ImagesBrighton pictures of the week 17-5-2004

IMAGESBRIGHTON photography by david gray
	S O U T H H A C K N E Y I N M A Y 2 0 0 4
	P I C T U R E S O F T H E W E E K 1 7 - 5 - 2 0 0 4

The London Borough of Hackney is not one of the tourist hotspots of the capital. It suffers as badly from poverty as any depressed northern town and has a contemporary reputation for crime, drugs and general inner-city mayhem. Just north from the riches of the City of London and east of gentrified Islington, Hackney's isolation is not helped by its being the only inner-London borough without an underground station. This is an area with more than its fair share of problems. It is also, however, fuller of life and variety than a dozen provincial towns. The population of 201,000 residents is officially 40% non-white and, given its transient nature, probably now contains a majority of migrants from every corner of the world. The Hoxton district has undergone what might be called "artification" and is full of trendy galleries, bars and graffiti. There is a fine, if patchy, heritage of 19th century and earlier housing and public buildings. Green spaces include London Fields, Hackney Marshes and (with Tower Hamlets) Victoria Park. If you are young, energetic and in reasonably paid work, Hackney must be a very rewarding place to live. The pictures in this set come from the southern part of the borough, including Hoxton, Dalston and London Fields.

A grim council poster about rent payments on the north side of City Road (image 2512-14)

next picture