In September 2012, Sarah Bentley was crying in the basement of a food hall in Stoke Newington. The former journalist’s new venture, a fully operational community class teaching Hackney residents how to cook sustainably, was set to open in two-weeks-time. Then, the builder she had contracted announced he was abandoning the project, taking her money and equipment.    

Fast forward 14 years later and Hackney is now home to the UK’s only eco-friendly community kitchen.  

Made in Hackney is a plant-based community cookery school and charity which addresses food insecurity, promotes health and wellbeing, and strengthens community resilience.  

As Bentley explained in a 2017 TEDx Talks, she “knew [she] wanted to help people live a healthier, happier, and more environmentally friendly lives”.  

Increasingly, it seems, she is not alone. This January, the government released the Global Biodiversity Loss, Ecosystem Collapse, and National Security Report, which states the UK is “at risk of competition for food and water”.  

At Made in Hackney, they provide free weekly community cooking classes designed to encourage sustainable eating habits and for people’s specific health needs.  

Over the past 14 years, the charity has provided 500,000 plant-based meals and run classes based on cooking for a budget and learning to cook from scratch.   

Claudia Martinez, a Made in Hackney member, said: “When I was living in London, I joined their classes and they really made a big difference in my life, supporting my physical and mental health and the feeling of community.” 

Lynn, a class participant and volunteer, agreed, saying she owed Made in Hackney “a lot”, having benefitted from the community classes and “brilliant support during the first lockdown” and “really appreciates it as a local community resource and facility”.  

It is a grassroots project, first and foremost, “born out of the efforts of Hackney residents”, said Camilla Rossi, Development Manager at MIH. 

“This project makes space for many stories and life circumstances to just exist and meet. It’s a space of change, of encounter, and a very joyful place, built around solidarity.” 

In 2023, Sarah Bentley stepped down to an ambassadorial role and is currently writing a cookbook for the charity.  

Made in Hackney is looking for new ways to reach more people and respond to what the local community needs, and you can see what they do here.   

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New rules, coming into effect in May, will require almost all private landlords to apply for a license for each property they own. The council will also have the power to inspect homes and crack down on substandard conditions. 

Caroline Woodley, Mayor of Hackney, said: “After years of campaigning, the introduction of landlord licensing alongside the Renters Rights Act is the game-changer our private renters deserve. 

This latest legislation will accompany the Labour government’s Renters Rights Act, announced last year, which grants the councils stronger enforcement powers. For the most serious breaches by landlords, criminal prosecution and unlimited fines will be handed out. 

Other new rules being introduced by the government include an end to fixed rate tenancies, the abolition of ‘no fault evictions’, and restrictions on rent increases. 

“The new laws set out in the Renters Rights Act are a huge step toward creating a level playing field in a previously unregulated sector,” said Mayor Woodley. 

“Their introduction puts an end to Section 21 ‘no fault evictions’, which is the leading cause of homelessness, and empowers renters to challenge unfair rental increases – putting an end to backdoor evictions.” 

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Residents in the council-owned building reported severe leaks through multiple floors, beginning on 8 March due to a burst mains pipe. Four flats were left uninhabitable.  

Around 70 firefighters were earlier involved in tackling a blaze which broke out on the evening of 27 February. The cause of the fire is under investigation. 

A Hackney Council spokesperson said: “There are long-standing issues with the central heating in the building that are also causing worry and frustration. 

“We are committed to finding a long-term solution to resolve the issues.” 

Residents of Fellows Court have documented the problems in their building extensively on X since August 2025. 

On 26 February, the day before the fire broke out, @FellowsCourtE2 posted: “Multiple faults on fire alarm reported to Hackney Council with no action, so this 15-storey tower block has no fire alarm. Residents are at risk.” 

Hackney Council said: “The fault affecting the fire alarm, which was completed ahead of the incident on Friday, was not system wide and would not have stopped the fire alarm sounding when the fire broke out.” 

The Council will now be carrying out a fire risk assessment review as the most recent fire safety inspections were carried out in November 2024. 

Elsewhere in Hackney repeated complaints about social housing have been ignored, according to one Homerton resident.

The woman, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Hackney Post that she had brought the same complaint about a leak in her one-bedroom flat four times.  

She added that she has “put up” with the leak in her hallway “for over a year” and said she feels “obliged” to contact Hackney Council again this week. 

Photos from unnamed source of the damage to her flat [credit: anonymous].

According to the woman, even when work to try and fix the leak was completed two years ago, it “still hadn’t disappeared” and “clearly wasn’t done properly”. 

“It’s extremely frustrating because every year council tax increases and I end up paying all this money just for their poor management,” she added.  

