'ackney and the East End

Thought it might be interesting to show people a little bit of the local area... (remember you can click on any of these photos to see a much larger image; just click 'back' on your browser to return to the blog). I've been looking for a good map, but it's rather difficult to find one with any level of detail, so I'm going to try to link to one. Now, I've never inserted a link into my blog before, so bear with me... *five minutes later* gah; it all goes squirrelly, so what I'll do is this - see those links over to the right? I'll put a new one in at the bottom of the list, for a map of Hackney and London Fields and the local area round about, and you can go from there, ok?

So... find London Fields (not hard; it's right in the middle), and look down at the south-western edge... you'll see the word 'DRIVE' (part of the longer 'Lansdowne Drive'), and running off at a sort of right angle is Trederwen Road... where the two meet is a little circle, representing a roundabout, and we're right there, on the green side of the street. Buses go round that roundabout all the time and if I'm in my living room it can seem like they're going to come through the window... as apparently a car DID, back in the 70's. As Bron said, when I was moving in down here; 'one more reason to have your bedroom on the OTHER side of the house' ;)

All righty then, what else is interesting...? Broadway Market is right there too; you can see how close it is... pretty much the whole of its short length is used for the market on Saturday. There are some great restaurants there - our brilliant pub (more like a tavern), The Dove, which sells the only type of beer I enjoy (Belgian fruit beers) along with a damn fine menu, ranging from ostrich burgers through Thai dishes to a pint of chips (truly! they're served in a pint glass) to sticky toffee pudding; the Argentine restaurant, Buen Ayre, with the open grill which needed special approval from the fire department (Buen Ayre will be having its first birthday next month! that's gone so fast); Mediterranean Cilicia, with the beautiful gourds hung under the ceiling, all studded with coloured beads and glowing with gentle light... it's so beautiful in there... and of course don't forget F. Cooke, Live Eel Importer, trading from the same premises for almost a hundred years, and a classic example of an East End pie and mash shop, from the menu to the wooden benches and tables and the sawdust scattered daily on the floor... We walk down Broadway Market to get to Hackney Road and Columbia Road - if you use the green arrow at the bottom of the map to scroll down you'll see Goldsmith's Row (love that name), that links the two, and you can scroll westwards a little to see the rest of that area. You cross Regent's Canal at the end of Broadway Market - if you look to the north, you can see the fully-functioning lock gate, and if you go south-ish, and follow the tow path, you come round to Victoria Park.

Then there's Hackney Central, to the north east of London Fields - I usually walk from home if I'm going over there, but if I want to catch a bus I walk out along Westgate Street to Mare Street - buses to Bethnal Green tube station go south from there, so I have to cross the road, and buses into Hackney Central or beyond to Clapton or wherever go north up Mare Street. But walking is so much nicer - I cross the park, coming out on Martello Street in the north-eastern corner, and then go along the footpaths parallel to the main road, to the library (in Reading Lane, appropriately enough), past the town hall and the 'Ackney Empire (a WONDERFUL old music hall, in the old tradition; I've only been inside it once, but it was just amazing, with boxes and velvet and ornate plasterwork over the stage and so on)

and in to the shops... the main supermarket, Tesco, is on Morning Lane (along with a GREAT noodle restaurant where I can get a huge plate of the yummiest Singapore noodles EVER, and a drink, for a fiver), and then there's Woolworths and similar in the middle there, right at Hackney Central. Where Mare Street turns white on the map it becomes a pedestrian and bus road (interesting combination, I know), with more shops (the Pound Shop! source of many bargains), and the lovely 12th century church tower, right in amongst all the buildings... there's a lovely old graveyard there too, in off the street, and when I was over there in spring there was a gorgeous cheeky squirrel who came out and posed for the camera; he was very sweet. I walk right up that part of Mare Street on my way to church... (for those interested in finishing the journey - I'm looking at you, dad - I then turn right onto Lower Clapton Road, go left when it does, and the church is right there on the corner of Lower Clapton Road and Powerscroft Road).