On the border of Hackney and Islington, on the line where the two boroughs connect, lies Blackstock Road, arguably London’s most interesting street. A short walk from the Arsenal Emirates Stadium and home to all the food options and pubs you could ever need – from Kurdish naan bread at Baban’s Naan, to about a dozen sports pubs, and chilled reds at Top Cuvée – Blackstock Road is a magnetic field to tote bag hoarders, Paul Mescal dupes, Matty Matheson wannabes, and Arsenal fans alike.
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But it wasn’t always a cult food destination. The road once had the subterranean Hackney Brook – one of London’s lost rivers – flowing through it, and was a prime location for fishing. The river was built over in the 19th century, and Blackstock Road took the form it has today: a hub for local businesses like bookers, pharmacies, printers, pubs and even a tin box factory according to one blog. In the 20th century it became home to a range of migrant communities, including Algerian immigrants, who opened up shop at the top of the street and gave the area the moniker of Little Algiers.
It was also on this humble road that designer Gerald Holtom first introduced the peace sign. In 1958, Holtom created the symbol for the Aldermaston March to protest nuclear weapons, and presented it to the offices of Peace News magazine at 3 Blackstock Road. There’s a plaque commemorating this moment above Fish & Cook stationers today.
Photograph: Chris Bethell for Time Out
In 2020, right before the second Covid lockdown, I moved into a small flat above an off-licence on the Islington side of the road (the people across the street lived in Hackney, which always blew my mind). I spent my 24th year there. Despite the mould issues and the deteriorating ceiling of my flat, I do miss living on Blackstock Road.
The road is divided into three distinct sections: you start off at Finsbury Park, walk towards Arsenal and end up at Highbury. On the FP side you find your typical north London high street, busy with off-licences, halal butchers, caffs and pubs. The specialty coffee shops with bubble-fonted logos appear the closer you get to Highbury territory. You can also tell by the dog population. The nearer you get to the leafy borough, the more labradoodles and dachshunds you see. I lived bang in the middle, right across from Top Cuvée and FKA The Arsenal Tavern (it’s now called Brook Gate, which doesn’t have the same ring to it). I could tell you how the football was going just by the roars coming out of that pub. For me and my love of drinking pét nat and munching on sourdough, it was the spot to be: I was a stone’s throw away from Clissold Park and had an abundance of orange wine and pretentious IPAs on my doorstep. As the Top Cuvée totes started piling up in my kitchen, I knew I was fulfilling my destiny as a true BR resident.
Despite its orange wine-ification, Blackstock Road hasn’t abandoned its energetic and multicultural energy.
You could spend your entire life on Blackstock Road and not be bored. But if you had only one day, you could start it at Cinnamon Village for an English Breakfast or gözleme (excellent for hangovers), try Beam for a yummy-mummy brunch, or head to Abraço for a freshly roasted Ozone coffee. Also shoutout to the egg connoisseurs and breakfast cocktail makers at Sage Kitchen, just off on Mountgrove Road. Browse homeware and furniture at Gathering Moss and Eighty-Seven, or books at BookBar and House of Hodge. You could catch the match at Gunners’ (which also hosts live music FYI), grab a chill pint at prettier-than-thou pub The Woodbine, or sit in the twinkling beer garden at Bank of Friendship (my personal favourite).
Photograph: Chris Bethell for Time Out
You could woo your Hinge date at Top Cuvée or newly opened Giacco’s with wine and small plates. Gorge on the most insane Thai food – with ingredients flown straight out of Thailand – at Farang (just a block away at Highbury Park), Uyghur cuisine at Dilara, Ethiopian at Jojo’s Kitchen, or pick and choose from the four Italian restaurants the road has to offer. Or, you could spend the night in: grab some indie brewed tinnies from Arsenal Wines or a bottle of Chin Chin from Shop Cuvée, along with some overpriced ingredients from one of the many delis (choose your fighter: Nourished Communities, Cinnamon Village or Arsenal Food & Wine), and you’re sorted.
And the beauty of the area doesn’t stop on the perimeter of Blackstock Road. On the other side of Seven Sisters Road, you’ll find Finsbury Park’s famous bowling alley Rowans (it’s been there for over a century) and the whimsically built pub The Faltering Fullback. On the Highbury side, have a gander around the old Arsenal Stadium. Built in 1913, the Art Deco structure hosted the club throughout the 20th century, although it has now been converted into luxury flats. And RIP to the Sylvanian Families shop – located across from Top Cuvée and sadly closed in 2023 – a true neighbourhood treasure that will be forever missed.
Photograph: Chris Bethell for Time Out
I had to go back to N4 to write this piece. Now, within a spitting distance of the ripe old age of 30, I wanted to reminisce about my callow early 20s, see who had left and who was still there. Some things have changed. Finsbury Park has gained a few shiny chain restaurants – there is now a Taco Bell next to the station – but Blackstock Road is still loyal to its community. Because yes, you can get your £8 goat’s cheese at the organic shop, but right next door you’re still getting a £5 chicken nugget meal deal, courtesy of PFC (Perfect Fried Chicken). Despite its orange wine-ification, Blackstock Road hasn’t abandoned its energetic and multicultural energy. It celebrates its diverse offering through food, drink and buzzy local businesses, from cult barbers, to Algerian butchers, and that one red key shop. Everyone’s united through their love for Arsenal. And even though it has cultivated a small plates crowd worthy of a @real_housewives_of_clapton meme, that’s just another layer to its charm.