Camden News: Canopy | Kentish Town Tube Station | Town Hall

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Camden News - by SIMON WROE
Published: 22 May 2008

Street policy team leader John Futcher, left, and Kentish Town street policy project manager Tom Allen at the redeveloped canopy

Canopy is for sober reflection

A CANOPY which shelters a notorious spot for street drinkers has been included in a £4 million makeover.
The shelter, next to Kentish Town Tube station, has a reputation for attracting day-time drunks, but Town Hall officials insist the money has not been spent just to make their lives easier.
Instead, officials say the canopy, which has been sandblasted and given new panes of glass, will become the “gateway to the community”.
Street drinkers will be deterred by new sparse, individual seating that have replaced benches.
Street policy chiefs hope to leave no paving stone unturned, no historic building unlit and no resident unhappy – or unconsulted – by the time improvements to Kentish Town Road are completed in 2010.
Since work began in 2005, Camden Council and Transport for London have widened and replaced pavements, installed “green man” crossings at every junction, replaced street lighting and re-designed Camden Gardens, a historic haunt of drug dealers.
A fountain by the canopy will be given a more prominent spot, power points will be put in for a flower stall and a coffee kiosk, and night-time access to Kentish Town Thameslink is being discussed.
Conservative environment chief councillor Mike Greene said: “We have listened to the needs of those who live and work in the area.”

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