Hackney Central is a sub-district of Hackney in the

London Borough of Hackney The London Borough of Hackney ( ) is a London boroughs, London borough in Inner London, England. The historical and administrative heart of Hackney is Mare Street, which lies north-east of Charing Cross. The borough is named after Hackney, Lond ...

in London, England and is four miles (6.4 km) northeast of

Charing Cross Charing Cross ( ) is a junction in Westminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Since the early 19th century, Charing Cross has been the notional "centre of London" and became the point from which distances from London are measured. ...

. The Hackney Central area is focused on Mare Street and the retail areas to the north of it including Narrow Way and surrounding local area around

Hackney Downs railway station Hackney Downs is a London Overground and National Rail station in Hackney Central and serves the old common land of Hackney Downs in Lower Clapton, Hackney, Clapton in the London Borough of Hackney, it is on the Lea Valley lines and West Anglia M ...

. As such it extends north from

Regent's Canal Regent's Canal is a canal across an area just north of central London, England. It provides a link from the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal, north-west of Paddington Basin in the west, to the Limehouse Basin and the River Thames in ea ...

(with

Bethnal Green Bethnal Green is an area in London, England, and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in east London and part of the East End of London, East End. The area emerged from the small settlement which developed around the common la ...

), takes in most of Broadway Market and

London Fields London Fields is a park in Hackney, London, although the name also refers to the immediate area in Hackney surrounding it and London Fields station. It is common land adjoining the Hackney Central area of the London Borough of Hackney. The p ...

, and follows each side of Mare Street till it terminates in the vicinity of

Hackney Central railway station Hackney Central is a station on the Mildmay line of the London Overground, located in the London Borough of Hackney. It lies between and in Travelcard Zone 2. The station and the trains serving it are operated by Transport for London. The s ...

. The area also includes the central retail area which extends from Hackney Downs station in the west to Morning Lane and goes in between Wick Road (

Homerton Homerton ( ) is an area in London, England, in the London Borough of Hackney. It is bordered to the west by Hackney Central, to the north by Lower Clapton, in the east by Hackney Wick, Leyton and by South Hackney to the south. In 2019, it had ...

) and Cassland Road (

South Hackney South Hackney is an area in London, England and is located in the London Borough of Hackney. It is in East London and is about northeast of Charing Cross. The Mossbourne Victoria Park Academy on the corner of Victoria Park Road and Lammas Wal ...

) till meeting

Hackney Wick Hackney Wick is a neighbourhood in East London, England. The area forms the south-eastern part of the district of Hackney, and also of the wider London Borough of Hackney. Adjacent areas of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, namely Fish I ...

, to the east. Hackney Central is the area that once would have been known as Hackney Village. This was a place that flourished from the

Tudor period In England and Wales, the Tudor period occurred between 1485 and 1603, including the Elizabethan era during the reign of Elizabeth I (1558–1603). The Tudor period coincides with the dynasty of the House of Tudor in England, which began with ...

, when principal members of the Court had their houses in the surrounding area, and King

Henry VIII of England Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...

had a palace (located near the modern

Lea Bridge Road Lea Bridge Road is a major through route in east London, across the Lea Valley from Clapton to Whipps Cross in Leyton. It forms part of the A104 road. Places served on the road are the Lea Valley Park, Lea Bridge railway station and the ...

roundabout). Hackney Central remained a popular resort for Londoners until the end of the

Georgian era The Georgian era was a period in British history from 1714 to , named after the House of Hanover, Hanoverian kings George I of Great Britain, George I, George II of Great Britain, George II, George III and George IV. The definition of the Geor ...

, when this suburb of London began to be completely built up. Railways, trams and factories brought an end to Hackney's rural atmosphere during the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...

, and its fortunes declined. The industries of nearby Homerton and the Lee Valley have largely disappeared, leaving the

NHS The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...

and local council as the largest employers. Successive waves of immigrants, both from abroad and within the United Kingdom, make modern Hackney a culturally vibrant part of

inner London Inner London is the group of London boroughs that form the interior part of Greater London and are surrounded by Outer London. With its origins in the bills of mortality, it became fixed as an area for statistics in 1847 and was used as an area ...

, with both the benefits and challenges that this brings. Extensive post-World War II redevelopment replaced much of the housing stock, but the Georgian housing and Victorian terraces that remain have become popular again.

