Coordinates: 51°32′04″N 0°04′27″W / 51.534557°N 0.074279°W / 51.534557; -0.074279

Hoxton
Hoxton  Hoxton shown within Greater London
OS grid reference	TQ335835
- Charing Cross	2.7 mi (4.3 km)  SW
Civil parish	St John the Baptist, Hoxton
London borough	Hackney
Ceremonial county	Greater London
Region	London
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	LONDON
Postcode district	N1
Dialling code	020
Police	Metropolitan
Fire	London
Ambulance	London
EU Parliament	London
UK Parliament	Hackney South and Shoreditch
London Assembly	North East
List of places: UK • England • London

Hoxton is an area in the London Borough of Hackney, immediately north of the financial district of the City of London. The area of Hoxton is bordered by Regent's Canal on the north side, Wharf Road and City Road to the west, Old Street to the south, and Kingsland Road to the east.

Hoxton is also a ward, electing three councillors to the borough council. It forms part of the Hackney South and Shoreditch constituency.

Historical Hoxton[link]

Origins[link]

"Hogesdon" is first recorded in the Domesday Book, meaning an Anglo-Saxon farm (or "fortified enclosure") belonging to Hoch, or Hocq.^[1] Little is recorded of the origins of the settlement, though there was Roman activity around Ermine Street, which ran to the east of the area from the 1st century. In medieval times, Hoxton formed a rural part of Shoreditch parish.^[2] It achieved independent ecclesiastical status in 1826 with the founding of its own parish church^[3] dedicated to St John the Baptist, though civil jurisdiction was still invested in the Shoreditch vestry. The Worshipful Company of Haberdashers remains patron of the advowson of the parish of St John's Hoxton^[4].

In 1415, the Lord Mayor of London "caused the wall of the City to be broken towards Moorfields, and built the postern called Moorgate, for the ease of the citizens to walk that way upon causeways towards Islington and Hoxton"^[1] – at that time, still marshy areas. The residents responded by harassing walkers to protect their fields. A century later, the hedges and ditches were destroyed, by order of the City, to enable City dwellers to take their leisure in Hoxton.^[1]

Tudor Hoxton[link]

By Tudor times many moated manor houses existed to provide ambassadors and courtiers country air close to the City. This included many Catholics, attracted by the house of the Portuguese ambassador,^[5] who, in his private chapel,^[6] celebrated the masses forbidden in a Protestant country.^[7] One such resident was Sir Thomas Tresham, who was imprisoned here by Elizabeth I of England for harbouring Catholic priests. The open fields to the north and west were used for archery practice,^[8] and on 22 September 1598 the playwright Ben Jonson fought a fatal duel in Hoxton Fields, killing actor Gabriel Spencer. Jonson was able to prove his literacy, thereby claiming benefit of clergy to escape a hanging.

Hoxton contained public gardens that were a popular resort from the crowded city streets on holidays, and are reputed to have gained their name of Pimlico from the publican, Ben Pimlico,^[9] and his particular brew.

Have at thee, then, my merrie boyes, and beg for old Ben Pimlico’s nut-brown ale.^[10]

The gardens appear to have been situated near Hoxton Street, known at that time, as Pimlico Path. The modern area of Pimlico derives its name from its former use in Hoxton.

Gunpowder, treason and a letter[link]

On 26 October 1605 Hoxton achieved notoriety, when a letter arrived at the home of local resident William Parker, Lord Monteagle warning him not to attend the Parliament summoned by James I to convene on 5 November, because "yet I say they shall receive a terrible blow, the Parliament, and yet they shall not see who hurts them". The letter may have been sent by his brother-in-law Francis Tresham, or he may have written it himself, to curry favour. The letter was read aloud at supper, in front of the company of prominent Catholics, and then he brought it personally to Robert Cecil at Whitehall. While the conspirators were alerted, by the public reading, to the existence of the letter they persevered with their plot as their gunpowder remained undiscovered. William Parker accompanied Thomas Howard, the Lord Chamberlain, in his visit to the undercroft of parliament, where Guy Fawkes was found in the early hours of 5 November.^[11] Most of the conspirators fled on the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot, but Francis Tresham was arrested a few days later at his house in Hoxton. A commemorative plaque is attached to modern flats on the site of Parker's house in Hoxton Street.

