Six reasons why you need to get to know Tottenham Hale

We know some cool people. Not many. But some. And you know what they wang on about all the time? How Tottenham Hale is about as good as it gets when it comes to going out. The biggie right now is Costa del Tottenham, a massive warehouse space (with outside aplenty, too) playing host to really good street food, quality DJs, pint-sized cocktails and a kitsch – in a good way! – tropical theme. It’s from the team behind The Cause, a monumentally good club opposite. And one more before we go: check out Five Miles Bar, a bar, club and brewery with some pretty serious programming, too. And a big sound system. A really big sound system. 

If there’s one thing we love here at Time Out, it’s London’s independent businesses. And boy are there some doozies up in Tottenham Hale. We mentioned world-class coffee earlier on and that’s exactly what you’ll get at Craving Coffee – a superb coffee shop-cum-bar-cum-club with quite possibly the best/strangest seats in London. They look like spines. There’s also an incredible little vegan cafe and deli, Loop, which has some seriously good bread (plus more excellent coffee), plus a relatively new Italian deli and cafe at the Engine Room called Table 13, which is really worth checking out. And finally? Hit up the great sellers at Tottenham Green Market, which takes place every second Sunday of the month (the pasteis de nata at Fala are banging).

Another thing we like? That sense of community that many of London’s best neighbourhoods have. It’s in spades around these here parts, and no we’re not just talking about the faithful hordes heading along to the Tottenham Hotspurs Stadium. (It’s the hope that kills you, right?) No, we’re talking about places like The Paddock, an eight-acre green space where local volunteers come together to work on conservation, wildlife surveying and educational bits for local schoolchildren. It’s pretty cool. We also really like Grow Tottenham, a 10,000 square-foot community garden being gradually transformed into a verdant wonderland by an army of volunteers. The Engine Room deserves a bit of a nod, too – it’s a church, community centre, nursery and cafe that does loads of stuff for the local community, especially for families. Seem like a lovely bunch.

And man is it good beer. For example, there are fewer better craft brewers in the world than Beavertown Brewery (watch out for those Lupuloids…) and you know where they’re from, right? Sure you do. Right in the heart of Tottenham Hale. A few doors down is Pressure Drop, which is slightly less well known but as any self-respecting beer hound knows, also up there with the best in the business. But it’s not just those guys – look over the Walthamstow Wetland (more about that below) and there’s Wild Card, Exale and Signature, too. Plus you can visit all of them… so when we can, we’re thinking taproom bar crawl. Lads lads lads. (Not really.)

What could be better than living in the heart of the city but having that total babe Mother Nature on your doorstep? That’s basically what you get here thanks to the lush Walthamstow Wetland which sits right on the western edges of Tottenham Hale, a mere waddle away. It’s home to 13 miles of walks where you can keep ‘em peeled for loads of cool wildlife like waterfowl, rare little toads and birds of prey. Plus! Fun fact: it’s the source of water for more than 3.5million people. Okay not that fun but it’s still a fact. And they’re important.

If you’re thinking ‘hey this place sounds pretty cool I might go there soon to see what all the fuss is about’, well, just think how cool it would be living there. And if you got the means that could totally be you. In some pretty sweet homes, too. You see, there are two ace developments in progress, Millstream Tower and Hale Works. These striking architectural marvels house a selection of one, two and three-bedroom apartments, available as part of Newlon Living’s Shared Ownership scheme. Find out more below but having a pad in this part of town sounds pretty damn dreamy.