Now that’s a title that pretty much sums everything up, don’t you think? We’ll be hearing about Hackney rebels, reformers and revolutionaries on this tour as we discover the stories and social history that Clapton is steeped in. More steeped than a We Are Nana all-the-tea-you-can-drink-for-£1 teabag even. And that’s saying something. So, kick off…
Author: Simon Cole
Special Mary Wollstonecraft Fundraising International Women’s Day Walk – Sat 9th March
To celebrate International Women’s Day on Fri 8th March, we’re running our Feminist (Or Is It?) walk in reverse on Sat 9th. This time we’ll START at the place of Mary Wollstonecraft’s radicalisation, the Unitarian Chapel at Newington Green (10-15 mins walk from either Dalston Kingsland or Dalston Junction). We’ll get a short talk and…
Grans Doing Grand: Clapton’s New Community Cafe
Hackney Tours is excited to announce the first Clapton history walk (10.30am Fri 15th Feb) leaving/returning from/to We Are Nana. See below for details of this great new intergenerational initiative here: “I met these people who were 80 or older and still smashing it every day!” says Katie Harris, founder of a new Clapton community…
Gentrification: Is Our Art & Coffee Costing The Neighbourhood?
“It is at best a misunderstanding, and at worst a harmful lie, to portray the cultural sector as an ally of low-income groups. Campaigners against gentrification should resist every art gallery, craft workshop, or new media centre. The first art gallery in a working-class neighbourhood is a sure sign, that gentrification is imminent. “Keep them…
Hackney-Themed Christmas Presents
Want to shop local and support businesses and artists? From books to prints, tours to training – here are 10 Christmas presents for the Hackney person in your life: 1) Everyone loves a good book, especially when it’s about their own backyard
Under a Crane at the Hackney Wall
The first Hackney Wall project of 2012 (see elsewhere on this website) conflated the Olympic perimeter fence with the Berlin Wall. In the former East Germany they decided the first wall wasn’t big enough, so they built a second and larger one and carried on until they had what was very likely the most fortified…
Good Gym: Extreme Shovel Action In Stoke Newington
Hackney is a hotbed of history and October’s first trot for the Good Gym community volunteer crew took 15 keen runners to a corner of Stoke Newington that has seen plenty of action even before we arrived. On our 7.2km round trip we ran up from the usual Arch Gallery start – via Regent’s Canal,…
The Hackney Wall: Debut Show at Hackney Wicked 2012
Fittingly on the weekend of Open House, Sat & Sun in London also sees the return of the annual ‘Open Studios’ art bonanza that is Hackney Wicked. And we’re in it! Whether you’re an art aficionado, an architectural adventurer or just plain nosey, come see some contemporary art
Hackney Tours Berlin Wall Run in Hackney Gazette
Hackney Gazette covered our Wall run last week in Berlin. It was partly about Berlin and the old German Democratic Republic, but it was also about Hackney. In 2009 Hackney Tours ran the former Iron Curtain with a team of ‘East’ and ‘West’ Germans to celebrate 20 years since the Wall fell (see Running the…
Talking Gentrification at Germany’s Documenta Art Fair
Documenta is Germany’s 5-yearly art fair in the relatively quiet city of Kassel. Almost completely destroyed by British bombers in WW2, the new city has been hosting this massive event since 1955 as part of a ‘fresh start’ for a then new Federal Republic of Germany. Along with academic Sarah Scarsbrook, Hackney Tours was invited…
Hackney Tours Running Tour on BBC Radio Scotland’s MacAulay & Co
Yesterday we had the pleasure of taking Lesley Kay from BBC Radio Scotland’s MacAulay & Co on the running version of our popular alternative Olympic walking tour around Hackney Wick. And what fun it was too. “How fast do you run?” she asked. “As fast as you want, it’s your tour,” was the answer, of…
Sounds of Hackney Summer
You want to hear the sounds of Hackney? Are you expecting the police cars up and down Kingsland Road making Ridley Road afternoon shoppers strain even harder to be heard? Are you expecting
Hackney Tours: East LDN Creative Exploration 