As its name suggests, this is the southern part of the inner London borough, bordering on increasingly fashionable areas at Hoxton and De Beauvoir town. But for the most part it is poor, ethnically mixed and working-class. The Kray family come from here - in Vallance Road. The borough of Hackney is the fourth most deprived in the country. Seventy per cent of properties are rented, of which half (35%) are in local authority ownership. There are also a significantly high proportion of single person households. Extensive regeneration programmes are now taking place in Hackney - with 15 tower blocks demolished and replaced with more traditional dwellings. A deliberate attempt has been made to use local labour. The old Hackney Empire music hall has undergone a multi-million pound refurbishment and re-opened at the beginning of 2004. The area is likely to improve still further when the East London line extension is completed. The MP here is Labour's Brian Sedgemore who has represented the constituency since 1983. He was previously MP for Luton West 1974-9 and sat on the Commons Treasury select committee from 1987-2001. He is standing down at this election.
