The Hackney Token

Why Hackney?

I chose to work on Hackney as it is one of the most ethnically diverse parts of London. A very high proportion of the citizens of Hackney are recent immigrants. But, as I showed earlier everyone is an immigrant, if we mean by that that their ancestors came from somewhere else.

The HackToke

The Hackney Token a history Dec 1st 2023.

How did Hackney develop its own currency?

There are lots of stories about how Hackney developed its own currency, the Hackney Token, or the HackToke. Many people claim to have thought of it first, and several groups claim to have originated the idea. I can only tell you what I found from my own research.

A group of small businesses on Chatsworth road started to meet to see how they could keep more money in their community. The group had Turkish, French, Italian, Congolese, Polish, English, Jamaican, Pakistani, Nigerian, Cameroonian and other businesses.

They decided on starting a local token to be spent on Chatsworth road. But, they soon realised that Chatsworth road was too small, and didn’t have all the services that local people would need. So, they encouraged businesses in other parts of Hackney to set up local groups and together they formed the Hackney Community Cooperative Bank HCCB to issue the tokens.

A local artist designed the token and used the Hackney symbol on one side, with permission of Hackney Council, who were happy to encourage local businesses and the local economy.  The other side of the Hackney token is an outline of Hackney, with a world map showing some of the nations that make up the borough.

The Hackney Token is accepted across the borough from Clapton to Hoxton, Hackney Wick to Clissold Park, in cinemas, fabric shops, hairdressers, restaurants, corner shops, bookshops, and by local tradespeople such as window cleaners, plumbers, and handimen.

How does it work?

The Hackney token is similar to bartering, except that you do not need to barter with the person who provides you with a service. For example, Angelina gets her windows cleaned and gives Jose a token for doing it. Jose goes to the hairdresser and pays Mustapha with the token. Mustapha goes to his corner shop and buys his groceries with the token from Henri.  Henri gives the token to his partner Anne who uses it to buy a piece of material from a local fabric shop to make a dress for her daughter to wear at the Hackney Carnival. The money keeps circulating locally, and supports the local economy.

By paying with a Hackney Token you accept that you too can be paid by tokens. The money stays locally, and helps local businesses.