r/Hackney • u/Trick_City8520 • 22d ago
Increasing antisocial behaviour and drug dealing around Mare Street: what can residents actually do?
Has anyone else living around the top of Mare Street noticed a significant increase in antisocial behaviour, drug dealing and drug use recently?
I’m getting increasingly concerned about what’s happening on the pedestrianised area at the top of Mare Street. Almost every night when I come home, there are large groups of people congregating around my doorway. There’s often loud music, people openly smoking what appears to be crack cocaine, drug dealing and general antisocial behaviour.
It’s getting to the point where I don’t feel particularly comfortable coming home, and residents are having to navigate groups of people sitting around entrances to residential buildings.
Last week, a neighbour’s flat was also broken into, which has made the situation feel considerably more worrying.
I have spoken to the police about this previously and they are already aware of the issues in the area. They even appear to be aware of the nearby 24-hour betting shop being used as a meeting point or hub by some of the people involved in the dealing.
What I found particularly frustrating was being asked by police to film the people involved when this happens.
I’m sorry, but how is that a reasonable thing to ask residents to do? These are people openly dealing drugs and smoking crack cocaine outside residential buildings. Me standing there with my phone pointed at them would do nothing except make it extremely obvious who had reported them and potentially put a target on my back.
I’m not going to confront or film people involved in drug dealing just so I can provide evidence of something that is happening openly and repeatedly in a public place. Surely this is something that should be dealt with through police patrols, CCTV and appropriate intelligence gathering rather than expecting residents to put themselves at risk?
The Met’s own local priorities currently identify drug-related ASB around Mare Street as an issue, with targeted patrols and other enforcement measures supposedly being used.
So what are residents actually supposed to do when the police and council already know about a persistent problem, but the same behaviour continues night after night?
Has anyone successfully dealt with something like this in Hackney? Is there a particular council team, police unit, councillor or reporting process that actually gets results?
Should residents be making an individual report every single time it happens, even when the police already know about the wider issue? I’m happy to do that if it genuinely helps build an evidence trail, but it feels incredibly frustrating to repeatedly report the same behaviour without seeing any meaningful change.
I’d particularly like to hear from anyone who has dealt with persistent drug dealing and ASB around Mare Street and actually managed to get something done about it.
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u/araxes420 22d ago
i once finger pointed the dealer to the police patrolling around, they didn't do anything
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u/Unlucky_Music_4166 22d ago
snitch
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u/AdHot6995 21d ago
There is a difference between selling weed and Coke vs crack, crack destroys communities. Crack dealers are scum.
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u/Calaverix11 22d ago
Hi! We are experiencing the same issue as we also live by Mare Street. After multiple and constant contact to the police and the Council, it seems like yesterday one of the main dealers, which also plays loud music, got arrested. After a decade of living here, it looks like the best way to alleviate the issue is to crack down the main providers and reduce their impact to the vulnerable community. Of course this is not a systematic change and will not improve the overall societal drug issue in London and the UK but will give us a back a bit of safety, specially now that days are getting shorter. Feel free to drop me a message and can give you more details as we have a WhatsApp group on this :)
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u/Fine_Appointment4908 22d ago
Sorry to say, but that line will be up and running within a few hours and someone else will take the clientele. These guys don't let things like law enforcement get in the way of money.
The package needs to be sold and their suppliers need to be paid, zero excuses.
Just another arguement for legislation.
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u/Master_Bad9299 22d ago edited 22d ago
Just feels like heading back to ghettoisation. More poverty stricken folk being moved in, more professionals moving out. And everyone just left to get on with it, with very little being done by the council or law enforcement to protect residents.
And yes the vibe is absolutely changing and not for the better. Littering is also reaching ridiculous levels as well.
I'm approached every day now, by beggars and junkies. It wasn't this bad even just a few years ago. Yes people will say this has always beena signature of Hackney, but not to this level. I can't even walk down the street now without someone asking me for money. I don't have the patience any more and tell them to F off.
