Islington is the nicest place you can live – if you afford it

You won’t be able to buy anything


Islington: the stomping ground of Jezza C and 4x4s, expensive pubs and Arsenal football ground. It’s undoubtedly one of the best places to live in London.

Zone 2 is actually beaut

The best thing about first year was the five minute commute to campus. Living in Zone 2 can initially feel like living on the outskirts of civilisation, but it only takes about half an hour to walk in. As well as the exercise and bare muscle gains, it’s also nice to live slightly out of the main humdrum of the city where a smaller proportion of the air is car emissions.

There’s loads of green space

Another boon of being sort of outside the centre is the amount of green space there is. We all love monotonously discoloured concrete paving slabs, but the odd bit of grass and shrub here and there never goes amiss. My housemate Lucian said: “Having green space is the most important step that city-planners can do to ensure the long-term sustainability of large cities. Plus it’s a good tanning area.” It must be good.

The canal

When you’ve got that spare hour or are just feeling a bit pensive, nothing’s better than a perambulate down the old canal that goes all the way down to Canary Wharf. Here you can contemplate the collapse of Britain’s industry and its new global role as a post-industrial economy – or you can just think about what you fancy for tea. Either way you’ll be able to have a relaxing walk ducking and diving out the way of cyclists, runners and dogs.

Post-industrialism init

It’s pretty safe

Islington feels pretty safe in comparison to some other areas of London – perhaps because it feels like suburbia. Of course there are sirens and two people were arrested on my street for shoplifting last year but it’s generally an okay part of the world to be. Contrast that with Mornington Crescent where you don a bulletproof vest just to pop to the shops and Islington feels like heaven.

Architecture

Unlike Zone 1 where everything is becoming increasingly vertical, Islington still retains its strong turn-of-the-century terraces. There’s something about seeing more than a thin strip of sky above, where the sun isn’t blocked out by massive skyscrapers and  the streets sport a real feeling of soul.

A cornucopia of different eateries

I love beans on toast, but night after night of the same Heinz-based cuisine does leave me hankering for some international alternative. When this happens I only have to turn onto Essex Road: the linchpin that holds the whole of Islington together. There’s a total menagerie of different cuisines here from all around the world to satisfy both hunger and curiosity. From Ecuador to the Mississippi, Mexico to Afghanistan, Islington brings the world to you.

Oxford circus just can’t compare

With all that in mind, there’s an Isling-tonne of reasons you should move to Islington when you move out of halls, there’s simply nowhere else like it.