What you told us
One of the borough’s main town centres, Hackney Central boasts an historic high street along Mare Street and the Narrow Way – and in recent years has welcomed new workspaces, businesses, and a bustling nightlife.
While Hackney Central is a busy town centre, some shops and commercial spaces sit empty. And although the area has a brilliant range of shops and businesses, they can suffer from poor connections across the town centre and public spaces that don’t fill their potential.
Thousands of people took part in the Hackney Central Conversation and helped create the Hackney Central Town Centre Strategy. You identified priorities including:
- supporting the diverse range of shops and businesses
- keeping larger anchor stores that help make it a destination
- reconnecting different parts of the town centre
- ensuring that the town centre has a good mix of uses that meet the needs of the local community.
Mare Street can be a bit messy - lots of things on the pavements, tripping hazards, people. The area would benefit from a clean up. It feels crowded and squeezed in which can be good but this is from things like cars and other vehicles.
What we're doing
Based on your feedback, we’re supporting markets at Bohemia Place and the Narrow Way, working with the landlords of vacant town centre buildings to ensure empty spaces and shops back into use, and improving public spaces to increase town centre footfall, help businesses and improve community safety.
We’ll also explore opportunities to use Council owned buildings in different ways and work with building owners to breathe new life into empty or underused buildings – making sure that the town centre has a good mix of uses that meet the needs of the local community.
This will support our mission for Hackney Central, created in partnership with the local community, to encourage a sustainable and inclusive economy in Hackney Central, which provides opportunities for local people and businesses.
How we're doing it
Our plans will boost footfall across the town centre, with investment in over 20,000 sqm of public spaces from Hackney Downs station to Hackney Town Hall Square.
We’ve earmarked new investment to breathe new life into empty buildings, and will explore opportunities to utilise this across Hackney Central
Find out more
Draft Ash Grove SPD
Draft Ash Grove Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) Consultation - Now Closed From 8 July to 23 September 2024, we conducted a Regulation 12 consultation on the draft Ash Grove SPD. This consultation allowed us to gather public feedback on the draft plan. We are now analysing all responses and will be incorporating them into the next stage of the plan. To see the items that were consulted on, please see below: We invite you to share your valuable insights on the specific...
Town Hall Square: Designing Hackney's Square
What we’re doing Hackney Town Hall Square is the heart of Hackney Central, connecting the Grade II listed Hackney Town Hall, the iconic Hackney Empire, and essential community facilities like Hackney Central Library and the Hackney Museum. To enhance the square's potential, Hackney Council has commissioned muf architecture/art to work with the community to redesign it, ensuring it better serves the diverse communities of Hackney. Why we’re doing it Feedback from...
Closed activities
Town Hall Square: Designing Hackney's Square
What we’re doing Hackney Town Hall Square is the heart of Hackney Central, connecting the Grade II listed Hackney Town Hall, the iconic Hackney Empire, and essential community facilities like Hackney Central Library and the Hackney Museum. To enhance the square's potential, Hackney Council has commissioned muf architecture/art to work with the community to redesign it, ensuring it better serves the diverse communities of Hackney. Why we’re doing it Feedback from...
Draft Ash Grove SPD
Draft Ash Grove Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) Consultation - Now Closed From 8 July to 23 September 2024, we conducted a Regulation 12 consultation on the draft Ash Grove SPD. This consultation allowed us to gather public feedback on the draft plan. We are now analysing all responses and will be incorporating them into the next stage of the plan. To see the items that were consulted on, please see below: We invite you to share your valuable insights on the specific...
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