The Hackney resident said she feels “frustrated” at the “laziness of the contractors and council”, adding that “it’s always the small guys that suffer”.  

Hackney Council has been approached for comment.  

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On the local front, the story is different, with community teams reporting that they face an ongoing battle for pitch space, which is often earmarked for men’s teams.  

A recent incident at Camden Road FC encapsulates the issue: according to a spokesperson for Camden Road WFC, the team had a match scheduled against Peckham Town last month. When they arrived, their allocated pitch was unplayable and waterlogged, and their fixture was cancelled to make space for the men’s side.  

Kirsty Graham, Club Co-Lead at CRFC, said: “It’s very unsurprising that men’s teams get favoured automatically, and it’s certainly not the first time our club has had to deal with sexism.” 

This is not an isolated incident. Jazmyn Tyne, captain of Hackney-based Sonder FC, said: “Our biggest obstacle is being able to secure training pitches in London consistently. They’re often booked out or used for men’s leagues in block bookings, and particularly in the winter, there aren’t many options for us to play or train.” 

The Lionesses’ surge in popularity and success is something to celebrate, but it does not stop a local women’s match being bumped for a men’s fixture in East London; it does not guarantee a pitch in Hackney. 

“It’s so important to carve out community spaces for women’s football, rather than just treating the women’s sport as an add-on extra that ticks a box in a male-dominated environment.” 

Sonder FC and Camden Road WFC are part of The Goalposts League, made up of teams for women, transgender, and non-binary people.  

The League, which has partnerships with Jameson Whiskey and Adidas, has created a community that highlights the role football can play in our social fabric, and they have dedicated, uncontested pitch space for their teams.  

Ms Tyne said: “Having a space to play football locally is so important to us as it holds space for women, non-binary, and trans players to play and not have to bargain for pitches.” 

Gabriella Thijs, who plays for Sonder FC, said: “Before every match, we go in a circle, and we say our names and pronouns. So, it has a really strong sense of diversity, and there’s no discrimination … I think it has become a home for people to just have fun.” 

Ms Graham said: “The biggest thing that stood out to us compared to other leagues we’d played in was the community feel.” 

The Goalposts League holds wellbeing workshops and social events and is open to players of all ages and abilities. It highlights what local, grassroots football should be.  

Ms Tyne said: “We all have very different and varied jobs, but when we get on the pitch, having fun and being a team is first and foremost, and for some people, this is their best and favourite outlet each week. 

“We are in partnership with a local brand called ‘Ar Tye’, a design-led football brand redefining what it means to feel supported on the pitch. We haven’t outsourced a big company to make our kits and that’s what makes us feel even more like a community supporting community.” 

Rather than fighting for pitch space and battling sexist attitudes, The Goalposts League has provided a much-needed safe space for its teams.  

As Ms Graham put it: “It’s so important to carve out community spaces for women’s football, rather than just treating the women’s sport as an add-on extra that ticks a box in a male-dominated environment.” 

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The flat fee discount reduces the cost of a pay-as-you-go 25-minute Lime bike ride from £8.75 to £1.75, making it one of the most affordable transport options in London. After 25 minutes, the ride fare returns to 31p per minute. 

“We’re making cycling easier and cheaper than ever,” said Councillor Sarah Young, Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Environment, and Transport. 

“With this flat fee, which is no more expensive than the bus, we’re helping more residents choose cycling for local journeys.” 

To access the discounted rate, residents must sign up online and provide proof of a Hackney address. Once verified, the discount will be automatically linked to the user’s Lime account. 

Hackney residents already have access to £1.75 journeys for up to 30 minutes with Voi, via the Voi4Hackney pass that was made available last year. After 30 minutes, the ride fare reverts to 20p per minute.  

Alongside these discounted rates, Hackney Council is working with the e-bike operators to enforce parking compliance. Riders will only be permitted to leave their bikes in designated parking bays, 400 of which will be built by the end of the year. 

“As we head into spring and summer, dockless bike rides will only become more popular,” said Cllr Young.

“We’ve put strict measures in place to ensure bikes are used and parked responsibly, and we’ll continue holding operators to account.” 

Hackney Post has previously reported on the trip hazards caused by e-bikes left in dangerous positions.

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The Hackney Nappy Network, an organisation set up by the council to support parents of young children in the borough, hosted an event to promote reusable nappies and raise awareness of the damage of single-use equivalents to the environment.  

Seeking to combat the huge amounts of plastic disposable nappies that end up in landfill, 3.6 billion in the UK last year alone, proponents of the scheme argue that, as well as helping the planet, cloth alternatives help council finances, too. 

