An Introduction to London's Boroughs

“London is not so much a city, as the world’s biggest village.”

G. K. Chesterton

London consists of 33 small cities, each with their own governments, schools, areas of wealth and poverty and sense of individual identity. Each borough has national government representation and a local council that collects taxes and provides essential services.

Get the low-down on London's borough basics, from the latest stats and facts to the history and expansion behind the capital's 33 distinct areas.

Unique Cultures

The individual characteristics of each borough are so strong that changes to borough boundaries are often met with strong opposition. The punks and hippies of Camden, the fashionistas and hard men of Hackney, and the chattering classes of Islington believe themselves to be worlds apart, even when they live on neighbouring streets.

Confusingly, many of the outer boroughs do not really regard themselves as part of the capital. They give their addresses as part of the counties of Middlesex, Kent or Surrey, and their inhabitants share a comparatively rural outlook on life.

The City of London, the financial ‘Square Mile’, is a distinct borough. It has its own police force, its own bylaws, and, since the Magna Carta in 1215, the Queen still has to request permission to enter.

Facts and Figures

There are thirty-three London boroughs, ranging in population from the sprawling suburbs of Croydon, with 330, 587 inhabitants, to the tiny City of London, with a residential population of 7,385 swelling during the working week to 380,000.

Newham

The capital’s youngest and the most diverse borough. More than half its inhabitants are from ethnic minorities and it boasts a rapidly growing local economy.

Hackney and Kingston

Has barely felt the past decades' booming economy, with 6.9% of its inhabitants claiming unemployment benefits. By contrast, commuter-filled Kingston has only 2.5% unemployment, making it one of London’s most affluent boroughs.

Richmond and Barking

Richmond is overall the wealthiest borough. Its enormous parks and palatial houses are a magnet for the great and good of London society. From Charles Dickens to Mick Jagger it's attracted some of the wealthiest and artistic people in London. The poorest is Barking, but this may not be the case for long, as the transformation of London’s East End continues apace.

The Original Boroughs

The area within the old city walls is still known as the City of London. It is run by the Corporation of London, a group of guildsmen and nobles whose wealth and influence was so great that London often seemed a separate nation, able to defy and even remove monarchs.

Next to the City lay Westminster, the home of the national government, the monarchy, the palaces of the nobility and the luxury shops that supplied them. Across the river lay Southwark, a disreputable area of theatres, gambling dens and brothels, where Shakespeare's plays were first performed. Surrounding the city walls were the farming villages that kept London fed and the great estates where the wealthy hunted and entertained their friends.

The Growth of London

In the 18th century, London started to grow at an unprecedented rate, becoming the world’s first metropolis. It was in these times that the shape of London’s boroughs began to solidify. As the crowding in the centre reached extreme levels, the first wave of Londoners moved out to the suburbs. Along the Thames, the wealthy built their large homes in Kensington and Chelsea, Hammersmith and Fulham, Hounslow and Richmond.

New bridges at Westminster and Blackfriars opened up the south, and Lambeth and Wandsworth began to grow.

In the east, the Docklands became centres of population, just as London became the centre of world trade.

Living so far from the centre, people wanted to retain some independence, so these new areas focused themselves around ancient villages, such as Islington and Hammersmith. These villages with their town halls, shops, churches and markets would eventually become the centres of the London boroughs.

The Current Boroughs

London stretches across an area of more than 620 square miles, with a population of 8 million and it is clear that a single city council would not be capable of administering this whole area. The 18th and 19th centuries saw scandalous levels of sanitation in the outer boroughs and little provision for the old and infirm. In 1854 an outbreak of cholera killed 10,000 in the area surrounding the city walls.

Finally, in 1899 the barely-functioning system of government, based on the medieval parishes, was swept away. Twenty-eight metropolitan boroughs were created, each with its own mayor and councillors. These would soon be reduced to 13 central London boroughs with a further 20 outer London boroughs added, to create the current system.

The Future

London continues to draw immigrants from Britain and the rest of the world, seeking the wealth and excitement that only this greatest of cities can offer. With space at a premium, a new city is slowly rising in the East: the Thames Gateway will eventually extend London all the way along the Thames to the sea, with Britain’s longest bridge providing a new crossing point at Thamesmead.

New cities will spring up, hundreds of thousands will rush to fill them, and more unique boroughs, passionately loved by their inhabitants, will add to the great jigsaw puzzle that is London.

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An Introduction to London's Boroughs

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