Weekend Guides: Lea River and environs (Clapton, Hackney, Bethnal Green)

Weekend Guides: Lea River and environs (Clapton, Hackney, Bethnal Green)

26 September, 2008
by: Street Team

Did you know that in the Spoonfed office we have people from all over the place, even Wimbledon, Chiswick and so on? It that kind of workplace diversity that makes us think, maybe people would like some tips about more easterly regions. And no, for the purposes of this guide that doesn’t include Brick Lane. If that’s what you need to know about, your 16-year-old cousin will totally fill you in.

We thought about recommending Dalston. You could have had a fleeting sense of satisfaction from seeing Ridley Road market and Fassett Square, both of which inspired the Eastenders set. You might have attended a sort-of fun but too fashion-y party at Visions Video Bar, or some other dive that allegedly helps make the area the post-Shoreditch Shoreditch.

Instead we’ve devised something much better: a manageable (maybe slightly bracing) walk based around London’s historic waterways and some decent pub and club action. Highlights, in our opinion, include marshes, a Victorian water purification system and some interesting geological features. Yes! Our kind of stuff! This will work any time, but we’ve picked out some specific events you can enjoy on the weekend of publication.

The tour starts at Springfield Park, bordered by the River Lea on one side, Clapton Road on the other, and seemingly one of London’s underrated recreational areas (probably because it’s in Upper Clapton). It’s got free tennis courts, it’s got topiary, it’s got a unique sand and gravel floodplain that eroded the London clay in the last ice age. The gravel allows rare species of plants to grow – look out for handy signage, it tells all about it.

What you probably need to focus on, however, is the Spark Café, in an old Georgian mansion. We should warn that the breakfasts are grilled, an unconventional style that might upset some people – at least until the food comes, because it’s one fine grill-up. Most of us eat the strange sausage usually found in cafés – with his flushed complexion and the hyperreal sheen of his Airstream skin – but how much safer it feels in the hands of the brown-cheeked bangers-next-door served by the Spark.

Had enough beans, and tea and stuff? Head down to the riverbank and walk south. (That means go downhill and turn right.) Maybe take some time to appreciate the swans, the houseboats and the desolate but grimly comforting view of Walthamstow marshes across the river, part of the Lea Valley nature reserve. If you need a beer already, shame on you, but the next point of interest will be the cosy, riverside Anchor & Hope. Following the Lea’s course, you’ll pass under the eponymous bridge. Aficionados of ‘acid house’ or ‘rave’ may like to detour along the road in order to pay respects at the dilapidated Greyhound pub. The tunnels underneath, known back in the day as The Dungeons, used to be among the most infamous of places in which to lose your cool, all thanks to the Vicks of course.

Under the bridge, the waterway becomes the River Lee Navigation, with the original course deviating east into deep Hackney marshland. (Don’t write in about the spelling, thanks.) If you’ve ever wondered how the Victorians combated cholera – face it, most of us have at some point – then have a look at the Middlesex Filter Beds, now a nature reserve popular with snipe, whatever they are.

You’re now on the edge of what will become the Olympic Park by 2012 (apparently). You can’t see anything, thanks to the bright blue ‘Olympic wall’, but it is decorated with some fun ways of expressing discontent. After a while you’ll come to the next waypoint, where we meet the Hertford Union Canal, connecting the Lee Navigation with Regent’s canal to the west and taking you to Victoria Park. You’ll take a sharp right along the HUC to stay with us, but first you should probably walk on for a minute and check out the old Big Breakfast House. Yeah, no kidding, with the tropical backdrop in the garden and everything!

So after taking a moment to remember Chris Evans’ career, walk through or alongside the East End’s biggest park – sorry about that, you’ll make it – to Hackney. At the moment we’re recommending people visit Michael Portnoy's 'Lend a Polt in the Put' exhibition, at IBID on Vyner Street, or the Richard Ducker show at the Gone Tomorrow Gallery nearby.

OK, it must be pub time by now. Our plan for you goes thus: walk down to Bethnal Green tube and find the area’s finest establishment, The Camel on Globe Road. It’s friendly, it’s kind of old fashioned – but nice inside – and both the beer and the food are really good. Don’t just go to Broadway Market, even though it’s close. The people in the pubs are both younger than you,and have more money, the pie, mash and eel shop is totally authentic and totally revolting, and the whole place has been tarted up more than a cheap Shacklewell Lane whore.

The other thing is, just along Bethnal Green Road is newish music pub The Star of Bethnal Green, for afterwards. This Saturday (25 October) is a particularly good night to go, with fascinating Glasgow band Errors playing at Living In A Disco.

Now that’s a day out and a half, and if you say it’s not, you’re a liar. Click here to see a map of the whole excursion.

Street Team