h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Islington isn't the homeland of bohemians and artists - Stoke Newington is - Islington's just for pseuds. Hackney has the highest concentration of artists in Europe.

Islington has an image that is associated with a certain sort of trendy media/artist type but it is also the name of an entire Borough of London which includes many real (!) people as well.

For example I don't see the environs of Archway as particularly Bohemian. And Islington is also the borough of Arsenal F.C., the borough of Tufnell Park and Holloway, a borough that almost reaches Crouch End to the North and the Thames to the South.

However, to many it will always be linked to a certain 'Upper Street' sort of image.

Whilst Islington IS considered by many to have an image of the bohemian high-lifestyle, it is interesting for many other reasons.

In Newington Green (as far as you can go East while still remaining in Islington), there are some of the oldest houses in London, dating from the mid 17th century (1640-something). These have been converted into a cobblers shop and a Turkish patisserie and so have lost almost none of their historical value.

It has been pointed out that Islington is also famous for it's restaurants, but no one has mentioned the complete lack of clothes shops. This can be explained by the excess of restaurants. The locals eat so much that their clothes hardly ever fit well. They therefore tend to wear badly fitting clothes which they seldon replace, as this seems pointless.

I'm not prone to parochial rivalry with our eastern neighbours, the Hackneyans (as opposed to our western neighbours, the redoubtable Camdenians), but to set the record straight, I know quite a few people with bohemian habits and artistic temperaments who do reside within the borders of the Borough of Islington. People on both sides of the borough seem to have this prejudice that Islingtonians are either £45k-a-year DINKs or else Socialist-Worker readers. Both groups are fairly well represented in Isl., I admit, but neither holds the record among London's boroughs. As a matter of fact, Islington is one of the most diversified boroughs in London, i.e. ethnically, socially, etc. and thence has its fair share of 'artists and bohemians' - as does Hackney, which is admitted without envy. But this entry isn't called 'Hackney' - so I wonder who the pseuds are?