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This article is about the district of London. For the town in North West England, see Dalston, Cumbria. For the electoral ward, see Dalston (ward). Coordinates: 51°32′36″N 0°03′34″W / 51.543307°N 0.059486°W
Dalston is a district in the London Borough of Hackney, England, in Inner London. Its historical borders are Kingsland Road and Kingsland High Street in the west, London Fields in the east, Downs Park Road in the north and the Shoreditch parish boundary in the south. Its main shopping street, Kingsland High Street, follows the route of the Roman Ermine Street, and has the road number A10. Modern Dalston is often seen as the area surrounding both sides of Kingsland High Street, even though some of the west side is within the London Borough of Islington. As such, it bestrides the main route north from the City of London. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.[1]
[edit] HistoryThe name Dalston is thought to have derived from Deorlaf’s tun (farm)[2] in much the same way as nearby Hoxton was named after the farm of ‘Hoch’. The village was one of four small villages within the Parish of Hackney, Dalston, Newington, Shacklewell, and Kingsland that were all grouped for assessment purposes, together having only as many houses as the village of Hackney. John Rocque's map of circa 1746 shows the village of Kingsland centered around the crossroads at Dalston Junction and the small village of Dalston further east along Dalston Lane. 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 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.[3] [edit] Redevelopment and future
While any investment in an area is generally a good thing, the gentrification of an area only two miles north of the City has led to a rapid increase in the price of property. This has caused resentment from residents[who?] priced out of the area in which they had been raised. The process of change has been accelerated since the East London Line extension (to be renamed the East London Railway on completion) and the reopening of Dalston Junction Station was confirmed in the run-up to London's successful bid to hold the 2012 Olympics. [edit] Entertainment Dalston has always been an important transport nexus and shopping centre. It was also, at one time, an important entertainment centre, with four or five cinemas within a radius of half a kilometre, 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.[4]  The last survivor of Dalston's 20th-century entertainment boom is the Rio Cinema, one of the very few cinemas left in East London and, indeed, one of the few independent cinemas left in London. Besides its regular programmes of popular and art movies, the Rio also features film festivals and children's matinees. Arcola Theatre in Arcola Street produces some fringe theatre and is a centre for a number of theatre-related community activities such as its theatre writers' programme, youth theatre and over-sixties drama. Dalston was hub for of 1970s and 1980s pub rock venues but these are largely defunct. However the new Dalston Culture House, the first wing of which has opened on Gillett Square, hosts the renowned Vortex Jazz Club, recently moved from Stoke Newington. Centerprise is a long-established BME community bookshop where regular events take place in the coffee bar. Fassett Square in Dalston was the inspiration for the fictional location of the BBC soap opera EastEnders, Albert Square, cementing its relationship with the entertainment industry. [edit] Shopping
 Dalston is not a glamorous shopping centre but it has become legendary in northeast London, mostly thanks to its excellent Ridley Road street market. The keyphrase here is 'value for money' and for food shopping it is hard to better this area. Fruit and vegetables, some fairly exotic, are available at low prices, and the local halal butchers, clustered around the high street end of the market, are hard to beat in terms of price. Ridley Road market is reputedly the basis for the one found in BBC's EastEnders. The Kingsland Shopping Centre mall (formerly Dalston Cross) is a useful, if drab, supplement to the main market street. It has recently been extended to house a Matalan budget clothes store over the car park. The ancient shopping street of Broadway Market, to the South East of the district, boasts a wide selection of 'up and coming' boutiques, pubs and cafes. Thanks to these, and the successful Saturday Farmer's Market, this area immediately adjacent to London Fields is regarded as thriving. [edit] 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 planned construction of a new railway station at Dalston Junction, part of the extension of the East London Line due to be completed in 2010 and partly due to the revitalisation of large parts of East London in the build-up to the 2012 Olympics (Hackney is one of the four host boroughs of the Games). Dalston has attracted new immigrants to the UK for over one hundred years; at the turn of the century it was a popular Jewish area for the newly arrived from central Europe. In the fifties and sixties, as the Jewish community became more affluent, they were replaced by a large Caribbean community in Dalston, which is reflected by the wide choice of Caribbean foods 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 émigrés to the community are the Polish community 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 (Albert Square) and Ridley Road Market (Walford Market) were rebuilt on the set in Elstree, Borehamwood to have a more controlled filming environment. The origin of the area of Walford was from Walford Road and many of the houses on the show use the same exterior design. Both Barbara Windsor and Tony Holland, one of the original creators of the show, lived at different times on the street. That is not the only connection with entertainment industry. Around the corner, music hall artiste Marie Lloyd (1870–1922) used to reside on Graham Road. The house now has a Blue Plaque. In April 2009 The Guardian wrote an article on Dalston being the coolest place to live in Britain, follow this link to the full story Dalston has its own hyperlocal news website, Dalston People. Funded by Associated Northcliffe Digital, the owners of the Daily Mail and Metro, the site is a pilot project and is written by local residents. [edit] Pop-culture references
[edit] Transport and locale
The nearest London Overground station is Dalston Kingsland (North London Line) Opening in June 2010, the nearest London Overground station is Dalston Junction (East London Line) [edit] References
[edit] External links
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