Designer Lola Lely on Poplar’s Aberfeldy Street
(Picture: Matt Writtle)I was a bit of a nomad in the year before I moved to Poplar. The pandemic scuppered plans to move to Porto, and my partner and I couldn’t find what we wanted in Hackney where I grew up. I was also after a new studio space, and in the end that’s what I found first.
I don’t know why I’d never considered Poplar before. It’s got this amazing trading and publishing heritage – a diverse old mix of working docks, money and media. There’s a strong sense of community, and it doesn’t have that ‘them’ and ‘us’ vibe.
