A Little of What You Fancy

New places to write home about... (more in due course..!)

A Little of What You Fancy

Dalston, 464 Kingsland Rd, London, E8 4AE

http://www.alittleofwhatyoufancy.info/

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=115339541816852

What they say: 'The idea for “A Little Of What You Fancy” was born out of the desire to offer meals in the tradition of authentic English food, to explore new and exciting flavours and create a friendly social hub in the heart of Hackney'

What I say: Job well done. Looks like a house. Cosy, chic, quirky, cool. Top menu, top coffees, alcoholic beverages on offer, and fresh produce to buy. What more could you want? Decent prices too and friendly (and attractive!) staff. Love it.

Junction Room

Dalston, 578 Kingsland Rd, London, E8 4AH

http://en-gb.facebook.com/group.php?gid=117051418305477

Good food, drink, cocktails. £5 lunch deal- nice! Friendly staff. Themed events/nights/live music. Worth checking out.

Tipple my fancy

My top 5 local places to go for a cheeky pint or two

The Scolt Head (De Beauvoir)

107a Culford Road, N1 4HT

http://www.thescolthead.co.uk/

BEST triangular beer garden. Big selection of beverages. Restaurant. Great vibes. So cool. Love love love love it. Monday night pub quiz. Get your pub quiz cap on. ££

The Talbot (De Beauvoir)

109 Mortimer Road, N1 4JY

http://www.fancyapint.com/pubs/pub990.php

Laid back. Good food and drink. Upstairs, downstairs, inside, outside. DJs and music. £££

The Bridge Coffee House (Kingsland Road/Shoreditch)

15 Kingsland Road, E8

http://cheriecity.co.uk/2010/01/31/old-curiosity-cafe-the-bridge-in-shoreditch/

Coffee, cakes, food and wine, what more could you want? Beautiful interior. Can't get enough of this place. £££

Jaguar Shoes (Kingsland Road/Shoreditch)

34-36 Kingsland Road, E2 8DA

http://www.jaguarshoes.com/

http://www.dreambagsjaguarshoes.com/temp/

Confusing outside. Is it a shop? No it's not. Better than that. Drink drink drink and Due Sardi pizza next door for when you get peckish. Perfect combo. Art work and exhibitions too. Great. £££

The Bull (Upper Street/Angel/Islington)

100 Upper Street, N1 0NP

http://www.thebullislington.co.uk/

Cosy pub with comfy sofas. Spiral staircase to upstairs seating. Pretty fairy lights. Bloody Mary ketchup great addition to bloody good food. Perfect for those lazy Sunday afternoons. £££

Coffee, coffee, coffee

De Beauvoir Coffee

A couple of coffee places that hit the spot (most do good brunch too!)

Towpath

42 De Beauvoir Crescent, N1 5SB
http://www.timeout.com/london/restaurants/venue/2:26732/towpath
Outdoor. Canalside. Breakfast. Cakes. Coffee. Porridge. Fresh Juice. £££

2&4 Gallery
2-4 Southgate Road, London, N1 3JW
http://www.yelp.co.uk/biz/2-and-4-gallery-london

Furniture shop/coffee shop. Sleeping cat frequents the sofas. Kitsch. ££

Tin Cafe
1 Middleton Rd, Hackney, London E8
http://www.qype.co.uk/place/1491947-Tin-Cafe-London
Tucked away. Nice sandwiches. Breakfast smoothies. Flat whites. Yum. Cinema seats. Cute. ££

Slightly further afield:

*** The Bridge Coffee House (My favourite!)
15 Kingsland Road, Shoreditch, London, E2 8AA
http://cheriecity.co.uk/2010/01/31/old-curiosity-cafe-the-bridge-in-shoreditch/

Coffee, coffee, coffee. Sip of luxury. Antique. Victorian. Step back in time. Staircase of mirrors. Cakes. Wine. Coffee. Nothing beats this. Hidden delight. ££

*** The Breakfast Club (Close 2nd!)

2-4 Rufus Street, Hoxton Square, N1 6PE

http://www.thebreakfastclubcafes.com/

As it says on it's website 'Breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner in a world sunny side up'. Always makes you feel better. Can't get enough of this place. (Angel branch also great). £££

world

*** Albion Caff (Joint 2nd!)

2-4 Boundary Street, Shoreditch, E2 7DD

http://www.albioncaff.co.uk/caff/

Check out the toilets in the nice boutique hotel it's joined on to. Really. Bakery. Shop. Cafe. Bucks Fizz. REAL Hot Chocolate with shortbread. Lovely. £££