Almshouses and madhouses[link]

By the end of the 17th century the estates were being broken up. Many of the existing large houses were used as mad houses^{[citation needed]}, with almshouses being built on the land between by City benefactors and guilds. Askes Almshouses^[12] were built on Pitfield Street in 1689 from an endowment by Robert Aske for 20 poor haberdashers and a school for 20 children of freemen. Hoxton House, for example, became a private asylum in 1695. It was owned by the Miles family, and expanded rapidly into the surrounding streets being described by Coleridge as the Hoxton madhouse.^[13] Here fee-paying 'gentle and middle class' people took their exercise in the extensive grounds between Pitfield Street and Kingsland Road;^[14] including the poet Charles Lamb.^[15] Over 500 pauper lunatics resided in closed wards,^[16] and it remained the Naval Lunatic Asylum until 1818.^[13] The asylum closed in 1911; and the only remains are by Hackney Community College, where a part of the house was incorporated into the school that replaced it in 1921. At this time Hoxton Square and Charles Square were laid out, forming a fashionable area. Non-conformist sects were attracted to the area, freed from the restrictions of the City.^[1] Hoxton Market, founded in 1687, was a once thriving market that lost its status to neighbouring markets such as those at Bethnal Green and Dalston. Student flats have now been built on much of the site, and a small square remains^{[citation needed]}.

Victorian era and 20th century[link]

Hoxton Hall, still an active community resource

In the Victorian era the railways made travelling to distant suburbs easier, and this combined with infill building and industrialisation to drive away the wealthier classes, leaving Hoxton a concentration of the poor with many slums. The area became a centre for the furniture trade.^[1]

Charles Booth in Life and Labour of the People in London of 1902 gave the following description:

The character of the whole locality is working-class. Poverty is everywhere, with a considerable admixture of the very poor and vicious ... Large numbers have been and are still being displaced by the encroachment of warehouses and factories ... Hoxton is known for its costers and Curtain criminals, for its furniture trade ... No servants are kept except in the main Road shopping streets and in a few remaining middle class squares in the west.^[1]

LBH heritage plaque, now attached to modern flats

In Hoxton Street, a plaque marks the location of the Britannia Theatre. This evolved from the former Pimlico tea gardens, a tavern and a saloon, into a 3,000-seat theatre, designed by Finch Hill. Together with the nearby Pollock's Toy Museum, it was destroyed in Second World War bombing. Hoxton Hall, also in Hoxton Street, which survives as a community centre, began life in 1863 as a 'saloon style' music hall. It remains largely in its original form, as for many years it was used as a Quaker meeting house. There was also the 1870 Varieties Music Hall (by C. J. Phipps) in nearby Pitfield Street, this became a cinema in 1910, closing in 1941. Since 2003 the site has remained empty, but in 2008 it was gutted and prepared for a refurb. Local opposition to the design has resulted in the project being put on hold, so it now remains empty and "For Sale".

In the former Vestry of St Leonard Shoreditch Electric Light Station, just to the north of Hoxton Market, is based The Circus Space. Inside, the "Generating Chamber" and "Combustion Chamber" provide facilities for circus training and production. The building was constructed by the Vestry in 1895 to burn local rubbish and generate electricity. It also provided steam to heat the public baths. This replaced an earlier facility providing gas-light, located in Shoreditch.

Gainsborough Studios were located in a former power station, in Poole Street, by the Regents Canal. The film studios operated here from 1924 to 1951.^[17] An historical plaque is attached to the building, a modern apartment block, that occupies the site since the studios' demolition in 2002. The plaque reads

London Borough of Hackney

The Gainsborough Film Studios 1924–1949

Alfred Hitchcock, Michael Balcon, Ivor Novello, Gracie Fields, "The Lady Vanishes", "The Wicked Lady" worked and were filmed here

With a new found popularity, parts of Hoxton have been gentrified, this has inevitably aroused hostility among some local residents, who believe they are being priced out of the area. Much of Hoxton, however, remains deprived with council housing dominating the landscape.

