At 16 hectares (40 acres),[1] the park is one of the larger open spaces wholly within the London Borough of Hackney.

It has a play area, basketball courts, football pitches and a bowling green.

Occupying, as it does, a fairly central place in Hackney, the park used to be the yearly venue for the popular Hackney Show, but this event — which helped to give a sense of community and identity to an often-troubled borough — has been discontinued in recent times as a cost-cutting measure, as have the regular Fireworks Night shows.

[2] The ‘Hackney Downs’ neighbourhood can be described as the western part of Lower Clapton; the area to the west of Cricketfield Road and east of the railway line.

The streets north and south of the park are dominated by social housing (such as the Nightingale Estate) – these areas were largely rebuilt during the 1930s and 1960s.