Interesting Borough Facts

• Barking and Dagenham is the 14^th smallest London borough by area

• Barking and Dagenham’s BME population is expected to rise by 17 per cent between 2006 and 2026; the greatest projected increase in London.

• Barking and Dagenham has 31 listed buildings, including the 17th century Valence House Museum.

• Barking power station provides over a third of London’s annual energy consumption and has one of the best environmental records for similar buildings in Europe.

• The Becontree estate was built in 1921 to reward the families of soldiers who had served in the First World War. It was the largest council housing estate in the world at the time.

Facts courtesy of London Councils' Ten Interesting Things Publication

Interesting Borough Facts

• Bexley is the 7^th largest London borough by area
• Bexley has the highest combined household recycling and composting rate in London
• Use of the borough’s leisure centres has increased by more than 40 per cent in the last five years - including large increases in over 60s and disabled users
• Bexley is one of the greenest boroughs in London with over 200 parks and open spaces
• Famous Bexley residents have included Kate Bush and Roald Dahl

Facts courtesy of London Councils' Ten Interesting Things Publication

Interesting Borough Facts

• Brent is the 15^th largest London borough by area
• The capital’s bioscience industry is clustered around Brent
• Brent is recognised as the most ethnically diverse local authority in the country
• Brent has one of the highest crime detection rates in London
• In 1986 Merle Amory became leader of Brent council, the first black woman to reach this position within a British local authority

Facts courtesy of London Councils' Ten Interesting Things Publication

Interesting Borough Facts

• Bromley is the largest London borough by area
• Half of the borough is covered by green belt countryside, the largest area of green space in London
• Biggin Hill aerodrome in Bromley was the main aerodrome for RAF pilots in the Battle of Britain, 1940
• The average household income of Bromley is £40000, above both London and national averages
• Famous residents of Bromley include Napoleon III and Charles Darwin and David Bowie

Facts courtesy of London Councils' Ten Interesting Things Publication

Interesting Borough Facts

• Camden is the 7^th smallest London Borough
• 11% of Camden residents are students – the highest proportion in the Capital
• London Zoo partly falls within Camden
• Camden has 39 conservation areas which cover half the borough, including Regents Park
• Famous residents of Camden include Benjamin Disraeli and Karl Marx

Facts courtesy of London Councils' Ten Interesting Things Publication

Interesting Borough Facts

• Croydon is the 5^th largest London borough by area at 8,650 hectares.
• Croydon has over 3,000 acres of parkland, countryside and open space within its borders.
• Croydon is one of the country’s largest commercial centres; home to more than 20 blue-chip companies and around 13,000 businesses.
• The Croydon Aerodrome was built in 1915 as London’s first airport, but was replaced by Heathrow in 1959.
• The Surrey Iron Railway from Croydon to Wandsworth opened in 1803 and was the world's first horse-drawn railway

Facts courtesy of London Councils' Ten Interesting Things Publication

• Ealing is the 11^th largest London borough by area
• Ealing Studios celebrated its centenary y in 2002, making it the oldest film studios in the world still in production
• Ealing has one of the largest Polish communities in London
• After English, the most common first languages of pupils within Ealing schools are Panjabi (9%) and Somali (8%)
• Ealing has the largest Sikh community in London and is home to Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara, the largest Sikh temple outside India

Facts courtesy of London Councils' Ten Interesting Things Publication

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Interesting Borough Facts

• Greenwich is the 13^th largest London borough by area
• Greenwich sent just 3% of waste to landfill in 2007/08, less than any other local authority in England
• The Prime Meridian, defined as 00 longitude, passes through Greenwich, as well as parts of Spain, Algeria, Togo and Antarctica
• Maritime Greenwich was awarded World Heritage Site status in 1997
• At eight miles, Greenwich has the longest embankment along the River Thames in London

Facts courtesy of London Councils' Ten Interesting Things Publication

• Hackney is the 5^th smallest London borough
• Stamford Hill has the largest community of Charedi Jews in the world outside of Israel and New York
• Hackney Marshes has the largest concentration of amateur football pitches in Europe; over 100 games are played there every winter weekend
• In April 2009 Italian Vogue Magazine named Dalston as one of the ‘coolest places on earth’
• Edgar Allan Poe, whose works include The Pit and the Pendulum and The Raven, went to the Manor House School which once stood in Hackney, and Daniel Defoe , author of Robinson Crusoe both lived in Hackney

