Most urbanist videos I've watched are cantered around areas in North America or mainland Europe so it's nice to see a creator is focusing on London. It's definitely needed. Keep up the great work 👍
This place had an incredible atmosphere when it was still artist studios in most of those sheds and warehouses. It was totally unique. Now it's all very nice but nothing special about it anymore. How many of the artists who made it interesting in the first place could have afforded to stay there?
I used to live in South Hackney just off Well Street Common (Homerton Overground) and even then, I regarded it as London's best kept secret. My walks would take me along the Hertford Union Canal and the River Lea Navigation. Like you, I'm a Northerner and near my house in Doncaster was an old industrial area which I would ride my bike around. It gave me a taste for such areas and once in Hackney, I loved the indiustrial atmosphere of the Wick, taking walks around derelict Fish Island, the scramble of waterways called the Bow Backs (in one of these lie the remains of the demolished Euston Arch) and the wasteland along the Northern Outfall Sewer (now probably fallen prey to the Olympics). I thoroughly approve of how the Council have redeveloped the Wick, all credit to them, and how they have a design handbook for all buildings, giving the area a definite personality. Well done on retaining/planting new London Planes - I believe that it is ONLY THESE which make an area so desirable. Your video is an excellent guide to the area as is (I have to put up with the background muzak!) and as an ex-resident, it makes me very happy to see this. Well done Hackney Council and well done you for such a good guide (subbed). A question: Did the Clarnico sweet factory survive? I hope so. It had the name emblazoned high up on the brickwork on the gable end and was the biggest "old factory" at the Wick.
Hackney Wick & Fish Island, East Wick + Sweetwater, Pudding Mill, and Chobham Manor all seem to be going well. Although a lot of improvements could be made such as better cycling links and there still being a lot more of the area to be filled out, the area around the Olympic park/stadium has been done quite well in my opinion
These videos are so great! I really appreciate this small-scale focus on different parts of the city, as someone into urbanism looking to move to London in the next few years. Keep them coming!
Wyke Road had a close escape, before the Olympics I carried out a feasibility design for a bus garage on the site next to the canal. TfL had lost two garages to the Olympic site (they are under what was the media centre), however in the end garage was built at West Ham.
Definitely one of my favourite parts of London, which is very cool because only 8-10 years ago there was absolutely nothing there. Hackney Wick is one of the reasons I moved nearby in east London (also the last part of London with 'affordable' housing!)
I live in Croatia, but lived in London in the late 1990’s. Coincidentally watched your upload from here in London, really liked everything about your video. Keep up the good work. Cheers Zoltan
Wow - what a transformation. I remember the area 20 years ago and it's certainly cha---cha----changed for the better!!! Thanks for this wonderful video!
It’s scary how quickly this area has changed. Like the street grids are still there but the industrial has been completely replaced by housing in places. I lived round here for a year and I was walking more regularly by the month. I’m not really into bars but there was always some sort of event I could be part of. The area is not perfect. The A12 highway provides a significant boundary to travel into the rest of Hackney and Victoria Park, and there’s not enough bridges. There’s a distinct lack of everyday shops in the area, and there’s no direct train link into the city of London, although the overground provides convenient interchange onto other lines. Parts of the area suffer from too many traffic lights aswell.
Love this, thanks for sharing. It’s interesting that you felt more compelled to walk more regularly when you were in this area - to me that’s a symptom of successful urban design so I was pleased to read that. Agree the area has some way to go until it’s truly liveable - the lack of supermarkets would put me off as well personally. It is still a very young area though so I’d expect all of this (including more bridges!!) to arrive in the coming years. Thanks for your comment!
I had a studio space in a shared industrial building for a short time in 1999. You are right about it being an industrial wasteland - it really was a dump back then! There were a lot of artists in the area back then and also a lot of small time businesses and truckers. A lot of the place seemed to be scrapyards with vicious dogs hidden behind corrugated fences. The pavements were littered with skiploads of dumped builders rubble. Most of the time the artists kept themselves locked away and most seemed to want to move on just as soon as they could. But is was cheap. Or squatted. One thing I found was that the area was quite disorientating. You'd start off walking somewhere and would easily take a wrong turn and end up going back along the same roads. I have visited the place recently, and if anything this aspect seems to have gotten worse -very easy to get completely mixed-up about what direction to head in. I don't know if anyone else had found this or if it is just me.
