Hidden Hackney -A walk through Hipster Central
Rated 3.67 out of 5 based on 3 customer ratings
(3 customer reviews)
Bethnal Green Tube, Museum of Childhood exit
Guided by Steve F.
Walk Times
| Day | Walk Type | Start Time | End Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 May 2022 | Tour du Jour | 10.45 am | 12.45 pm | Summer |
What has become Hipster Central due to its `relatively’ affordable property and decent housing stock is also one of the most ethnically diverse boroughs in London. In Hackney some 80% of school children hail from non-British backgrounds and speak 90 different languages.
But it certainly wasn’t born yesterday… Its name is Anglo-Saxon, and its oldest structure is a tower from the early 16th century.
Along with big ticket sights like the V&A Museum of Childhood and Sutton House, built by a courtier of Henry VIII in 1535, Blue Badge Tourist Guide Steve Fallon will show you the Underground station that saw the worst British civilian disaster of WWII; the residence of Danny `the Jew’ Mendoza, 18th century developer of `scientific boxing’ and nearby York Hall, Britain’s boxing mecca; buzzy Broadway Market and leafy London Fields; the restored Hackney Empire music hall famous for its Christmas pantos;
Hackney Walk with some high-end (e.g. Burberry, Nike) outlet shops; and Victor Wynd’s creepy `Museum of Curiosities (and cocktail bar) with its shrunken heads, a key to the Garden of Eden, dodo bones, celebrity excrement and lots, lots more.
And a canal runs through it … All the while we’ll be either crossing or just within sight of the Regent’s Canal.
Jackiy –
Thanks very much Steve. I really need enjoyed the tour !
Highly recommended
Roberta Fanari –
Hidden Hackney Tour – Not to be missed
Review of Steve’s London Private Tours
Reviewed 16 August 2021
Hidden Hackney Tour is a really nice way to get to learn about this London borough.
The tours are run “sunshine or Rain” and this is precisely what happened.
During our tour it was storming, a rainy day more like Mumbai in the monsoon season than London. Mr.Steve was anyhow there and very enthusiastic to proceed despite the weather. I’m really happy we have not cancelled the tour, as we were tempted to do by the rain, because we get lost on the stories and Steve’s enthusiasm that somehow we forgot the rain.
The information provided was accurate and entertaining.
If you are a history, architecture and Food Lover, is a MUST GO!
Date of experience: August 2021
Steve Fallon –
I am sorry to read that my Hidden Hackney walk on Saturday 18 September did not meet your expectations.
As always I started this walk with the following proviso: `They say that there are two kinds of history – big history and little history. The first takes place in Westminster, St James’s and even Bloomsbury. It involves the monarchy, politicians, literary greats, famous generals. Little history takes place in neighborhoods like Hackney. It tells of the waves of immigration, of hard work, of bravery and philanthropy.’
So, I am very disappointed you didn’t find my stories about the people and events that made Hackney what it is today interesting or enlightening: Daniel Mendoza, the Jewish barrow boy who became an 18th-century boxing cult figure; the Bethnal Green Underground Station WWII tragedy when 173 were crushed to death (and the protracted struggle to erect a monument in their honour); 16-year-old Joseph Malin and the birth of fish and chips on Old Ford Road in 1860; the generosity of George Peabody and the social housing he built for the `deserving poor’; the true characters behind Sutton House, East London’s second-oldest building, etc.
When you asked me if we were to visit the `Hindu temple in Bethnal Green’, I was confused. While there is a temple and mediation centre in De Beauvoir Town called Shirdi Sai Baba, the only temple of some architectural significance is the Pragati Sangha Temple close to where I live in Mile End in Tower Hamlets. I told you it was very much off the track for a Hidden Hackney walk but gave you directions on how to find it. In case you’ve misplaced them, there they are again:
Hindu Pragati Sangha Temple
33 Rhondda Grove
London E3 5AP
Steve Fallon
Sandi –
This one of the most disappointing tours I have taken with London Walks (and I have been walking with them for the past 15 years…). Although the guide, Steve, was nice and enthusiastic about the walk, there were very few significant milestones, and very little in the way of unique or interesting stories behind the scenes, which is what makes London Walks so unique. Although, the tour plan does not include the Hindu Temple, I fail to see how a planned walk in the area would exclude the most significant building in Bethnal Green: the Hindu Temple.
There are far more interesting and educational walks with London Walks, this one is not up to scratch.