History

In 1727

Daniel Defoe Daniel Defoe (; born Daniel Foe; 1660 – 24 April 1731) was an English writer, merchant and spy. He is most famous for his novel ''Robinson Crusoe'', published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its number of translati ...

said of the villages of Hackney

Early origins

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

times

Ermine Street Ermine Street is a major Roman road in England that ran from London (''Londinium'') to Lincoln ('' Lindum Colonia'') and York ('' Eboracum''). The Old English name was ''Earninga Strǣt'' (1012), named after a tribe called the ''Earninga ...

passed to the west of what is now Hackney Central. The land was covered with open oak and hazel woodlands, with marshland around the rivers and streams that crossed the area. Hackney lay in the Catevallauni tribal territory. The name Hackney derives from a 5th- or 6th-century

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

settlement known as ''Haca's ey'' – or raised ground in marshland. The settlement was near

Hackney Brook The Hackney Brook is one of the subterranean rivers of London. Rising in Holloway, it crossed the northern parts of the current London boroughs of Islington and Hackney, before emptying into the River Lea at Old Ford in Tower Hamlets. Cour ...

, and was probably on the higher ground around the later St Augustine's Tower. Hackney is not mentioned by name in the

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

; at that time it formed a part of the manor of

Stepney Stepney is an area in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in the East End of London. Stepney is no longer officially defined, and is usually used to refer to a relatively small area. However, for much of its history the place name was applied to ...

Tudor village

Little remains of early Hackney, except the Tudor St Augustine's Tower, which survives as Hackney's oldest building. The churchyard, Hackney Brook, and the surrounding villages prevented Hackney's expansion, and by 1605 the village had a lower rateable value than the other divisions of the parish. In Tudor times there were a number of fine houses along Church Street, but many Tudor

courtiers A courtier () is a person who attends the royal court of a monarch or other Royal family, royalty. The earliest historical examples of courtiers were part of the retinues of rulers. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as ...

lived in nearby

. On the site of Brooke House college, in Clopton was sited one of Henry VIII's palaces, where his daughter

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religion * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Blesse ...

took the

Oath of Supremacy The Oath of Supremacy required any person taking public or church office in the Kingdom of England, or in its subordinate Kingdom of Ireland, to swear allegiance to the monarch as Supreme Governor of the Church. Failure to do so was to be trea ...

. Her guardian was Henry's Principal Secretary of State

Ralph Sadleir Ralph Sadleir (1579 – 12 February 1661) of Standon, Hertfordshire was an English landowner. He was Sheriff of Hertfordshire in 1609. He was the only son, and heir, of Sir Thomas Sadleir (c. 1536 – 1607), lord of the manor of Standon, b ...

, a resident of Bryck Place, Homerton. A further cluster of houses existed in medieval times, where Well Street enters Mare Street. The

Loddiges The Loddiges family (not uncommonly mis-spelt ''Loddige'') managed one of the most notable of the eighteenth and nineteenth century plant nurseries that traded in and introduced exotic plants, trees, shrubs, ferns, palms and orchids into European ...

family founded their extensive

plant nursery A nursery is a place where plants are plant propagation, propagated and grown to a desired size. Mostly the plants concerned are for gardening, forestry, or conservation biology, rather than agriculture. They include retail nurseries, which se ...

business on open ground to the north-east of here in the 18th century.

Georgian period

By 1724, while still consisting of a single street, there is an unbroken line of buildings, except by the churchyard and by the brook, with large gardens behind for the finer houses and inns. The 16th-century church, despite galleries being installed, became too small for the needs of the parish, and parliament was petitioned in 1790 for a modern larger church to be built. This began in 1791 on a field to the north east of the old church, but was bedeviled by builders' bankruptcies and not finally completed until 1812–1813 when the tower and porches were added. Further disaster struck in a fire of 1955. In the churchyard stands the tomb of

Francis Beaufort Sir Francis Beaufort ( ; 27 May 1774 – 17 December 1857) was an Irish hydrographer and naval officer who created the Beaufort cipher and the Beaufort scale. Early life Francis Beaufort was descended from French Protestant Hugu ...

, deviser of the

Beaufort wind force scale The Beaufort scale ( ) is an empirical measure that relates wind speed to observed conditions at sea or on land. Its full name is the Beaufort wind force scale. It was devised in 1805 by Francis Beaufort a Hydrography, hydrographer in the Roy ...

; and that of

John Hunter John Hunter may refer to: Politics *John Hunter (British politician) (1724–1802), British Member of Parliament for Leominster * John Hunter (Canadian politician) (1909–1993), Canadian Liberal MP for Parkdale, 1949–1957 *Sir John Hunter ( ...

, the second

governor of New South Wales The governor of New South Wales is the representative of the monarch, King Charles III, in the state of New South Wales. In an analogous way to the governor-general of Australia, Governor-General of Australia at the national level, the governor ...