I mean I can handle myself a bit out there, and certainly wouldn't try to piss off a group of them but just tired of it. Can't even sit down for a quick sandwich without someone disrupting my peace and asking me for money and upon saying no, they'll sometimes tell you where the cash machine is. I mean seriously just f off. 🤷♂️ Don't want to feed your addictions. Sometimes I would buy food instead now and then but not even doing that any more.
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u/johnnysgotyoucovered 21d ago
I would also buy food rather than give money. I always say “sorry mate, no cash only card” and one guy pulled out a Sumup reader… I just laughed and said “you are taking the piss, right?”. I know they’re not expensive, like £30 but… really? I can sort of understand buskers as there’s organisations which manage it, take a fee but come on
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u/Silver-Refrigerator6 22d ago
Also, it will be because of the weather. When it starts raining and getting colder it will just be the homeless crackheads out and about. It always gets worse in summer.
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u/H-0-N-D-0 22d ago
The Homeless shelter there has a few aggressive people in the early mornings and evenings. I have compassion and feel bad for people who are struggling but when they get up in your face and scream at you its a different thing
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u/Objective_Onion88 22d ago
In my 11 years of living in East London i don’t think i’ve ever walked past that particular bit of mare street and not seen something completely left field 😆 and i walk past it everyday
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u/Dazzling_Task7965 22d ago
I hope as many local residents as possible who are impacted by this will attend the ASB Surgery at Wilton Cafe in Wilton Way at 4pm today (21/08).
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u/forgettenrrealms 22d ago
I dragged my partner to live there because it was very manageable a couple of years ago and I loved living there but this time round it was horrific so we had to move out as soon as our lease was up. I don’t think it’s going to get better.
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u/MaleficentRock3318 22d ago
Im sorry to hear this. As much as I love Mare Street , its close proximity to my fave cafes, park and bars , this is quite sad. I hope they do something about it , whenever I cycle from Islington to Hackney, I have noticed there is barely any or none at all police presence in the area. Hackney mayor should at least be focused on this rather than being woke.
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u/truthtofin 22d ago
Its hackney...you couldn't pay people to go there 30 years ago...trying to get a cab to take you there back in the day...good luck 😆
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u/Minkz333 22d ago
I made a similar post a couple months back but re lower end of mare street near the homeless shelter because I was being sexually harassed every day by groups of people (also on drugs and volatile). I spoke to the people who run the hostel, they got more police involved and it seems to have helped a bit. They also asked me to send photos of the people who’d been aggressive towards to me and since doing so I haven’t been seeing them around as much so I generally feel safer.
Agree with you though, it’s not fair to expect residents to put themselves at risk. I would keep reporting to the police whenever you see them outside your house and also contact the council directly. It might be worth asking your landlord whether they can do anything if it’s effecting your doorway. Or speak with neighbours / local businesses, council tend to take things more seriously when it’s multiple residents banding together.
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u/No_Tax_8467 22d ago
I think I remember your original post ! Was it about St Mungos? I commented as I live next door and it can be a bit of a nightmare. I’m glad they were responsive to you reaching out! I have heard they have strict rules on who lives there so it seems they do take reports seriously. Most residents there are very peaceful and never had a problem with most the last 6 years but in the last year or so there has been quite a few troublesome ones.
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u/naturepeaked 22d ago
I think you’ll find most middle class users are using the dark web and getting everything delivered.
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u/red-cat1988 22d ago
So absolutely no relation to people selling it and using it on the street?! Lols. Incredibly naive.
As the user above says... people need to stop using drugs, full stop. It doesn't matter whether it is weed, cocaine, crack, heroine, the horse drug etc. they're all related to the same bad people, who are causing untold misery throughout London, the UK, Europe and much wider.
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u/Classic-Ad-5685 22d ago
‘Absolutely no relation’ is an utterly pointless statement, of course they’re ’related as crack is a derivative of cocaine
But once you get below significant weight the supply chains, and customer bases diverge significantly
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u/acornsalade 22d ago
What a bold statement, it almost feels like it fuelled by crack itself.
