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Haggerston is a place in the London Borough of Hackney. As part of the northern extension to the East London line it will gain a station. The area's name has been claimed to have a Viking origin. It is bounded by Hackney Road on the south, Kingsland Road on the west, Middleton Road on the north with London Fields and Broadway Market on the east. In the 1990s a number of the area's more rundown housing estates were refurbished and some disused public buildings were privately converted as gated communities.
The proximity to Hoxton and Shoreditch has made the area popular with students, media and artworld types when the other areas became too expensive. In recent years as escalating property prices have driven commercial art galleries further into East London and Haggerston has begun to be described as 'the New Hoxton' - it could be considered as extending the eastern Hoxton boundary to Cambridge Heath Road. A shortage of secondary school places has made the area less attractive to families but this is likely to change with the building of a City Academy on Queensbridge Road.
Many Vietnamese, Cambodian and Laotian people have formed communities in Haggerston and nearby Shoreditch. Outside the area, the most visible sign of this is the profusion of Southeast Asian restaurants on nearby Kingsland Road in Shoreditch and on Mare Street in Hackney. There is also a notable Russian community focused on bars and cafés along Kingsland Road.
Amenities
Besides the Regents Canal, Haggerston Park, on the site of a demolished gasworks on Hackney Road, provides much-needed open space in the area. It is also the home of the Hackney City Farm.
The local swimming pool, Haggerston Pool, is still closed, with an uncertain future. It is the subject of much resentment against Hackney council, who have been accused of being inattentive to the needs of local residents. The campaign to refurbish and re-open the Pool has continued for many years with no end in sight.
Nearest places
Transport
External links
"Haggerston"