, Australia. The Loddiges family also has a tomb in the churchyard and memorials within the church. The parish burial register records the death of "Anthony, a poore old negro, aged 105" in 1630. This is all that is known of Anthony, the first recorded black resident of Hackney. LoddigesTomb

The villages of Hackney, Lower Clapton and Homerton remained separated by fields into the 19th century. The fine houses remained, with large gardens behind. Artisans and labourers lived in cottages established in these gardens. There was not the room, or the will, for major rebuilding in the village. By 1800, St Thomas' Square, a Georgian square was laid out on the southern end of Mare Street. By the 20th century, these buildings had declined and were replaced with public housing. An early 18th-century mansion, now the ''New Landsdown Club'', but once the headquarters of

Elizabeth Fry Elizabeth Fry (née Gurney; 21 May 1780 – 12 October 1845), sometimes referred to as Betsy Fry, was an English prison reformer, social reformer, philanthropist and Quaker. Fry was a major driving force behind new legislation to improve the tr ...

's ''British Ladies' Society for Promoting the Reformation of Female Prisoners'' remains at 195 Mare Street. It is Grade II* listed, but in poor condition and on the

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

register of buildings at risk. In neighbouring Homerton, (to the east of the churchyard) Sutton Place was built by 1806, near Sutton House. The rebuilding of the Church, on a field to the north of the village, altered the course of the road and allowed the establishment of Clapton Square in 1816, in nearby

Lower Clapton Clapton is a district of east London, England, in the London Borough of Hackney. Clapton is divided into Upper Clapton, in the north, and Lower Clapton to the south. Clapton railway station lies north-east of Charing Cross. Geography and ori ...

. Much of the area to the north and east of the churchyard now forms the ''Clapton Square Conservation Area'', designated in 1969.

Victorian Hackney

During the

, many of the old buildings were swept away and the estates broken up to form streets of terraced housing. The change from rural suburb to firmly urban, was marked by the arrival of the railway in 1850, with a great iron rail bridge crossing Mare Street. Trams began to make their appearance on the streets in the 1870s, and a tram depot opened in 1882 on Bohemia Place.The North Metropolitan Tramways Co. from

Bishopsgate Bishopsgate was one of the eastern gates in London's former defensive wall. The gate's name is traditionally attributed to Earconwald, who was Bishop of London in the 7th century. It was first built in Roman times and marked the beginning o ...

ran through Mare Street, and thence to Clapton, opened in 1872, and was extended to Clapton Common in 1875, reaching

Stamford Hill Stamford Hill is an area in Inner London, England, about northeast of Charing Cross. The neighbourhood is a major component of the London Borough of Hackney, and is known for its Hasidic community, the largest concentration of orthodox Ashken ...

in 1902 Increased access and the culverting of

in 1859–1860, brought about the present road layout. Many older buildings were pulled down to intensify development and to make room for street widening and the railway. In 1802 the parish

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colony, English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spen ...

hall on the Narrow Way was rebuilt. In 1900 it was re-faced in stone and given a pediment inscribed 'Hackney Old Town Hall'. A new town hall was built on a different site in 1866; it was in turn superseded by today's

Town Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

, built in 1937. By the turn of the 20th century, only St Johns Gardens, and Clapton Square, the areas around the 1791 church, remained as public open space.

Governance

There is a Hackney Central ward electoral ward for Hackney Council, which, as electoral wards require roughly equal electorates, corresponds only very roughly to the area after which it is named.

Geography

Hackney Central is the geographic, administrative and retail core of Hackney and is based on the village that grew up within the pre-existing parish of Hackney which had been in existence, with consistent boundaries, from the medieval period. The term ''Hackney Proper'' was often applied to that wider district which also includes

West Hackney West Hackney is a former parish which was situated on the eastern side of Ermine Street, the major Roman Road better known as the A10. The place name is no longer widely used. The parish was part of the Ancient Parish and subsequent Metropolit ...

Dalston Dalston () is an area of East London, in the London Borough of Hackney. It is northeast of Charing Cross. Dalston began as a hamlet on either side of Dalston Lane, and as the area urbanised the term also came to apply to surrounding areas i ...

