The Best Nightlife in Hackney Wick: A Local’s Guide to East London’s Late-Night Playground
Nightlife in Hackney Wick
By the Islington Local Guide editorial team. Last updated May 2026.
Hackney Wick after dark is one of those rare London experiences that still feels like a secret, even though it stopped being one years ago. Cross the canal from our patch in Islington and Clerkenwell — twenty minutes on the Overground from Highbury & Islington — and you land in a different kind of night out entirely: warehouses with unmarked doors, brewery taprooms that spill onto the towpath, and clubs where the bass travels through corrugated iron before you’ve even found the entrance.
We’ve spent enough evenings working our way around the Wick to have opinions, and this guide is the result. No tourist-board gloss, no venues we haven’t actually been to. Here’s where to drink, dance and stay out late in Hackney Wick.
What is Nightlife in Hackney Wick known for?
Hackney Wick is known for warehouse clubs, canalside brewery taprooms and a tight cluster of bars within a few minutes’ walk of Hackney Wick Overground station. The area’s industrial-estate roots mean nightlife happens in converted factory units and along the River Lea towpath rather than on a conventional high street, with a scene that leans heavily into independent breweries, electronic music and a creative, come-as-you-are crowd.
Most venues sit inside or near the so-called Hackney “Horseshoe,” a curl of drinking and dancing spots that wraps around the station — which makes a bar-to-club crawl genuinely walkable.
That walkability is the thing to understand before you go. You don’t plan a night in Hackney Wick around a single venue. You plan a route.
Start with the breweries
The Wick’s reputation was built on beer, and the taprooms are still the most reliable place to begin an evening — low-stakes, generous outdoor space, and an easy first pint before things get loud.
Howling Hops Tank Bar is the one we send people to first. It claims to be the UK’s first tank bar, and the row of steel fermentation tanks behind the counter isn’t decoration — your pint is poured tank-fresh from the source. The space works like a stripped-back German beer hall: long communal tables, industrial ceilings, a rotating board of hop-forward beers alongside sours and darker pours. It’s a few minutes from the station on the edge of the Olympic Park, and on a busy Friday the energy builds nicely as the evening goes on.
CRATE Brewery is the other cornerstone, and arguably the most photographed spot in the Wick for good reason — it sits right on the canal, with picnic benches that fill up fast the moment the weather turns. CRATE brews on site and runs an inventive board of limited-edition beers, but the sleeper hit is the stone-baked pizza, which goes well beyond the usual (we have a soft spot for the more eccentric combinations). It’s a daytime-into-evening place rather than a late one, so treat it as a strong opening act.
Two More Years, over on Roach Road on Fish Island, is our pick when we want the waterside deck specifically. The beer range is genuinely interesting — plenty of smaller, independent breweries on tap rather than the predictable craft giants — and the sustainable, organic-leaning ethos extends to the wine list and the food. The terrace is the whole point; get there before it’s claimed.
For the widest selection, Beer Merchants Tap is a laid-back craft beer bar and bottle shop with arguably the deepest range in the Wick, plus a respectable spirits list if someone in your group has drifted off beer.
The bars: where the night actually turns
Breweries get you started. These are the venues that carry an evening into proper night-out territory.
The Lord Napier Star is the closest thing Hackney Wick has to a definitive pub, and its history reads like a potted biography of the entire neighbourhood: old boozer, then rave squat, then artist landmark, now a smartly run pub under the Electric Star group. The exterior is worth a pause — modern artwork layered over the original green tiles, with some of the most photographed graffiti in the area wrapping the building. Inside, it’s handsome and busy, and it sits right on the Horseshoe under the railway bridge, which makes it a natural pivot point on any crawl.
Next door, HWK does a clever double shift — airy café by day, cocktail bar by night, open until midnight. The espresso martinis have a quiet reputation among people who take that drink seriously, and the room tips toward dancing as the night gets later without ever pretending to be a club.
All My Friends, from the team behind the long-running DIY party crew The Cause, has quickly become one of the Wick’s go-to spots. Vinyl-lined walls, a vintage sound system and a serious approach to both the cocktail list and the music — there’s house craft beer and natural wine in the mix too, and pizza if you need ballast. It’s the venue we’d point a music-led group toward before midnight.
Number 90 (also written No.90) is a Hackney Wick institution and one of the most flexible venues in the area. By day it’s a relaxed canalside restaurant and bar with a heated, covered terrace over the water; by night the warehouse turns into a music-first space with DJ sets, themed nights and art installations. The building’s former life as a dye-cutting factory shows in the spray-painted murals and double-height ceilings. It’s the smoothest bar-to-club transition in the Wick, because you barely have to move.
For something with a games-arcade streak, Four Quarters East pairs a strong craft beer list with old-school arcade cabinets — Pac-Man and the like — which makes it a good mid-crawl reset when the group needs a change of pace without losing momentum.
