Cross Way and Arbor

Walk into Cross Way and Arbor expecting corporate art wallpaper, and you'll be pleasantly wrong. This gallery space sits within Canary Wharf's sprawling public art programme, and it's one of the better reasons to venture into that glass-tower neighbourhood beyond the tube station.

The work here shifts regularly, but the space itself rewards a proper look. You're in a proper contemporary setting - think white walls, natural light, room to breathe around the pieces. It's the kind of place where a painting or installation can actually land, rather than compete with the architecture around it.

Who gets the most from it? Art types, obviously. Anyone on a lunch break from the financial district. Families with teenagers who won't complain the whole time. What won't work here is a quick five-minute pop-in. Give it at least thirty minutes to let your eyes adjust and actually see what's on.

The main thing to know: admission's free, which means there's zero excuse not to go if you're nearby. Check what's showing before you visit though, as the quality varies. Some exhibitions sing; others feel like they're filling the walls.

If you're based at Abbey Wood Experience Freedom Glamping six miles away, this makes a decent Thursday afternoon outing. Combine it with a walk around the docks themselves - the water and the older warehouse conversions offer visual relief from all the contemporary glass. Canary Wharf's become less of a concrete desert and more of an actual place to wander, which is something.