Early in 1999, an idea occurred to a couple of people with too much time on their hands in Stoke Newington.

The old borough had a population about the size of a small to medium town and contained one of Britain’s most disparate range of classes and ethnic groups, including an
increasingly literate and moneyed sector who saw themselves as the vanguard of the ‘new’, bohemian Stokey. 

The local economy was booming, with boutiques, bars, restaurants, estate agents and the like opening on a regular basis. It was also one of the most historically important parts of London, with a proud tradition of radicalism and dissent. But where was the local newspaper or magazine, the Stoke Newington organ of comment, observation and gossip, to cater for this growing awareness of a Stokey ‘community’? Answer: nowhere, unless you counted the Hackney Gazette whose gaze seemed to be mainly concentrated on the south side of the Borough.

Which is where N16 magazine came in. Ex-union boss Tim Webb and I, a self-employed publisher and writer, set about filling the void, with the help of Trevor Jones whose job it was to cow the advertisers into submission. We decided on the format, contents (from the solemn to the scurrilous), wrote and commissioned articles, sought advertising and distributed the first edition in the Spring of that year. We set up a limited company and from Issue 1 our policy was to remain independent and to be editorially-led. Often the temptation in free, local magazines is to become advertorial, ie to write only about advertisers, but we felt that if we could produce interesting features and articles the advertisers would follow the readership. 

This remains the corner-stone of our publishing. Reaction was swift. We managed inadvertently to annoy some local businesses (which caused Tim to coin the phrase ‘Ambridge on Acid’) and were described in the Gazette as ‘yuppies’ (praise, indeed, for someone of our advanced years). We also received a letter inviting us to ’piss off back to Islington where you came from’. We printed the letter in Issue 2 and heard no more. The subtitle for Issue 1 was ‘the magazine for Stoke Newington Church Street’ which was and is the economic motor of the area.

However, from Issue 2 it morphed into ‘the magazine at the heart of Stoke Newington’, as we realised that the need for pluralism, diversity and editorial integrity (such as it was) meant that we had to evolve into more than just a house journal for Church Street.

Five years and twenty issues on, we’re still here and thriving. The intervening period has seen several changes, including Tim’s departure to concentrate on other matters. But from twenty pages in 1999 to forty pages (nearly half of which are colour) today, we are obviously doing something right. The doomsayers who predicted that we would fold after a couple of issues have been proven wrong. ‘You’ll never find enough stories to keep going’, they said. 

But what is so fascinating about Stoke Newington - the constant flux of commerce and culture, the often hapless Hackney Council, the quixotic characters and cheerful worthies, the unique ethnic mix, the bloodymindedness, the generosity and the constantly changing tapestry of daily life - is why N16 has evolved into an integral part of life in the community. We simply try to reflect what’s going on in the urban zoo, but with a dash of comment, insider knowledge and, from time to time, humour.

Clearly, this whole enterprise could not have been considered without advertising revenue, which is our only source of income. And, equally obviously, without the talents of our regular and occasional contributors, and the design skills and insights of local company Audiografix, no one would read us in the first place. So there are a lot of people to thank for the continuing survival and good health of N16.

Including you, dear reader. Let’s hope we’re all still around to celebrate the magazine’s teenage years.