Come on down, the water's fine

Ratty might have preferred a picnic, but canalside fine dining is proving the key to success for new restaurant openings in east London today, finds Gilly Hopper

- Gilly Hopper

A RAMBLE along the towpath next to Regent’s Canal (named for the Prince Regent, son of George III) in spring or summer is delightful. Championed by architect John Nash more than 200 years ago, the Industrial Revolution’s transport network is peppered with a tempting assortment of cafés, bakeries and more today. Along this winding urban trail, nowhere is more tempting than the Hackney stretch.

For one, there’s Towpath (www.towpath london.com), set as close as you can get to the water without getting your toes wet. Its proper address is 42, De Beauvoir Crescent, N1—a site that co-founder Lori De Mori honed in on because it sat directly opposite her former flat—but you’re better off finding it by walking south from Haggerston station until you hit the canal and then walking west for about two minutes.

Back then (Towpath opened in 2010), the canal was ‘a very, very different place’, notes Laura Jackson, Ms De Mori’s business partner. ‘A bit of a no man’s land’, populated mostly by cyclists. The surrounding buildings were ‘very beautiful, old warehouses, but they were kind of crumbling’.