I love Hackney, but whether you would l depends a lot on your age & what you're looking for in a neighborhood. Shoreditch & Hoxton can be quite expensive & there are lots of bars and clubs. Being so close to the Columbia flower market and Brick Lane is a fantastic plus, and being near both Liverpool St and Old St means that you have your pick of transport lines. Shoreditch & Hoxton tend to attract a lot of students, twenty-somethings and hipsters.
If you live a bit further out, farther away from the tube stations basically, it starts getting rougher. It also gets much cheaper.
I have a lot of friends who live in Clapton, and I used to loathe going out there as it involved lots of buses and I would always get hassled by creepy men but the area is totally changing. If you are willing to deal with the bus&train links rather than just taking the tube into the city center, living out in that area will mean you can save a TON of money on rent & still find a spacious & lovely house.
Stamford Hill was traditionally a big Hassidic community, and to a large extent still is. Areas of it can be dodgy, but I think it has so much character. I really love it. The stores around there have the most interesting food, as well, because of the large Carribbean population.
Stoke Newington has become really gentrified these days all along Church Street. Clissold Park and the big cathedral bordering it are gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous. There are tons of little shops selling healthy foods, clothing, and cool pubs. If you go further out from Church St, parts of it are still not fully gentrified (which is good if you're looking to buy). There's also a really awesome cemetery, which is worth a walk through with it's old mausoleums and strange monuments, very picturesque.
Dalston- this is kind of a love-it-or-hate-it area. I like it, but it's very gritty and urban feeling. The street market there has the cheapest veggies & household goods of anywhere I've come across in London and there's also a HUGE Sainsbury. Transport is very good: getting to Liverpool St or Old St is very fast. Rent there is extremely cheap. There is a fairly big crack scene there, though, so if drug use makes you uncomfortable it may not be the best area.
London Fields is interesting. It changes, in terms of vibe, literally from street to street. Mare St is the main street there for shopping and practical stuff. The park there is nothing special--everyone talks about the lido there that reopened, but I have never gone in. I saw it and squinted and went "That's
it?!?" because people made it sound much nicer than it was. lol. The area in general, though, is quite charming. There are some lovely Regency era homes around there that can still be bought for what is, for London, a very good price. Lots of young families are moving in and renovating houses, as well as displaced hipsters who were pushed further out of Hoxton & Shoreditch by rising rents.
If you have any questions about specific areas or anything, I'll try to answer them. Pretty much everyone I know lives in Hackney, and it's my favourite borough of London.