Hoxton Square. The White Cube Gallery is in the background to the right. (January 2006)

Today[link]

Hoxton and Shoreditch are often deliberately or unwittingly confused. The two districts have a historical link as part of the same manor, and in the 19th century both formed part of the Metropolitan Borough of Shoreditch. This was subsumed into the London Borough of Hackney in 1965, but old street signs bearing the name are still to be found throughout the area.

Manufacturing developments in the years after the Second World War meant that many of the small industries that characterised Hoxton moved out. By the early 1980s, these industrial lofts and buildings came to be occupied by young artists as inexpensive live/work spaces, while exhibitions, raves and clubs occupied former office and retail space at the beginning of the 1990s. During this time Joshua Compston established his Factual Nonsense gallery on Charlotte Road in Shoreditch and organised art fetes in Hoxton Square. Their presence gradually drew other creative industries into the area, especially magazines, design firms, and dot-coms.

By the end of the 20th century, the southern half of Hoxton had become a vibrant arts and entertainment district boasting a large number of bars, nightclubs, restaurants, and art galleries. In this period, the new Hoxton residents could be identified by their obscurely fashionable (or "ironically" unfashionable) clothes and their hair (the so-called "Hoxton Fin", as exemplified by Fran Healy of Travis). The excesses and fashion-centricity of Hoxton and Shoreditch denizens have been satirised in the satirical magazine Shoreditch Twat, on the TVGoHome website, and in the sitcom Nathan Barley. This fashionable area is centred on Hoxton Square, a small park bordered mainly by former industrial buildings as well as the elegant parish church of St John's.

The northern half of the district, however, consists largely of council housing estates and new build private residences. Residents are typically older and the unemployment and crime rates, with the exceptions of drug offences, robbery and theft, are relatively high compared to the rest of the borough.^[18] Hoxton Street Market is the focal point of this end of the district. The market sells a wide range of household goods during the week and specialises in independent fashion, art and design products on Saturdays. Nearby is the Geffrye Museum.

As property developers moved in to cash in on the area's trendy image prices have risen steeply since the early years of the 21st century. Many galleries have, as a result, moved to nearby Shoreditch, or have relocated further afield to cheaper districts such as London Fields or Bethnal Green. In response, the local council formed a not-for-profit corporation, Shoreditch Our Way (ShOW), to buy local buildings and lease them out as community facilities and housing. The extension of the East London Line (completed in 2010), has provided the local rail access which was lost when the line from Broad Street closed to services.

People with Hoxton links[link]

• Frank Chapple, union leader, was born and raised in Hoxton. He was ennobled as Lord Chapple of Hoxton in 1985 by Margaret Thatcher.
• Charles Bradlaugh was born in Hoxton.
• Peter Dean, who played Pete Beale in EastEnders from 1985 to 1993, was born at Hoxton in 1939.
• Jason Donovan, actor and singer, lived in Hoxton whilst appearing in numerous West End shows.
• Alfred Hitchcock began his career at the Gainsborough Studios
• Reggie & Ronnie Kray – East End gangsters born in Stene Street Hoxton (1933)
• Marie Lloyd – Music hall star, was born Matilda Alice Victoria Wood here on 12 February 1870. The eldest of nine children. She, and her sisters longed to go on the stage, and haunted the local Royal Eagle Tavern, Music hall, on City Road (where their father also worked, as a waiter). Seven of her siblings went onto professional stage careers, adopting the surname Lloyd, apart from Daisy, who had a successful career as Daisy Wood.
• Lenny McLean, actor, bouncer, bare-knuckle boxer and 'hardest man in Britain' was born here
• Jamie Oliver opened the original Fifteen restaurant in Hoxton in 2002
• James Parkinson (physician and researcher on Parkinson's Disease, was a resident of Hoxton Square)
• Jason Pierce, of the band Spaceman 3 and Spiritualized lives in Hoxton.
• Abraham Rees, (editor and Unitarian minister was a tutor at Hoxton Academy)
• George Sewell, renowned TV actor was born in Hoxton.
• Mary Wollstonecraft (social reformer, writer, mother of Mary Shelley, born and lived early years here)
• Hoxton Tom McCourt, influential in the late 1970s and early 1980s mod and oi/punk scenes and founder of the band, the 4-Skins
• Post-war variety star comedian Charlie Smithers was born in Hoxton.
• The Stage newspaper columnist Tommy Kane was born in bygone Harman Street Hoxton on 24 March 1933. In his column headed "Raising Kane", which ran from 1965 to 1981, he featured many unknowns who became famous. Amongst these were Charlie Smithers, Lennie Peters, Mike Reid, Grace Kennedy, Carol Lee Scott (Grotbags), Michael Barrymore, and Ray Donn, who became famed for his successful Publand Variety Shows from 1966 to 1980.

