Latest news with #HackneyWick
Wall Street Journal
21 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Wall Street Journal
Adentures in Abundance at the V&A East Storehouse
London The Victoria and Albert Museum, known as 'the V&A,' is the world's largest museum of design, decorative and fine arts. V&A East Storehouse, which opened on May 31, is grandma's attic. The V&A is a neo-Renaissance, tile-clad Victorian pile in South Kensington. The Storehouse is an industrial box in the hipster wilds of Hackney Wick, east of the City of London, repurposed from part of the media center for the 2012 Summer Olympics. The remaking of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park as East Bank, a new cultural quarter, will include the V&A East Museum, opening in 2026.
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Hipsters and tourists love our town because it's covered in graffiti: It's making us depressed and our local businesses are broken - but the council don't care because it helps sell luxury apartments
It was once a booming industrial sector of east London surrounded by social housing estates home to humble working-class Cockney families. But Hackney Wick's decline by the late 20th century, following Britain's transition into post-industrialism after the Second World War, left the area derelict. Abandoned factories and warehouses were soon rented out to artists and small creative businesses, and made the perfect blank canvas for them to express themselves through the medium of neon spray paint. Over the years, graffiti artists have thickened the walls with their scrawlings as they battle to tag over each other. A huge regeneration project spurred on by the 2012 Olympics saw quirky bars, coffee shops and swanky high-rise apartments pop up amongst the graffiti and canals. This attracted wealthy hipsters and curious tourists who turned it into a gentrified party scene, with newcomers convinced that the street art gives the area an 'edge'. However, whilst these newbies love the gritty urban appearance, the long-term residents have found their neighbourhood's transformation 'depressing', and say an influx of hipsters who want trendy coffee shops has 'broken' local businesses. Michael who has lived in the area his entire life, said it used to be a 'brilliant' place, but has since been 'neglected' by the local council. The 82-year-old, who was walking his dog Sky around the Trowbridge Estate, told MailOnline: 'Hackney has gone way downhill, it's a s***hole. Where we live, just round from where the school is, that was once spotless. 'The graffiti and wall art is disgusting. It's the little s***s who are responsible for it.' He explained how youngsters were once fearful of the police back in the day when they would patrol the area as they knew they would 'get walloped' if they were seen misbehaving. 'These teenagers just really don't care and the parents don't care either,' he said. A few years ago some artists created 'some really nice' murals, but Michael said it was 'messed up' by others spray painting over it, adding: 'I don't mind the art, but the tagging is an absolute disgrace.' Michael proudly proclaimed: 'I was born and bred in Hackney. I'm a true Eastender, I was born within the sound of Bow Bells. 'People ask me if I am ashamed to live in Hackney, and I say what have I got to be ashamed of? I am only ashamed of the people that are moving in.' Sue Johnson, 75, said graffiti 'wasn't a thing' when she first moved into the area in the area in the 1980's. She told MailOnline: 'When I first moved here it was all tower blocks. They knocked them all down, and a bank and our little group of shops, so we had to move home. 'The buildings are just smothered in graffiti now, and if they clean it off, they will only go and do it again. It's getting worse recently. What do they get out of it? 'It's a bit depressing really. It's just a sign of the times, isn't it? It's like a lot of things nowadays. It's just very sad.' Retiree Monique Emirate called the street art 'rubbish' and also believes it's getting worse. 'They can't stop it, it's been going on for ages. I don't like it, it's messing up the whole area. It's mad people who have spoiled the beauty,' the 67-year-old said. Ms Emirate believes the council's inaction over the street art epidemic shows how little they care. 'If they were worried about it, they would do something about it,' she said, rolling her eyes. Acknowledging the 'young people' who moved in after the Olympics and regeneration, she said: 'They rent this expensive accommodation and the next thing you know, it's a mad people's area. It's too much.' In a run-down old school cafe opened on the estate in 1999, chef Yusuf Yilmaz struggled to crack a smile speaking about the fancy coffee shops who have stolen his business, as one lone customer sat in the corner sipping her coffee. The 53-year-old, who has lived there for 14 years, said: 'The Hackney area is not like before. It has changed because different kinds of people have come. 'Business is not well. The new people prefer the new trendy cafes or all the chains that have opened up. These places are selling all these different, special foods. That has broken our business.' He shared other long-time local's disdain for the graffiti, adding: 'It comes with trouble and it makes the place depressing. 