Area Guide

The point where the creative city fringe and residential Islington meet, Angel’s enviable combination of Georgian terraces and a setting along the Regent’s Canal are complemented by Camden Passage, one of London’s most established haunts for antique shopping that’s now home to a number of contemporary stores and quirky finds.

Named after the high arched bridge built in 1896 that spans the deep cutting of Archway Road, this classic Victorian neighbourhood is chock full of terraced house-lined streets and, after a recent £12.8million investment, has gone from being somewhere that people passed through, to a destination in its own right. One of the most popular haunts has to be the Italian restaurant, 500.

Famed for its former residents who include EM Forster, Charles Dickens and Virginia Woolf, Bloomsbury is also home to the most visited tourist attraction in the UK, The British Museum and has everything from Georgian squares to Victorian mansion blocks, with great shopping in the wonderfully atmospheric Lambs Conduit Street and the Grade II Listed concrete brutalism of The Brunswick Centre.

Popular with actors, musicians and anyone involved in stage and screen, Camden is such a mixed bag it’s like all of London rolled into one. Its famous markets retain a punk and goth vibe alongside the newer arrivals of upmarket furniture and clothing stores, while its waterways reflect an industrial past; head deeper into the hood and beautiful Georgian streets arc up towards the magnificent views of Primrose Hill. Here is also where you’ll find such legendary London venues as The Roundhouse and Koko.

London’s elegant loft living quarter where some of the capital’s most famous restaurants - St John, Moro, The Eagle, The Modern Pantry - sit among the myriad converted warehouses and factories that are now home to the world’s largest community of creative enterprises. From its roots in traditional crafts including watchmaking and bookbinding to its modern-day collection of boutique hotels and the annual Clerkenwell Design Week, it’s here the term ‘City Fringe’ was coined and that dramatically changed the way Londoners live.

Half way up the hill between Finsbury Park and Muswell Hill you‘ll encounter the urban village/enclave of Crouch End, one of the most perfectly pleasant neighbourhoods in all of London. Everything is here is just lovely, from the beautifully leafy streets of substantial Victorian family houses to the myriad coffee shops and cafes that are a freelancer’s dream. There are some great evening options here as well, perhaps most notably Bar Esteban, one of the best Tapas restaurants in the city and owned by none other than Clare Grogan from Altered Images.

The nearest thing that London has to Berlin, Dalston currently reigns supreme as the most edgy and happening North London neighbourhood for anyone who wants an authentic slice of inner city urban life without the corporate city feel. A mix of repurposed industrial buildings and streets of classic Victorian houses create a rich blend of loft living and family homes, while the main street of Kingsland Road is packed with vintage stores, modern eateries and counter-culture bars to give Dalston a unique and vibrant flavour. And did we mention the Rio cinema?

South of Dalston, North of Hoxton, East of Islington, West of Hackney – and walkable to all four – the avenues of De Beauvoir Town are lined with Georgian villas, often set well back from the road and with gardens of 60-70ft: a far cry from a typical London yard. Ideal for anyone wanting plenty of options when choosing where to go out, the area is also well connected to London’s transport network at Haggerston Overground station, making light work of getting into the City.

Newly hip Finsbury Park is becoming something of a big thing. The redevelopment of the old Arsenal stadium into apartments triggered massive redevelopment with many luxurious new developments from major housebuilders adding to the local stock of classic Victorian houses. Finsbury Park itself is an excellent example of Victorian public space turned modern meeting point with its cute seating shelters and charming flower garden joined by a running track, outdoor gym and art gallery. Extremely popular with young professionals, the vibrant main street is lined with an ever evolving scene of cafes and bars, while the station is something of a local transport hub with a busy bus, train and tube interchange getting local and nearby residents into The City and West End with ease.

A flourishing community, rich Turkish influences, plentiful green space and good education options are the mainstay of Harringay’s offering. Here, about 6 miles directly north of Central London and bordered by Finsbury Park, Wood Green and Crouch End, singles become couples and couples become families, trading up among the fine two-, three- and four-bedroom late-Victorian terraces, many of which are converted into flats. The ‘Harringay Ladder’, the ‘Gardens’ roads and the St Ann’s Conservation Area around Chestnut Park are particularly popular. A number of new developments have added a fair degree of modern apartments to the prevailing Victorian heritage.

Centred on the beautiful Highbury Fields, a lovely open area of sloping parkland surrounded by giant Georgina terraces, Highbury sits at the top of Islington’s Upper Street and is big with families and professionals. In its lower reaches close to Holloway road, Highbury has a collection of typical Victorian streets with two and three storey houses, while towards its highest point at Highbury Barn, you’ll find some enormous Georgian properties, most of which have subsequently been converted into substantial apartments. Here is where you’ll also find Godfreys, one of the best butchers in London.