The Geffrye Museum

Kingsland Road, Shoreditch, E2 8EA

http://www.geffrye-museum.org.uk/facilities/restaurant

Beautiful. Gardens. Walking through the decades. A little bit of history. Afternoon tea time. Smashing. ££

Cafe Oto

18-22 Ashwin Street, Dalston, E8 3DL

http://www.cafeoto.co.uk/cafe.shtm

Music venue. Pianos. Wifi. Coffee, cakes, pastries. Buzzing with creativity. ££

Tina We Salute You

47 King Henry's Walk, Dalston, N1 4NH

http://tinawesaluteyou.com/

££

Vortex

11 Gillett Square, Dalston, N16 8AZ

http://www.viewlondon.co.uk/restaurants/downstairs-at-the-vortex-info-62118.html

££

De Beauvoir: because I love you

A blog about all sorts of things De Beauvoir by a De Beauvoir resident: because I love it.

De Beauvoir Town

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

De Beauvoir Town (pronounced /diː boʊˈvwɑr/; us dict: dē bō·vwâr′) is a district of the London Borough of Hackney, in North London. Its borders are Kingsland Road in the east, Southgate Road in the west, the Regent's Canal in the south and Tottenham Road in the north.

It shares the northern London postal district of N1 with neighbouring Islington, Barnsbury, Canonbury and Hoxton.

History

[edit]19th century

Until 1820 the area now covered by De Beauvoir Town was open country with a few grand houses. In 1821, stimulated by the opening of the Regent's Canal the previous year, developer William Rhodes secured a lease for 150 acres (0.61 km²) of land from Peter de Beauvoir. Rhodes planned to build residences for the upper classes in a grid pattern, with four squares on diagonal streets intersecting at an octagon. However, work stopped in 1823 when Rhodes was found to have obtained his lease unfairly and after a court case spanning over 20 years the land reverted to the de Beauvoir family in 1834.^[1]

The delay in building had meant that Rhodes' clientele had since moved on to the new suburbs of the West End. The scheme was scaled down and of the planned squares only the southeastern was built, as De Beauvoir Square, although the diagonals partly survived in Enfield Road, Stamford Road and Ardleigh Road. Occupied in the 1840s by the newly emerging middle classes, the estate was almost wholly residential, except around Kingsland Basin and the south-west corner where a factory was leased from 1823.^[1]

[edit]20th Century

De Beauvoir Estate, completed in 1971^[2]

In 1937, due to its easy access to Kingsland Basin, the south-east corner between Downham Road and Hertford Road was re-zoned for industrial use. Soon after all the area south of Downham Road was included. This distinguished it from the north side of Downham Road, which was already zoned for business and acted as a buffer for the mainly residential streets beyond. In 1938 De Beauvoir Crescent was suggested as another business zone to protect housing to the north.

In the early 1960s the northern part of De Beauvoir Town, between Buckingham Road and Tottenham Road was rebuilt as theMetropolitan Borough of Hackney's Kingsgate estate. In the late 1960s a larger area, west of the canal basin, which contained many small factories, made way for the De Beauvoir Town council estate. The east side of De Beauvoir Square was also lost to the Lockner Road estate. In 1968 the De Beauvoir Town association was formed and the rest of the square with the area bounded by Englefield Road, Northchurch Road, Southgate Road, Hertford Road, and Stamford Road became a conservation area in 1969. This area was later extended to cover most of De Beauvoir Town; the eastern edge, however, is in the Kingsland conservation area.

Notable residents

Edmund Gosse, the poet, the son of naturalist Philip Henry Gosse

De Beauvoir Town was home to William Lyttle (1931-2010), a 75-year-old retired electrical engineer, known as the Mole Man of Hackney. Mr Lyttle dug a series of tunnels under his property on the corner of Mortimer Road and Stamford Road. In 2001, his tunnelling caused a 8 ft (2.4 m) hole to appear in the pavement on Stamford Road. Reports that the tunnelling had started again in 2006 were confirmed whenHackney Council found a web of tunnels and caverns, some 8 m (26 ft) deep, spreading up to 20 m in every direction from his house. In August 2006, the Council succeeded in getting a court order banning Mr Lyttle from his property while they carry out emergency repairs.^[3][4][5]

Transport and locale

Districts within the London Borough of Hackney

The nearest London Overground station is Dalston Kingsland, on the TFL London Overground line. In 2010, the East London Line - part of the TFL London Overground network re-opened, with stations at Dalston Junction and Haggerston. Essex Road, part of the National Rail network on theNorthern City Line is to the north-west of the district.

There is no local London Underground station but about 20 minutes walk away, the nearest are Angel - Two stops east of Dalston kingsland,Highbury & Islington and Old Street.

Nearby bus routes

The area is well served by buses.