'The council should do more work to clean it up. It's been a long time since I've seen any police patrolling the area as well.' Meanwhile, young professionals Bianca Cross, 27, and Olivia Daw, 30, who moved to the estate from New Zealand in April think it serves a purpose to the council. Ms Cross, who works in marketing, said: 'I feel like the council want it here because it gives it an edge and helps them sell their luxury apartments with the cool vibes.' Chiming in, Ms Daw added: 'You kind of know when you've got to a cool neighbourhood because you start seeing all the graffiti.' The women revealed how when they searched for the best pub gardens in the area on Google, they were met with pictures of the canals lined with bars and the graffiti. 'It's like actually a tourist attraction,' they said. Originally, the pair didn't want to move to Hackney Wick because it's reputation as a gentrified party area didn't align with their more 'normal' lifestyle, but the rent for their maisonette on the Trowbridge Estate was the cheapest they could find. 'It was an interesting choice for us,' Ms Cross said 'But I really like that there's a really solid community here. That's been something that we've been finding as it peeks through. 'I've been looking into the history of the area a bit and it seems like people have been pushed out by all the luxury apartments which is sad.' The trendy young professional said she 'generally likes graffiti' as it 'says a lot about a place when people feel able to express themselves'. But she admitted how she and her friend often joke about how it looks 'fabricated' and as if people are 'allowed' to do it. 'It's like they've said, "Oh, here's your little area where you can paint the walls, but not these luxury apartments, of course not!".' The duo explained how the street art they saw on a recent trip to Marseille felt like it was done by people 'trying to make a stand for something important', whereas in Hackney Wick it 'doesn't feel like that'. Ms Daw added: 'When you walk around towards the station and see the construction and graffiti, that combination just makes you feel like you're somewhere apocalyptic because it's just construction dust and writing everywhere with no nature.' A section on Hackney Council's website addressing the graffiti reads: 'We recognise that some people consider that street art makes a positive contribution to the urban environment. 'If your property has a piece of street art or a mural on it, you must contact us to let us know that you would like to keep it. 'We will remove street art or graffiti if we believe it spoils the local environment or prevents people from enjoying the area.' Considerations made when deciding whether to remove of allow it include whether it is: offensive, gang related, insulting or against public interest; likely to encourage more graffiti or tagging; inappropriate for the location or out of keeping with the surrounding area; a cause of complaints to the council; on a listed building or in a conservation area; libellous or potentially libellous; intimidating. They added: 'If you are considering commissioning a new mural or a piece of street art on your property you must contact us to check that it will not breach our graffiti policy.'
Daily Mail
21-06-2025
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE 'The life we built has been destroyed': Heartbroken family-of-five left homeless after 'stranger burnt down £64k canal boat because he wrongly believed they had torched his boat'
A devastated family-of-five fears their 'life has been destroyed' after an intruder allegedly broke into their houseboat and set it alight in what is believed to be a case of mistaken identity. For the last six years, Tess, 35, and her husband Akin, 33, have painstakingly turned their canal boat from an empty shell into a comfortable family home. They always viewed 'October' - named after the month in which their first child Asa, five, was born - as more than just a floating residence. Aside from the cosy internal living area, the 60ft boat was built to be a sustainable home, with solar power panels, a water filtration system and its very own roof garden, which was known for its lush array of tomatoes, strawberries, aubergines, cucumbers and potatoes. There were also many other reasons the boat held such a special place in their hearts - for it was here on board October that the couple's two youngest children Myra-Rae, 3 and Zephaniah, aged four months, were born. But cherished memories might be all the family have left to hold onto after their houseboat, docked in Hackney Wick, east London, was set alight by an individual unknown to the family in the early hours of Saturday, May 24. Thankfully, Tess and the children were away camping at the time, while Akin had gone out for the evening with friends. But when he returned, fire crews were already at the scene battling to put out the ferocious flames. In that moment, Akin, who works as a digital health consultant, believed it could be 'the end of everything' - and was left helplessly watching from the bridge as October was consumed by flames. Before and after: The family had lovingly restored the boat from a shell into a 'beautiful' home - but now they fear they might not be able to return A Met Police officer told the family afterwards they may have simply been unfortunate victims of 'mistaken identity' in a possible tit for tat boat-burning incident. Now effectively