Area guide to Hackney Central
Twenty years after swapping Yorkshire for east London, presenter Anita Rani still loves life in this creative community
Ilive in Hackney and, to me, it’s the best borough. I’ve lived here since 2001 when I came to London from my beloved Yorkshire. I landed here because it was fun and I had friends who lived here. In 2004, I bought my first place in a little-known area called London Fields; I like that it’s creative, diverse, vibrant and really sociable. There’s a real mix of people: there are a lot of oddballs around and no one judges.
It’s really changed since I’ve lived here. London Fields has just gone insane, it’s much more affluent — there’s still a mix of communities living side by side, but younger, professional people have also moved in.
Living here I feel like I’m on holiday every day; I’m child-free and single but there’s always someone kicking about to hang out with. I like the naughtiness of east London — it’s glamorous but there’s also the dirt and the filth. I recognise I’m privileged to enjoy it. Little me can’t believe it’s my life.
EATING AND DRINKING
I love The BBE Store on Helmsley Place — it’s a record shop that also has a bar; The Dove in Broadway Market is iconic; and The Last Tuesday Society on Mare Street has a great absinthe bar. Pastries are massive in east London — it feels like there’s one artisan pastry place per two people around here — and The Snapery East on Helmsley Place does the best pastries outside of Paris.
When it comes to restaurants, Café Cecilia on Andrews Road is great. If you like steak, the butcher Hill & Szrok on Broadway Market becomes a restaurant in the evening. Dalla is a great new Italian on Morning Lane, and Hai Café on Lower Clapton Road is a family-run Vietnamese restaurant that is about the size of a living room but does great food. There’s also Elliott’s on Mare Street for anything wood-fired and, for a good curry, I go down to Shoreditch and Dishoom where I love everything on the menu.
WHERE I WORK OUT
I love exercising outdoors and running, so I run around Hackney Marshes, Regent’s Canal and Victoria Park. If you’re into yoga, there are loads of places around Hackney — from designer studios to somewhere above a community hall. I’m more of the latter and I’ll go when I get a chance, otherwise I do it at home.
TO COMMUNE WITH NATURE
I love communing with nature and talking to the trees in the parks. There’s a huge amount of green space around here with Victoria Park, Hackney Downs and London Fields. There’s also a tree outside my window and I love seeing the seasons change.
GROCERY SHOPPING
I head to Aldi on Lea Bridge Road where you can get great fruit and veg, and I shop locally at the Turkish greengrocers, too. I love Columbia Road and, after 3pm on a Sunday, they sell off bunches of flowers for £5.
CULTURE FIX
There are galleries everywhere, but locally I like the Hackney Picturehouse and also Whitechapel Gallery. Donlon Bookshop is also a real favourite.
GETTING AROUND
I walk if I’m local or Tube it to central London. I love Lime bikes; I went to see my absolute favourite musical, Standing at the Sky’s Edge, at the Gillian Lynne Theatre in the West End and I Lime-biked there in 20 minutes. Last weekend, I went to two gigs at the Barbican, and I walked there and cycled home.
DREAM STREET
Am living in it! There are plenty of dream streets around here though.
SOMETHING YOU ONLY SEE IN HACKNEY
A lot of dachshund sausage dogs. It also can be achingly stylish — you don’t see the fashion around here anywhere else in the world. The outfits are the zaniest and out there.
WHAT’S THE CATCH?
It’s expensive. I love it here but sometimes it is its own cliché.
IN THREE WORDS
Magic, naughty, creative.
Anita Rani’s show, Aldi’s Next
Big Thing, is currently on Channel 4, Tuesday nights at 8pm