Hackney
The London Borough of Hackney is a north east London Borough within Inner London in the UK. Southern and eastern parts of the borough are popularly, but unofficially, regarded as being a part of east London, with northern and western locations regarded to belong to north London. The London Plan, issued by the Greater London Authority, assigns whole boroughs to sub-regions for statutory monitoring, engagement and resource allocation purposes. The most recent 2011 iteration of this program assigns Hackney to the 'East' sub-region, although the 2008 and 2004 versions assigned the borough to 'North' and 'East' sub-regions respectively.
Hackney is bounded by Islington towards the west, Haringey towards the north, Waltham Forest to the north-east, Newham to the east, Tower Hamlets towards the south-east and the City of London to the south-west. It covers a total area of 7.36 square miles. Based on population estimates from 2014, the borough includes a permanent population of about 263150 people. Much of Hackney retains an inner-city character, but in such areas as Dalston big housing estates have been joined by newly created gated communities. The historical and administrative heart of Hackney is the area roughly extending north from Mare Street and surrounding the Church of St John-at-Hackney; called Hackney Central.
Towards the north of the borough are Upper Clapton and Lower Clapton, Stamford Hill and Stoke Newington. Light industries within the area around the River Lea employ more than 3000 staff. Some of the area was used for the 2012 Summer Olympics.
