You know your borough's got rizz when it announces it's hosting a full-blown dive bar festival. So, naturally, Hackney's only just gone and done just that.
Hackney Altfest — described as 'London’s first dive bar festival' — will take over Mare Street, Morning Lane and Lower Clapton Road from Monday 4 May-Sunday 10 May 2026, celebrating the neighbourhood's glut of alternative venues — known for their underground music, alt decor and value drinks deals.
Here are a few things going down on the Dive Bar Mile that week:
🥃 Trippy Tuesdays: Absinthe Drink + Draw @ The Absinthe Parlour (5 May): Sip on the green fairy while sketching surreal still lifes with a guiding hand from Devil’s Botany. Tickets
🥃 £4 Pints All Night @ Blondies (6 May): Which beers are a fiver, we're unsure of, but Blondie's do brew their own, so it might well be a notch or two above a Pabst Blue Ribbon. And even if it is a Pabst, colour us interested. Free entry, just show up.
🥃 Free tacos @ Easy 8 (7 May): At least they're free for the first 50 festival card stamps when a drink is bought at 'Mare Street's Original Dive Bar'. They definitely have Pabst here, btw. Just show up.
🥃 Zebulon + Outback, followed by metal DJs @ Helgi's (8 May): Hailing from heavy metal-obsessed Norway, Zebulon headline this decibel-raising night of live sounds, with a DJ chaser running till the small hours. Tickets
🥃 Heavy metal pub quiz @ Saint Monday Brewery (10 May): Know your Zebulon from your Outback? Then this pub quiz is probably for you — and even if it's not, we can vouch for the top-notch beers/vegan food at this London Fields brewery. Free, just show up.
Of course, if you can't make it to Hackney this particular week, the dive bars aren't going anywhere — and you can soak up their value beers/deafening music/exquisite dankness some other time.
Hackney Altfest, 4-10 May 2026, across Hackney.