Nice video!! I live in Brooklyn and explored Hackney Wick last summer. It totally reminds me of areas of Brooklyn but even better since you have the canal and the truly excellent infill. I love your videos and London has so much urban development that is relevant to NY.
Love this vid. This basically sums up why I love living in Hackney Wick. I was fortunate enough to be living just opposite facing the wall of Vlad.art5 street art (the fiery girl). Thanks for making this vid.
Mate, that was wicked. Do miss the Big Smoke especially Brick Lane, Dalston, happiness forgets.......ahhh. Your video was 9 minutes of intelligent articulate bliss. Cheers geez.
It used to be cool but got taken over by rich wankers killing the area. It never really developed there is hardly anything there. Just new fan tower blocks shooting up.
Never been there, great video, beautiful architecture and more like it should be planned constructed! I only once went to the Stratford Olympic park and it felt highly disappointing, as I expected a more engaging "park" because of all the Olympics stuff, and wasn't sure if could go in to the velodrome. There wasn't even the rings left somewhere to take a picture with.
Hackney Wick station has been there since long before 2010. The Overground route from Richmond to Stratford used to be the North London Line before it was taken over by TFL.
What this guy fails to mention is that those of us who grew up in and around Hackney Wick can no longer afford to rent there let alone buy a town house.
The only thing about Hackney Wick is that it can feel a bit lacking in a mainstreet of shops or that there aren’t enough shops there in general. When passing through it can feel a tiny bit wastelandy. I know parts of it are bustling with bars but the balance still feels slightly off. But I guess this can be perceived as peaceful too. Very beautiful area and agree with everything you say otherwise! 😁
Too much focus on bars and restaurants can impede social diversity; people on low incomes, older people. Lovely architecture but a bit theme-parkey...."look everyone...we've arrived..."
Hacney Wick is like a social experiment. Noone under 18 and noone over 30. As a 69 year old, I found it slightly creepy, tbh. Lots of empty blocks of flats,a nd no sense of community. Complete absence of children - in fact, the whole area seems designed to enetrtain children in their 20s.
This might be true to the area immediately around the station, but if you go over the canal to fish island (a 5 minute walk) there are huge numbers of 40 and 50 year olds with families, with a huge range of incomes. I lived there for two years and then after I'd moved out of the area I picked up some shift work in a cafe there. Every weekend and all throughout the half terms we had large groups of primary school aged children come in with their parents after classes like dance, music and crafts held in the building next door. I'm probably assuming how much time you've spent in Hackney Wick, but I think you can't accurately get a sense of what a place is actually like (much less it's community) by just walking around for a few hours.
Nice to see an Ouseburn mention, I was just thinking how similar an area it seemed to be. Now if only Newcastle council would implement common sense guidelines on new buildings there instead of encroaching on and overpowering what made the area cool in the first place (i.e. the Malmo Quay development plans)
Totally agree and I love Ouseburn. Someone else commented that I should do a video about Ouseburn and I think it’s a really good idea. I went to uni in Newcastle so it’ll be good to return
This is great; I like that you are straight into it without an intro music or slide thing. It feels slick and edited well. Keep this up sir, good things are on your way.
Thank you! I think Berlin taught me to appreciate places like Hackney Wick more. Not everywhere has to be pristine and perfect (though Berlin has plenty of those too)
I agree with most points but the part about Queen's Yard really doesn't make sense to me. That place really feels like a car park and this makes it really unpleasant to be around. In general, the hackney wick area feels like a concrete desert, except for a few places where there are some trees and Queen's yard is the worst in this respect
I prefer Hackney Wick to other parts of Hackney like Stoke Newington and Shoreditch, and even the area around Broadway Market and Victoria Park, those areas are just too expensive and gentrified.
What do you mean by East Berlin? a) it no longer exists and b) what was East Berlin is half of an entire city and very diverse in character. I'm guessing you're thinking of Friedrichshain and specifically the area around Cassiopea?
Town houses are built narrow terraced houses, so they tend to be taller - with specific interior room placements! Kitchens always on the lowest floor and work your way up to the front/living room and then to bedrooms
How did the council manage to override developer's interests? Where i live, the industrial waterfront is about to be redeveloped - a sense of place or community is definitely NOT the priority (likely to get a massive stadium we don't need and can't afford instead - all in the middle of a housing crisis!)
Not entirely sure how, but it would’ve been the Olympic Park development corporation (LLDC), who are in charge of the urban planning neighbouring Olympic Park and have jurisdiction over this place, rather than the local council.