Education[link]

Transport[link]

Neighbouring areas of London

	Islington	De Beauvoir Town	Kingsland
	Clerkenwell		Haggerston
		Hoxton    East
	St Luke's	Old Street	Shoreditch

Districts within the London Borough of Hackney.

Nearest stations

Hoxton is a National Rail station on the East London Line of the London Overground network. To the south-west of the district, the nearest London Underground station is Old Street on the Northern Line. The station is also a stop on National Rail's Northern City Line, operated by First Capital Connect.

References and notes[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Hoxton

• Hoxton Hall Unique Grade II* listed building Victorian Music hall – now used for community arts
• Where have all the cool people gone? The Guardian 2003-11-21
• www.stjohnshoxton.org.uk

v t e London Borough of Hackney Districts Dalston De Beauvoir Town Finsbury Park Hackney Central Hackney Downs Hackney Marshes Hackney Wick Haggerston Homerton Hoxton Kingsland Lea Bridge London Fields Lower Clapton Manor House Newington Green Shacklewell Shoreditch South Hackney Stamford Hill Stoke Newington Upper Clapton Attractions Arcola Theatre Geffrye Museum Hackney Empire Hackney Museum Hoxton Hall Sutton House (NT) Transition Gallery Victoria Miro Gallery White Cube Street markets Broadway Market Kingsland Waste Ridley Road Market Constituencies Hackney South and Shoreditch Hackney North and Stoke Newington Tubes and rail station Clapton railway station Dalston Junction railway station Dalston Kingsland railway station Hackney Central railway station Hackney Downs railway station Hackney Wick railway station Haggerston railway station Homerton railway station Hoxton railway station London Fields railway station Old Street Rectory Road railway station Shoreditch High Street railway station Stamford Hill railway station Stoke Newington railway station Other topics People Public art Schools Parks and open spaces in Hackney

In the Street is an album by the Village People featuring the return of its original lead singer Victor Willis. Ray Simpson who had replaced Willis is featured on two songs on the album (Everybody Loves the Funk, Radio Freak). The G.I. Alex Briley also sings lead on one song (Lonely Lady). The album also featured a bonus track (America) with Miles Jaye who replaced Ray Simpson, on lead. Fox on the Box and In the Street contain the same songs, except In the Street features a bonus track (America) by Miles Jaye. Fox on the Box was released by RCA Records in 1982 and In the Street by Casablanca Records a year later.

Track listing[link]

1. "Fox on the Box" — 3:43
2. "In the Street" — 4:47
3. "Lonely Lady" — 3:54
4. "Everybody Loves the Funk" — 4:28
5. "Success" — 5:58
6. "Spaced Out" — 5:32
7. "Play Bach" — 4:37
8. "Radio Freak" — 3:09
9. "America" — 3:43 (Bonus track on 1999 CD release)

This 1980s pop album-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

This article's factual accuracy may be compromised due to out-of-date information. Please help improve the article by updating it. There may be additional information on the talk page. (May 2012)

Reliance Digital TV

Type	Subsidiary of Reliance Communications
Industry	Satellite television
Founded	2008
Headquarters	Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City, Navi Mumbai, India
Area served	India
Key people	Anil Ambani
Products	Direct broadcast satellite, Pay television, Pay-per-view
Parent	Reliance Group
Subsidiaries	Reliance Digital TV Ltd.
Website	www.reliancedigitaltv.com

Reliance Digital TV is one of the largest Indian pay TV providers, providing direct broadcast satellite service—including satellite television, audio programming, and interactive television services—to commercial and residential customers in India. It uses MPEG-4 digital compression technology,^[1] transmitted using MEASAT-3 91.5°East. It is the 5th DTH service launched in India.

