Clerkenwell has been named the Sunday Times’ best place to live in London for 2024.

Toppling Crouch End from last year’s top spot, the Islington neighbourhood has been lauded as the “heart of the capital’s culinary and creative scene”.

Desirable for its location, Clerkenwell is close to popular performing arts centre the Barbican, as well as home to Sadler’s Wells Theatre, and food and drink mecca Exmouth Market.

The judging panel claimed the district “embodies all that’s best about life in London”, paying tribute to its “cosy pubs, cool cafes, lively bars…and restaurants”.

There was also a shout-out for Clerkenwell’s chequered past of “riot and ribaldry”. The former brothels of Turnbull Street – now Turnmill Street next to Farringdon station – were notorious, and even referenced by Shakespeare in Henry IV, Part 2.

Although you might not know it from its prim and proper appearance, the judges claimed the area’s “fascinating history” can still be seen today in its warren of streets and alleys.

Other north London spots to make the Sunday Times Best Places to Live include last year’s winner Crouch End, as well as Little Venice near Paddington and London Fields in Hackney.

On London Fields, the judges said: “It is easy to dismiss this bijou corner of the capital as a bouji bubble, but London Fields, ten minutes from Liverpool Street on the Overground, offers all the energy of east London with a calmer, (slightly) less breathlessly hip ambience.”

They added that the Regent’s Canal, London Fields’ restored 1930s lido (the only Olympic-size heated outdoor pool in the capital), and the “on-trend” restaurants, bars, cafés and shops in Broadway Market are all part of the appeal.

Crouch End was described as a “mini cultural powerhouse”, with an arts centre at the heart of soon-to-reopen Hornsey Town Hall, as well as its two independent cinemas and one of the capital’s longest-running comedy clubs.

Of Little Venice, the panel said: “The towpaths and tree-lined streets of this calm canalside neighbourhood offer a blissful combination of wedding-cake white stucco piles and brightly painted narrowboats that rarely fails to lift the soul.

“Many of the mansions here have been converted into flats, making this a happy hunting ground for a new kind of post-pandemic buyer who wants to live in the capital for a few days a week, then repair to the country for long weekends.”

Helen Davies, editorial projects director and Best Places to Live editor, added: “These are all places where you can feel grounded as well as upwardly mobile: they have a mature sense of community, lively, supportive high streets and an eye to the future, whether that is eco-friendly measures, transport and regeneration, or imaginative inclusion of new housing.” 

North Berwick, East Lothian was named as the overall best place to live in the UK.