HACKNEY, LONDON

Meet Charlie Barker – London local and girl about town. Her sartorial sense of style and artistic flair embodies the spirit of rock ‘n’ roll. Follow her as she takes us to her favourite Hackney spots.

The MOTH is a great place to catch feral amplified rock musicians, as a recent programme of gigs by the likes of Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, Terminal Cheesecake, Japanese psych maestros Bo Ningen, and punk icon Lydia Lunch attests.

Paper Dress Vintage is no ordinary vintage shop, but a space that doubles up as a bar and music venue. First opened in Shoreditch eleven years ago, Paper Dress moved up Mare Street to open in its current location in 2015.

Shacklewell Arms is an odd sort of place to watch bands. Drummers are often hidden away in one of the arches at the back of the room, and the sound crew seem to operate from a sort of cage, but that seems to add to the often intense atmosphere.

The inside of the newest venue in Hackney is a stunning contrast of a beautiful old interior and the latest in live music technology. EartH is the former Savoy Cinema, which opened in 1936 but sat derelict for four decades above a Turkish snooker hall.

Gillett Square must be one of the most musically diverse open space in London - there are Rastafarian Nyabinghi drumming workshops, community music festivals and open mic events.

Many moons ago, in the distant time before Shoreditch became one of London’s essential nightlife destinations, one of the few places you could get a drink among the knackered warehouses and dingy shops was Jaguar Shoes.

You can tell a lot about the musical health of an area by how many record shops there are. They’ve always been at the core of local music scenes, places where artists and fans alike can meet, hang out, seek and discuss new music.