Hackney History Festival 2026
Hackney History Festival is back this May, bringing the borough’s rich and diverse past to life at venues across Hackney
Thomas J Price’s Windrush sculptures: Warm Shores
With more than 90 listings for this year’s Hackney History Festival, here are our highlights:
Talks on 9 May at Hackney Archives. All talks free.
10.30am: The Octagon Tie, 80s Activism and much more
Join the Archives team for talks about their collections, including 1980s activism in Hackney and the multi-ethnic women’s health project.
2.45pm: Well Settled: Archiving Vietnamese histories in Hackney
Learn how the An Viet Foundation offered essential support to Vietnamese refugees, growing into a vital community hub during its almost 40 years in existence.
5.15pm: Strike Songs Sing-along
Enjoy a knees-up led by Peter Jarvis from Shrubland Road TRA and Eric Segal whose grandfather was involved in the strike.
Talks on 10 May at Sutton House. All talks £3.
10am: A Quiet Roar — Untold stories of the Women of Sutton House
Romany Reagan explains how women have been at the centre of much of Sutton House’s fascinating 500-year history.
2pm: Hackney’s Squatters, punks and ravers
From Punk squats to free parties and raves, this is an alternative history to Hackney’s anarchist communities in Thatcher’s deindustrialised East London.
5pm: Sir James Drax of Hackney
The Drax family are unique as they still own the colonial sugar plantation in Barbados where their ancestors enslaved people for over 200 years.
Sutton House
Talks on 16 May at the Round Chapel. All talks £3.
10am: Hackney suffragettes
Katherine Connelly looks at how militant working-class suffragettes responded to the global upheavals of war and revolution, and how their radical democratic vision changed Hackney.
1pm: A history of the Hackney Design Awards
Matt Payne delves into the archives of the Hackney Design Awards to celebrate some of the borough’s best-loved buildings.
6.30pm: A History of Hackney in Sound and Vision
Enjoy a celebration of 100 years in Hackney through music, film and images, by Hackney Community Orchestra.
Talks on 17 May at Chats Palace. All talks £3.
12pm: Rock against Racism in Victoria Park
In 1978, 100,000 music fans walked from Trafalgar Square to Victoria Park to protest against the National Front and rejoice in the music of punk and reggae.
2pm: Secrets from the Savoy Cinema, Stoke Newington Road
For almost 50 years EartH was a Hackney cinema. Opened in 1936 as the Art Deco Savoy, by the time it closed in 1984 it was the shabby and short-lived Ace.
5pm: Capturing Hackney’s LGBTQ+ history
Sue Doe looks at Hackney’s LGBT+ history and opens it up for people to give their own recollections. From local councillor Maureen Colquhoun to Joanie Evans, who started Hackney Women’s Football Club.
Springfield House
All walks £3, unless stated otherwise.
3 May, 2pm: Hackney during the 1926 general strike
It’s been 100 years since a stormy period of working-class battles, and Hackney saw some notable events. See the sites of these struggles with Charlie Kimber.
6 & 20 May, 11am: Hackney Black History Quests
Uncover hidden Black heritage in Hackney through two self-guided walks. Explore Dalston and Hackney Central (6 May) and Stoke Newington (20 May).
23 May, 2pm: Discover the Springs of Springfield Park
Diana Clements will take people on a walk that will start and finish at Springfield House, where they’ll explore the geology beneath their feet.
31 May, 3pm: Hackney Squatting Walk
Join photographer Tom Hunter, who will guide people through Hackney Central, reliving stories from the 1980s and 90s.
Satellite events. Ticket price determined by venue
6 May, 2pm: Aziziye Mosque
A guided tour of the Aziziye Mosque in Stoke Newington, which was originally built in 1913-1914 as the Apollo Picture House. Free.
18 May, 11am & 20 May, 1pm: Hackney Town Hall Guided Tour
Join a Hackney councillor on a guided tour of the beautiful Art Deco Town Hall and learn all about the building’s heritage of local government. Free.
30 May, 2pm: Hackney Depot Tour
A guided tour of Hackney Depot, on the upper floor of Ash Grove Bus Garage. Opened in 1981, it is a notable example of 1980s functionalist transport architecture.
31 May, 2pm: Women from Hackney’s History
Watch a new film at Rio cinema, which brings to life 11 women from Hackney’s past whose stories are featured in ‘Women from Hackney’s History’, books 1 and 2.
Visit: hackneyhistoryfestival.org