Stoke Newington History Talks 26

Join us for the 26th Stoke Newington History Talks event; an evening of three talks about Stoke Newington's history from different perspectives organised by local historian Amir Dotan (Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, X). To date, there have been 46 guest speakers and 75 talks since 2016, a testament to the area’s fascinating history.

The event will be held in St Matthias Halls, Wordsworth Road N16 8DD. Each talk is 25min followed by 5min Q&A. There'll be a 10min break between each talk and a bar with a selection of beer and wine.

Doors open no sooner than 7:00 PM to ensure the venue is prepared for your optimal experience.

As part of the evening, Jan Leybourne – a past speaker who documented the transformation of Stoke Newington Church Street through her hand-produced shopfront posters in the 1990s and 2000s – will be at the venue selling her now-iconic posters (£20 each or two for £30) and cards (£3 each or five for £10). Payment can be made by cash, PayPal or bank transfer.

Tickets are £7, with the proceeds going to charity. This time, proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to MamaSuze; an arts-based social-enterprise dedicated to inspiring refugee, asylum-seeking, and migrant women and children through creative workshops and support. This donation is made in memory of Annabel Rook, MamaSuze co-founder and much-loved local resident, whose life was tragically taken in June 2025. The last 18 events raised £11,364 for charitable causes (List of the charities available here).

Join the mailing list to know about upcoming Stoke Newington History Talks events.

A list of all the talks since 2016, with links to slides and recordings (recordings are available for most talks since 2020), is available here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-Xm-TN6VYCpS3XpVlD8q2pg4lUXhAB0IX5HJJmC6s4Q/edit?usp=sharing

Old shop signs sometimes come to light when modern fascias are stripped away, revealing the names of long-vanished businesses and often their proprietors, and offering a momentary glimpse of the past before they are covered again or discarded. Some are remarkably intact, others much eroded, but all bring a sense of sudden discovery. Their appearance can be very brief – sometimes only minutes before removal or being covered over – so spotting them in situ often depends on luck and timing. They reveal the craft of signwriters and preserve the names of long-vanished businesses that once shaped Stoke Newington’s commercial life. This talk explores examples uncovered in recent years across Stoke Newington, highlighting not only the variety of signage styles, but also the dramatic stories of some that were salvaged and saved in the nick of time.

Amir Dotan () has been deeply interested in the history of Stoke Newington since 2012. He shares his discoveries and local history content he creates on and . He started '' in 2016.

For almost 50 years the building we now know as EartH on Stoke Newington Road was one of the area’s numerous cinemas. Opened in 1936 as the beautiful art deco Savoy, by the time it closed in 1984 it was the shabby and short-lived Ace. Prior to its transformation into a music venue and arts centre the former picture palace was semi-derelict but just before its redevelopment in 2017 a box of relics was rescued, full of ephemera from the 1960s when the cinema was known as the ABC Stoke Newington. In this talk we’ll discover how the contents of that box sheds light on London's cinemas in a state of decline and look back at the cinema during its pre-war heyday.

Nigel Smith is a tour guide who specialises in the history of cinemas and cinema-going in London. His website Memory Palaces is telling the stories of 100 buildings in the capital that are or have been cinemas. Visit and find Nigel on Instagram

Factories filled with workers, children playing in the streets, and rows of bomb-damaged houses — this was everyday life in Hackney during the 1970s and 80s. Neil Martinson captured these moments in striking photographs that have become a unique record of a changing community. For the past six years he has returned to the area to document how fifty years of social and economic change have reshaped local life. In this talk he will focus on Stoke Newington, asking what has altered and what has endured. Where did people once work, what were the schools like, and how do these compare with today? His images provide a rare chance to see both the ordinary and the extraordinary details of local history, showing how streets, work, and everyday culture have shifted across generations.

Hackney historian Ken Worpole has said:“His images are powerful narratives that delve deep into the human experience, offering a raw, unfiltered look at the struggles, joys and resilience of the people of Hackney. He reveals in often surprising ways the profound changes that have taken place over half a century, and what remains.”

Neil Martinson was born and brought up in Stoke Newington. He began photographing life in Hackney in the 1970s and 80s, producing an extensive body of work that documented the area during a time of great change. Today he continues to explore these shifts through his camera, capturing how the neighbourhood and its communities have evolved.

• "Loved your street signs talk last night. In fact all the presenters were great. Thank you so much for your dedication and energy in setting these evenings up." (Graeme)
• "That was a wonderful evening last night. You said it would be special and it was. That chap James talking about electricity he is a star! How can anyone make substations sound interesting. Brilliant. And Mark was just great too. So relaxed and cool and calm. To think that Stokey looked like that at the time I was spending time there. I do not remember anything … we just used to go to the pubs and hear music. No cameras with us of course." (Rachel)
• "Thank you Amir for the wonderful talk tonight. It was all so interesting! Mark and James were great too so please pass on thanks to them for sharing. Look forward to the next one." (Amanda)
• "We thoroughly enjoyed your last gig, we were treated to so much information – too much for my aged brain to retain, so I’m looking forward to seeing the video of the event to refresh my memory." (Alan)
• "Many thanks again for an excellent event. You and your guests help us enjoy and appreciate our common local history and urban landscape in massively entertaining ways." (Julio)

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More videos are available here: https://www.youtube.com/@historyofstokey3342/videos

Event Venue

St Matthias Halls, Wordsworth Road, London, United Kingdom