Councils have the ability to create master plans (sometimes known as development plans, regeneration frameworks etc) which guide development of an area. They can’t prescribe exactly what is built but they can set building shapes and locations, use class, height limits and materials to be used - among other things. Developers are more likely to get planning permission for proposals which adhere to the council master plan, so this is generally what ends up getting built. That’s not to say that developers couldn’t stray from the master plan but this approach would make it more difficult and time consuming to gain planning permission. Thanks for commenting!
No, it is not London's East Berlin. It is London's Lower Lea Valley. It has its own very specific history completely detached and different to why East Berlin exists. Such comparisons do a disservice to both. It is also not Greenpoint, Long Island City or some other random reference of a place with warehouses.
This is a really good point and I’m glad you shared it. I probably should’ve made it clearer in the video that Hackney Wick is totally unique and rooted within London. The east Berlin comparison was purely based on architecture and placemaking. Thanks for your comment
Most urbanist videos I've watched are cantered around areas in North America or mainland Europe so it's nice to see a creator is focusing on London. It's definitely needed.
Keep up the great work 👍
This place had an incredible atmosphere when it was still artist studios in most of those sheds and warehouses. It was totally unique. Now it's all very nice but nothing special about it anymore. How many of the artists who made it interesting in the first place could have afforded to stay there?
Spoiler alert: all the artists who lived there were probably nepo babies copying some aesthetic they saw on prickTok. Authenticity is dead
This is genuinely the best urban channel on youtube, not condescending or moany like a lot of other channels. Thanks!
The 'Why I like..' series on your channel is quite refreshing, keep up the work, I hope your channel gets the attention it deserves.
I love being able to run around Hackney Wick , so unique!
I used to live in South Hackney just off Well Street Common (Homerton Overground) and even then, I regarded it as London's best kept secret. My walks would take me along the Hertford Union Canal and the River Lea Navigation. Like you, I'm a Northerner and near my house in Doncaster was an old industrial area which I would ride my bike around. It gave me a taste for such areas and once in Hackney, I loved the indiustrial atmosphere of the Wick, taking walks around derelict Fish Island, the scramble of waterways called the Bow Backs (in one of these lie the remains of the demolished Euston Arch) and the wasteland along the Northern Outfall Sewer (now probably fallen prey to the Olympics). I thoroughly approve of how the Council have redeveloped the Wick, all credit to them, and how they have a design handbook for all buildings, giving the area a definite personality. Well done on retaining/planting new London Planes - I believe that it is ONLY THESE which make an area so desirable. Your video is an excellent guide to the area as is (I have to put up with the background muzak!) and as an ex-resident, it makes me very happy to see this. Well done Hackney Council and well done you for such a good guide (subbed). A question: Did the Clarnico sweet factory survive? I hope so. It had the name emblazoned high up on the brickwork on the gable end and was the biggest "old factory" at the Wick.
Hackney Wick & Fish Island, East Wick + Sweetwater, Pudding Mill, and Chobham Manor all seem to be going well. Although a lot of improvements could be made such as better cycling links and there still being a lot more of the area to be filled out, the area around the Olympic park/stadium has been done quite well in my opinion
These videos are so great! I really appreciate this small-scale focus on different parts of the city, as someone into urbanism looking to move to London in the next few years. Keep them coming!
Wyke Road had a close escape, before the Olympics I carried out a feasibility design for a bus garage on the site next to the canal. TfL had lost two garages to the Olympic site (they are under what was the media centre), however in the end garage was built at West Ham.
Definitely one of my favourite parts of London, which is very cool because only 8-10 years ago there was absolutely nothing there. Hackney Wick is one of the reasons I moved nearby in east London (also the last part of London with 'affordable' housing!)
I live in Croatia, but lived in London in the late 1990’s. Coincidentally watched your upload from here in London, really liked everything about your video. Keep up the good work. Cheers Zoltan
Wow - what a transformation. I remember the area 20 years ago and it's certainly cha---cha----changed for the better!!! Thanks for this wonderful video!
It’s scary how quickly this area has changed. Like the street grids are still there but the industrial has been completely replaced by housing in places.
I lived round here for a year and I was walking more regularly by the month. I’m not really into bars but there was always some sort of event I could be part of.
The area is not perfect. The A12 highway provides a significant boundary to travel into the rest of Hackney and Victoria Park, and there’s not enough bridges. There’s a distinct lack of everyday shops in the area, and there’s no direct train link into the city of London, although the overground provides convenient interchange onto other lines. Parts of the area suffer from too many traffic lights aswell.
