London Borough of Camden

History

The area of the modern borough had historically been part of the county of Middlesex. From 1856 the area was governed by the Metropolitan Board of Works, which was established to provide services across the metropolis of London. In 1889 the Metropolitan Board of Works' area was made the County of London.

From 1856 until 1900 the lower tier of local government within the metropolis comprised various parish vestries and district boards. The ancient parishes of Hampstead and St Pancras were each governed by their vestry. The various smaller parishes and territories to the south were grouped into the St Giles District and Holborn District, each governed by a district board. In 1900 the lower tier was reorganised into metropolitan boroughs, including the Metropolitan Borough of Hampstead, the Metropolitan Borough of St Pancras (each covering the parish of the same name) and the Metropolitan Borough of Holborn, covering the combined area of the former St Giles District and Holborn District (subject to some boundary adjustments with neighbours on its south-eastern edges).

The London Borough of Camden was created in 1965 under the London Government Act 1963. It covered the combined area of the three metropolitan boroughs of Hampstead, Holborn, and St Pancras, which were all abolished. The initial Herbert Commission report recommended that the new borough consist of St Pancras and Hampstead, but Holborn was later added.

According to Enid Wistrich, who was a member of Hampstead Council at the time, the name "Camden" was the idea of Alderman Room, the Leader of Hampstead Council, and Mr Wilson, the Town Clerk, while travelling in a taxi through Camden Town. The name "Fleet" had also been suggested, after the underground river that flowed through the three boroughs, but that was rejected as the river was little more than a sewer. Other suggestions included "Penhamborn", 'Bornhamcras" and "Hohampion". Government guidelines for the naming of the new boroughs suggested that the chosen name should be short and simple, and ideally one that was generally associated with the centre of the new Borough. The name "Camden" met those criteria.

The name "Camden Town" was derived from Camden Place, the seat of Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden who had owned and developed land in the area in the 1790s.

Geography and economy

The area of the old parish and borough of Hampstead in the north-west includes Belsize Park and part of Kilburn. The old parish and borough of St Pancras, which occupies most of the modern borough, includes Camden Town, Kentish Town, Gospel Oak, Somers Town, King's Cross, Chalk Farm, Dartmouth Park, the core area of Fitzrovia and a part of Highgate.

In the south, the old Borough of Holborn was formed from the combined parish of Bloomsbury and St Giles, and most of the parish of Holborn (with the remaining part in the ancient Farringdon Without ward of the City of London).

The economy and land uses of the West End and other southern parts of the borough reflect their more central location. Camden has the seventh largest economy in the UK with a number of major companies headquartered in the borough; Google is in the process of completing a major headquarter building in King's Cross. Camden Town Brewery is among the newer businesses that have thrived in the borough.

In the far south of the borough, Lincoln's Inn Fields is within 500 metres of the Thames. The northern part of the borough includes the less densely developed areas of Hampstead, Hampstead Heath and Kentish Town. There are a number of Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Camden. Neighbouring boroughs are the City of Westminster and the City of London to the south, Brent to the west of the originally Roman Watling Street (now the A5 Road), Barnet and Haringey to the north and Islington to the east. It covers all or part of the N1, N6, N7, N19, NW1, NW2, NW3, NW5, NW6, NW8, EC1, WC1, WC2, W1 and W9 postcode areas.

For planning policy purposes, the London Plan places Camden in the 'Central London' group of boroughs.

Governance and politics

The local authority is Camden Council, which meets at Camden Town Hall (formerly St Pancras Town Hall) in Judd Street in St Pancras, and has its headquarters at 5 Panrcas Square.

Borough councillors are elected every four years. Since May 2022 the electoral wards in Camden are:

Greater London representation

Since 2000, Camden forms part of the Barnet and Camden London Assembly constituency, represented by Anne Clarke of the Labour Party.

UK Parliament

There are two parliamentary constituencies covering Camden: Hampstead and Highgate in the north, represented by Labour's Tulip Siddiq, and Holborn and St Pancras in the south, represented by Keir Starmer, the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

Demographics

In 1801, the civil parishes that form the modern borough were already developed and had a total population of 96,795. This continued to rise swiftly throughout the 19th century as the district became built up, reaching 270,197 in the middle of the century. When the railways arrived the rate of population growth slowed, for while many people were drawn in by new employment, others were made homeless by the new central London termini and construction of lines through the district. The population peaked at 376,500 in the 1890s, after which official efforts began to clear the overcrowded slums around St Pancras and Holborn.

Following World War II, further suburban public housing was built to rehouse the many Londoners made homeless in the Blitz, and there was an exodus from London towards the new towns under the Abercrombie Plan for London (1944). As industry declined during the 1970s the population continued to decline, falling to 161,100 at the start of the 1980s. It has now begun to rise again with new housing developments on brownfield sites and the release of railway and gas work lands around Kings Cross. A 2017 study found that the eviction rate of 6 per 1,000 renting households in Camden is the lowest rate in London.

The 2001 census gave Camden a population of 198,000, an undercount that was later revised to 202,600. The latest ONS projection puts the 2019 population at 270,000.

On 20 May 1999, the Camden New Journal newspaper documented 'Two Camdens' syndrome as a high-profile phenomenon differentiating the characteristics of education services in its constituencies. In 2006, Dame Julia Neuberger's book reported similar variation as a characteristic of Camden's children's health services. Her insider's view was corroboration – in addition to the 2001 "Inequalities" report by Director of Public Health Maggie Barker of "stark contrasts in" health and education opportunities – of earlier similar Audit Commission findings and a verification/update of the 1999 CNJ report.

Ethnicity

The following table shows the ethnic group of respondents in the 2001 and 2011 census in Camden.

Religion

The following shows the religious identity of residents residing in Camden according to the 2001, 2011 and the 2021 censuses.

