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The best London boroughs for home study

Students have much to consider when viewing and moving into their student accommodation. As well as the feel of the home, it is important to consider the local area. This is perhaps most important when choosing to study in London, given the size of the city.

To find out the best areas of London for home study, the UWS London team analysed data from each of London’s 32 boroughs. The research considered a variety of factors, including the number of libraries, average rental price, parks and green spaces, and number of distractions.

The Top 10 Boroughs For Students

Lewisham
Lewisham scored highly due to fewer distractions (no 5* attractions on Tripadvisor) and many parks and green spaces (63). The South-West borough is the thirteenth cheapest for rent in London, with ten libraries. The various contributing factors make it a great place for students to study.
Camden
Camden was ranked as the second best place to study, because of the high volume of green spaces and parks (300). It also has nine public libraries within its borough and there are eight 5* attractions in its area. However, the borough in North London is known for being an expensive place to live, with rent costing an average of £2,200.
Harrow
Harrow is in the bronze medal position. It has a healthy number of green spaces and parks, with 60 inside the borough, proving to be a great place for getting out and clearing your mind. It also scored well for the number of distractions with only four in its borough.
Tower Hamlets
Tower Hamlets narrowly missed out on a podium position due to its higher average rent price (£1,850). With that said, the North London borough performed well with four libraries, 18 green spaces and parks, and ten distractions.
Hillingdon
Hillingdon has the final spot in the top five. The main reason for this is a combination of low rental prices (£1,300) and a high number of libraries (17). The North London borough also has a massive 239 green spaces and parks and no distractions.

Rank	Borough	Number of distractions	Average rental price	Green spaces and parks	Libraries
1	Lewisham	0	£1428	63	10
2	Camden	8	£2,200	300	10
3	Harrow	4	£1,350	60	6
4	Tower Hamlets	10	£1,850	18	4
5	Hillingdon	0	£1,300	239	17
6	Barnet	6	£1,500	200	15
7	Enfield	7	£1,350	124	17
8	Bromley	18	£1,350	160	14
9	Croydon	18	£1,250	127	14
10	Bexley	3	£1,250	105	12
11	Haringey	4	£1,600	151	9
12	Hounslow	21	£1,400	160	11
13	Havering	0	£1,250	100	10
14	Hammersmith and Fulham	5	£1,907	31	23
15	Merton	0	£1,575	116	7
16	Sutton	9	£1,250	90	8
17	Lambeth	2	£1,750	64	11
18	Richmond upon Thames	42	£1,670	128	13
19	Southwark	35	£1,850	130	12
20	Brent	0	£1,450	80	6
21	Greenwich	14	£1,450	50	13
22	Redbridge	3	£1,343	12	13
23	Ealing	15	£1,550	48	13
24	Hackney	7	£1,850	58	8
25	Barking and Dagenham	9	£1,250	28	7
26	Waltham Forest	3	£1,425	7	9
27	Wandsworth	15	£1,800	32	11
28	Westminster	44	£2,925	116	16
29	Newham	19	£1,450	25	10
30	Kingston upon Thames	25	£1,450	30	7
31	Kensington and Chelsea	15	£2,903	30	6
32	Islington	87	£2,046	61	10

The Worst London Boroughs For Study

As is the case with rankings, there are always those at the bottom.

Islington (the worst)
The North London borough of Islington has a high number of distractions (87), which is one of the reasons why the borough came out unfavourably in the rankings. The average rent is £2,046, although it has a high number of green spaces and parks (61) and libraries (10).
Kensington and Chelsea
One of London’s most wealthy areas, so it’s no surprise that it is less favourable to study in. Kensington and Chelsea has the second highest rental price in London (£2,903) and 15 distractions.
Kingston-upon-Thames
The third worst is Kingston-Upon-Thames as a result of a higher number of distractions (25). Despite its low overall rank, it has a relatively reasonable rent price, standing at £1,450. However, the South London borough scored low for green spaces (30) and libraries (7).

London Boroughs map

To better illustrate where each borough is, we have created a map of all London boroughs. This will be especially of benefit for international students looking to study in the UK, who may not know where each London borough is situated.

Methodology

We took the list of boroughs and analysed them across different areas.

For number of distractions, we used Tripadvisor to see how many 5* attractions there were in each borough. We used Home Views for rental prices.
We analysed council websites for Green spaces and parks, as well as libraries.

Each place was then given a weighted score based on how they performed.

Tags: student life

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