Coordinates: 51°32′42″N 0°04′12″W / 51.545°N 0.070°W / 51.545; -0.070

Dalston is a district of north-east London, England, located in the London Borough of Hackney. It is situated 4 miles (6.4 km) northeast of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Its historical borders are Kingsland Road and Kingsland High Street in the west, London Fields in the east, Downs Park Road in the north and the Shoreditch parish boundary in the south. Its main shopping street, Kingsland High Street, follows the route of the Roman Ermine Street, and has the road number A10. Modern Dalston is often seen as the area surrounding both sides of Kingsland High Street, even though some of the west side is within the London Borough of Islington.

The name Dalston is thought to have derived from Deorlaf’s tun (farm) in much the same way as nearby Hoxton was named after the farm of ‘Hoch’.

The village was one of four small villages within the Parish of Hackney (along with Newington, Shacklewell, and Kingsland) that were grouped for assessment purposes, together having only as many houses as the village of Hackney.

Johnny Borrell (born Jonathan Edward Borrell, 4 April 1980, Muswell Hill, London) is an English guitarist and singer, currently the frontman of the band Razorlight.

Borrell was born in Carshalton, London and grew up in the Muswell Hill area of London. He attended St Anthony’s Preparatory School, and also St Michael's, Camden School Sixth Form, and Kingsway College. Part of his education took place in Paris where he studied at the Ecole Active Bilingue Jeannine Manuel, before moving back to England, where he attended Highgate School with John Hassall, bassist of The Libertines and frontman of Yeti (band). He completed his A Levels in English, French and Philosophy at Fine Arts College, Belsize Park, Hampstead.

Johnny was involved in music and the Camden scene while still at school. At 17 he played bass guitar in a band called Violet, who regularly played gigs on the Camden circuit. The band recorded an EP and started to gain some recognition before splitting acrimoniously live on stage at Dublin Castle in late 97/early 98. The title track of the EP was subsequently used in the Soundtrack of the 1998 Michael Winterbottom film 'I Want You'. After the split, he briefly switched to being a solo artist covering The Clash and Leadbelly songs. Many of these shows were played with close friends The Libertines.