Brothers Jon and James Penn came to specialty coffee on a 2008 trip to Colombia. In 2015 they founded Hackney Coffee Company with Kevin Mills, whose family had run the site as a transport depot and garage since the 1930s. Jon and James also started the East London Tea Company.
In 2022 the business rebranded as The Hackney and added craft beer, cocktails and natural wine, alongside weddings and corporate events.
The shopfront at number 503 sits in a red-brick Victorian building on Hackney Road. The front room has exposed yellow brick, floorboards, and large windows onto the street. A skylit hall hung with trailing plants and filament bulbs holds long tables for events, and a decked courtyard with potted plants adjoins it.