minimalism Unwrapped» in their website.
The venue also hosts a range of shorter themed events and workshops.
I have personally attended London A cappella Festival (Jan or Feb) and GMF London Jazz Workshop (Easter). Both were really good, especially the one in Easter was pretty hardcore. Definitely NOT for beginners.
King’s Place shares a building with Guardian/​Observer but I don’t know if they are related.

Absolutely love this as a newer arts venue in London. The gallery generally has interesting exhibits and they host lots of off-​the-​beaten-​track musical events; it’s worth getting on their email distribution list as you don’t see that much advertising around (compared to other venues). The last gig I went to was by an English woman who played amazing classical Spanish guitar. It was held in one of their smaller performance rooms (approx 200 people) and the acoustics were great.
The staff is also generally quite nice and helpful. The ass-​end of Kings Cross is becoming much more des-​res these days. this place is worth checking out!

A rare place where the elders listen to the younger ones. The passion performs on the stage, the audience behaves detached. Yet all communicate the same language of music.
1^st look inside Concert Hall1, compared with Wigmore, Royal Albert, or Royal Festival Hall, this is a bare shoebox. As more times i sit inside, the distributed upper columns remind me of Parthenon, yet the random patterned lower columns remind me of bar codes. You’ll appreciate the subtleness as it grows on you along with the chamber music.
My favourite perspective is straight outside of Concert Hall 1 Stall West. The big round shaped window of c. 2 metres in diameter gives a very good view of the St. Pancras’ room, where young musician groups get together and practice. I don’t hear their music yet my heart beats with their full action.
The concert level King’s Place Gallery is a joyful wander during the intermission. The current Sefton Samuel’s Jazz Legends up Close photographs caught up my eyes distinguished by their intimacy capturing the soul of the performances.
Starting autumn, Concert Hall 1 is usually my default early evening location as a member of London Chamber Music Society. There’re interesting sculptures in this spacious building, a couple small galleries and free Wifi. I often end up talking with strangers in the Atrium sipping the coffee from a generous sized mug from Green & Fortune café.
A place gathers the sunlight, smile and sound…
Thanks for NG’s initial introduction.

Great venue — like a cut-​down version of the RHF in north London. Nice bar and seats in the foyers, very efficient box-​office. The main concert hall was smaller than I had anticipated — seemed nicely intimate and at the London A Capella festival the acoustics were very good.
Also useful for a place for business meetings.

Located literally up the road from King’s Cross Station (300 meters to be exact), is this hidden gem. It’s easy to confuse if for an office building as it is attached to the Guardian/​/​Observer HQ. But this fantastic space hosts several performance halls, an art gallery, a bar (the Rotunda) and awesome views of the canal.
When I first arrived on a rather late Friday evening, I was surprised to find that the entire lobby was buzzing with people sipping their beer/​wine/​spirits while lounging about on the comfy couches. Right outside the Rotunda pub, was a live jazz band entertaining the crowd. Inside the pub was full of people, many of which probably had been there since 5. The drinks at the bar were surprisingly inexpensive. A half-​pint of Guinness was about 1.50. Oh and did I mention that you have an amazing panoramic view of the canal? And that there is outside seating available?
After having my fill at the Rotunda, I made my way to the performance hall. The space was pretty small but had great accoustics. There is not stadium style seating. So beware of tall people sitting in front of you! Overall, I had a really great experience at King’s place. They seem to have lots of interesting events taking place. This could be my new hang out spot.

Kings place is located in York Way, very near to Kings Cross station. It is multipurpose space that includes art gallery, office space and music auditoriums.
They have a huge offer on music, from classical concert to more contemporaneous ones. They have some good offers with tickets with reduced prices.
Also they host a lot of free events and conferences like the Jazz nights at the bar, where you can hear some nice music while you are having some drinks.
One of the cafes that they have has seats outside, just by the canal and, if the weather is good, is a really pleasure to be seated there.

Was there for a Irish trad gig on Saturday night; great venue, bright’n airy and the acoustics in the hall were superb. 5 mins walk around the side of Kings Cross station.
Just gotta keep an eye out for another gig there!

Kings Place is a bright and shiny new office, conference and arts venue, situated on Battlebridge Basin on the Regents Canal, and accessed from York Way, 5 minutes’ north of King’s Cross railway station.
Bright and shiny it literally is: the architecture is minimalist, with lots of straight, white walls, white marble polished floors, and seemingly acres of glass walls. The main façade on York Way consists of a wavy glass screen, and is decent enough of its type, although I don’t think the frontage on the canal basin adds anything and, indeed, is rather less attractive than the nice brick warehouses across the way. Many of the rooms have lovely canal-​side views.
All this glitz is a bit of a shock after the grime of King’s Cross, but an early indication of the gentrification already following the wake of the redevelopment of both St Pancras (now completed) and King’s Cross (still under way). Unsurprisingly, security was subtle but clearly evident on my visit.
Most of the centre is given over to offices, but the conference/​art venue includes an impressive 420 seat auditorium and a smaller venue seating 200. As well as hosting conferences, there is an active season of concerts and recitals planned, including performances of Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Haydn, among less formal performances of jazz, folk and dance.
There is also an art gallery here, and the walls of the centre itself are also used to host changing exhibitions. There’s a café, two bars (one of which is open only for concert performances) and a restaurant, all fairly swish and pricey. The café is in the main atrium, but the Rotunda Bar offers rather better views over the canal basin.
It all seemed fairly busy with lots of local workers from the nearby offices along York Way, and the odd conference going on (including the one I was attending). Conference organisation seemed OK, although with a few glitches over the audiovisual equipment. (Why is this always such a problem?)
I have to say this feels like a slightly odd location for an arts venue, and I’m surprised (though impressed) at the range and detail of the programme currently planned to run until April. It’ll be interesting to see how it develops.