Its primary competitors are cable television and other DTH service providers—Airtel digital TV, DD Direct+, Dish TV, Sun Direct, TATA Sky and Videocon D2H.

Slogan[link]

"TV ho Toh BIG Ho" ("If you have a TV, it has to be BIG")

History[link]

DTH service was first launched in India in 2004 by launch of Dish TV by Essel Group's Zee Entertainment Enterprises.

Reliance ADAG launched their DTH service on 19 August 2008.

About Reliance Digital TV[link]

Reliance digital TV limited is a part of Reliance Communications Ltd., a subsidiary of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group^[2] founded by the Late Dhirubhai Ambani, the Indian business tycoon and owned by his son Anil Ambani. BIG TV started operations from 19 August 2008 with the slogan "TV ho Toh BIG Ho" ("If you have a TV, make it BIG"). It currently offers close to 250 channels^[3] and many interactive ones, 32 cinema halls (i.e. Pay Per View Cinema Channels) as well as many Radio channels. The company plans to increase the number of channels in the near future to 400 and begin High Definition (HD) broadcast. There are also plans to introduce services like i-Stock, i-News and other such interactive services in the future.^[4]

The available opportunity today is huge considering the fact that India has an existing population of 225 million TV households out of which 130 million are C&S households and 16.5 Million are DTH households. When Reliance BIG TV was launched, the overall DTH penetration was just about 4 million households^{[citation needed]}.

Reliance BIG TV's launch in August deployed the MPEG4 technology.^[5] MPEG4 technology can support HD TV and not MPEG2 which is used by the earlier entrants in the DTH industry^{[citation needed]}.

The MPEG4 technology helps to broadcast up to 35 to 40 channels per transponder^{[citation needed]}. With 12 transponders they are able to broadcast over 400 channels^{[citation needed]}. They are currently utilizing only 9 of their transponders to broadcast over 230 channels^{[citation needed]}.

Reliance digital TV's retailer network is spread across 100,000 outlets in 6,500 towns in India^{[citation needed]}. They also introduced 32 Pay-Per-View Movie Channels, the highest by any DTH player^{[citation needed]}.But as on march 2012 they have only 4 Pay-Per-View channels.

Subscriber Base[link]

Reliance Digital TV had about 7 million customers as of November 2011.^[6] There are about 30 million DTH subscribers in India as of February 2011.^[7]

Channel List[link]

The following is the list of channels provided by RELIANCE DIGITAL TV as of 9 MARCH 2012.^[8]

TV Channels[link]

As on 9 March 2012

Radio Channels[link]

See also[link]

• Airtel digital TV
• DD Direct+
• Dish TV
• Sun Direct
• TATA Sky
• Videocon D2H
• Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group
• Reliance Communications

Further reading[link]

• "Anil Ambani's BIG TV is DTH partner for IPL". The Times of India. 7 Aug 2008. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India_Business/Anil_Ambanis_BIG_TV_is_DTH_partner_for_IPL/articleshow/3338940.cms. Retrieved 2008-10-13. 
• "ADAG & Bharti gearing for massive on air war". The Economic Times. 18 July 2008. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Media__Entertainment_/Entertainment/ADAG__Bharti_gearing_for_massive_on_air_war/articleshow/3247722.cms. Retrieved 2008-10-13. 
• "Reliance BIG TV bags IPL DTH partnership rights for Rs 137 cr". Business Standard. August 8, 2008. http://www.business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?tp=on&autono=44384. Retrieved 2008-10-13. 
• "Reliance Big TV Contact Details". http://www.dishtracking.com/forum/reliance-big-tv-contact-details-t-172.html.  However, it does not have DVS-2 technology like, airtel digital, videocon dth.
• Complete channels list of Reliance Big TV with Logos

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website