Hackney has launched an interactive map built around a simple idea: going out at night should be both fun and safe. Designed by studio Igloo as part of the council's Hackney Nights campaign, the tool maps the borough's pubs, clubs, grassroots music venues and cultural spaces — but only those accredited by the council for safety standards and inclusive policies. That means you can check whether a venue has wheelchair access before you head out, and trust that the listed opening and closing times are accurate.
The practical detail goes beyond the venues themselves. The map also plots the unglamorous things that make or break a night out: public toilets, fresh drinking water refill points, phone charging spots, cycle paths and which bus routes are actually still running. QR codes displayed in venues around the borough — plus keyrings the council is handing out — take you straight to the map, which is also linked from the Hackney Nights website.
The map sits inside a broader programme the council has been running since 2019. So far it has trained 4,400 nightlife hospitality workers in safeguarding practices, and over the coming year Hackney will review how it licenses night-time venues, revisit planning and noise rules, and publish a Cultural Strategy backing the people who work in the night economy.
The timing isn't accidental. UK hospitality is still recovering from COVID-19, and venues are closing at a worrying rate — squeezed by shifting habits, buildings converted to housing, and noise complaints that push councils toward shutting them down. Hackney has felt it directly: Dalston club Dance Tunnel closed in 2016 after noise rules forced a 3am finish, and the BBE Store record shop and the Lord Napier Star pub remain under threat from complaints. The response elsewhere has been the "agent of change" principle, which makes developers of new homes near existing venues soundproof their build rather than forcing the venue to adapt. It has saved icons like London's Ministry of Sound and Manchester's Night and Day café after long disputes.
There's a safety thread running through all of this too, alongside recent high-profile cases of young people dying after nights out. For anyone heading to east London for an evening — whether for a warehouse night in Dalston, a gig at a small venue, or a few pubs along the canals — the map is a genuinely useful bit of trip prep: find accessible venues, plan your route home, and know where to fill a water bottle at midnight. For travellers, it's a snapshot of how a borough is actively trying to keep its nightlife alive rather than letting it fade out.
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