These Are London's Most Instagrammable Boroughs

Will Noble
By Will Noble Last edited 70 months ago
These Are London's Most Instagrammable Boroughs

It's a sign of the times that while we previously judged the quality of a borough on its recycling policy, it's now all about how strong its wisteria/flat white game is. London Unlocked has totted up the hashtags for London's most instagrammable boroughs. In reverse order, here's the top five:

5. Kensington and Chelsea #kensington

The shrubbery-ensconced Churchill Arms (above) could well be responsible for keeping this borough in the top five. Royal parks, wisteria and women posing in front of pink things seems to be trends in these parts, too.

4. Hackney #hackney

Council estates, cocktails, craft beer and clubbing are all staples of Hackney's Instagram posts.  Quelle suprise.

3. City of Westminster #westminster

This is the hashtag where tourists come to pose for holiday snaps in front of multifarious iconic landmarks. It helps if said landmark is red — phone box, London bus, Coca Cola Eye. There are also a suspicious amount of posts of Big Ben sans scaffolding, which suggests people are pretending to be in London when they're not.

2. Greenwich #greenwich

My, this Greenwich lot are artistic. The hypnotic swirls of the Queen's House's Tulip Staircase is a big favourite, along with landscapes of the Royal Naval College, and good looking people stood in front of the Royal Naval College. We'll overlook the graphic image of fungal nail infection that greeted us when we first searched #greenwich. Nobody's perfect.

1. Camden #camden

Well at least try to act surprised. An array of Insta-happy-trendier-than-thou posers have gifted Camden with the top spot — materialising as they do in front of street-art-daubed brickwork, clubs we're not cool enough to get into and — just in case you forgot where we are — the Camden Lock sign.

And the least instagrammable borough is... Havering #havering

There's a decidedly homey vibe to Havering's Instagram posts — what with the shots of semi-detached dwellings, beauticians' discounts, and worthy charity fundraisers. While they're a world away from the iconic images of Camden, there's a charm to these posts — which probably suggests we're getting on in our years. For the record, we love Havering just as much as the other 31 boroughs, particularly the redoubtable Romford.

We do realise that this process is slightly flawed. People often don't hashtag what borough they're in but what area. For example lots of #Camden posts are more likely to be about Camden Town, rather than the whole borough. There's no specific area called Havering, so it's always likely to do less well. Still this is a general indication of where London's instagrammers gravitate towards if you want to join in/desperately avoid them.

Last Updated 15 May 2018