Pages ofHackney

Eleanor Lowenthal opened Pages on Lower Clapton Road in 2008, when the strip still carried its Murder Mile nickname and no bookshop at all; the shop has outlived the nickname by a widening margin. The British Book Awards named it London's Independent Bookshop of the Year in 2018 with shortlistings scattered across the years either side, the stock leads with voices publishing tends to marginalise, and the events run hard — the basement hosted a live recording as recently as May 2026. A bookshop that arrived before the area's reputation improved, and did some of the improving.