Dalston


Dalston is an area of East London, in the London Borough of Hackney. It is north-east of Charing Cross. Dalston began as a hamlet on either side of Dalston Lane, and as the area urbanised the term also came to apply to surrounding areas including Kingsland and Shacklewell, all three of which being part of the Ancient Parish of Hackney.
Gentrification has led to a rapid increase in the price of property, with current prices 8% above the London average. The process of change was accelerated by the East London line extension, now part of London Overground, and the reopening of Dalston Junction railway station, part of London's successful bid to host the 2012 Olympics.

Bounds

Dalston has never been an administrative unit, and partly for this reason the boundaries are not fully defined. There are popularly understood boundaries in the south and west, but its northern and especially eastern extent is not delineated. This is a common situation in London's neighbourhoods which often merge, overlap and change over time.
There is an electoral Ward of the same name which covers a part of the north–west of Dalston.
Dalston's boundaries are described with more or less precision below:
The name Dalston is thought to have derived from Deorlaf's tun in much the same way as nearby Hoxton was named after the farm of "Hoch". The first written record available is from 1294 when the name was written as Derleston.
The village was one of four small villages within the Parish of Hackney that were grouped for assessment purposes, together having only as many houses as the village of Hackney.
John Rocque's map of 1746 shows the village of Kingsland centred on the crossroads at what is now Dalston Junction and the small village of Dalston further east along Dalston Lane. Another clear feature is Roman Ermine Street which now forms most of the western boundary of this area. Ermine Street now has the road number A10 and goes by a number of names, including Kingsland Road as it travels through London.
Around AD 1280 a leper hospital was founded in Dalston by the citizens of London and in AD 1549 it was attached to the chapel of St Bartholomew as an outhouse.
During the 18th and 19th centuries the area changed from an agricultural and rural landscape to an urban one. By 1849, it was described as a recently increased suburban village, with some handsome old houses, and by 1859 the village had exceeded its neighbour and, with the railways and continuous building, the village of Kingsland disappeared.
During the 1930s, 1940s and 1960s the area's large Jewish and other minority populations made it a target for provocative rallies by Oswald Mosley and the various organisations he founded. These were actively opposed by many local people, together with organisations such as the 43 Group and this led to a number of violent confrontations, notably in the Ridley Road area.
In July 2017 a violent riot broke out on Dalston Road, which had originally started as a demonstration against police violence. Protesters barricaded the spot where a man, who later died at the Royal London Hospital, had been arrested. The rioters threw fire bombs at police and caused property damage.

Notable buildings

Dalston is known for music, events and its nightlife. Its biggest festival to date began in 2015, Dalston Music Festival. Centred on Gillett Square and 8 clubs in the surrounding area, it was founded by Andrew Bunsell of Dalston Studios.

Arts and entertainment

Dalston hosts several art and entertainment venues, and has a history as an entertainment centre, with at one time hosting four or five cinemas within a radius of a ⅓ of a mile, and the Dalston Theatre, a former hippodrome and music hall that later became the Four Aces blues club and the Labyrinth nightclub. The Dalston Theatre was demolished in February 2007, despite an active local campaign to save it. Dalston was also a hub for 1970s and 1980s pub rock venues but these are largely defunct.

Shopping

Established in the 1880s, Ridley Road Market is opposite Dalston Kingsland railway station. Fruit and vegetables, some fairly exotic, are available. Halal butchers cluster around the high street end of the market.
Ridley Road market is reputedly the basis for the one found in the BBC's EastEnders. The Kingsland Shopping Centre is just south of Ridley Road Market.
Kingsland Road and the surrounding streets are home to an ever-growing number of boutiques, bars and cafés.

Area profile

Contemporary Dalston is a lively neighbourhood with an ethnically varied population. Architecturally it is a mixture of 18th- and 19th-century terraced houses and 20th-century council estates. It is currently undergoing rapid gentrification, partly because of the redevelopment of the railway station at Dalston Junction and partly due to the revitalisation of large parts of east London in the build-up to the 2012 Olympics.
Dalston has attracted immigrants for over 100 years; at the turn of the century it was a popular area for newly arrived Jewish people from central Europe. In the 1950s and '60s, as the Jewish community became more affluent and moved out, they were replaced by a large Caribbean community, which accounts for the wide choice of Caribbean food available in Ridley Road. As the Caribbean community slowly drifted out of Dalston it then became popular with the Turkish, as well as the Vietnamese. Recent arrivals include Poles, judging by the numbers of Polish delicatessens now appearing and other stores catering to Polish tastes.
Fassett Square was the inspiration for the BBC soap EastEnders. Originally, there were plans to film the series there, on location. However, Fassett Square and Ridley Road Market were rebuilt on the set in Elstree, near Borehamwood, to have a more controlled filming environment. The idea of Walford stems from Walford Road, and many of the houses on the show use the same exterior design. Coincidentally both Barbara Windsor and Tony Holland, one of the original creators of the show, lived at different times on the street.
The Hackney Peace Carnival Mural created in 1985, depicts a group of people marching for peace against "the bomb" and has become an important cultural statement from that era. It can be found opposite Dalston Junction Overground station on Dalston Lane. It has also been used on the cover of an album by local group Rudimental.
Music hall artist Marie Lloyd used to reside on Graham Road. The house now has a blue plaque.
In April 2009 The Guardian published an article on Dalston claiming that it was the "coolest" place to live in Britain. In the same year however, sculpture park The Towers of Hackney was torn down to give way to new buildings.

Transport

Rail

Dalston is on the London Overground network, served by three stations:
All stations are in London fare zone 2, and Oyster Cards are valid for travel from Dalston to other destinations in London. Dalston Junction is the busiest station of the three, with 5.677 million passenger entries and exits at the station in 2017–2018.
There is no direct rail link to Central London, and Dalston is not on the London Underground network. Direct connections to London's Zone 1 can be found at Hackney Central and Highbury & Islington stations. A new station in Dalston has been proposed as part of the Crossrail 2 development.

Buses

Dalston is served by London Buses on routes 30, 38, 56, 67, 76, 149, 236, 242, 243, 277, 488 and N38. Routes 76, 149, 242, 243 and 277 run 24-hours, daily.
Dalston Bus Garage on Shrubland Road has been demolished.

Road

Major roads in Dalston include:
The London Borough of Hackney measures roadside air quality in Dalston, in particular the concentration of Nitrogen Dioxide in the district. Diffusion tubes which measure the concentration of NO2 in roadside air show that across Dalston, the local roadside air quality failed to meet the UK National Objective of 40g/m³ in 2017.
In 2017, the average roadside NO2 levels in several key locations in Dalston were:
is maintained and managed in Dalston by the London Borough of Hackney and Transport for London.
Several key routes pass through the district, including:
Also nearby, there is a signed cycle route through Shacklewell from Hackney Downs to the east, to Clissold Park and Finsbury Park to the northwest. The Regent's Canal towpath passes through neighbouring Haggerston, which runs unbroken from Limehouse to Angel, via Mile End.

Cultural references