Nike and MatchesFashion.com join Hackney Walk, a new fashion district in east London
Move over Bond Street, luxury retailers are flocking eastwards to grab themselves a slice of hipster cool.
Big name brands like Nike and fashion website MatchesFashion.com announced they’re opening up in the heart of Hackney last week at the topping out ceremony for a new retail district called Hackney Walk.
Located on Morning Lane, it’s equidistant from Hackney Central and Homerton Overground stations and developers hope high profile names will drag shoppers away from the West End.
Nike will be opening its new 16,000sqft store alongside names like Burberry, Christopher Kane and Anya Hinmarch and a host of independent cafes and eateries.
Alistair Maddox, the curator of Broadway Market for the last nine years, will open a cafe, restaurant and cocktail bar, while chef Magnus Reid – know for Cream in Shoreditch – will open his second restaurant Legs on site this month.
An aerial CGI of the Hackney Walk development
Architects at David Adjaye Associates have been the first to unveil their work, 12 retail spaces crafted out of Victorian railway arches, while two larger units are being developed by Manhattan Loft Corporation, which is also building a landmark residential tower and hotel in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford.
Three more architects – Waugh Thistleton, Pringle Richards Sharratt and Studio Egret West – have also signed up, but there’ll be an overriding theme of industrial chic throughout, with plenty of exposed brick, bronze metal work, glass and polished steel.
“I believe that Hackney Walk will play a major role in the continued innovation and growth of the UK’s fashion and fashion retail industry and most importantly, in keeping Hackney at the forefront of the industry. Hackney is fashion,” says executive chairman and founder Jack Basrawy.
The project is a joint enterprise between Hackney Walk Holdings and ICG-Longbow with support from Hackney Council, Network Rail and City Hall.