Landmarks

Parks and open spaces

London is well known for its greenery and the Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Camden make an important contribution to this. Hampstead Heath is well known for its view over London, notably from Parliament Hill, its wild nature and its Hampstead Heath Ponds. Camden shares Regents Park with Westminster and the views from Primrose Hill are famous.

Education

The Borough of Camden is home to a large number of primary, secondary and tertiary institutions. Over recent years, a number of significant institutions have moved into the borough or are planning to do so. The included Central Saint Martins, the Francis Crick Institute, as well as the planned move by Moorfields Eye Hospital, recently unveiled as Project Oriel.

Primary schools

The London Borough of Camden is the local education authority for the borough, organised through the Children, Schools and Families directorate.

Major public and private bodies

Some of London's best universities and teaching institutions are located in the Borough of Camden. They include the main campus of University College London, part of the campus of the London School of Economics near Lincoln's Inn Fields, and Central Saint Martins.

Public services

Police

Camden is policed by the Metropolitan Police Service. There are two police stations across the borough, situated at Holborn and Kentish Town. There are various other contact points around the borough including West Hampstead, Greenland Road, Highgate Road, Station House (Swiss Cottage), West End Lane, Hampstead Town Hall and Kingsway College. All locations have varying opening hours with Kentish Town Police Station open to the public on a 24-hour basis.

Hampstead Heath, situated within the London Borough of Camden and managed by the City of London Corporation, has its own Constabulary who deal with everyday incidents on the Heath, however, all serious criminal offences are passed to the Metropolitan Police to investigate.

With a large London Underground network and major railway stations such as King's Cross, St Pancras and Euston, Camden also has a much larger presence of British Transport Police (BTP) than many other London boroughs. BTP are responsible for policing Great Britain's railway network.

London Fire Brigade

The area has three fire stations: Euston, Kentish Town and West Hampstead and they are operated by London Fire Brigade in the borough of Camden. None of these fire stations are home to any specialist units; only pumping appliances and a rescue tender.

Public libraries

Camden is the home of the British Library. In addition, Camden has numerous libraries which include:

Swiss Cottage Library

Holborn Library

Camden Town Library

Kentish Town Library

Pancras Square Library

West Hampstead Library

Kilburn Library

Highgate Library

Queens Crescent Library

As well as a number of community libraries including Keats community library.

Transport

There are no motorways in the borough, and few stretches of dual carriageway road, but the borough has great strategic transport significance to London, due to presence of three of the capital's most important rail termini, which are lined up along the Euston Road.

The position of the railway termini on Euston Road, rather than in a more central position further south, is a result of the influential recommendations of the 1846 Royal Commission on Metropolitan Railway Termini that sought to protect the West End districts a short distance south of the road.

Rail

Three of the fourteen central London's railway terminals are located in the borough. Euston, St Pancras and Kings Cross are the London termini for the West Coast, Midland and East Coast Main Lines and also High Speed 1. This connects the borough with the East of England, East Midlands, West Midlands, North East & West England, North Wales, Scotland, South East England, France, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Since 14 November 2007 when St Pancras International became the new terminus of Eurostar, a major regeneration of the area has occurred with the King's Cross Central development happening behind the station.

London Overground's North London Line services run through the borough serving Camden Road, Kentish Town West, Gospel Oak, Hampstead Heath, Finchley Road & Frognal and West Hampstead. London Overground also operates the Watford DC Line services from Euston serving South Hampstead, trains continue to Watford in Hertfordshire.

Thameslink route services serve St Pancras, Kentish Town and West Hampstead Thameslink stations. Currently the Thameslink network is undergoing a major expansion project called the Thameslink Programme. This will link more places in Southern England to the borough and to the East of England. While some services on the Great Northern network, which currently terminate at King's Cross will be diverted onto the Thameslink network, all work is due to be complete by 2016.

The London Borough of Camden is served by 18 London Underground stations and 8 of the 11 lines.

The three major rail termini are served by two underground stations, Euston and the combined King's Cross St Pancras station. Between them, the termini are served by the Circle, Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan, Northern, Piccadilly and Victoria lines. The Central and Jubilee lines serve other parts of the borough, as does the Elizabeth line.

As well as the two major termini stations, the borough's other stations are: Euston Square, Warren Street, Goodge Street, Tottenham Court Road, Holborn, Russell Square, Chancery Lane, Mornington Crescent, Camden Town, Chalk Farm, Belsize Park, Hampstead, West Hampstead, Finchley Road, Swiss Cottage and Kentish Town.

Buses

All bus services are operated by Transport for London. Buses serve every suburb in the borough.

Statistics

The 2011 census found that the main forms of transport that residents used to travel to work were: underground, metro, light rail, tram, 21.5% of all residents aged 16–74; on foot, 9.2%; bus, minibus or coach, 9.2%; driving a car or van, 6.3%; work mainly at or from home, 5.2%; train, 4.1%; bicycle, 4.1%.

The census also found that 61% of households had no car, 32% had one car and 7% of households had 2 or more cars. There were an estimated 46,000 cars belonging to Camden residents."Camden Borough Profile" (PDF).

Speed limit

From 16 December 2013, Camden Council introduced a borough-wide speed limit of 20 miles per hour (32 km/h), as of 2022, this was expanded to Transport for London red routes. This is to make roads safer for cyclists and pedestrians.

Culture

Camden has a long-established reputation as a centre for arts and culture, with numerous museums, galleries, theatres and music venues. Contemporary visual arts are represented by institutions including the Camden Arts Centre and, since 2025, Camden Arts Projects, a non-profit contemporary arts organisation based in the Grade II-listed former Wesleyan Methodist Chapel at 176 Prince of Wales Road, which presents exhibitions, artist commissions, performances and public programmes.