Love this, thanks for sharing. It’s interesting that you felt more compelled to walk more regularly when you were in this area - to me that’s a symptom of successful urban design so I was pleased to read that.
Agree the area has some way to go until it’s truly liveable - the lack of supermarkets would put me off as well personally. It is still a very young area though so I’d expect all of this (including more bridges!!) to arrive in the coming years. Thanks for your comment!
I had a studio space in a shared industrial building for a short time in 1999. You are right about it being an industrial wasteland - it really was a dump back then! There were a lot of artists in the area back then and also a lot of small time businesses and truckers. A lot of the place seemed to be scrapyards with vicious dogs hidden behind corrugated fences. The pavements were littered with skiploads of dumped builders rubble. Most of the time the artists kept themselves locked away and most seemed to want to move on just as soon as they could. But is was cheap. Or squatted.
One thing I found was that the area was quite disorientating. You'd start off walking somewhere and would easily take a wrong turn and end up going back along the same roads. I have visited the place recently, and if anything this aspect seems to have gotten worse -very easy to get completely mixed-up about what direction to head in. I don't know if anyone else had found this or if it is just me.
Thanks for your insight into the area in the 90s that’s really interesting to read thanks
Nice video!! I live in Brooklyn and explored Hackney Wick last summer. It totally reminds me of areas of Brooklyn but even better since you have the canal and the truly excellent infill.
I love your videos and London has so much urban development that is relevant to NY.
I think some of the developer companies are American
Love this vid. This basically sums up why I love living in Hackney Wick. I was fortunate enough to be living just opposite facing the wall of Vlad.art5 street art (the fiery girl). Thanks for making this vid.
Mate, that was wicked. Do miss the Big Smoke especially Brick Lane, Dalston, happiness forgets.......ahhh. Your video was 9 minutes of intelligent articulate bliss. Cheers geez.
I saw you briefly mentioned the Ouseburn in Newcastle, would love a video on the regeneration there!
Great video! I spend most of my free time in Hackney Wick and glad to see it’s getting some Kudos.
fantastic video. love it. more of this
It used to be cool but got taken over by rich wankers killing the area. It never really developed there is hardly anything there. Just new fan tower blocks shooting up.
Never been there, great video, beautiful architecture and more like it should be planned constructed! I only once went to the Stratford Olympic park and it felt highly disappointing, as I expected a more engaging "park" because of all the Olympics stuff, and wasn't sure if could go in to the velodrome. There wasn't even the rings left somewhere to take a picture with.
Great video once again! I love Hackney Wick, it's such a nice place to walk around and to go for drinks. And Queen's Yard Summer Party is amazing
Good interesting video.
Audio finally fixed, we're so back.
Hackney Wick station has been there since long before 2010. The Overground route from Richmond to Stratford used to be the North London Line before it was taken over by TFL.
Yeah it open in 1980ish, the North London Line was pretty rubbish, but at least you never had to pay.
Good point, I probably should’ve made this clearer in the video.
Really great video. Thank you
Shhh don’t tell everyone, we’ve been enjoying it before it fully turns into Shoreditch 😅
Is something nobody said 15 years ago. A green bridge to link Victoria Park to Hackney Wick, across the Blackwall tunnel approach would be great.
What this guy fails to mention is that those of us who grew up in and around Hackney Wick can no longer afford to rent there let alone buy a town house.
20 years ago, yes
great video!!
Great!
The only thing about Hackney Wick is that it can feel a bit lacking in a mainstreet of shops or that there aren’t enough shops there in general. When passing through it can feel a tiny bit wastelandy. I know parts of it are bustling with bars but the balance still feels slightly off. But I guess this can be perceived as peaceful too. Very beautiful area and agree with everything you say otherwise! 😁
Too much focus on bars and restaurants can impede social diversity; people on low incomes, older people. Lovely architecture but a bit theme-parkey...."look everyone...we've arrived..."
Hacney Wick is like a social experiment. Noone under 18 and noone over 30. As a 69 year old, I found it slightly creepy, tbh. Lots of empty blocks of flats,a nd no sense of community. Complete absence of children - in fact, the whole area seems designed to enetrtain children in their 20s.