“We need to provide parents with the information they need to make an informed choice and to show them how simple reusable products can be”

Esther Bolter, who runs the organisation, said: “It’s in [the council’s] interest to promote reusable nappies because of their cost and waste savings, but also residents’.” 

All Greater London local authorities are technically eligible for a voucher scheme that allows parents to claim back the cost of cloth nappies, but Hackney is in the minority that actually offer the grant to residents. “They were really the forerunners,” Bolter said. “We’re the only borough that has a role like mine.” 

In recent years, disposable “eco” options have begun to appear in shops, promising an environmentally friendly alternative that saves parents the hassle of washing large quantities of dirty nappies, but Bolter is sceptical.  

“In all North London boroughs, our general waste goes to the Edmonton Incinerator, so whether a nappy is biodegradable or not, that’s going to happen,” said Bolter. “They’re going to be incinerated.” 

The Hackney Nappy Network has been running the events since its inception eight years ago and has found the community to be receptive. “We need to provide parents with the information they need to make an informed choice and to show them how simple reusable products can be,” said Bolter. 

Their next event is being held in Hackney Central Library in collaboration with Wrap a Hug Sling to teach parents about baby-wearing as well as cloth nappies on Friday 17 April. 

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She hosts accessible sewing workshops and Stitching Hackney, a meetup group for anything crafty: knitting, crochet, embroidery. Her classes attract a range of students, from teenagers looking to mend up their Vinted purchases to elderly women wanting to sew their own clothes. Teaching is her way of giving back to the community, providing a relaxing environment to de-stress and have fun.  

We speak over the phone as Rachel feeds her cat. “She’s sweet when she’s being fed,” she tells me from her houseboat in Hackney Wick. She wears her fabulous red hair in braids. Her studio is decked out in pink lights and balls of yarn. She sends me a photo of two newly crocheted hats – in the shape of a frog and a dog – and tells me she always has multiple projects on the go. “I crochet obsessively. I’ve got little baskets with each project in, so when I get home in the evening, I can choose which thing I want to crochet.” 

“crochet is my sanctuary”

Rachel’s lifelong love of handiwork began when her mum taught her to crochet as a child. “That’s literally all I did,” she says. “I used to make just these long worms of crochet that I wore as necklaces and bracelets. We were quite a crafty family. It was always encouraged.” 

After a creative hiatus as a teenager, Johnson revived her love of crochet when she found herself fifteen years ago on an eight-hour flight to Dubai. “The idea of watching mindless movies didn’t really appeal,” she explains. So, she grabbed a ‘teach yourself’ crochet book and taught herself five different stitches during the flight. By the time she landed she had run out of yarn. “We had to drive to a haberdasher DIY store in a very local part of Dubai to buy more.” 

Last week Rachel hosted her first crochet workshop at Vaffancoffee in Hackney Wick. “They’re my studio neighbours, they sell some of my artwork, and I love them to bits.”  

Yet despite her love of the craft, Rachel prefers to teach sewing. “Crochet is my sanctuary, if you like. It’s a thing I like to do in my free time. So, teaching it full-time would make it a job.” 

“creatively, i think nothing is too ridiculous at all”

So, instead of teaching crochet, Rachel hosts a range of sewing workshops in her studio where students can learn basic sewing, embroider rude words on a tea towel, or make a bag from upcycled denim. “People have just really knocked me sideways with the brilliance of what they’ve made,” she says.  

One of her students, Josie Feltham, praises Rachel as “an amazing teacher and non-judgemental”. This friendly relaxation is at the heart of Rachel’s ethos: “I think everyone is creative, they just haven’t found their thing yet,” she tells me. “Creatively, I think nothing is too ridiculous at all – just make it and see what happens.” 

You can sign up for Rachel’s sewing classes using the Class Bento link here  

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But behind these walls is a school dissimilar to most. Mistakes are encouraged, confrontation is seen as an opportunity for growth and the sanctions given are not detentions nor suspensions – it’s twenty-five push-ups.

This is the Boxing Academy, an alternative provision state school in Hackney that educates students through the discipline and ethos of boxing. The forty-eight students enrolled in the academy, aged between 12 and 16, have often struggled to fit in with mainstream education as a result of traumatic or difficult upbringings, causing them to misbehave to the point of permanent exclusion. The academy offers students the chance to sit their GSCEs in order to progress into college.

The academy will be moving to its new premises in September 2026. Anna Cain, principal of the academy since 2009, says that the new building on Brooke Road in Clapton has been a long time coming, after three false starts caused works to be delayed.  

Cain says the reason boxing is used as the school’s guiding framework for education is because the nature of the sport requires both discipline and emotion-management. Students take boxing classes every day with a boxing coach – called a ‘pod leader’ – as a way of channelling their emotions and reframing their views on education.  

