Discover the real-life inspiration behind EastEnders' iconic Albert Square. A visit to Fassett Square in east London reveals the similarities and differences between the fictional Walford and the actual neighbourhood.
Standing on an east London Victorian street, the most overwhelming sense of déjà vu suddenly washed over me - even though I knew I'd never been there before. That's because this little-known, unassuming neighborhood - nestled between hipster hotspots Dalston and Hackney - is the real-life version of EastEnders' Albert Square .
The legendary soap has graced our screens for 40 years, and while many viewers won't have even heard of it, Fassett Square - with its quaint rows of terraced Victorian houses and iron gated central gardens - is the inspiration behind the iconic set. In 1985, when EastEnders was starting out, creators Julia Smith and Tony Holland were tasked with finding somewhere in London to portray the heart of their fictional borough, Walford. When they stumbled upon Fassett Square in London Fields, in transport zone two, they knew they'd struck gold. While the show isn't actually filmed on location there, producers were so set on using the Square they took a cherry picker forklift to get aerial shots of the entire location and even measured the houses for their replicas. It's a 20-minute trip from central London to Fassett Square, and when I arrive I get a strange feeling, like I really am on a TV set. Producers were actually thinking about using the real Fassett Square for filming, but ran into problems as it was a residential road in the middle of London. But when you start to look a little deeper, Fassett Square doesn't really resemble the 40-year-old TV show's set at all. The area is nothing like how it was when EastEnders first launched - Grant Mitchell would be shocked at the price of a house on the square now. Dalston is also known for being achingly cool, and was even labelled the 13th coolest neighbourhood in the world by Time Out in 2021. Even in his 'hip' leather jacket, Grant would struggle to fit in among the art galleries, cocktail bars, vegan cafes and edgy basement nightclubs. The communal garden area in Fassett Square is a lot smaller in real life than its BBC counterpart. It's not quite the bustling heart of the community it is on the show. The garden area is a lot smaller than the one featured in Albert Square, there's no walk-through, no path, and only one bench - and it's under lock and key. There isn't even a side street with a launderette or greasy café - it's just surrounded by houses and flats. One lady watching over the local kids zooming around the street on their skateboards said that it's generally a very 'quiet' area. She added that everyone living on the street knows the history of the square and EastEnders, so it doesn't faze them when fans take a snap or two. The resident said that her husband, who grew up on Fassett Square, and still lives there today, spent lots of summers as a child playing 'bench football' in the gardens. Now, the communal garden remains under lock and key for resident-access only, so locals tend to sit out there in the summertime. I can certainly see the vision that Julia and Tony had when I hit the heart of Dalston though - I can imagine the shouts from the market, the rumble of the trains, and the punters in busy pubs. For diehard 'Enders fans looking to visit, it's actually incredibly easy to get to Fassett Square. Overground trains run to Dalston Junction on the London Overground's newly named Windrush Line, and also to Hackney Central, which is on the Overground's Mildmay Line and the National Rail network. Alternatively, you can catch a number of buses from central, east and south London
Eastenders Albert Square Fassett Square Television Locations London Dalston Hackney
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