In The Know

Impress clients in King’s Cross, London’s newest hub for business and culture.

- Harriet Baskas

NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS — or doesn’t happen — with Brexit and the United Kingdom’s efforts to leave the European Union, London remains a vital center of culture and finance.

As proof, head for the north-central London neighborhood of King’s Cross, dubbed the “Knowledge Quarter.” A decade or so back, this area, anchored by the King’s Cross and St. Pancras railway stations, was gritty and rough. Now, though, it stands out as one of the city’s most vibrant hubs for business and leisure, thanks to ongoing major redevelopment efforts and the undeterred influx of high-tech companies.

Well-funded, up-and-coming startups as well as tech giants such as Google and Facebook are planting roots and establishing major outposts in the King’s Cross neighborhood. Biomedical and scientific organizations flock here as well. The Francis Crick Institute makes its home here, with a café, exhibition gallery and events open to the public. Also in the neighborhood: the Alan Turing Institute, named for the British mathematician and computer pioneer, and the Wellcome Collection, a free medical and science museum that identifies with an “incurably curious” audience and offers a café, gift shop, library and the Wellcome Kitchen restaurant.