Hackney Wick - The Present

The Present

In recent post-industrial times, Hackney Wick has lost most of its industry and much of its population. Very little remains of the inter-war street pattern between the Hertford Union Canal and Eastway (the western part was then known as Gainsborough Road) or the masses of small terraced houses. Many of the street names have permanently vanished due to later redevelopment. Part of the Wick was redeveloped in the 1960s to create the Greater London Council's Trowbridge Estate, which consisted of single-storey modern housing at the foot of seven 21-storey tower blocks. The estate's housing conditions deteriorated quickly and despite an attempt to regenerate the tower blocks, much of the housing in the estate was replaced between 1985 and 1996. The artist Rachel Whiteread made screenprints of photographs of the former Trowbridge estate which are in the Tate Collection as part of her series Demolished.

The Atlas Works of 1863, backing onto the Lee Navigation, was demolished to make way for housing in the 1990s. In the 1930s it had been the home of the British Perforated Paper Co, famous for inventing toilet paper in 1880.

Further along Eastway, the 2012 Olympic site has claimed industrial premises formerly used by British Industrial Gases (later British Oxygen Company, BOC) to manufacture oxygen and acetylene and Setright Registers Limited who made between the mid 1950s and mid 1960s the famous bus ticket issuing Setright Machine used throughout the country and abroad.

The historic Hackney Wick Stadium, well-known throughout the East End for greyhound racing and speedway, became derelict in late 1990s and closed in 2003. However, it will become the site for the new 2012 Olympic media and broadcast centre and, after the Games, will be turned over for commercial use.

There are many other signs of revival. Not only should the area benefit from the future 2012 Olympics development, but London's artistic community, increasingly forced out of the old warehousing and industrial zones to the south of Hackney borough and in Tower Hamlets by rising rents, are taking an interest in the more affordable industrial buildings out at the Wick. Though rents are rising through 2011 and 2012 because of the upcoming olympics. Hackney Wick's first arts festival, Hackney Wicked, took place from the 8th to the 10 August 2008. The festival weekend included show openings from a series of the Wick's local art venues, including Mother Studios, Elevator Gallery, The Residence, Decima Gallery, Schwartz Gallery, Show Dome, Mainyard Gallery, Top and Tail Gallery, and Wallis Studios. 2009 saw the staging of a second 'Hackney Wicked' arts festival, which took place from Friday 29 July to Sunday 1 August. The Festival had the 4th edition in 2011, taking place between 29 July and 31 July where you can watch a film of its true spirit.

The notable 59 Club for motorcyclists was founded at the Eton Mission church in 1959 in Hackney Wick.