THE EXTENDED all-night weekend service on the slick railway that links Dalston with parts north and south has been so popular with millennials it has kept crime at bay.

Only one robbery, the theft of a bag from a snoozing passenger, has been recorded by British Transport Police over the 10 weeks since the Overground began running through the night at weekends last December 2017.

The service, opened in 2010 to link hipster hotspots Dalston, Haggerston and Shoreditch with New Cross Gate, is being extended north this weekend to Canonbury and Tube station Highbury.

Isn’t it only a matter of time before the bad boys discover the rich pickings available on the Hipster line, as it’s becoming known? That would theoretically please opponents of gentrification, with their oft-expressed longing for the time when crime was so bad in Hackney it was nicknamed Crackney.

The authorities say, No, they are determined to keep the billion-pound line safe. For example, “all stations on the Night Overground are staffed while trains are running and security patrols operate work the night, with CCTV”. Transport police Chief Superintendent Martin Fry adds: “We will have police officers deployed every night.”

* Night Overground: press this link

* Backstory: Hackney to Croydon at last!; Up the Dalston Junction; Line derails commuter cyclists

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