Which is the best / worst London borough?

[telstarbox]

Entirely subjective, inspired by the rubbish towns thread. I would nominate:

Best: Southwark. Riverside area has lots of character. Borough Market, Tate Modern, new London Bridge station. Very diverse south half (including newly trendy Peckham and old money Dulwich) which both have good open spaces.

Worst: Westminster. Complacent local authority driven by the needs of the richest residents. Full of tourist traps, and most of the interesting bits of the city centre are in other boroughs (e.g. Camden, the City).

 

[ChiefPlanner]

See previous comments on Barking.

Tower Hamlets has great economic (and social) variations from the Canary Wharf and Docklands areas , to the really old bits around Whitechapel etc.

 

[J-2739]

Southwark is where it's at.

Bexley on the other hand...

 

[Typhoon]

Bexley on the other hand...

I quite agree, they seem to want to knock every ounce of character out of it.

 

[gordonthemoron]

Deptford is a dump, but it's not a borough. Canning Town is even worse

 

[telstarbox]

I think Deptford could be worse - it's got a busy high street/market and has had some investment in the form of the library and the Market Yard flats and cafes.

 

[ComUtoR]

Lambeth - for both.

 

[J-2739]

Richmond is really nice too, with a totally different vibe compared to the rest of London.

Tower Hamlets and Newham suffer from widespread inequality. (Canary Wharf overlooking Bethnal Green)

 

[Busaholic]

I think you need to differentiate between the local authority and the place. Lambeth, Haringey and Tower Hamlets councils have had rotten reputations for as long as I can remember, but Bromley's been a stinker in a different way over the years.
Regarding Erith, the late lamented Linda Smith had few, if any, kind words for her home town , which coincidentally (?) squats next to Thamesmead on the map.

 

[Greetlander]

Lived in Waltham Forest and Redbridge. Both of them had good and bad qualities, like almost every borough in the country. I was always amused that as a Halifax boy who spent most of his (Birmingham) University days in a mutual contest of jibes with a hardcore Essex element, I ended up living in (and really liking) Ilford.

 

[Typhoon]

I think you need to differentiate between the local authority and the place. Lambeth, Haringey and Tower Hamlets councils have had rotten reputations for as long as I can remember, but Bromley's been a stinker in a different way over the years.
Regarding Erith, the late lamented Linda Smith had few, if any, kind words for her home town , which coincidentally (?) squats next to Thamesmead on the map.

The reason I endorsed the nomination of Bexley (#3) is that the borough does not seem to care less about its northern constituents, which are clearly the poorest parts and always have been. I walked through Thamesmead within the last year, and found it absolutely OK, not something I would have said when I last visited some 40 years ago, the ducks, geese and swans seem to be getting along just fine. Some of the dreadful tower blocks appear to be knocked down (so lasted 50 years, while the house I was brought up in is still around at 120). Like many places, it was designed by architects for architects, not those who would live there. Some of the population seem to be making an effort (https://www.thamesmeadnow.org.uk/whats-on/thamesmead-festival-2019/ ) but its reputation for crime goes before it.
Similarly, Erith suffered when they knocked the shopping centre down and eventually replaced it with a characterless, concrete construction, part of which resembled an underground car park above ground. This has been replaced by something better but the vibrant town of the fifties has not returned.

Meanwhile the south of the borough is just dull, utterly devoid of character

 

[PeterC]

They all have their good and bad points but all of the urban centres that I have known for a long time seem to have gone downhill.

 

[BluePenguin]

Hmm from my experience having visited a fair amount of them, I would say all of boroughs in Zone 1 are the best and then steadily get much worse as you get further out. My favourites being Westminster, Lambeth, Camden and Southwark. Islington is not bad either.

As for the worst boroughs, definitely Hillingdon, Croydon, Lewisham, Hounslow, Brent and many of the towns in Bromley. The East is a dump beyond the cool vibes of Shoreditch and Stratford. Newham is rubbish and Dagenham even worse. The reason for this is that less effort is put into keeping arears looking as nice as they could be because of the lack of tourists. Nobody needs to be impressed or drawn and anyone who doesn't like something can move at any time.

 

[700007]

I like this thread, has me thinking. Each Borough definitely has its good and its bad, some boroughs are just all bad!

Best boroughs:
Islington
Southwark
Greenwich
Hammersmith & Fulham
Ealing - anywhere east of, and including Hanwell, is actually quite nice

Worst boroughs:
Barking & Dagenham
Merton
Barking & Dagenham
Kingston
Barking & Dagenham
Redbridge
Barking & Dagenham
Brent

Did I say Barking & Dagenham?

 

[BluePenguin]

Worst boroughs:
Barking & Dagenham
Merton
Barking & Dagenham
Kingston
Barking & Dagenham
Redbridge
Barking & Dagenham
Brent

Did I say Barking & Dagenham?

The former Essex-y boroughs in the East are all dumps. Woodford is nice though to be fair

 

[BritishGuy54]

Just to say as an east Londoner:

Barking and Dagenham is a dump, but has an odd charm to it. Havering is good, with Romford and Hornchurch. Redbridge is 50/50, with Hainault being very nice while Ilford makes Barking look like Kensington, and Newham is an actual craphole, due to being over looked by Stratford, but East Ham is a total craphole.

 

[Mojo]

Know it’s bad practice to support digging up an old thread, but as this section has been a little quiet lately...

I love my borough of Hillingdon, well the north side anyway. Really nice local high streets, many of which have been improved in the past few years; more green flag open spaces than any other borough in London; and an excellent council with great services for a reasonable Council tax. Plus of course home to one of the best airports in the world!