Facts courtesy of London Councils' Ten Interesting Things Publication

Demographics

Interesting Borough Facts

• Hammersmith and Fulham is the 4^th smallest London borough by area at 1,639 hectares.
• Gandhi lived on Baron’s Court Road while studying law in London in the 1880s.
• Hammersmith and Fulham has three rail stations, fewer than any other London borough.
• The borough’s Westfield shopping centre took 13 million man-hours to build and used enough concrete to fill 117 Olympic swimming pools.
• The 1908 Olympics were held at White City after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius caused the event to be relocated from Italy at short notice.

Facts courtesy of London Councils' Ten Interesting Things Publication

Demographics

Size: 50.44 km²

Population: 206,814 (48.3% male/51.7% female)*

Population Density:  100.8 people per hectare; the 12^th least populated of all boroughs (joint with LB Sutton)*

Age Breakdown: 7.1% 75+, 72.7% 16-74, 20.2% under 16*

Ethnicity Breakdown: 58.8% White, 41.2% BME*

Religion: 47.3% Christian, 9% no religion, 43.7% other*

Education: 51 primary schools, 10 secondary schools, 4 non-mainstream schools⁺ 

Employment: 62.4 employment rate* ^#

*National Census 2001⁺Harrow Council ^# National Average 2001: 60.6%

Interesting Borough Facts

• Harrow is the 12^th largest London borough by area
• Harrow public school is famous for educating seven Prime Ministers, including Winston Churchill, and has also featured in the Harry Potter films
• 22% of Harrow’s population identify themselves as ‘Indian’ in ethnicity, the highest in London
• Harrow is the most religiously diverse local authority in the UK; there’s a 62% chance that two random residents would be from different religious groups
• One fifth of the borough is composed of parkland and open spaces, creating a green belt equivalent to eight Hyde Parks

Facts courtesy of London Councils' Ten Interesting Things Publication

Interesting Borough Facts

• Haringey is the 11^th smallest London borough by area    
• Haringey is home to five ancient woods, including Coldfall Wood, Bluebell Wood and North Wood
• The Cineword cinema in Wood Green plays host to the International Short Film Festival every year
• Haringey’s Alexandra Palace is the location of the world’s first regular high definition television service, broadcasted by the BBC from 1936
• Haringey is the world famous home of Tottenham Hotspur football club, the first British club to win a major European Trophy

Facts courtesy of London Councils' Ten Interesting Things Publication

Interesting Borough Facts

• Havering is the 3^rd largest London borough by area
• Havering’s population has the lowest proportion of people from black and minority ethnic communities in London
• Havering has one of the lowest unemployment rates in London
• Havering has the most disabled badge holders in London
• More than half of the borough is park or green belt land, some of which shows evidence of early Roman settlements

Facts courtesy of London Councils' Ten Interesting Things Publication

Interesting Borough Facts

• Hillingdon is the 2^nd largest London borough by area
• Sir Alexander Fleming, Nobel Prize winner and discoverer of penicillin, lived in Hillingdon
• Hillingdon is home to Heathrow Airport, the world’s third busiest airport
• Hillingdon has 1.4 registered vehicles per household, the highest ratio in London
• The borough boasts 800 acres of countryside, several rivers and the Grand Union Canal

Facts courtesy of London Councils' Ten Interesting Things Publication

• Hounslow is the 10^th largest London borough by area
• Over 120 languages are spoken in Hounslow
• Hounslow has the second highest Indian population in London
• Hounslow Heath is one of London largest nature reserves, and is home to 132 bird species
• The first electric tram service in London was inaugurated in Chiswick in 1901.

