Hackney has fast become and very popular part of East London with lively bars, designer shops and fantastic green space which is loved by young families and young City professionals. A dynamic and diverse community, its popularity has been increasing for years.

But step away from busy Narrow Way, the retail heartland of Hackney Central, part of Mare Street, and you enter a peaceful world of church towers and tombstones, hardly changed since the 18th century.

New flats rub up against Tudor mansions. Sutton House in Homerton High Street is a National Trust-owned Tudor house.

The cultural quarter in Mare Street has a civic square; the town hall; the Hackney Empire one of London’s finest Edwardian theatres plus a modern library and a Picture house cinema. Then, tucked away down the quiet backwater that is Wilton Way, cafés and restaurants have sprung up in a row of formerly disused shops.

Morning Lane is home to designer shops.

At nearby Bohemia Place, local breweries in the railway arches have helped to turn it into Hackney Central’s top outdoor entertainment space, with a weekly market showcasing London’s best vegan food stalls.

The property scene

Georgian houses are to be found in Sutton Place and Clapton Square, with early Victorian flat-fronted three- and four-bedroom houses in London Fields and some fine semi-detached villas in Albion Square.

There are larger later-Victorian houses in Victoria Park Village, in the roads off Lauriston Road, most of which are divided into flats.

In Hackney Central itself there are warehouse conversions and modern flats. The area also has many estates of social housing.

Lifestyle

London Fields locals gather every Saturday at Broadway Market.

Eating out is interesting in Hackney: Hill & Szrok in Broadway Market is a butcher during the day, a restaurant at night; Nest in Morning Lane is a restaurant that only uses the meat of one animal at a time. Peg in Morning Lane, Bright in Westgate Street and P Franco in Lower Clapton Road are three wine bars/small plates restaurants run by the same team.

Central Hackney’s nightlife is jumping down Bohemia Place, a wide alleyway lined with railway arches, where the artisan breweries, Brew Club, Hackney Church Brew Co, Verdant Brewing Co and Deviant & Dandy Brewery, with their taprooms, have spawned the likes of Night Tales, which combines street food and club nights.

Open space

Victoria Park is on the doorstep for residents and is one of London’s most popular parks and London Fields is a smaller park which still proves popular for locals.

Schools

Primary schools include Orchard, Lauriston, St John & St James, Morningside and London Fields and comprehensive includes Clapton Girls, Mossbourne and The City Academy.

Travel

Hackney Central and Homerton stations are on the Overground network and all stations are in Zone 2.

Commuter buses run along Mare Street or Graham Road. The No 30 goes to Marble Arch; No 38 to Victoria; No 48 to London Bridge; No 55 to Oxford Circus; No 106 to Whitechapel; numbers 242 and 254 to Aldgate and No 277 to Crossharbour, Isle of Dogs.

Postcode

Hackney falls under the E9 postcode and the local borough is Tower Hamlets.