Following the accolades deservedly heaped upon Shane Meadows’ last feature This Is England – not least of which was the BAFTA for Best British Film – one might have expected him to be lured by the usual promises of bigger budgets and A-list talent. But Meadows rarely operates by the dictates of orthodoxy.

Here, the director shifts his focus from the Midlands towns of his youth to fix his gaze upon London, specifically the area around St Pancras station, currently undergoing tumultuous change thanks to the arrival of the gleaming Eurostar terminal. Indeed, it was Eurostar which provided the initial funding for this film, with the intent of documenting said transformation – though it’s fair to say that Somers Town, named for the area in which it is set, probably differs from the short the company originally commissioned.

Thomas Turgoose – the teenaged fulcrum of This Is England – plays Tomo, a cocky lad who has escaped from his native Nottingham to the allegedly bright lights of London. The quiet, thoughtful Marek (Piotr Jagiello) is another newcomer to London, a bored Polish teenager who mooches about taking photographs of Somers Town as his father works on the redevelopment of St Pancras. Lacking any other company, this odd couple bond; Tomo even secretly moves into the flat Marek shares with his father. Kindred spirits, the pair soon embark upon teenage adventures: they hire out deck chairs to Marek’s odd neighbour Graham, and jointly attempt to woo Maria, who works at their local café. And when Maria returns to her native France, the boys – in the time-honoured tradition of the broken-hearted – get drunk.

Shot in crisp black and white, this is one of the most rewarding and hilarious British films of recent years. Meadows and his regular screenwriting partner Paul Fraser have crafted a charming, low-key celebration of friendship and family bonds. Scenes between Marek and his father, Marius, are by turns achingly funny and extremely poignant, and their effectiveness is a confirmation that the handling of such delicate human relationships is Meadows’ real talent.