Facts courtesy of London Councils' Ten Interesting Things Publication

Interesting Borough Facts

• Islington is the 3^rd smallest London borough by area
• Angel tube station has the longest escalators in western Europe
• Islington has 0.5 registered vehicles per household, the lowest ratio in London
• Many suffragettes, including Emmeline Pankhurst and Emily Davison, were incarcerated at Holloway prison
• Dr Marie Stopes, the founder of free family planning, opened her first women’s clinic in the borough in 1921

Facts courtesy of London Councils' Ten Interesting Things Publication

• Kensington and Chelsea is the 2^ndsmallest London borough by area
• Isaac Newton and Queen Elizabeth I both lived in the Kensington and Chelsea
• Kensington and Chelsea is the country's most densely populated local authority
• The Notting Hill Carnival is one of London’s most important cultural events and the largest street party in Europe
• The borough has the highest life expectancy for both men and women in London - 83.1 years and 87.2 years respectively

Facts courtesy of London Councils' Ten Interesting Things Publication

Demographics

Size: 37.24 km²

Population: 147,237 (48.9% male/51.1% female)*

Population Density: 39.5 people per hectare; the 11^th least populated of all boroughs*

Age Breakdown: 7% 75+, 74.1% 16-74, 18.9% under 16*

Ethnicity Breakdown: 84.5% White, 15.5% BME*

Religion: 64.6% Christian, 18% no religion, 17.4% other*

Education: 34 primary schools, 10 secondary schools,

three non-mainstream schools⁺ 

Employment: 65.1% employment rate*^#

*National Census 2001⁺Kingston Council^# National Average 2001: 60.6%

Interesting Borough Facts

• Kingston upon Thames is the 16^th smallest London borough by area
• Kingston is consistently rated among the safest of all London boroughs by the Metropolitan Police
• The oldest surviving bridge in London is the Clattern Bridge at Kingston dating back to the 12^thcentury
• The Korean population in New Malden is estimated to be the largest in Europe
• The borough hosts one of the country's leading theme parks, Chessington World of Adventures, which attracts around 8,000 visitors per day during the summer months

Facts courtesy of London Councils' Ten Interesting Things Publication

Lambeth demographics

Size: 26.84 km²  

Population: 266169 (49.1% male/50.9% female)*

Population Density:  99.2 people per hectare; 5^th most densely populated borough*

Age Breakdown: 4% 75+, 77% 16-74, 19% under 16*

Ethnicity Breakdown: 62.4% White, 37.6% BME*

Religion: 58.9% Christian, 21.7% no religion, 19.4% other*

Education: 62 Primary Schools, 14 Secondary Schools,

five non-mainstream schools⁺

Employment: 61.7% employment rate*#

_{*National Census 2001 ⁺Lambeth Council ^# National Average 2001: 60.6%}

Interesting borough facts

• Lambeth is the 9^thsmallest london Borough by area
• Lambeth is home to the UK’s largest Portuguese population
• Lambeth is home to London’s largest  train station, Waterloo, which covers an area of almost 10 hectares
• The Black Theatre in Brixton, founded in 1974, was instrumental in developing black theatre in the UK
• Former Lambeth residents include model Naomi Campbell and  the famous diarist Samuel Pepys

Facts courtesy of London Councils' Ten Interesting Things Publication

Interesting Borough Facts

• Lewisham is the 13^th smallest London borough by area
• Lewisham hosts London’s largest free fireworks display at Blackheath each year
• The borough has eight green flag parks, among the highest number in London
• Lewisham has the highest proportion of Black Caribbean residents in inner London
• In 2004, Lewisham became the first council to have a directly-elected young mayor

Facts courtesy of London Councils' Ten Interesting Things Publication

Interesting Borough Facts

• Merton is the 17^th largest London borough by area
• Merton has one of the lowest road casualty rates of any London borough
• A high proportion of adults in Merton eat healthily and levels of obesity, binge drinking and deaths from smoking are lower than the average in England and Wales
• Merton has more than 700 hectares of open space
• Merton is famous for being the one-time residence of Lord Horatio Nelson

Facts courtesy of London Councils' Ten Interesting Things Publication

Interesting Borough Facts

• Newham is the 15^th largest London borough by area
• Stratford City, the largest mixed-use urban regeneration project in the UK, will host the majority of Olympic athletes in 2012 and create a new £4 billion metropolitan centre in east London as part of the Games legacy
• Newham is London’s second fastest growing borough, with a population increase of 28% expected by 2020
• Newham is one of just two London boroughs to have a larger black and minority ethnic population than those identifying themselves as ‘white’
• Nearly 10% of the borough is green space