“IT’S NOT ABOUT BEING STRONG AND HAVING A VIOLENT FIGHT. it’s about being organised, having a plan, having a team around you, and then you step into the ring on your own”

She also says that the structure of a boxing club can offer a sense of stability and community which the students may otherwise not have experienced, either at home or in mainstream education.

“A lot of the kids who come here have been constantly in trouble in other places, for things like not having a pen – things that whilst not okay, do not necessarily need to derail a child’s education. So, we kind of start from scratch. They bring nothing, we provide everything.”  

For any staff looking to work in the academy, Cain says they are required to partake in at least one competitive fight. Whether they win or lose in the ring does not matter – it is the evidence of participation, commitment and training that counts.  

“It’s not about being strong and having a violent fight. It’s about being organised, having a plan, having a team around you, and then you step into the ring on your own,” she says. 

Emotional safety and trust are key for students at the academy. Many of these children have had difficult and adverse childhoods, which can cause both emotional and physiological developmental issues. Boxing coaches in the academy are trained in a trauma-informed practice called “attachment awareness”, meaning students can develop a secure, safe attachment with their leaders and view them as a consistent source of both support and discipline.  

“We’re not saying it’s okay to behave badly, but we are understanding of what the children are trying to communicate, and if you can get past the initial presentation of behaviour and go to the underlying issues, then you can build those blocks, because the thing about attachment issues or trauma is you can fix it. But what you have to do in order to fix it is be really consistent [and] very clear with the kids. They need to learn to trust you,” she says. 

Jermaine Williams, vice-principal of the academy, joined the team in 2010 as an entry-level pod leader. Cain says that his work with the students has helped shaped what the role of the pod leader is to students in the academy.  

Williams says: “The fact that I was able to tell them some stories about my upbringing and my life [means] I see the cogs turning in their individual heads…they went ‘Okay, this guy knows what we’re talking about because he had a similar experience.’”  

Cain says that the new building opening on Brooke Road will offer students a wider curriculum, including two new subjects: construction and food tech.  

“I think that children who go to AP [alternative provision] or who have less traditional routes through education deserve to have as good, if not better, quality of education,” she says. “The [new] building should now reflect our approach for high aspirations and wanting the absolute ‘sky’s the limit’ approach for our kids.”  

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The community projects, ranging from football training sessions for girls to a club for young people with diabetes, will be given grants of between £500 and £5,000.  

Youth groups in Hackney can apply for the funding if they meet Young Hackney’s criteria, which require that the proposed project aligns with values such as “preparing young people for future success” and “community cohesion”.  

The awardees were announced last Thursday. One successful applicant was the 14th Hackney Scout Group, who will use their £500 funding to offer members a free cinema screening detailing the life of the new Chief Scout, Dwayne Fields.  

John Riddick, Chair of 14th Hackney Scouts, said: “It’s great. We’re always really hand-to-mouth, always fundraising. To offer a free event means nobody’s ruled out.”  

The screening will help members “get to know a little bit more about our Chief Scout”, Mr Riddick added. The hired cinema is “fully booked” and will bring together other Scout groups from across Hackney.  

Dwayne Fields, who took over the top job in the Scouts Association from Bear Grylls in 2024, is a Hackney local, having grown up in Stoke Newington after his family moved from Jamaica.  

As well as funding youth projects, Young Hackney runs clubs, apprenticeships, and educational opportunities for young people in the borough.  

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Empire Tavern is set to open on 20 March on Mare Street, as part of the Hackney Empire.  

The venue is on the site of The Britannia, a former Victorian-era establishment that was destroyed by bombs during World War II. It was then rebuilt as The Samuel Pepys, before being redeveloped again in the early noughties as The Marie Lloyd Bar. 

“THE VENUE BLENDS PUB WARMTH WITH DESTINATION DINING”

Now, the site’s latest incarnation is a joint venture between Taverns East Pub Group, an independent hospitality company founded by Ronnie Finch and Jamie Tack, and East London Brewing Co. 

In a statement, the founders said: “Empire Tavern will sit at the heart of Hackney’s social and cultural scene, as part of the Hackney Empire and opposite Hackney Town Hall. 

“The venue blends pub warmth with destination dining, craft drinks and a carefully curated programme of music and events.” 

To cater to late-night post-theatre crowds, on Friday and Saturdays the venue will be transformed as part of a concept called Empire Tavern Lates. These nights will include curated music, local DJs and “dancing into the early hours”. 

The inspiration for the venue’s redesign came from New York diners: dark wood booths, classic red leather seating and warm Seventies vintage lighting. 

There will also be a high-quality audio booth, in a nod to Hackney’s very own vibrant music scene. 

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