homeless, the family has had to resort to staying for a few days at a time with friends after Hackney Council revealed there was no emergency housing anywhere in London. As a single income family-of-five they say a mortgage is simply out of their reach, while the cost to restore the boat to its former glory could prove far too high. Adding to their woes, they bought October in 2019 as an unfitted boat for £64,000 and spent the next six years transforming it into their 'beautiful' family home. But they did not get it reassessed by their insurance before the boat was set ablaze - meaning they stand to only get a payout for its original value as an empty vessel and not what it could have been worth before the fire. Determined to help them return to the life they one knew, friends of the family have set up a GoFundMe appeal to ease their financial burden, but the couple admit the tragedy could spell the end of their canal boating days. Speaking to MailOnline, Tess explained how she and Akin first began living on canal boats nine years ago. 'The lifestyle we have enjoyed with the children has been wonderful because you can be in London, but you're also in nature. 'You've got the marshes and the ducks on the water. There's a really nice boating community and we've met many other families with young children.' But that almost idyllic existence was brought to an abrupt halt over the last Bank Holiday weekend. Recalling the events of that night, Akin said he was walking home after an evening out with friends when he could see an array of emergency lights in the distance and 'a massive deal going on'. He said: 'A fireman stopped me and said: "Well, you can't come through here." But then I told him I live on a boat, so he walked me up to the bridge, pointed and said, "Is it that boat there?" 'That's when I saw my home was on fire. There were firefighters and police cars everywhere. 'In that moment I just thought it was the end of everything. I couldn't imagine anything surviving from what I could see - not much did. 'But it was also this feeling of we built that. It's not like we rented the boat. That was everything we had built over the last almost 10 years. 'It just felt unbelievable to think everything was gone.' Among the items destroyed forever were those steeped in sentimental value, including a teddy bear their eldest, Asa, has slept with since he was a baby. Tess said: 'I lost my great-grandmother's jewellery box, which she had given to me and I was really close to her. So that was upsetting. 'There was also a quilt, which is an old family thing, and also another quilt that my mum made for my son when he was born, and lots of things like that.' Meanwhile Akin has lost many of his prized personal effects. 'I've been DJing since I was 16 to pay my way through university - now all my DJ equipment has gone and my record collection has melted,' he said. 'All my musical instruments, the piano, my guitars, they were destroyed as well. 'I enjoyed collecting sneakers since I was 20, and those have all been burnt up. 'We hardly have anything of our own anymore.' In the aftermath of the incident, the couple say returning to the fire-ravaged wreck has left them traumatised as they began to process what had happened. 'The first time I went back I was in shock. Just the devastation was incredible. 'Everything was gone, it was full of water and there was broken glass everywhere. 'I had to go in again when the insurance surveyor came and looked at it, and I found that much harder. I came out shaking that time,' said Tess. Asa added: 'I couldn't recognise my own home. Part of me thought we had been broken into and robbed, but the forensics guy started pointing out computers, phones, water bottles. I didn't recognise anything because it had all melted.' For now, the family are trying to come to terms with the loss of their home as they decide what their next steps will be. While they have been offered emergency housing, it would have meant having to move miles outside of London and away from friends, school and work. 'The first thing my three-year-old asked when I told her about the fire was "has my nursery burnt down as well?", recalled Tess. 'I couldn't take the children away from everything they know. 'They've lost their home. I can't have them lose everything else all at the same time. 'So I was desperate to keep them at their school and in the community. 'Moving away would also mean that Akin and I wouldn't have any support or help, and it just seemed completely overwhelming. 'But it's hard for us, because every week we are having to find someone else who can host us. We understand that no one can put up a family-of-five indefinitely.' Akin continued: 'The insurance money might pay for rent for two or three years, but it's not enough for a mortgage. That's the real shock of the whole thing. We don't really know how to restart. 'People have discussed rebuilding the boat, but a couple of professionals we spoke to said the interiors could be very toxic, and we're not sure we could afford to get it rebuilt and refitted. 'Our friends and the boating community have been just overwhelmingly supportive and kind. 'We're just trying to see what our way forward will be.' A 34-year-old man of no fixed address has been charged with arson with recklessness as to whether life was endangered. He is due to appear at Wood Green Crown Court next week.