De Beauvoir Town De Beauvoir Town is a neighbourhood in the London Borough of Hackney, north of the City of London. It is sometimes described as a part of Dalston. The name is pronounced variously; notably () and (), with the former giving rise to its traditi ...

and Upper and

. In 1965 the term Hackney was used to name the

, however the borough also includes

Shoreditch Shoreditch is an area in London, England and is located in the London Borough of Hackney alongside neighbouring parts of Tower Hamlets, which are also perceived as part of the area due to historic ecclesiastical links. Shoreditch lies just north ...

and

Stoke Newington Stoke Newington is an area in the northwest part of the London Borough of Hackney, England. The area is northeast of Charing Cross. The Manor of Stoke Newington gave its name to Stoke Newington (parish), Stoke Newington, the ancient parish. S ...

. Hackney Town Hall is about north-east of

; and from the

GLA GLA or Gla may refer to: Entertainment * ''GLA'' (album), by Scottish alternative rock band Twin Atlantic * Great Lakes Avengers, a fictional comic hero group Organisations * Gangmasters Licensing Authority, a British regulatory body * Genera ...

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

near

Tower Bridge Tower Bridge is a Listed building#Grade I, Grade I listed combined Bascule bridge, bascule, Suspension bridge, suspension, and, until 1960, Cantilever bridge, cantilever bridge in London, built between 1886 and 1894, designed by Horace Jones ...

Landmarks

South of

Mare Street slices through Hackney's 'cultural quarter' of Town Hall Square. Its north side is dominated by

Frank Matcham Francis Matcham (22 November 1854 – 17 May 1920)Mackintosh, Iain"Matcham, Frank" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, accessed 7 July 2019 was an English architect who specialised in the design of theatres and ...

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

1901

Hackney Empire Hackney Empire is a theatre on Mare Street, in Hackney in the London Borough of Hackney. Originally designed by Frank Matcham it was built in 1901 as a music hall, and expanded in 2001. Described by ''The Guardian'' as "the most beautiful theat ...

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was most popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850, through the World War I, Great War. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as Varie ...

, on whose stage appeared

Charles Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered ...

and

Marie Lloyd Matilda Alice Victoria Wood (12 February 1870 – 7 October 1922), professionally known as Marie Lloyd (), was an English music hall singer, comedian and musical theatre actress. She was best known for her performances of songs such as "The Boy ...

– who lived in nearby Graham Road. On the west side of Town Hall Square is the 1934–1937 Grade II Hackney Town Hall in Portland Stone, fronted by an open space created when its predecessor, the Hackney Vestry Hall of 1860 was demolished. A new town hall complex is being constructed behind the existing building. Opposite on the East side, is the 2001 refurbishment of the Central Library and Methodist Hall, combined to form the Ocean Music Venue. HackneyMuseumFireEngine

The square is completed by the 2002 Learning and Technology Centre. This houses the new Hackney Central Library, the Hackney Archive, the local museum and the offices of the Hackney Learning Trust. North of the railway bridge, Mare Street continues as The Narroway (originally known as Church Street). By St Augustine's Tower, a Grade I landmark, is the 'Old Town Hall' built to serve the Parish of Hackney in 1802. It is now a betting shop. To the east are St Johns' Church Gardens. In 2009, they were awarded Heritage Green Flag status. Within the gardens stands the

Church of St John-at-Hackney St John at Hackney is a Grade II* listed Anglican Church in the heart of the London Borough of Hackney with a large capacity of around 2,000. It was built in 1792 to replace Hackney's medieval parish church, of which St Augustine's Tower re ...

(built 1792). The Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art & Natural History opened in 2015, the museum and bar is situated in a former call centre on

Mare Street Mare Street is a street in the London Borough of Hackney. It has existed since the 15th century, when it was one of the first roads at the centre of the parish. It was then known as ''Merestret''. The word ''mere'' was either the Old English ' ...

that is run by Viktor Wynd, which is a part of the Last Tuesday Society and funded by Kickstarter. Its gallery includes classic curiosities such as

hairball A hairball is a small collection of hair or fur formed in the stomach of animals, and uncommonly in humans, that is occasionally vomiting, vomited up when it becomes too big. Hairballs are primarily a tight elongated cylinder of packed fur, but ...

Sebastian Horsley Sebastian Horsley (born Marcus A. Horsley; 8 August 1962 – 17 June 2010) was an English artist and writer. Horsley's writing often revolved around his dysfunctional family, his flamboyant and eccentric behavior, his drug addictions, sex, and ...

nails from his crucifixion and drawings and archive material to do with Stephen Tennant, a collection of human remains including

shrunken head A shrunken head is a severed and specially-prepared human head with the skull removed many times smaller than its original size that is used for trophy, ritual, trade, or other purposes. Headhunting is believed to have occurred in many regi ...

s, dead babies in bottles and parts of pickled prostitutes, as well as condoms used by the

Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

and

tribal art Tribal art is the visual arts and material culture of indigenous peoples. Also known as non-Western art or ethnographic art, or, controversially, primitive art, Dutton, Denis, Tribal Art'. In Michael Kelly (editor), '' Encyclopedia of Aesthetics' ...

