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Repurposing and Regeneration – a local look

Thursday, 10 October, 2019

I don’t have to go very far to see how much things are changing in London. Right here in Hackney the amount of regeneration and repurposing is enormous. Last week, Liz (my sister-in-law) gave me a back-handed (or something) compliment. She said that she really enjoyed my blog, the Hackney one, and I made it look really nice, much better than it really was. I thanked her and thought, huh?

The fact is that Hackney isn’t all nice. It’s a long-deprived neighbourhood where crime and vandalism and neglect were the norm when I first arrived here. I’m sure it’s still there but…Hackney is a huge borough. This little bit of it has a lot of old, rundown parts, mixed in with the regenerated new parts, mixed in with the very urban parts, mixed in with the fields and parks. There’s ugly and there’s beautiful. It all adds in to the whole.

There’s the suprising little living wall made in front of the abandoned pizza shop. I mentioned it in my Everyday Life in Hackney blog post. It’s coming along so well. It’s a great example of repurposing, taking something that’s just sitting there and making good use of it.

The pizza shop wall before it was planted
The pizza shop wall before it was planted
The living wall has flourished
The living wall has flourished

There’s a little street by where I live. When I moved here it was a rundown street with a derelict factory on one side. Then the builders showed up. They didn’t pull the factory down but made it into a fancy apartment building. I’ve been looking at that road in the last week or so and today I went to look a bit closer. It’s not looking quite as sparkly as it did when it first got its new face, but it’s interesting to see nevertheless.

Looking down the road. The blue is the wall of a college. That wasn't here when I moved in.
Looking down the road. The blue is the wall of a college. That wasn’t here when I moved in.
One side has normal Hackney homes
One side has normal Hackney homes
On the other side, an old factory has become fancy flats
On the other side, an old factory has become fancy flats

At the end of the road there’s a sort of road that runs perpendicular all along the railway bridge. It’s really just a back alley with railway arches but in the last several years there has been construction. More fancy flats on one side, facing the arches. When they started to build here, I was shocked. These back alleys along the railway arches are scary. They’re dark and they’re away from the main traffic. I told Krish that I didn’t think anyone would want to live there. Walking home at night would just be too frightening and why would people buy expensive flats on such a derelict road. But they have.

Fancy new gates in the old factory building
Fancy new gates in the old factory building
Ground floors of even the fanciest flats are marred by these safety screened windows
Ground floors of even the fanciest flats are marred by these safety screened windows
On one side the old railway arches, on the other fancy flats I thought no one would ever want to live in
On one side the old railway arches, on the other fancy flats I thought no one would ever want to live in
Close up of the flats - crowded in the alley by parked cars
Close up of the flats – crowded in the alley by parked cars

I know I’ve talked about railway arches. London uses every space it has. Across the city where there are railway arches there are shops of all kinds built into the space the arch has provided. In many areas these are trendy restaurants and shops but in my neighbourhood, they are little manufactures, businesses and, in this case, body shop after body shop. (That’s auto repair shops for the Brits reading this.)

Opposite the pristine fancy flats are the decrepit arches body shops.

The body shops under the arches
The body shops under the arches

There was a bit of an argument going on between some customers and an owner so I held back a bit and hid my camera. Hackney still has its seedy side and I’m aware of it. One day, while taking a photo from across the road to these arches, a man started to yell at me, ‘Did you take my photo?’ I yelled back, ‘No.’ He persisted and, I have to say, I did start to feel unsafe. I stood my ground and told him he was welcome to come see the photo for himself. He backed off. I’ve not forgotten that day!

And I’ve not forgotten the lovely wall art that used to be along these arches. Painted over and lost forever.

Motorbikes parked opposite the arches
Motorbikes parked opposite the arches

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