North London

Kings Cross and St Pancras stations. North London's emergence owed much to the arrival of the railway

North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshire.

The term north London is used to differentiate the area from south London, east London and west London. Some parts of north London are also part of Central London. There is a Northern postal area, but this includes some areas not normally described as part of north London, while excluding many others that are.

Development[]

The first northern suburb developed in the Soke of Cripplegate in the early twelfth century, but London's growth beyond its Roman northern gates was slower than in other directions, partly because of the marshy ground north of the wall and also because the roads through those gates were less well connected than elsewhere. The parishes that would become north London were almost entirely rural until the Victorian period. Many of these parishes were grouped into an area called the Finsbury division.

In the early 19th century, the arrival of the Regent's Canal in Islington and St Pancras stimulated London's northerly expansion, continuing when the development of the railway network accelerated urbanisation, promoting economic growth in the capital and allowing for the establishment of commuter suburbs.

This trend continued in the twentieth century and was reinforced by motorcar-based commuting until the establishment of the Metropolitan Green Belt, shortly after the Second World War, prevented London from expanding any further.

Formal uses[]

Planning Policy sub-region[]

The sub-region extends from Watling Street to the Lea, but excludes more central areas of north London.

The 2011 iteration of the London Plan^[1] included an altered 'North' sub-region, to be used for planning, engagement, resource allocation and progress reporting purposes. It consists of the London Boroughs of Barnet, Haringey and Enfield. The 2004-2008 and 2008-2011 versions of the London Plan sub-regions varied in their composition.

North Thames: Boundary Commission report[]

In 2017, the government asked the Boundary Commission for England to reconsider the boundaries of parliamentary constituencies. The Commission's approach was to start with existing regions of England (in this case London) and then group the local authorities within that area into sub-regions for further sub-division.

The North Thames sub-region includes all parts of London lying north of the river; the 19 boroughs which lie wholly north of the river, plus parts of cross-river Richmond upon Thames.^[2]

An earlier 2013 study, whose recommendations were not adopted, took a different approach by assigning all of Richmond to the south.^[3] This list includes all boroughs included in the North Thames area:

	London borough	Postcode areas	2011 sub-region	hideLondon Assembly[4]
	Barking and Dagenham	IG, RM, E	East	City and East
	Barnet	EN, HA, N, NW	North	Barnet and Camden
	Brent	HA, NW, W	West	Brent and Harrow
	Camden	EC, WC, N, NW	Central	Barnet and Camden
	Ealing	UB, W, NW	West	Ealing and Hillingdon
	Enfield	EN, N, E	North	Enfield and Haringey
	Hackney	E, EC, N	East	North East
	Hammersmith Fulham	SW, W, NW	West	West Central
	Haringey	N	North	Enfield and Haringey
	Harrow	HA, UB, NW	West	Brent and Harrow
	Havering	RM, CM	East	Havering and Redbridge
	Hillingdon	HA, TW, UB, WD	West	Ealing and Hillingdon
	Hounslow	TW, W, UB	West	West
	Islington	EC, WC, N	Central	North East
	Kensington and Chelsea	W, SW	Central	West Central
	Newham	E, IG	East	City and East
	Redbridge	E, IG, RM	East	Havering and Redbridge
	Waltham Forest	E, IG	East	North East
	Westminster	NW, SW, W	Central	West Central

Football: North London Derby[]

In English football, the teams Arsenal and Spurs are considered the two North London teams and the games against each other are known as North London Derbies.

It has been described as "one of the fiercest derbies in English football and one that separates families in north London." ^[5]

The League matches in the English Premier League and formerly the Football League are known formally as the North London Derby. To date, 167 have been contested with 66 wins for Arsenal, 54 wins for Spurs and 47 draws. In other matches, simply referred to generically as North London Derbies, the 6 FA cup contests resulted in 4 Arsenal victories to Spurs' 2 with no draws, while the 14 League Cup matches have ended with 7 wins for the Arsenal against 4 for Spurs with 3 draws. In the sole Charity Shield between the two clubs, then exclusively between the previous season's league champions and the FA Cup winners, the contest in 1991 was drawn with the Shield shared. Spurs had won the FA cup final in 1991 after beating Arsenal 3-1 in the semi-final, the first FA cup semi-final and the first of five North London Derbies to be held at Wembley Stadium. The 1991 Charity Shield is the sole occasion so far in which a trophy has been at stake, though in 1971 (0-1) and 2004 (2-2) Arsenal were crowned league champions at the final whistle of the North London Derby in Tottenham.

Climate[]

North London has, like other parts of London and the UK in general, a temperate maritime climate according to the Köppen climate classification system. Long term climate observations dating back to 1910 are available for Hampstead, which also the most elevated Weather Station in the London area, at 137m. This both hilltop and urban position means severe frosts are rare.

Temperatures increase towards the Thames, firstly because of the urban warming effect of the surrounding area, but secondly due to altitude decreasing towards the river, meaning some of the hillier northern margins of North London are often a degree or so cooler than those areas adjacent to the Thames. Occasionally snow can be seen to lie towards the Chilterns while central London is snow-free.

Typically the warmest day of the year at Hampstead will average 29.3 °C (84.7 °F)^[6] with around 14 days^[7] in total achieving a value of 25.1 °C (77.2 °F) or higher.

The average coldest night should fall to −5.6 °C (21.9 °F).^[8] On average 35.8 nights^[9] will report an air frost, some 119 days^[10] of the year will register at least 1mm of precipitation, and on 7.4 days^[11] a cover of snow will be observed. All annual averages refer to the observation period 1971–2000.

Associated organisations[]

See also[]

• Central London
• East London
• Inner London
• Outer London
• South London
• West London

References[]

External links[]

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for North London.

• Time Out editors (1 May 2009). "North London v South London – The debate". Time Out London.
• Alan Rutter and Peter Watts (13 December 2005). "North London v South London – The debate". Time Out London.