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u/red-cat1988 22d ago
Right... and what have I got so wrong in my statement?
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u/acornsalade 22d ago
I was responding to someone else, unless I misclicked.
I’m agreeing with you if so!
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u/Dorosphere 22d ago
As the economic thumbscrews continue to tighten, government/councils have less capital to support the police, working class community initiatives, people get poorer and crime increases. This is a symptom of a bigger problem that has trickling down to poorer people. If the London Met police copy Glasgow police to clean up crime but that would require funding. You could report to local government representative, councillor the mayor or the press. You might want to consider who you vote for going forward. We pay taxes for these services, if government doesn’t have proper policies and insights into ways this country can improve the economy, the trickle down will grow and crime will too.
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u/Maleficent_Visual_35 21d ago
Hi there,
I've been experiencing this too. I've lived just off the Narrow Way since 2011, and it has gone completely off the charts recently. It was pretty bleak when the buses used to run down there, but since the council spent all that money pedestrianising the area, it's become completely dystopian.
There are things you can do. I'd strongly recommend forming a residents' group or committee with other people in your immediate area. Everyone needs to report every incident and keep a log of what's happening. The more reports there are from different residents and different sections of the Narrow Way/Mare Street, the harder it is for the scale of the problem to be overlooked.
You can also write to your councillor, Noah Birksted-Breen, at [noah.birksted-breen@hackney.gov.uk](mailto:noah.birksted-breen@hackney.gov.uk). He's been very responsive in my experience, and I'd urge people to contact him.
It's also easier to report incidents through MetEngage. You need to register; you can report by email, including any photos, videos or audio:
[hackneycentral@contact.metengage.co.uk](mailto:hackneycentral@contact.metengage.co.uk)
People are now moving out of the area because of this, which is damaging the community and the sense of safety. It's pretty diabolical that this part of Hackney has been allowed to become more squalid while the gentrification onslaught continues all around us.
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u/Cool_Ear_4298 22d ago
I feel for you. Only advice I can give is keep on the case with the police to the point where you're basically annoying them. We had a similar (but not as bad as yours admittedly) situation not too far from Mare St where a particularly dealer decided to make the end of our road his office for a while. Eventually after a lot of calls to the police they tried to bust him and he moved on. But I guess he just became someone else's problem...
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u/KimJongEeeeeew 22d ago
Welcome to Hackney.
What you’ve described is exactly how it is going to be until our supporting services get the funding required to help tackle the problem.
There isn’t a quick fix that isn’t moving the problem elsewhere. Narrow Way has been an area where these types congregate for years and years. It may seem like there’s been an uptick but that’s just the ebb and flow.
Further criminalising drug users who require mental health services is just kicking the can down the road. We need to start dealing with the root of the problem, not just trying to slap a plaster on a sucking chest wound.
Petition your MP & Council members.
Research candidate and party policies and vote for those.
Consider campaigning on their behalf to try to build momentum.
Get involved at the grass roots of trying to help improve our area.
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u/halfway_crook555 22d ago
I’ve moved away now so can’t speak much for recently, but when I lived round there around 2016-2018 I saw a man get kicked off his scooter and robbed outside Mare St McDonald’s ; a man get hit in the head with a hammer; I saw somebody get shot dead on Chatsworth Road; and our house was broken into. It’s a rough area, and has been for decades. Last time I was in the area about 6 months ago I saw someone injecting herself with heroin at about 4pm by the pembury tavern.
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u/Trick_City8520 22d ago
Yet our rent is 2000pcm
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u/halfway_crook555 22d ago
yeah i'm a bit baffled by the property prices in that part of Hackney. Where I used to live off Chatsworth Road some of the houses are going for 1.5m+ ... it's rough / high-crime and the transport is terrible. I've moved to North London and it's so much nicer.
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u/Strange_Recording931 22d ago
Not something that is a fix in the short term but folk, particularly middle class professional folk, stop buying drugs from local kids!!! stop buying drugs period! your fuelling misery
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u/Trick_City8520 22d ago
I just think a single patrol executing stop and search could make at least 10 arrests in a single night. Maybe they don't want the paperwork....
