Broadway Market Saturdays, the lido and the lawns, and Mare Street's pubs and grills.
Daytime
(4)Broadway Market (Sat), London Fields Lido, Netil Market, Hackney Empire matinees
Climpson & Sons
Hackney's original specialty roaster, on Broadway Market since 2002 in a former butcher's. Bespoke Broadway Blend on espresso, a rotating boundary-pushing 'The Fields' espresso, full retail range on the shelves.
Editor's Pick$
Order: Flat white on the Broadway Blend; if you want something stranger, ask for 'The Fields' as a straight espresso.Best: Weekday morning. Saturday is Broadway Market day and the cafe is rammed from 10am.
E5 Bakehouse
Organic sourdough bakery under London Fields station that has roasted its own coffee since 2017 (micro-roastery in Poplar, some lots shipped by sail cargo from Colombia). Bread, coffee, cheese counter, arch cafe.
Stamped$
Order: A filter of the house-roasted single origin with a loaf of sourdough, or at lunch the sourdough pizzetta.Best: Weekday morning before the lunch rush; weekends are crowded with market-goers and families.
Paradox Design + Coffee
Pocket-sized Netil Market unit with a hatch and a few seats inside among prints, books and candles; guest beans from Campbell & Syme, Dark Arts, Yallah and others, brewed with care.
Inked$
Order: A hand-brewed filter of whichever guest roaster is on, taken through the hatch to London Fields.Best: Saturday when Netil Market and Broadway Market are both running; quiet on weekday mornings.
Sutton House and Breaker's Yard
East London's oldest house: a Grade II* red-brick Tudor manor of 1535 built for Henry VIII's courtier Ralph Sadleir, later a school, squat ('the Blue House', 1980s) and now a National Trust property.
Inked
Order: The diaper-patterned Tudor brickwork on the street front and the original 16th-century timber panelling inside.Best: Sunday afternoons when both house and community garden are open; the 'Lost at Play' display of objects found under the floorboards runs to 20 December 2026.
Evening & Night
(8)Mare Street pubs, Hackney Empire, natural wine, Homerton backstreet locals
Chesham Arms
Backstreet local that Homerton fought two years to reopen in 2015 after a developer shut it. Five handpumps of changing cask, Belgian bottles, two fireplaces, a big garden; Hackney's first Asset of Community Value.
Editor's Pick$$
Order: A rotating cask pale or the house Bavo pilsner, with a Yard Sale pizza delivered to your table; it was CAMRA East London Cider Pub of the Year 2025 too.Best: Summer early evening for the garden; winter Sunday by the fire.
Viktor Wynd's Absinthe Parlour
A genuine cabinet of curiosities in Hackney — taxidermy, occult objects, Victorian medical equipment — with a small, very dark absinthe and cocktail parlour hidden downstairs. The proper absinthe service, with the fountain and sugar, is exactly what the place is for; this is where in London to take it seriously. Come in the evening, once the museum upstairs has closed and it becomes purely a drinking den. It is not for everyone — strange, dim, and theatrical — but it is genuinely unforgettable, the rare bar that doubles as an expedition into the macabre.
Editor's Pick$$
Order: Proper absinthe service with the fountain and sugar. This is the place for it.Best: Evening when the museum upstairs is closed and it becomes purely a drinking den.
Hackney Empire
Frank Matcham's Grade II* music hall, built in 38 weeks for Oswald Stoll and opened 9 December 1901; survived as a TV studio and bingo hall before Tim Ronalds' £17m restoration reopened it in 2004.
Stamped
Order: The 1901 electric-lit, steel-cantilevered structure behind the Edwardian exuberance, and the 2004 brick fly tower with giant letters spelling HACKNEY EMPIRE.Best: An evening show is the way to see the auditorium; the pantomime season (Nov–Jan) is the local institution.
The Cock Tavern
Dark, single-room 1930s Truman's pub on Mare Street where Howling Hops began in the cellar. Their beers plus guests, at least six real ciders, a pickled-egg scoreboard and 'Hackney's smallest beer garden'.
Stamped$$
Order: A Howling Hops beer from the founders' own lines, then one of the six-plus real ciders; race the pickled-egg leaderboard if you dare.Best: Weekday evening for a chat with the brewers who prop up the bar; monthly cheese night and the 'hop swap' are worth checking.
Behind This Wall
A hi-fi listening bar and cocktail den in a Hackney basement, where a proper vinyl-focused sound system is as much the point as the drinks. The Japanese bar influence runs through everything — whisky highballs are the order, and the cocktails are built to pair with the aesthetic rather than shout over it. Come in the evening, when the vinyl is spinning and the intimate basement fills, and treat it as a place to listen as much as to drink. It is focused, low-lit, and a little serious about sound — exactly as a listening bar should be.
Inked$$
Order: Japanese-influenced cocktails pair with the hi-fi aesthetic. Whisky highballs are perfect.Best: Evening when the vinyl is spinning and the basement fills up.
Bright
Seasonal, produce-driven cooking above the P. Franco wine bar in Hackney — a short menu that changes constantly with the market, focused and excellent. Trust whatever is on; the kitchen builds around what is good that day, and the wine selection downstairs is worth a visit in its own right. Come in the evening, and consider the wine bar below before or after. It is East London's idea of neighbourhood fine dining: unfussy, ingredient-led, genuinely seasonal, the sort of small room where the brevity of the menu is a sign of confidence rather than limitation. Quietly one of the area's best.
Inked$$$
Order: The menu is short and changes constantly. Trust whatever's on. The wine selection downstairs is excellent.Best: Evening. The wine bar downstairs is worth visiting too.