Hackney Citizen

RIP the cow bin. Hackney’s park recycling bins were known as cow bins “for obvious reasons” and have now been scrapped entirely, because the contamination was so bad that sorting them wasn’t viable. Everything in a Hackney park bin now goes to general waste. Recycle responsibly, etc.

A heritage plaque honouring Newton Dunbar and the Four Aces Club, the Dalston nightclub he founded, is to be unveiled this month. The ceremony will take place at Hackney Archives, on the second floor of Dalston CLR James Library, at 2pm on Saturday 24 October, during Black History Month. Family members, friends and officials are expected to attend. Members of the public can reserve a free place through Eventbrite.

Vincent Stops at the Town Hall on Tuesday 22 September 2026. Image: Hackney Council The Hackney Green party’s pledge to divest the council’s pension fund from companies allegedly supporting genocide has been challenged, as council officers red-flagged the risk that the Green-led pensions committee will put the party’s manifesto before its legal duties.

Hackney Town Hall. Photograph: Hackney Council Hackney Council has pushed through controversial changes to social care charging in the borough despite widespread opposition and concerns over the impact on disabled residents. The local authority has officially scrapped its £250 per week cap on how much residents pay towards at-home care as of 7 September, 16 months after the policy was first mooted by the previous Labour administration.

Image: courtesy SelfMadeHero A lot happened in Mary Wollstonecraft’s 38 years. She navigated difficult family relationships, political upheaval, children born out of wedlock, and living in Paris during the Reign of Terror. Her 1792 book A Vindication of the Rights of Woman is still widely read, while her daughter Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is even more ingrained in popular culture. Lo! An Amazon! The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Mary Wollstonecraft, the new graphic novel from Mary M.

Russell Taysom’s artwork. Image: courtesy of the artist and Atom Gallery When we hear the word ‘wrestling’, we usually think of the frantic and flamboyant spectacle of WWE. For many Brits, however, wrestling was once a Saturday afternoon TV staple with the likes of Big Daddy, Giant Haystacks, Mick McManus and Kendo Nagasaki becoming household names in the ’70s.

Residents are cross about new fencing at West Reservoir blocking free views of the water. The official explanation, delivered with a straight face: the swimmers are concerned about people looking at them while they get in. Hackney: where you can’t even watch a man in a wetsuit without a planning application.

Fashion shoot at Brixton Market, 1973. Image: collection of Autograph, London / copyright Armet Francis “There is something deeply personal and historically resonant about Armet Francis’ archive coming to Autograph,” says Professor Mark Sealy OBE, director of the Hackney-based arts charity, which was recently gifted the photographer’s monumental archive of over 70,000 images.

Greg Hicks stars in The Master Builder. Photograph: Barry McCall Midway through the second week of rehearsals for Henrik Ibsen’s The Master Builder at the Arcola Theatre, Greg Hicks unburdens himself on the phone to the Hackney Citizen, likening the production to “really peeling one of the best onions in the world.” Pull back the skins and there’s further to go: “It’s the inside of Ibsen’s head, heart, soul.

Hackney’s ruling Greens do not have a whip. They have a convener. Entirely different thing. At full council, Labour’s Cllr Lucas asked the mayor whether the Green group has a whip. The mayor passed the question to deputy group leader Cllr Ülgen Semerci, who said the Greens don’t go in for whipping, which “relies on coercion and discipline”. Instead, Cllr George Sheldon Grün handles “cross-party discussions before full council sessions” and the other bits of council business that need a whip.