Richmond upon Thames has been named London's most peaceful borough in a new study that assessed crime levels, night-time noise, green space and proximity to licensed premises across England and Wales.
The leafy suburb, known for its culture, cafes and tranquil lifestyle, achieved a peace score of 58.1 out of 100, placing it ahead of Havering in second and Merton in third.
Key findings for top boroughs
Researchers found Richmond benefits from the lowest crime rate in the capital, at 57.3 offences per 1,000 residents, while also offering 115.3 square metres of publicly accessible green space per person, one of the highest figures in England and Wales.
Havering, ranked second with a score of 56.5, was found to have the quietest nights in London, with just 1.41 per cent of residents living close to clusters of licensed premises. Merton took third place with a score of 56.3, helped by having London's second-lowest crime rate and the second-highest amount of green space per resident. Redbridge and Bromley completed the top five.
National context and least peaceful areas
The research, carried out by property specialists SAM Conveyancing, analysed official data from Defra, the Home Office, Ordnance Survey and the Food Standards Agency. Night-time noise levels were measured using Defra's national noise maps, with researchers examining exposure at 37.7 million individual addresses across England and Wales.
Despite producing the capital's top-ranked borough, London fared relatively poorly in the national rankings overall. No London borough made the top 100 most peaceful local authorities in England and Wales, while only four boroughs placed in the top half of the national table.
At the opposite end of the rankings, Kensington and Chelsea was named London's least peaceful borough and last of all 316 areas ranked, on 0.8 out of 100. Some 89.3% of Kensington and Chelsea residents live with night-time transport noise above the 40 decibel guideline and 29.5% of people are exposed to noise above 55 decibels, the level at which sleep is most commonly disrupted. Islington and Southwark were the next least peaceful London boroughs, both recording crime rates of more than 120 offences per 1,000 residents and having more than one in ten residents living close to nightlife hotspots.
Expert comment and wider challenge
Andrew Boast, chief executive of SAM Conveyancing, said: "Buyers spend months on the things they can measure – the price, the survey, the school catchment – and almost no time on the thing they will notice on their first night in the house, which is how quiet it actually is."
He added: "A Sunday afternoon viewing tells you very little about what a road sounds like at two in the morning, or what happens when the pub two streets away turns out."
The study also highlighted the wider challenge facing urban areas, finding that more than 33 million people across England and Wales live in homes exposed to road or rail noise above the WHO's recommended night-time threshold.
