The new-look for Oriel Place is celebrated on Monday

ORIEL Place could be the new place to meet in Hampstead as it reopened after a year of work.

Neighbours, councillors and the architect behind the work gathered next to the newly repaved space just off Hampstead High Street to formally reopen it.

The centrepiece is a 30ft London plane tree, and benches are set to be added to it in the coming months. Shrubs already surround it, with seasonal flowers and plants set to join them.

Janine Griffis, who was the head of the Hampstead Neighbourhood Forum when the plan was given the go-ahead, said: “Some people who walked by on Saturday said ‘hasn’t it always been like this?’, and that’s the sign of a good architect. It’s a sustainable, welcoming public space. For me, Hampstead has grown a heart. They’ll say, not ‘I’ll meet you at the tube’, they’ll say ‘I’ll meet you at Oriel Place’.”

Aymara Lamche-Brennan from nearby firm Charlton Brown, who drew up the plans, said: “We wanted to create somewhere nice that people can sit in on their lunch break and visit.”