I used to live in Haringey which were truly awful; Council tax was high and their staff were dreadful to the point of me feeling they were deliberately confrontational. As a whole it did feel like a strange borough - I was very detached living where I did from the rest of the borough, almost feeling like we (the top of my road was Camden, and the bottom of my road was Barnet) didn’t belong in the borough.

I was also lucky enough to formerly live in Westminster - another council with excellent Council tax charges (second lowest in the UK when I lived there - although I understand the long term cheapest Wandsworth is now the second lowest and Westminster is cheaper); again brilliant local services, regular street cleaning visits, gritted pavements in winter; and a clear and smart local identity (possibly the most recognisable street signs in the world?)

 

[Gooner18]

Well I see boroughs in a different light , with some I have experienced , Enfield, haringey , tower hamlets, Hackney are bad. Lambeth is on a different level. Southwark ain’t to cheerful either

 

[VauxhallandI]

Best
City of London

Worst
Anything in the East - I find a lot of places in London get pushed as nice because the general level is low. Take them out of the context they are in and they are fine but not great. More often than not you are also only a brick throw away from a bad area to boot.

 

[Gooner18]

Best
City of London

Worst
Anything in the East - I find a lot of places in London get pushed as nice because the general level is low. Take them out of the context they are in and they are fine but not great. More often than not you are also only a brick throw away from a bad area to boot.

just to be annoying. CofL is not a London Borough lol.

 

[VauxhallandI]

just to be annoying. CofL is not a London Borough lol.

Maybe but I'm still having it! Strange that CofW is but CofL isn't.

 

[Gooner18]

Maybe but I'm still having it! Strange that CofW is but CooL isn't.

indeed, CofL is its own little country lol goes way back to when William the conqueror invaded, he saw the importance of the city, he allowed it more or less govern itself which why he built the tower of London outside the city and why they built the “ city of Westminster “ To be in competition with the CofL

 

[43021HST]

I'm going to nominate Greenwich as my favourite, the walk along the Thames from Greenwich to Woolwich being my most favourite walk of London, lot of industrial remnants, Greenwich Powerstation, Angerstein Wharf, the old Cable Works around the Thames Barrier, Tate and Lyle Works, North Woolwich Station etc.

I'd need to have a skim of Rotten Boroughs for the political worst, I hear Tower Hamlets is always up to some shady crud with the local developers.
Most boring borough on account of walks ... I'd nominate anywhere along the river between Tower Bridge and Deptford, that entire stretch of river on both the north and south banks, is a length of gentrified sterile nothingness of plate glass, and uninspired 80s - 2000s residential yellow brick architecture. I know Southwark got stated multiple times as a good borough, sure the South Bank area is interesting, but after that it really is nowheresville.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

I love the London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Lived and went to university there.

 

[maniacmartin]

All those who nominated Southwark as one of the best, I'm afraid I disagree. Lots of ugly architecture and they tarmac over every bit of grass or green space they can.

 

[Islineclear3_1]

Best for what? Rubbish for what? Every borough has its angels and demons..

And until the coronavirus struck, probably every borough on a Friday and Saturday night

 

[Islineclear3_1]

Nobody has mentioned Sutton

 

[700007]

I like this thread, has me thinking. Each Borough definitely has its good and its bad, some boroughs are just all bad!

Best boroughs:
Islington
Southwark
Greenwich
Hammersmith & Fulham
Ealing - anywhere east of, and including Hanwell, is actually quite nice

Worst boroughs:
Barking & Dagenham
Merton
Barking & Dagenham
Kingston
Barking & Dagenham
Redbridge
Barking & Dagenham
Brent

Did I say Barking & Dagenham?

I would like to add Barnet to the list of somewhat nice boroughs. Anything East of the M1 (so Mill Hill Broadway going to High Barnet, East Finchley etc). And the parts of Haringey that aren't Tottenham / Wood Green.

Nobody has mentioned Sutton

Has to possibly be the most irrelevant London Borough after Merton and Richmond...

 

[nlogax]

I'm going to nominate Greenwich as my favourite, the walk along the Thames from Greenwich to Woolwich being my most favourite walk of London, lot of industrial remnants, Greenwich Powerstation, Angerstein Wharf, the old Cable Works around the Thames Barrier, Tate and Lyle Works, North Woolwich Station etc.

Same. Wonderful urban decay along that stretch. I enjoy those scenes far more than countryside and greenery, though I appreciate they're not to everyone's taste!

Have to ask @700007, how come Kingston is on your list? I live there (maybe that's why? ) but it strikes me as pretty decent as boroughs go, even though it's beginning to mind-meld from a council admin perspective with our neighbours over in Sutton.

 

[700007]

Same. Wonderful urban decay along that stretch. I enjoy those scenes far more than countryside and greenery, though I appreciate they're not to everyone's taste!

Have to ask @700007, how come Kingston is on your list? I live there (maybe that's why? ) but it strikes me as pretty decent as boroughs go, even though it's beginning to mind-meld from a council admin perspective with our neighbours over in Sutton.

Oh it's nothing against you haha! It just seems to be very out of the way with very little to offer. It feels like it takes too long to get to in contrast to other boroughs from Central London. Most interesting thing there is probably Chessington if you're a fan of theme parks but that either relies on a strike-ridden half hourly train service or the slowest bus ride back to Kingston on the 71.

Had it not been for the current circumstances, I was going to actually try better explore SW London again to try 'give it a second chance'. I am sure there's things I have missed and it could redeem itself. Perhaps as a local you could give a good local guide?