Between February and March 2023, the attacks intensified. A hair salon in Hackney had its windows smashed four times over three months, while Elliot’s wine bar was hit twice in two weeks. “We feel like we’re part of the neighbourhood and a good thing for the community, so we were completely shocked, because it just seemed so out of the blue,” says Samantha Lim, who runs Elliot’s with her partner. Three sets of vast window panels stretch around the wine bar, flooding it with natural light.