Hoxton (origin Hoc's farm) is an area of London (UK) in the London Borough of Hackney, immediately north of the financial district of the City of London. Formerly the home to furniture craftsmen and shoemakers, the industrial lofts and buildings were occupied by young artists in the early 1990s. Their presence gradually drew other creative people into the area (especially Internet design firms) so that by the turn of the century, Hoxton had become a vibrant arts and entertainment district boasting a large number of bars, nightclubs, restaurants, and art galleries. In this period, the new Hoxton residents could be identified by their obscurely fashionable (or "ironically" unfashionable) clothes and their hair (the so-called "Hoxton fin", as exemplified by Fran Healy of Travis).

Hoxton has long been the home of Hoxton Market, a once popular market that has declined over many years. It has lost its status to neighbouring markets such as Bethnal Green and Dalston. The area has recently become "yuppiefied" as a result of attempts at regeneration that have aroused hostility among some local residents. These projects have invested millions of pounds in new housing close to the City.

Although Hoxton and neighbouring Shoreditch were once seperate places, the two now have ill-defined borders and are often deliberately or unwittingly conflated into "Hoxton" or "Shoreditch", though the portmanteau word "Hoxditch" is also used. The confusion originates from prior to 1965 when both areas formed part of the Metropolitan Borough of Shoreditch and is compounded by some street signs in the area which still bear this name instead of the London Borough of Hackney which replaced it.

Hoxton (and Shoreditch) denizens have been satirised in the satirical magazine Shoreditch Twat, on the TVGoHome website, and in its sitcom incarnation Nathan Barley. In recent years, Shoreditch and Hoxton have been home to pop musicians Jarvis Cocker and Future Sound of London, fashion designer Alexander McQueen, and artists Tracey Emin, Gavin Turk, and Jake and Dinos Chapman. The focal point in the area is Hoxton Square, a small park bordered by industrial buildings, one of which was home to Dr James Parkinson, the 19th century physician who first diagnosed Parkinson's Disease.

As private developers moved in to cash in on the area's trendy image, property prices rose steeply. In response, the local council formed a not-for-profit corporation, Shoreditch Our Way (ShOW), to buy local buildings and lease them out as community facilities and housing.

Nearest places

• Shoreditch
• Haggerston
• Dalston
• Bethnal Green
• Islington
• Spitalfields

See also

• London art scene

External link

• Shoreditch Our Way