The Story Garden [Natalia Roza]

A GARDEN in the heart of King’s Cross will be closing its gates for the final time later this month, marking the end of a six-year chapter for the community space.

The Story Garden hosts a range of educational activities for people of all ages, but focuses on young people, teaching them gardening and cooking skills.

The garden, which sits behind the British Library in Ossulston Street, has been run by Global Generation, an environmental education charity that has been creating green spaces with local residents for more than two decades.

But now the charity will be up and moving to a new permanent site with a 999-year lease just off York Way, after its temporary lease at the British Library has ended.

Nicole Van den Eijnde, joint-chief executive of Global Generation, said: “This particular physical space is closing but the work is continuing. Building the new site has been a really exciting process where thousands of people have already been involved.

The site offers ‘pockets of nature’ to those who don’t have gardens

“As an organisation we’re really excited to put down roots – we’ve always been local and will be working with the same community, but to grow in the ground in a new site and have a space that is officially ours is very special.”

Global Generation has a long history of turning temporary plots of land into gardens. Nearly seven years ago they were approached by the British Library to create a community garden on their land that was due to be developed in the future.

“Especially in areas like this it is so important to prioritise green space,” said Ms Van den Eijnde.

“Most of us don’t have our own gardens and there is always so much building going on in this area. Having these pockets of nature are just so important for people to have a place to go to.

“It’s nurtured for that reason – for people to connect with the plants but also with each other. There is lots of isolation where we may not speak to our neighbours or don’t have a green space. At the garden people come to be near nature but also near each other.”

Ms Van den Eijnde said: “Giving opportunities to young people to be in nature works on their connection with nature. The disconnect we have in this world from screens and technology is one of the main issues for our environmental crisis.

“When the British Library finalised its plans for its new extension, so many people spoke about the impact of the Story Garden that a community garden is now a part of their plans, so there will in the future continue to be a perma­nent community garden on this site that we will help to set up. It’s really great to see its influence in the area continue.”

The new garden will open in spring 2026 and is about a quarter of the size of the current space. It will be built with locally sourced or donated materials and include a classroom, kitchen and community plots.

A farewell fundraiser with live music from the young people involved in the garden, food and drinks was held on Tuesday. The final community day at the Story Garden will be tomorrow, Saturday 27th.