, in among an art collection which spans several centuries. The Ash Grove bus depot was built by

London Buses London Buses is the subsidiary of Transport for London (TfL) that manages most bus services in London, England. It was formed following the Greater London Authority Act 1999 that transferred control of London Regional Transport (LRT) bus s ...

in 1981 as part of a program to build more garages. The roof is of unusual design, carried by ten 35-ton triangular trusses supported on

reinforced concrete column A reinforced concrete column is a structural member designed to carry compressive loads, composed of concrete with an embedded steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pur ...

s, and was developed at a cost of £3.5 million. Ash Grove has also been used at various times as part of the

London Transport Museum The London Transport Museum (LTM) is a transport museum based in Covent Garden, London. The museum predominantly hosts exhibits relating to the heritage of Transport in London, London's transport, as well as conserving and explaining the histo ...

to house stored vehicles.Arriva London – News – Ash Grove garage fully operational again

Transport

Rail

The area is north-east of the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

with frequent trains from

to Liverpool Street.

is a

London Overground London Overground (also known simply as the Overground) is a Urban rail in the United Kingdom, suburban rail network serving London and its environs. Established in 2007 to take over Silverlink Metro routes, it now serves a large part of Greate ...

station with westbound trains to

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

and Clapham Junction via Dalston Junction, and eastbound trains to Stratford via

Buses

London bus routes 30, 38, 55,

106 106 may refer to: * 106 (number), the number * AD 106, a year in the 2nd century AD * 106 BC, a year in the 2nd century BC * 106 (emergency telephone number), an Australian emergency number * 106 (MBTA bus), a route of the Massachusetts Bay Transpor ...

236 __NOTOC__ Year 236 ( CCXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Verus and Africanus (or, less frequently, year 989 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 23 ...

242 Year 242 (Roman numerals, CCXLII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Gratus and Lepidus (or, less frequently, year 995 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denominatio ...

253 __NOTOC__ Year 253 ( CCLIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Volusianus and Claudius (or, less frequently, year 1006 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denominati ...

254 Year 254 ( CCLIV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Valerianus and Gallienus (or, less frequently, year 1007 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 254 for th ...

, 276, 277,

394 __NOTOC__ Year 394 (CCCXCIV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known in Western Europe as the Year of the Consulship of Flavianus without colleague (or, less frequently, year 1147 ''Ab urbe condi ...

, N38, N55, N242, N253, N277 and W15 serve Hackney Central. Route N277 also serves here when the 277 route was withdrawn between Dalston and Highbury Corner and the N277 was retained.

Economy

The Narrow Way (''Church Street'') remains a busy shopping area, and there is a large

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in the United Kingdom at its head offices in Welwyn Garden City, England. The company was founded by Jack Cohen (businessman), Sir Jack Cohen in ...

supermarket in nearby Morning Lane (''Money Lane''). This international store group was founded in Hackney, from a market stall in Well Street market in 1919. A planning application for a multi-storey shopping centre (with parking beneath, and housing above) on the Hackney Tesco site was refused permission in 2010, and the future of the site remains uncertain. A former

Burberry Burberry Group plc is a British luxury fashion house established in 1856 by Thomas Burberry and headquartered in London, England. It designs and distributes ready to wear, including trench coats, leather accessories, and footwear. It is l ...

factory building is also located off Morning Lane, with a 'factory outlet' that is considered to be Hackney's most visited tourist attraction. This site is currently being redeveloped, in two phases, that will see the retention of the showroom, but add housing above. The primary local employers are the council and the

Homerton University Hospital Homerton University Hospital is a teaching hospital in Homerton in the London Borough of Hackney. It is managed by Homerton Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. History The hospital has its origins in the Homerton Fever Hospital, which opened at ...

; there are also two London Transport garages, one at the foot of the Narroway, and another about 1 mile south at Ash Grove. Between Ash Grove and

there is a small industrial estate.

Education

Schools in the area include The Urswick School (formerly known as Hackney Free and Parochial Church of England Secondary School) and

BSix Sixth Form College BSix Sixth Form College (Now Hackney Sixth Form) : Brooke House is a sixth form college located in Upper Clapton, London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and t ...

History

Early origins

Tudor village

Georgian period

Victorian Hackney

Governance

Geography

Landmarks

Transport

Rail

Buses

Economy

Education

Notable people

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

External links