This might be true to the area immediately around the station, but if you go over the canal to fish island (a 5 minute walk) there are huge numbers of 40 and 50 year olds with families, with a huge range of incomes. I lived there for two years and then after I'd moved out of the area I picked up some shift work in a cafe there. Every weekend and all throughout the half terms we had large groups of primary school aged children come in with their parents after classes like dance, music and crafts held in the building next door. I'm probably assuming how much time you've spent in Hackney Wick, but I think you can't accurately get a sense of what a place is actually like (much less it's community) by just walking around for a few hours.
Nice to see an Ouseburn mention, I was just thinking how similar an area it seemed to be. Now if only Newcastle council would implement common sense guidelines on new buildings there instead of encroaching on and overpowering what made the area cool in the first place (i.e. the Malmo Quay development plans)
Totally agree and I love Ouseburn. Someone else commented that I should do a video about Ouseburn and I think it’s a really good idea. I went to uni in Newcastle so it’ll be good to return
This is great; I like that you are straight into it without an intro music or slide thing. It feels slick and edited well. Keep this up sir, good things are on your way.
Don’t tell people about Hackney Wick!! It’s still a bit of a well kept secret (in a good way).
oh yeh number 1 baby
great videos btw dude
Unfortunately East Berlin has no longer this charme, so I am thrilled to see such beautiful places still exist in London! Superb video!
Thank you! I think Berlin taught me to appreciate places like Hackney Wick more. Not everywhere has to be pristine and perfect (though Berlin has plenty of those too)
I agree with most points but the part about Queen's Yard really doesn't make sense to me. That place really feels like a car park and this makes it really unpleasant to be around. In general, the hackney wick area feels like a concrete desert, except for a few places where there are some trees and Queen's yard is the worst in this respect
This is not hackney and these ppl are not from here at all. Just remember that when u get robbed 😂
I prefer Hackney Wick to other parts of Hackney like Stoke Newington and Shoreditch, and even the area around Broadway Market and Victoria Park, those areas are just too expensive and gentrified.
What East Berlin ? It is as big as Hackney, Stratford, Islington and Whitechapel and Shadwell....
Shame it only has the Overground, London needs more tube lines
I can’t see what’s special about the new developments. They look exactly like any other new build across London
What do you mean by East Berlin? a) it no longer exists and b) what was East Berlin is half of an entire city and very diverse in character. I'm guessing you're thinking of Friedrichshain and specifically the area around Cassiopea?
No he means Hellersdorf clearly........ What an unnessecary comment
East Berlin was influenced by Hackney Wick
I love an overpriced pint and pizza on the wick
Breaking news. Hipster likes Hackney Wick.
Its not what it used to be
isn't "townhouse" just an american term for terraced house?
Town houses are built narrow terraced houses, so they tend to be taller - with specific interior room placements! Kitchens always on the lowest floor and work your way up to the front/living room and then to bedrooms
How did the council manage to override developer's interests? Where i live, the industrial waterfront is about to be redeveloped - a sense of place or community is definitely NOT the priority (likely to get a massive stadium we don't need and can't afford instead - all in the middle of a housing crisis!)
Not entirely sure how, but it would’ve been the Olympic Park development corporation (LLDC), who are in charge of the urban planning neighbouring Olympic Park and have jurisdiction over this place, rather than the local council.
Not sure if it was Hackney Council or the LLDC, but Hackney had some very clever, very motivated councillors at the time.
@@RS-pb2se nope the development and planning is entirely in tower Hamlets control
Councils have the ability to create master plans (sometimes known as development plans, regeneration frameworks etc) which guide development of an area. They can’t prescribe exactly what is built but they can set building shapes and locations, use class, height limits and materials to be used - among other things. Developers are more likely to get planning permission for proposals which adhere to the council master plan, so this is generally what ends up getting built. That’s not to say that developers couldn’t stray from the master plan but this approach would make it more difficult and time consuming to gain planning permission. Thanks for commenting!
Arthur Atkinson from Hackney Wick🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉Herman the German from Hackney Wick🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉the fast show🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
No, it is not London's East Berlin. It is London's Lower Lea Valley. It has its own very specific history completely detached and different to why East Berlin exists. Such comparisons do a disservice to both. It is also not Greenpoint, Long Island City or some other random reference of a place with warehouses.
This is a really good point and I’m glad you shared it. I probably should’ve made it clearer in the video that Hackney Wick is totally unique and rooted within London. The east Berlin comparison was purely based on architecture and placemaking. Thanks for your comment
@@CityEd.I thought the comparison was valid even though their origins are different they feel very similar.
Is it because it’s mostly white
No, it's not! If you actually go there. Live there
it was cool 6 years ago