Inevitably, when one part of London is declared the ‘best’, there will be dozens of people who staunchly disagree and kick up a fuss. If you’re willing take on that task, you better have plenty of hard data to back your claim up. So, the Telegraph has crunched dozens and dozens of numbers for the newspaper’s newly released ranking of all 32 of the city’s boroughs.
The paper awarded points based on statistics across 34 different categories. They included things like the number of nature reserves, Michelin restaurants, listed buildings, highly-rated music venues and top rated shops (informed by Time Out’s very own guide). It also considered crime rates, population density and the happiness of residents (based on an annual Rightmove poll).
After all the points had been dished out, Richmond-on-Thames came out on top. Obviously, the southwest borough scored big for the enormous Richmond Park roamed by deer, but, as the paper points out, there’s much more to it besides. The Telegraph said: ‘With one of the capital’s lowest population densities (56 points) and a low crime rate (62 points), and a rugby stadium or two (50 points) to while away a boozy Saturday, Richmond is consistently named the capital’s happiest borough (62 points).’
The next best borough, according to the Telegraph’s methodology, was Westminster. With 205 Grade I listed buildings, five English Heritage properties and 45 Michelin-starred restaurants, it excelled in the ‘culture and activities’ and ‘hospitality’ categories. It lost out on the number one spot thanks to it’s ‘startlingly high crime rate’, which is actually the highest in the entire city.
Way down at the bottom of the ranking, Brent was named the worst borough in London. It received just 38 points in the ‘great outdoors’ category (compared to Richmond’s 261) and for ‘culture and activities’ (compared to Westminster’s 231). Brent’s worst score was in the ‘hospitality’ category, in which it received a mere 14 points. For comparison, the best performer in that section was Hackney with 244 points.
Every London borough ranked best to worst, according to the Telegraph
- Richmond-upon-Thames
- Westminster
- Camden
- Greenwich
- Southwark
- Bromley
- Hackney
- Kensington and Chelsea
- Tower Hamlets
- Waltham Forest
- Hounslow
- Wandsworth
- Barnet
- Lambeth
- Haringey
- Merton
- Islington
- Havering
- Croydon
- Bexley
- Enfield
- Lewisham
- Sutton
- Hillingdon
- Ealing
- Hammersmith and Fulham
- Kingston-upon-Thames
- Redbridge
- Harrow
- Barking and Dagenham
- Newham
- Brent
Find out which London neighbourhood Time Out named one of the coolest in the world for 2025.
London is officially one of Time Out’s happiest cities in Europe for 2025.
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