This posh neighbourhood is actually the rowdiest place in London
Of all of London’s boroughs, Kensington & Chelsea is perhaps the most la-di-da of them all.
It is, after all, the neighbourhood that the Prince and Princess of Wales calls home, and it’s where you’ll find the Royal Albert Hall, the V&A and the fancy King’s Road.
Houses are some of the most expensive here too, with the average home costing a cool £1,657,903.
In fact, it’s official name is actually The Royal London Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, a title awarded by none other than Queen Victoria, in recognition of her birthplace.
Basically this place is posh. Really posh.
It’s perhaps surprising then that this West London borough is also the nosiest of them all.
A new study has found that Kensington & Chelsea receives the most noise complaints in London, with 731.3 complaints per 1,000 people to be exact.
With the national average at just 12 complaints per 1,000 people, that’s more than 60 times more.
Westminster took second place in the study by Clear Amber, with 86.8 noise complaints per 1,000. This central London spot is notoriously busy as its where tourists will find major attractions including Big Ben and Trafalgar Square, as well as the famous West End theatre district.
And rounding out the top three in London was Islington, with 79.4 complaints per 1,000. Home to lively pubs, clubs, and restaurants, perhaps Islington residents are getting fed up with those that come for a night out in the North London area.
At the other end of the scale, if you’re looking for a moment’s peace, you’ll need to head out East, to Havering, which was found to have the least noise complaints.
Peace and quiet in the heart of London
The words ‘nature’ and ‘London’ rarely seem to go together, but the city’s smallest nature reserve will make you feel like you’re in a tiny, natural oasis, even if only for a couple of hours.
Barnsbury Wood, in Islington, is a little-known conservation site. It’s only 0.35 hectares, about 3500 square metres (for reference, Hyde Park is 142 hectares), but it’s still home to various species of wildlife, according to the council, like the long-tailed tit, lesser stag beetle, common toad and the sixteen-spot ladybird.
The nature reserve, which was built in the 1840s by George Thornhill, who owned the land, was left to rewild when it was eventually abandoned.
The council bought the land, then overgrown with shrubs and trees, in 1974 to build on it, but decided it should be conserved as a Local Nature Reserve in the 1990s.
The hidden park is often used by Islington’s environmental education staff to run activities for school children.
There’s only one catch: at this time of year, it’s only open for two hours a week, between 2pm and 4pm on a Tuesday.
Still, this little slice of the countryside is well worth a visit.
With a population of almost 260,000, there were just four complaints for every 1,000 people here.
If you’re looking for London days out that don’t involve ear plugs and being crushed by crowds, check out our list of alternative things to do in London – that aren’t the same old tourist traps.