Something of a revelation, not least in its location just 4 miles from Central London, up-and-coming Holloway has a plentiful stock of three- and four-storey Victorian properties that represent excellent value, particularly when compared to the house prices of next-door Highbury. Conservation areas like Hillmarton and Mercers Road/Tavistock Terrace are a real draw for people seeking a larger home in a beautiful street without saying goodbye to an inner city neighbourhood, but Holloway is also home to one of London’s pioneering loft developments, The Beaux Arts Building, an elaborate former post office that now houses 162 apartments. Just xxx stops from Kings Cross, here is also a neighbourhood that finds obvious favour with those who either in search of a rapid commute or to simply feel truly connected to London.

At the top of many a Londoner’s list when choosing a neighbourhood to call home, Islington has long been in constant high demand. In Upper Street, Islington has perhaps the best local high street in London, packed with independent cafes, restaurants, shops and boutiques that spill into the little side streets. Blessed with plenty of parks, the area has a truly varied property scene, from four storey Georgian properties to little Victorian cottages, stunning loft conversions and contemporary new builds. The location is right on top of the creative quarters of Clerkenwell, Shoreditch and Kings Cross, and just a few stops from the City and West End.

Camden’s more sedate, more sophisticated but unabashedly animated next-door neighbour is home to The Forum music venue and a brilliant high street where old-school and modern businesses sit merrily side-by-side. A thriving Mediterranean food hall and magnetic collection of BYOB restaurants that brings in Londoners from far and wide are among unique qualities that help create an endearing, lively and individual town centre. The High Street acts as a central vein to the neighbourhood and is crossed by archetypal London streetscapes; gorgeous red brick Victorian houses and equally pretty mews are accompanied by a canal and railway lines that act as a remainder of the local industrial heritage.

Perhaps Europe’s most ambitious and successful regeneration project, Kings Cross has gone from post industrial wasteland to vibrant creative heartland and contemporary living hotspot. While some Victorian houses remain around Pentonville Road, Kings Cross is largely about modern urban lifestyles in seriously cool surroundings: apartments, bars, restaurants and cultural venues can be found in repurposed former warehouses and railway buildings, or in some of London’s sleekest new developments. Revivified waterways and newly created pubic squares complete the streetscape while Kings Cross and St Pancras International stations provide London’s most comprehensive rail and tube interchange and European gateway.

Lovely Muswell Hill sits atop of one of the highest hills in London and boasts commanding views over the capital and surrounding ancient forest. Particularly well heeled and abundant in large areas of open green space, the neighbourhood is characterised by its magnificent collection of beautiful Edwardian streets and houses that people find hard to leave behind: once you’re here, you’re here to stay. Driven by the remarkably high quality of housing stock, the thriving and neighbourly urban village lifestyle and a selection of excellent primary and secondary schools, Muswell Hill is, somewhat unsurprisingly, one of the most expensive suburbs in London.

From derelict wasteland to artist quarter to hipster enclave to city playground, the evolution of Shoreditch has been remarkably swift. No longer a cheap East End option, Shoreditch is today one of the most expensive parts of London and yet still retains an offbeat, alternative and creative vibe amid all the new glossiness that sits alongside the original retail pioneers. Here is, of course, the home of loft living, with countless converted warehouses and factories offering some truly extraordinary living spaces with a vast local scene of innumerable restaurants, bars and clubs that keep the neighbourhood a swinging destination every day (and most nights).

Close enough to Hackney and Dalston to count them among local options for a lively evening out, Stoke Newington (or Stokey to its many friends and admirers) has become one of the most desirable parts of north London since an early clutch of bohemian cafes an delis first began appearing on Stroke Newington Church Street in the 1990s. Today a weekly farmers market and brilliant local gastropub scene means much neighbourhood banter, aided and abetted by the main two-storey collection of Victorian houses that keeps the scale very relatable - great for couples and small families. Lovely Clissold Park is a focal point at weekends and the large number of restaurants from all around the world is another nice nice draw, as is the excellent Rio cinema - a real London gem.

Some absolutely huge Victorian villas, many now converted into sizeable apartments and maisonettes, sit alongside classic London terraces in the little diamond-shaped quarter of Tufnell Park, about 4 miles from Central London. Sharing its three postcodes with neighbouring Holloway, Archway and Kentish Town, Tufnell Park has become a natural destiation for people trading up to a house from the nearby (and much more expensive) districts of Primrose Hill, Belzsize Park and Hampstead and to take advantage of the excellent state education on offer, including including the insanely popular Eleanor Palmer school. A thriving scene of independent shops and cafes around Tufnell Park Tube station gives the town an a distinct identity.