The clubs: where you stay out late- Nightlife in Hackney Wick
This is the part of the night Hackney Wick is genuinely famous for, and it’s worth being precise about the venues, because the names have shifted in the last couple of years.
Number 90’s club spaces are the easiest entry point into the late scene. The site has expanded into a multi-room operation — interconnected warehouse rooms (one set rebranded after a sound-system and decor overhaul), a canal boat fitted with a bar and DJ decks, and the big covered canalside terrace tying it all together. Founded back in 2014 by local promoters, it runs a serious year-round electronic programme and has the rare quality of working equally well at 9pm and 2am.
Colour Factory, in Queen’s Yard, is Hackney Wick’s most committed dedicated nightclub — a multi-room electronic music and live venue with an intimate upstairs loft space that hosts all-night house and techno line-ups. It’s openly inclusive in its programming and crowd, and it’s the place to go when you want an actual club night rather than a bar that drifts into one.
It’s also worth knowing the Wick is a regular host for The Cause, the roving techno and house operation known for long, day-into-night events and a non-corporate ethos. The Cause doesn’t have a single permanent address in the way the others do, so the move is to check their listings before you commit to a date — when they’re in Hackney Wick, the night plans itself.
A note from experience: the strongest Hackney Wick nights are not single-venue. The classic route is a brewery while it’s light, a bar like the Lord Napier or All My Friends as it gets dark, then Number 90 or Colour Factory to finish. The whole circuit is walkable, which is the entire reason the area works the way it does.
How to do a Hackney Wick night out: a local’s running order
• 6–8pm — Open at a brewery. CRATE or Two More Years if you want the canal and the daylight; Howling Hops if you’d rather be set up indoors for a longer session.
• 8–11pm — Move to a bar. The Lord Napier Star for a pub anchor, All My Friends or HWK if the group is leaning toward music and cocktails.
• 11pm–late — Commit to a club. Number 90 for the seamless option, Colour Factory for a proper club night, The Cause if their calendar lines up.
• Throughout — Walk it. Everything above sits within roughly ten minutes of Hackney Wick station. Build the route, not the itinerary.
Practical notes
Getting there from Islington and central London: Hackney Wick is on the London Overground. From Highbury & Islington it’s a short, direct hop; from much of central London you’re changing once at most. The station sits in the middle of the nightlife cluster, which makes it easy arriving and — crucially — easy leaving.
Getting home: The Overground stops running in the small hours, so for a genuinely late night, plan a taxi or night bus in advance rather than hoping at 2am. It’s an industrial pocket of East London; the well-trodden routes around the station and canal are busy and well-used at night, but it’s worth keeping to them and travelling with company on the walk back, as you would anywhere similar.
Booking: Brewery taprooms and pubs are largely walk-in. Club nights at Colour Factory, Number 90 and especially anything run by The Cause frequently sell advance tickets and do sell out — check listings before you travel rather than turning up cold.
When to go: Thursday through Saturday is when the full circuit is live. The canalside terraces are a summer pleasure specifically; in winter the night moves indoors, and the covered, heated terraces at Number 90 become a real asset.
Frequently asked questions
Is Hackney Wick good for a night out?
Yes — it’s one of East London’s strongest areas for a varied night, particularly if you like independent breweries and electronic music. Its defining feature is that bars, taprooms and clubs are clustered within a short walk of each other, so a single evening can move from a canalside pint to a late warehouse club without a cab in between.
What’s the difference between Hackney Wick bars and clubs?
The breweries (Howling Hops, CRATE, Two More Years) and bars (Lord Napier Star, HWK, All My Friends) are best for the earlier and mid part of the evening — drinking, eating, building up the night. The dedicated clubs (Colour Factory, Number 90’s club rooms, and The Cause’s pop-up events) are where the late, dance-led part happens, typically with advance tickets.
Do you need to book Hackney Wick venues in advance?
Generally no for breweries and pubs, which are walk-in. Yes for club nights — Colour Factory, Number 90 and The Cause events often sell tickets ahead and can sell out, so check before you travel.
How do you get to Hackney Wick at night?
The London Overground serves Hackney Wick directly and the station is in the heart of the nightlife area. For late finishes, arrange onward transport in advance, as the Overground stops in the early hours.
Is Hackney Wick walkable for a bar crawl?
Very. Almost every venue in this guide is within roughly ten minutes of Hackney Wick station, clustered around the “Horseshoe” by the canal. The walkability is the single biggest reason the area works as a nightlife destination.
Islington Local Guide covers what’s on across North and East London — from our home patch in Islington, Angel and Clerkenwell out to Hackney, Hackney Wick and Shoreditch. We visit the places we write about. Spotted something we’ve missed, or a venue that’s changed? Tell us — this guide is updated as the Wick evolves.
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