Hackney

Hackney is where London's creative class has planted its flag. What was once a byword for urban deprivation is now synonymous with craft coffee, independent boutiques, and Sunday mornings at Broadway Market. The transformation has been remarkable—and expensive. Victorian terraces now command seven figures, and the warehouse conversions that first attracted artists are firmly out of reach for actual artists. Yet Hackney retains an edge that Islington has long lost. You'll still find proper boozers alongside the natural wine bars, and the diversity that gentrification threatens hasn't disappeared entirely.