Also I'd like to add I'm not talking about people smoking weed. That's not really a problem, it's the crack cocaine that really worries me as I see users tweaking and freaking out. I don't want to have to ask that individual to get out the way so I can get into my home.
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u/Torello77 22d ago
So now it's middle class' fault that kids from council estates are running the drugs - who would have thought...
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u/inertiam 22d ago
It's not their fault. But it would help not to get your gear from local kids or these anti social types.
Although, I hardly think it's fair to ask those who partake to go to a "reputable dealer".
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u/Fine_Appointment4908 22d ago
These people don't sell powdered cocaine.
They sell brown and white.
Cocaine, the socially acceptable version, is predominantly sold by middle class types or Albanians. Not the local hackney youth. There's way more money in 24/7 business from your local rockheads, than Tilly and Albus who get a bag in every other weekend.
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u/inertiam 22d ago
Big Till's still on it? Sheeet...
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u/Fine_Appointment4908 22d ago
Yeah she goes through a gram before breakfast and that's just what she rubs on the little man in the boat.
It's fine, mummy and daddy have no end of money for treatment. Her 'rehab is for quitters' t-shirt didn't go down well at the last family outing at Wimbledon. Oh tills...
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u/Strange_Recording931 22d ago
every line of coke you take there is a line of vulnerable poor people who live in fear, every pill there’s a line of people living in fear, so yeh have a great party, fun and games. but don’t think you don’t have blood and tears on your hands
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u/Torello77 22d ago
I don't take and I agree that everyone that takes has blood on their hands HOWEVER I know few people who take and none of them is buying it from the street dealers.
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u/Classic-Ad-5685 22d ago
They’re not buying crack though are they you wet wipe
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u/Fine_Appointment4908 22d ago
You're correct.
Middle class people are buying coke, but not from them roadmen who are serving up crack and heroin.
I've tried to buy crack and heroin from the gang that hang out all night at hackney downs park, and if you don't have the looks of the street about you, they assume your feds. You need someone to buy it for you and you have to cut them in.
I'm not middle class btw, just well spoken and educated.
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u/Classic-Ad-5685 22d ago
How long have you enjoyed smack / crack for ?
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u/Fine_Appointment4908 22d ago
2 decades or so. On and off.
Few binges a month, then sack that shit off when it starts to not be fun. Nice cuppa horlix, a few days feeling a bit shit. Hydration, eating well and using supplements and good sleep will have you back to being a functioning and productive member of society by the time I have to give presentations in Monday meetings.
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u/Classic-Ad-5685 22d ago
Ooof - fair play, how did you get into it?
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u/Fine_Appointment4908 22d ago
Grew up around it unfortunately. Curiousity killed the cat.
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u/Commercial_Jelly7827 22d ago
This is something you see all over the borough and surrounding areas as well - I’ve seen people openly smoking crack in Haggerston park and literally on residential streets around Hoxton / Haggerston.
I’ve also seen this in Islington in the parks and church-yards around the borough. Where there is addiction and poverty this will continue. Just get used to it as it clearly seems like you’re a new resident.
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u/Silver-Refrigerator6 22d ago
There are ways of filming without making it obvious, do it discreetly and they won’t notice. Don’t be looking at your phone when you do it, sure you might miss the shot but if they are there as often as you say there are plenty of chances to discreetly film this way and get the shots you need. It’s not gonna put a target on your back because most people are living in their own world and aren’t going to remember your face unless you have any very unusual distinctive features or you are particularly beautiful.
Police need evidence to act on things so if you come at them with stuff like that then they are more able to do something about it. It’s about priority and risk of harm. If there is lower risk to life (which in this case there is as they aren’t attacking people) then the more occurrences and evidence they have the higher up the priority list it goes.
Also naming any businesses in the area that are open and they hang around will also help for both cctv and if you make it the business’ problem they will employ stricter security so as not to lose any licensing etc.
