Neighbourhoods

London is often described as a collection of distinct urban villages rather than a single sprawling metropolis, due to the way it developed over time. Discover each neighbourhood's unique character and charm.

Angel & Islington

A mile of Upper Street, two small theatres and an antiques passage, on the old road north out of London.

The Regent's Canal on a bright spring day: narrowboats moored along both banks, a willow in new leaf, a lock and a footbridge in the distance, an old brick chimney and warehouse on the right and glass towers beyond, with people walking the towpath. — The Regent's Canal at Angel.

The Screen on the Green cinema on Islington Green: a curved white front under a red neon sign, with the week's films on the letterboard — The Screen on the Green, on Islington Green. Photo by Philafrenzy, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Camden Head's Victorian pub front in low evening sun: gilt lettering on a dark fascia, etched glass, polished granite pilasters and red brick above. — The Camden Head, on Camden Passage behind Upper Street. Photo by Jim Osley, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Islington was a village on the Great North Road, the last stop before London for drovers bringing cattle to Smithfield and the first inn for anyone coming south. One of those inns was the Angel, which is why the junction is called that and the village is not. What turned it into a town was water and buses: the New River, a channel cut in 1613 to bring clean water down from Hertfordshire, ends here, and the horse omnibus arrived in 1830. The population went from ten thousand in 1801 to over three hundred thousand by 1891. It was somewhere to go out long before it was fashionable. Upper Street had fifty-six alehouse keepers on it by 1716; the Victorians replaced them with music halls, and Collins's on the Green ran from 1862 to 1958. Sadler's Wells, which began as a spa with a theatre attached to it, is still going and is now where the country's dance companies perform. The Georgian terraces went cheap after the war and were bought back street by street from the 1960s, which is how Islington acquired its reputation for politics and dinner parties. What a visitor gets is Upper Street, a mile of restaurants and small shops; Camden Passage, antiques on Wednesdays and Saturdays; Chapel Market, which still sells fruit and vegetables to the people who live here; and two theatres, the Almeida and the King's Head, small enough to see the actors' faces.