Poor Islington is trapped somewhere between being a trendy place to live and just straight-up dodgy. Oh, there are some truly nice parts of it: lovely homes, fancy shops, and really good restaurants. But then there's the high rate of crime, drug problems, and the perhaps unfair tag of seventh worst place to live in Britain looming over it. And today it was revealed that residents of Islington also pay the highest insurance premiums in the country.
According to EMB, a specialist insurance agency, the combination of up-market properties and notable unemployment have resulted in an average premium £745 for the borough. The fact that the burglary rate is three times higher than the national average doesn't help either. Rates were calculated based on statistics for a 40-year-old man with an "average" house and car; the average house in Islington now costs £435,000. Poor Islington, we still love you.
Image of Angel courtesy of Fabbio's Flickrstream.
