Let's move to Dalston, east London

It's come a long way since the 90s, baby

Dalston: Nowhere near as grim as its reputation suggests. Photograph: Felix Clay

What's going for it? Is it gone? Is it over? Has it become an unbearable place of braying skinny-jeaned trustafarian hipsters hanging in underground bars discussing their latest cult night? In part. Dalston has come a long way since the 90s, when Patrick Wright wrote A Journey Through Ruins, his magnificent history of postwar Britain seen through the dusty arse-end of London – aka Dalston. It is now, says some style mag or other, London's new Notting Hill(!) and loft-style apartments at £400k a pop have invaded, the early symptoms of extreme gentrificationitis. But the old stomping ground of my Jewish grandma is vibrant enough to keep the new 'uns in their place. The Turks still have their social clubs and magnificent grocers, the Caribbeans their fish shops, there's tiptop culture (Vortex jazz club, Rio cinema, Arcola Theatre), and Ridley Road market still has the best bagels in town.

The case against Too cool for school. Move here and you'll be as instantly pigeonholed as if you'd moved to Clapham or Hoxton. Blinking expensive. The real risk that, yet again, gentrification will bleach the place of all diversity. A right old mess in parts, and crime is still a problem. Bring earplugs.

Well connected? Buses trawl north-south from Tottenham to Liverpool Street, or east-west from Hackney to Islington, King's Cross and Euston. Rail: the North London Line goes east-west (a gem – every 15 mins) from Stratford to Richmond via Islington, Hampstead and Willesden; come June, south to Shoreditch, Whitechapel, New Cross and Crystal Palace.

Schools Good – recent rapid improvements. Primaries: Holy Trinity CofE, Our Lady and St Joseph RC, St Matthias CofE and Colvestone all "good", Shacklewell and Queensbridge "good" with "outstanding" aspects. The new Petchey Academy is "good" with "outstanding" features; Mossbourne Academy "outstanding".

Hang out at… The latest bleeding edge bar (Dalston Superstore et al), probably. Give me the sizzling Turkish grills (Mangal, Istanbul Iskembecisi, etc) any day.

Where to buy Still marginally cheaper than Stoke Newington, Islington and De Beauvoir. Dalston was posh in parts before, and you'll see the traces in its grander parts, like around St Marks.

Market values Flats, £160,000-£400,000. Terraces, £300,000-£650,000. Detached four-bed Victorians, from £750,000.

Bargain of the week Three double-bedroom town house with garden, £290,000-330,000, with Douglas Allen (020-7923 1919).

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