Facts courtesy of London Councils' Ten Interesting Things Publication

Interesting Borough Facts

• Redbridge is the 9^th largest London borough by area at 5,641 hectares
• Redbridge is home to a £4.5 million state-of-the-art cycling centre, opened in 2008 as the first Olympic legacy venue
• A quarter of Redbridge is covered with forests and parklands, and the borough has 14 conservation areas
• Redbridge pupils are among the highest achievers of at least five GCSE grades A*-G in London
• 75% of people in Redbridge own their own homes

Facts courtesy of London Councils' Ten Interesting Things Publication

Interesting Borough Facts

• Richmond is the 8^th largest London borough by area
• The borough is home to the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, one of London’s four World Heritage sites.
• Outside the City of London, Richmond has the highest average annual income (£46,415) of any London borough.
• Richmond is the least deprived London borough and has the lowest rate of child poverty.
• Richmond ’s population has one of the highest numbers of over 85s in London, and average life expectancies of 79.4 years for men and 83.1 years for women.

Facts courtesy of London Councils' Ten Interesting Things Publication

Interesting Borough Facts

• Southwark is the 10^th smallest London borough by area
• More than 100 languages are spoken in Southwark’s Schools and 43% of pupils speak English as an additional language.
• When completed in 2012 The Shard in Southwark will be the UK’s tallest building.
• London ’s first river crossing was from Southwark across to the City of London.
• Charles Dickens, Charlie Chaplin and William Shakespeare all lived in Southwark.

Facts courtesy of London Councils' Ten Interesting Things Publication

Interesting Borough Facts

• Sutton is the 14^th largest London borough by area at 4,386 hectares.
• Smarter Travel Sutton is the UK's largest travel programme to promote sustainable behaviour change and encourage more people to walk, cycle and use public transport.
• Sutton pupils are among the best performers at GCSE level, with 80% of students receiving five A*-C grades in 2008.
• Sutton claims to be London’s greenest borough, with around 1,500 acres of green open space and parks.
• Sutton is twinned with five towns in Europe, including Gladsaxe in Denmark, Minden in Germany and Tavernelle in Italy.

Facts courtesy of London Councils' Ten Interesting Things Publication

Interesting Borough Facts

• Tower Hamlets is the 6^th smallest London borough by area at 1,978 hectares.
• Tower Hamlets takes its name from the historical association between the Tower of London and the surrounding hamlets
• Tower Hamlets is London’s fastest growing borough, with a population increase of 33% expected by 2020.
• The docks around Canary Wharf were once part of the world’s largest port.
• The Victorians renamed Petticoat Lane ‘Middlesex Street’ in the 1830s to avoid any reference to underwear, although the market there is still known by the original name.

Facts courtesy of London Councils' Ten Interesting Things Publication

Interesting Borough Facts

• Waltham Forest is the 16^th largest London borough in by area
• The Bremer, Britain's first car with an internal combustion engine, was produced in Waltham Forest in the 1890s.
• Walthamstow Market is Europe's longest daily street market.
• Waltham Forest will be home to the Olympic Park’s wind turbine - the Angel of Leyton - providing power both during and after the London 2012 Games.
• Waltham Forest has more green space than any other north London borough.

Facts courtesy of London Councils' Ten Interesting Things Publication

Interesting Borough Facts

• Westminster is the eighth smallest borough in London by area at 2,204 hectares.
• Nine people drowned and several houses were destroyed by the 1814 beer flood in Tottenham Court Road. It started when a beer vat burst its hoops, ruptured other vats and released millions of pints of beer.
• The oldest surviving English Heritage blue plaque, put up in 1875 in honour of Napolean III, is situated in King Street, St James's.
• The City of Westminster contains over 11,000 listed buildings of special architectural and historic interest and 78% of the borough is included within a designated conservation area.
• It is estimated that more than 95 per cent of visitors to London visit Westminster, representing approximately 28.5 million people p