Hackney

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Leona Comes Home

Consider us excited. Global superstar and most importantly Hackney resident Leona Lewis has finally released details of her first ever proper concert. It would be easy for her to fill The O2, stack up a couple of nights at Wembley Arena or even worse exclusively …

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London Blend: Taste Of Bitter Love

Our continuing, caffeine-fuelled quest to explore the finer coffee shops in London. Packed into a challengingly small space on Hackney Road, Taste Of Bitter Love may share a name with a lachrymose song by Gladys Knight and the Pips, but the experience is anything but …

Francesca in action

Interview: Francesca Panetta Of The Hackney Podcast

Francesca in action Once a month, the Hackney Podcast dips into the arts, culture and politics of the borough. The mix is as diverse as the population, with recent features on the Olympics, the Hackney breakfast, and a particularly poetic episode on the area’s watery …

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Hackney Empire To Close

Financial difficulties will force the Hackney Empire to close down for nine months in the new year, sacking the majority of their workforce in the process. The Empire, a former music hall turned TV studio and bingo hall that reopened as a theatre in 2004 …

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Interview: Hackney Transient Arts Project

Hackney Transient Arts Project is a research-based arts initiative that investigates Hackney’s cultural identity. Their recent in/flux exhibition on Kingsland Road was the brainchild of Lucy Tomlins and Marnie Baumer, and curated by Marsha Bradfield and Miriam King. It took inspiration from Hackney as a …

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Film Preview: Secret Cinema In London Fields On Sunday

It’s time again for Secret Cinema. We’ve been here before, so you know the drill: a secret film to be screened at an unusual location, with the picture you’re about to watch only emerging as the opening credits roll. The organisers are currently erecting an …

Image of graffiti, definitely not art by lindseymclarke

Locals Lament Loss Of Graffiti

Image of graffiti, definitely not art by lindseymclarke We are pleased to announce that the world has officially gone mad: local residents in Stoke Newington are upset that graffiti has been painted over in what they call an act of vandalism. But then again, we’re …

Image by SallyB

Squatters Praised By De Beauvoir Locals

Image by SallyB We’ve reported on, photographed and interviewed squatters previously and always like to bring the other side to the story, doing what we can to dispel the myths of grotty, grubby, nefarious, squalid squatters coming into your area, taking all your skips etc …

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World’s Oldest Man To Get Hackney Street Named After Him

Henry Allingham, who died in July, is to be immortalised on the streets of Hackney. The war veteran briefly became the world’s oldest man in June this year, reaching the annuated milestone of 113. Hackney Council have approved a motion by Cllr Michael Desmond to …

20-21 Hoxton Square by DOS Architects

“Black Cube” Approved For Hoxton Square

20-21 Hoxton Square by DOS Architects After a long planning process, Hackney borough has given the nod to a new gallery on Hoxton Square, an area renowned for its lack of artistic space. The proposed unit has three levels of apartments, with the gallery located …

Wild rose Dean Nicholas

Nature-ist: Abney Park Cemetery

The first aboretum to be combined with a cemetery in Europe.