These are a few of Islington Faces Blog favourite people and places around City Road Basin, Angel, Camden Passage, St John Street and Islington Green… 

• For a full list of places in Islington you might enjoy visiting, see Where to go out locally.

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STAR INTERVIEW FROM N1

Here are some tips on how to enjoy Twixmas in Islington collected in 2025.

Enjoy this 2023 interview with Anna Hyde, climate activist who working with Bel Jacobs and others created a community zero carbon pop up in Angel shopping centre in 2022.

Artist and photographer Claudia Janke has captured old and new Packington. Claudia also took photos for Islington Faces’ 365th published interview celebration on 15 July 2024.

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Camden Passage is such a treat to visit whether just to window shop or to snap up treasures and a favourite drink – turns out that the people who work there love it too. Here’s what they said about the area to Isabel Vandergert-Wilson in spring 2016. On 5 December 2016 a burst water main caused considerable damage, so these lovely independent shops definitely need your support. Get shopping!

Read the interview with Paul A Young who runs a fab chocolate shop here.

Gordon Gridley Antiques
41 Camden Passage, N1 8EF
Owner Gordon Gridley enjoys: “Walking through Highbury Fields, and going to the Almeida Theatre. There are some great cinemas in Islington too.”

Cloud Cuckoo Land
6 Charlton Place N1 8AJ
Staffer: “My favourite shops are: “Cotswolds for outdoorsy waterproof stuff and the fishmongers has lovely fresh fish, especially the smoked mackrel.”

Loop
15 Camden Passage N1 8EA
The staff say: “We love the pubs, we all go for drinks after work so that includes food as well which is good from the pubs in the area. After work we sometimes go to Islington Green and have a drink in the sun.”

The Pantry Underwear
27 Camden Passage, N1
Enjoy reading an interviw with owner Eloise Rigby here.

Kipferl
20 Camden Passage, Islington, London N1 8ED
Waitress/barista Miriam: “I really like Camden Passage and all the lovely people – it’s beautiful in the summer and the winter. Islington is a great location you can get to other places really easily. It’s great to just hang out and when I walk home at night I’m not scared.”

Brew box
120 Islington High Street
Bubble tea owner/manager Joel Erickson: “I just really like the whole area. I grew up here so it’s nice to be back.”

Smug
13 Camden Passage, N1 8EA
Staffer: “ I like Camden Passage and Chapel Market though I can’t pick a single shop. I like the stall holders.”

ANGEL
Enjoy the interview with Angel Central shopping centre manager Lynne Glover. There’s also an interview with the shopping centre co-ordinator, Anna Harvey, when it was known as the N1 Centre. Meet Mark Kebble, the editor of the super readable Angel Resident magazine, which you can also find on line here.

Here’s a feature about Mick Fitzgerald who grew up in Islington in the 1950s plus a short guided walk to Chapel Market back in the day – Mick says it’s known as the Mick and Nicola walk, love it. This post has had 16,000+ views! You might also enjoy memories from Margaret Deasy who was growing up off Essex Road in the 1950s.

If you know someone who is proper skint (maybe homeless) then they need to seek out Mojo the disco barber for Groove Groom Grub service.

If you go to Angel for pilates then you may already know Pilates Central owned by 90-year-old Bill Freedman – his interview includes a wealth of theatre history and the benefits of daily pilates.

There’s a lot going on at The Angel Church including a takeover by The People’s Army which spent the 2020 lockdown cooking and delivering food to Islington (and further afield) in their no waste kitchen. Meet Hazel Jhugroo, Tonya Wong and others on this post. There’s also an interview with Friday head chef Amanda Gowing here.

Enjoy this interview with Victoria Jenkins, accessibility designer, who is based in Angel and whose clothes have featured in Vogue.

CITY ROAD BASIN (the canal)
It’s only a 6 minute walk to Islington Boat Club in Graham Road. Here’s an interview with the Islington Boat Club office manager, Jan Dorling who talks about her work and the legacy of the amazing Cyrstal Hale who saved City Road Basin. Learn more about the area with skipper Lorraine Fox who used to run The Sandwich Barge.

Ever seen the paddleboarders on the canal? Meet Rosie Markwick when she was running a stand-up paddleboard (SUP) club at the Islington Boat Club. You can book a paddle lesson or a canal tour using this link

Here’s an interview with the 2025 chief operating officer of Islington Boat Club, Darren Greenwood.

Gary Archer talks about how being a member of Islington Boat Club in the 1980s has led to him becoming a canoe coach and youth advocate.

And if you love Graham Street Park you need to meet plant-growing whizz and trustee Bunmi Otubushin

We’ve been getting more people out on to the water of Regent’s Canal using paddleboards, and if they want they can also have a go litterpicking! This is a project supported by Cripplegate/Islington Giving and we’re really grateful. Read about it here.

CAMDEN PASSAGE
One of the first interviews Islington Faces did in Camden Passage was with Vickie Farquharson, trainee manager at Gorilla Perfumery (which closed in 2016 after the unfortunate Angel flood).  Just over the road there’s also the first ever branch of the Coffee Works Project, created by Peter Theoklitou, owner coffee works project from an Islington Family. His new branch has just opened at Blackfriars Road.

CHAPEL STREET MARKET
Chapel Street has had a market for years and is filled with characters. Read more about Christopher Curtis – the photo stall owner and expert on Highbury Corner and Islington history. His post is the most popular on Islington Faces.

Charles Baron was born at home, just off Chapel Street Market in 1920 but in 2015 was able to give an exclusive interview with Islington Faces about what Islington was like back in the day – touching on 90 years of Islington life.

Join a drama class (for adults or children) run by the amazing drama teacher Anna Scher MBE, or her staff at St Silas’s church at the far end of the market. Anna’s helped 1000s of Islington hopefuls learn to act and many have found fame including Pauline Quirke, Linda Robson and Kathy Burke.

Kimi Gill took the photos of Jeane Trend-Hill talking about art and health in a cafe on Chapel Market.

ST JOHN STREET (see EC1)

ISLINGTON GREEN
The lovely Bellanger welcomes dogs and is a favourite place of Anna McCracken, It’s a Dog’s Life dog walker.

UPPER STREET
Close to the Screen on the Green are the offices of campaigning solicitor Raquel Siganporia who has devised a competition to encourage design students to create devices that help people who use wheelchairs.

Over to you
If you’ve got a favourite place in Angel or a favourite person who you think Islington Faces should interview please get in touch.