A guide to Hackney and the surrounding area
After a period of intense regeneration, the London Borough of Hackney is now one of 21st century London's most exciting areas.
With a blossoming arts scene, improved transport network, Green Flag parks, world-renowned clubs and bars and thriving farmers’ markets, Hackney has become an area with huge appeal to a large cross-section of Londoners.
Investment from government and the private sector has brought fresh life to the borough and with it an influx of new residents who are helping to shape it into the most vibrant and multicultural in London. It is home to a wonderful mix of architecture, with large pockets of Georgian and Victorian housing now providing elegant family accommodation and the borders of the Regent’s canal providing scope for fabulous new apartment blocks. The area around London Fields and Broadway Market is a favourite for artists and foodies, whilst footie fanatics head to Hackney Marshes, which has the largest collection of football pitches in Europe.
The 2012 Olympics is set to bring further improvements to the area, creating more jobs, housing and transport links (Dalston is planned to be on the tube by 2010). Education is also on the up: two of London's most successful City Academies are in Hackney and there are plans to rebuild or renovate every other Hackney school by 2016.
Location
Hackney is located in the northwest of London and has the direct neighbours of the City, Islington, Haringey, Waltham Forest, Newham and Tower Hamlets.
Hackney is just under a mile north of the River Thames and is extremely well situated for working in the City. Frequent trains run from the overland train stations at Hackney Central, Hackney Downs and London Fields, and buses run day and night to the City and West End. Many City workers who live in the area around Dalston walk to work. Of huge significance for the borough is the extension of the East London Line through Hackney to connect with the tube network, with stations at Shoreditch High Street, Hoxton, Haggerston and Dalston Junction set for 2010 and a further link to Canonbury and Highbury and Islington set for 2011/12.
Mare Street is at the heart of thriving Hackney, and runs south past the 1920s Hackney Town Hall to Bethnal Green and Whitechapel. The area boasts excellent Vietnamese restaurants, the infamous Bethnal Green Working Men's Club and the gloriously restored Hackney Empire Theatre - one of the best community theatres in London.
The main streets and buildings include Mare Street, Amhurst Road, Dalston Lane, Graham Road, Richmond Road, Queensbridge Road, Hackney Empire Theatre, Hackney Museum, Rio Cinema, Lux Cinema, Sutton House, the White Cube gallery. Nearby areas include Highbury, Stratford, Finsbury, Shoreditch, Victoria Park, Bow, Stoke Newington.