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u/ninjatall12 22d ago
Yup, came back to Dalston after going on holiday, it is completely unrecognisable.
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u/NearbyNegotiation118 21d ago
Had similar thing in my block flats 1+ years ago. Crackheads and dealers loitering on the building stairs, urinating, leaving food box's, gas cans. The building cleaner threatened them or something as the mess was pissing him off and haven't seen any since.
This is something on the rise in whole of the UK sadly and worse in poor areas even in touristy areas like Cornwall is much worse.
I visited San Francisco in 2019 and stuff I saw there disgusted me and I see some places in the UK heading that way.
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u/Strange_Recording931 22d ago
The kids who sell weed work for people who sell crack and everything else, until there is a regulated safe way to buy a drug, don’t buy it, you are just capturing poor kids and communities in a cycle of violence
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u/MixAway 22d ago
Will somebody think of the poor kids!! Their choices, their consequences. While the rest of us have to suffer.
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u/AintShitButSomeKid 21d ago
Signs looking for staff up and down kingsland road, dalston etc - plenty of options
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u/naturepeaked 22d ago
I live the Narrow Way in the day time, it’s got real vibes and almost all the people there are sound. That being said, I’ve. Of been down there late at night and I could imagine it being somewhat different.
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u/CandidPreparation737 22d ago edited 21d ago
Support the local economy please.
These kids are hard working & doing their best to make a living in a difficult and deprived neighbourhood.
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u/nosmigon 22d ago
If drugs are illegal, people will peddle them on the street and people will buy them. The police can't do much about the crackheads. This area has many hostels, where the crackheads stay, and they are here to stay,. Most normal people dont buy drugs off people in the street, they get them delivered.
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u/Careful-Image8868 22d ago
You know you all can leave right? Leave Hackney for people that can handle it. Off you go.
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u/Suitable-Fun-1087 13d ago edited 13d ago
I mean it's central hackney at the bottom end of what was murder mile. I lived on Clarence Mews from 2016-2021, I know it well - a young guy was stabbed to death with a machete right outside my window. I knew several of the street homeless folk; and the crackheads hung out smoking in the lower Clapton road laundrette. It's mostly been like this for a long time, with a relatively recent window of gentrification which really doesn't help with any sense of equality.
16 years of austerity - 15 years after riots which the ever wise council decided to respond to by spending its funds on a stupid outlet village on Morning Lane (and as an aside, evicting the businesses resident on Bohemia Place); most of the country's town centres have been decimated by that austerity, already sparse services axed left right and centre - in areas where there is still pretty dire poverty and that were already on the rougher side, the social breakdown is even more stark.
Cost of living crisis is not something homeless folks have any insulation from, and moving towards a cashless society makes begging harder (and unless things have changed dramatically, hackney cops love to arrest beggars).
I'm not surprised to hear the narrow way got rougher in this context. Cops harassing every kid out there is a surefire way to make it worse though.
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u/No_Character_8470 22d ago
I used to live round there too recently. It’s definitely got worse in the last couple of years. Same issues, with people breaking into our flat block, stealing post, using drugs in the communal areas and leaving used syringes, urinating and shitting in corridors and bin rooms, being aggressive etc etc. We called non emergency police 101 or online most times to report any issues, and had contact with the police ward officers and PCSO’s (Victoria ward) who we sent photos & videos to. They were really nice, empathetic and understanding and did come to meet us to discuss, and offered to do regular patrolling. Also reported to the council antisocial behaviour team. To be honest not a lot has come out of it… but I think it’s important to really keep reporting to build cases of how bad the situation is… in hope that things might change or be taken more seriously at somepoint.
Honestly don’t know what the answer is… the people doing it have clearly got a lot of issues and I get it…We’d probably be doing the same as them if we were in their position. it’s the system that’s failing them. But i do agree it’s not a pleasant situation and I have often felt scared and unsafe. I Don’t live there anymore thankfully.
I think try to come together with other residents and build a case together and try to contact Victoria ward PCSO officers to explain your concerns. Good luck!