Vogue
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Vogue
Even Kate Middleton Can't Resist a Chunky Chain Necklace
Everyone loves a chain necklace. From all the guys still trying to emulate Paul Mescal in Normal People to celebs like Dua Lipa and Gigi Hadid regularly stacking silver around the collarbone, the classic chain is truly eternal (I'm actually wearing one right now). Next up on the chain train? Kate Middleton, of course, who was pictured at the V&A East Storehouse wearing a chunky gold chain, a royal blue suit with power shoulders and classic stiletto pumps. I'm also very here for the mid-rise trousers and belt combo. The Princess Of Wales was in Hackney Wick—yes, Hackney Wick, the area of London where all the zine start-ups and club nights are—to take a look around the recently opened public space, in which thousands of cultural artefacts are currently being stored. By the looks of things, she enjoyed herself, as she spent quite a lot of the time smiling, laughing and shaking hands with the various officials of the Storehouse. As for the chain itself, it's a 'Portrait' necklace with a T-bar clasp from New York-based jewelry brand Laura Lombardi, which she's worn a few times since 2022. It's actually relatively affordable—it's currently available on Ssense for $105. And it's also eco-friendly, made from recycled brass and vintage dead stock materials. Quite a modern look from the princess, who has in past favored classic heirlooms over contemporary designs. With that chain, though? She looks right at home in East London.
The Sun
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Brits are being offered a chance to test their spontaneity with a FREE Ibiza holiday – but they must leave straight away
STUCK-in-their-ways Brits are being offered a chance to test their spontaneity by accepting a free holiday to Ibiza – but there's a catch. Partygoers picked at random from an event that starts in London on Thursday May 15 and finishes in Ibiza will be asked if they'd be willing to jump on a plane leaving the next day. 2 If they say yes on the night, they'll be booked on to a flight to The White Isle the day after for a trip to remember. It comes after a survey of 2,000 adults found 61% admit they struggle to be spontaneous. Yet 41% believe saying "yes" more leads to breaking free from routine and monotony while 64% think the best memories come from impromptu decisions. A spokesperson for San Miguel, which collaborated with Mixmag to create the event, trip and research, said: 'The adult population would love to live more like the Spanish, embracing spontaneity, sun and connection. 'This is our invitation to dare to do that: to break free from the everyday, say 'sí' to new adventures, and prove that a Spanish summer feeling can be found anywhere – even on a Thursday night in Hackney Wick.' Top 10 spontaneous activities Brits would try Booking a last-minute trip. Spending a day exploring a new area with no set plan. Saying yes to a social event with little notice. Going on an unplanned road trip. Changing my usual routine for a day. Making an impulse purchase for fun. Going out for a meal with no idea where I'll end up. Taking a day off just to do something spontaneous. Spontaneously visiting a friend or family member. Saying yes to an adventure even if it scares me. The study also found 62% wish they were freer and easier in their daily lives. But 47% tend to overthink decisions, while financial concerns (44%) and fear of the unknown (42%) also prevent them from being more spontaneous. For 49%, an encouraging friend or partner would help motivate them to be more impulsive, while 42% think the idea of making life more exciting would prompt them to step out their comfort zone. Booking a last-minute trip (34%), spending a day exploring a new area with no set plan (33%) and saying yes to a social event with little notice are among the spontaneous activities adults would try. But 24% of those who took part in the study by admit to feeling nervous when someone suggests doing something out of the ordinary. 2 Spending more time outdoors, especially in the evenings (41%), and taking long, leisurely lunches and siestas, are the things they would like to incorporate into their summer to make it feel more Spanish. Meanwhile, 54% claim their happiness would increase "a lot" if they approached summer in a more Spanish way. For those not going to Ibiza, the night in London will still deliver Balearic summer vibes with world-class sets from Eats Everything, Tibasko, Storm Mollison and Paige Tomlinson. A spokesperson for the beer brand added: 'Fly San Miguel isn't just a party – it's a mindset, a gateway to possibility. 'It's about saying yes to adventure, no matter where you are. 'This summer, we're bringing that Spanish feeling to every corner of the UK.'
