The Ride of Your Life on the DLR

We think the city has reduced our ability to find joy in simple things to instant-gratification, pop-up bars, crepes and instant sushi. This is until you board the front carriage of the Docklands Light Railway after a couple of pints.

While the Overground carves through ancient gutters across London, the 1987 DLR feels more like a cross between a rickety mineshaft railway and sci-fi moonbase. It is undulating and meandering on a raised network. Ride around the old factories of Limehouse to the plate glass and shimmering offices of the redeveloped Docklands and you will find this an experience like the front seat of the bus, times ten.

Bank to Greenwich by DLR

Are we really serious? Well- yes! While a packed and unappealing commuter route during the week, the network is very quiet at weekends. To many of us, Greenwich feels a distant suburb from the city. Canary Wharf stands like an outpost in some far reach of an Empire, just beyond the city wall. The reality, as we all know, is it lies just twenty minutes from Bank along the DLR.

Once out of the city tunnel the sight is rather unimpressive with concrete tower blocks all around. However, give it time and you will see the layers that make up a city- urban wastelands next door to luxury residences, old cranes and plate glass. To the poet, artist or flaneur, the effect is a cross-section that shows you a passing glimpse of the lives that make up the city.

In fact, the area of the Isle of Dogs is believed to demonstrate one of the country’s biggest pay gaps with major social housing developments right beside Canary Wharf.

This is a unique way to see the iconic Canary Wharf from the glass of driverless trains for the price of an Oyster ticket. On a sunny day the shimmering waters below seem to dance in the crystal chandelier of corporate skyscrapers. At the end awaits Greenwich with the Cutty Sark, Royal Maritime Museum, Royal Observatory and more.

The DLR Route

Bank- You will start underneath the city, but unlike the Underground, this circular tube is large and well lit. The glass train means you feel yourself snaking through this winding tunnel like a futuristic pilot.

Shadwell & Limehouse- Perhaps an archetypal image of redevelopment, this East-End dock has enjoyed a history from Victorian opium dens to the first case of Cholera in London before closing and benefiting from the construction of Canary Wharf.

Westferry- This isn’t very interesting.

West India Quay, Canary Wharf and Heron Quays – These are the main stops of the Canary Wharf development. This is where you can explore a labyrinth of Europe’s tallest buildings towering over the Thames.

South Quay- See the Pan Peninsular towers, residential skyscrapers with the most overpriced student-style accommodation you can imagine. 

Crossharbour- Nothing particularly exciting but nearby is the St John social housing estate that John Betjeman admired.

Mudchute- This is an entertaining stop name after the somewhat hubristic architectural sights of Corporate excess. While they cannot be seen from the train, there remain here the concrete bases of Anti-Aircraft gun batteries from the Second World War.

Island Gardens- Gardens nearby

Cutty Sark & Greenwich- The railway itself ceases to be as good viewing here. Nevertheless, the surrounding area of Greenwich has plenty to see. .

Stewart Vickers @vickhellfire

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