Chic Niche with a Past
Stoke Newington, once a village, was home to non-conformists, immigrants and later gangsters and terrorists. Now it is once again a desirable suburb.
Famous names include writers Daniel Defoe, Edgar Allan Poe, Mary Wollstonecraft and Anna Sewell, hymnwriter Isaac Watts, film star Barbara Windsor and rock star Marc Bolan. William Booth and his wife Catherine, founders of the Salvation Army, are buried in its arboretum cemetery.
Next to the Tudor church and Sir George Gilbert Scott’s larger church, the New River flows through Clissold Park whose recently restored C18 house now houses a popular cafe. Many more cafes and restaurants are just along the street.