North East London in many ways is an artificial geographical construct because traditionally and going by postcodes, there is an N (North) area and an E (East) area but nothing NE. However, increasingly the area has become recognised in its own right because it makes little sense thinking of a suburb like Chingford as being in the East End when it is clearly far to the north of traditional East End areas such as Bow and Whitechapel. Hackney also is somewhat ambiguous – it's often thought to be part of the East End yet it's clearly somewhat north as is Dalston.

The area covers much of the path of the River Lee with its highly important reservoirs. Many of the suburbs towards the border with Essex are quite affluent, particularly Chingford and Higham's Park whereas Hackney has kept a traditional 'salt of the earth' reputation. That said, all the districts around Hackney, Dalston and Kingsland are these days regarded as fairly cosmopolitan, with a wide variety of small and larger-chain shops and fairly high property prices.

There are many beautiful parks in the area looking back to Victorian times such as Victoria Park itself and Hackney Downs. Walthamstow has seen considerable redevelopment and investment in recent years and is a brilliant communications hub for public transport as well as roads. The Hainault border with Essex is very near to the 'Golden Triangle' of Chigwell, Buckhurst Hill and Loughton.