Southwark and Tower Hamlets top lists in cost of living study

An east London borough has been named the best spot for residents looking for a bargain - though the gong for the best place to live has gone to a south London location.

Looking at aspects including the number of cheap supermarkets, publicly accessible parks, accessible tube stations, the distance to the city centre, the cost of travel to the centre, average house prices and noise complaints, build-to-rent operator Essential Living has named Southwark the place to be.

Closely followed by Wandsworth, Tower Hamlets and Harrow, Southwark scored particularly highly on its distance to the city centre, public transport, and budget-friendly supermarkets.

However, for those specifically looking to do some low-end shopping, Tower Hamlets scored the highest among London’s 32 boroughs.

According to Essential Living’s analysis, Tower Hamlets is home to eight Lidl stores and three ASDAs, placing it in the top spot when accounting for the number of cheap supermarkets per square mile.

Southwark and Hackney followed up in second and third places, with Bromley sitting at the foot of the table, with two Aldi stores.

Commenting on the success of Tower Hamlets in its cheap supermarket offerings, Nick Woodward, lettings director at Essential Living, said: “If you ask people to describe London, you’d hear the words “busy” and “expensive” crop up a lot. We wanted to highlight the greenest, quietest, most affordable and most accessible boroughs in the capital, based on a range of factors, to help individuals make an informed decision on the best place to live for them.

“It’s great to see that - at a time when people are so worried about the cost of their household bills - nine of the London boroughs have at least one cheaper supermarket per square metre, giving people more choice over where to do their shopping and how much to spend.”

What else did the research say?

Some of the findings in Essential Living’s analysis will come as no surprise. For example, Kensington and Chelsea recorded the highest average house price, at £2,314,354, with Westminster and Camden in second and third, while the boroughs with the most green space were all in outer London, with Bromley topping the list.

The percentage of noise complaints based on the population of each borough had Ealing securing the least, while Kensington and Chelsea received the unwanted accolade of having the highest percentage in London.