Just days after my Facebook page had reached 8,000 followers, another exciting milestone has been passed: in August 2025 alone, posts were viewed over 1 million times. It’s incredible to see such widespread interest in Stoke Newington’s rich history. I now share content daily on both Facebook and Instagram, which are the main platforms I use. Activity on X has been significantly reduced. The Instagram account is also seeing strong engagement, now averaging 250,000 views each month. If you’re not already following, please do join the growing community exploring the area’s fascinating and rich past. Thank you to everyone who reads, shares, and engages with the posts.

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Thank you to everyone who came along to Stoke Newington History Talks #25—my latest evening of three talks at St. Matthias Hall was another full house. I opened the event by sharing some early results from my experiments using AI-generated imagery to reimagine aspects of local history. Rachel Kolsky followed with a rich exploration of the Jewish community in Stoke Newington, and we rounded off with Billy Thomas’ fascinating history of local telephone numbers. It was great to see so many familiar faces, and together we raised £626 for St Joseph’s Hospice. The next event will take place on 30th October, with tickets going on sale a month in advance.

Continue reading “19.06.2025 – Stoke Newington History Talks 25” →

I thoroughly enjoyed giving a talk at the second Hackney History Festival, to a packed Round Chapel on a gorgeous sunny day. Last year, my festival talk focused on Stoke Newington in the 1930s. This year, in Look Up, Look Down: Spotting Local History Everywhere, I explored the area’s history through a variety of antiquated artefacts—some found underfoot, like coalhole covers, and others high above, such as boundary markers on buildings. The 40-minute talk allowed me to touch on a wide range of topics, including trams, Victorian schools, the lost local authority of South Hornsey, and much more.

Continue reading “10.05.2025 – Hackney History Festival 2025” →

This week, my Facebook page, which I started 13 years ago, reached a milestone of 6,000 followers. What’s been particularly notable is that it gained 1,000 new followers in the past six months. The Facebook page was the first social media channel I used to share my interest in local history, back in 2012. It was followed by an account on X in 2013, which currently has 9,100 followers. An Instagram account followed in 2019 and now has over 5,400 followers. It’s great to see such interest in Stoke Newington’s history across the different social media channels, and I’m constantly learning and discovering new things through the comments people post and the messages I receive.

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My project, Windows into the Past, and my Instagram account were mentioned in a Times article on 21 March 2025 by Matthew Davis, titled ‘Stoke Newington Named One of the Best Places to Live in London 2025’. The piece explores Stoke Newington’s amenities, historical sites, and attractions, recognising it—according to The Times—as one of the best places to live in London this year. It’s great to see my work featured in this context.

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The first Stoke Newington History Talks event of 2025 sold out in nine and a half hours, which I think is a new record. As always, it was a packed event at St. Matthias Hall. My talk was about the long saga of renaming Wiesbaden Road, which ultimately became Belgrade Road. We also had brilliant talks from Tom Hilverkus on South Hornsey—an independent local authority in the 19th century covering parts of Stoke Newington—and Tom Walker, Chair of Abney Park Trust, who spoke about the Abney Park restoration project completed last year.

Continue reading “27.02.2025 – Stoke Newington History Talks 24” →

I was absolutely blown away when the new owners of the Coach & Horses in 178 Stoke Newington High Street contacted me on January 31st to share an incredible discovery. While refurbishing the pub, they uncovered an old wooden wall featuring posters advertising various drinks. Based on the name of the publican included, I was able to date it to the 1880s, not long after the current building was constructed on the site of the original Coach & Horses.

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In late October last year, I was kindly invited to visit and document a home in Stoke Newington, belonging to a long-term resident who passed away earlier that year at the age of 81. She had moved into the house with her family in 1957 and lived there until her passing. While I was able to take numerous photos of the house, given its relatively untouched state, I also wanted to document it in video before it goes on the market. On January 20th, I had the opportunity to visit again and record an 8-minute video of the house.

Continue reading “Inside a Largely Intact Victorian House in Stoke Newington” →

The latest iteration of my Stoke Newington Church Street commercial landscape dashboard now includes two new charts: one tracking the historical trend in the number of chains on the street (10+ outlets) and another showing the rate of business change over time. I’ve also introduced metrics for two-unit mergers and large, purpose-built commercial units. These larger units are the most likely to attract interest from big chains if they become available.

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As part of my ongoing exploration of local businesses on Stoke Newington Church Street, I conducted an analysis of the number of outlets operated by each business, aiming to understand the split between independents and chains in the street. The key finding is that only 10% of businesses on Church Street are chains. This is based on the working definition of a chain as a business that operates 10 or more outlets, all with unified branding.

Continue reading “Exploring Independents vs. Chains on Stoke Newington Church Street: An In-Depth Analysis” →