Islington is a district in north London. The area usually referred to as Islington is only part of the London Borough of Islington. Because of its proximity to the City of London, Islington developed as a fashionable area in the nineteenth century, with large well-built houses. However changes in residential patterns led to a decline in its popularity, and by the mid-twentieth century it was largely run down.
From about the 1980s the district was rediscovered, and experienced a rapid process of gentrification, becoming very popular among fashionable people, particularly of a younger generation. A number of the central figures in the New Labour movement lived there, including Tony Blair before his victory in the 1997General Election, and the district has become synonymous with a new class of left-leaning fashionable professionals, dismissed by some as "trendies". Notably, Douglas Adams lived in Islington and used it extensively as a setting in his novels.
In Neil Gaiman's best selling novel "Neverwhere" Islington is an angel that lives under London. He is a being of pure light, and helps anyone who searches for him.
Knife and Packer's cartoon "It's grim up North London", published in Private Eye, satirises the stereotypical Islingtonite.
The area is also well-known through the British version of Monopoly with the main shopping area of The Angel, Islington.
Islington is an old area of london, situated between the City, Hackney, and Camden to the South, East and West, and Holloway and Tottenham to the North.
Islington Town hall is a rather fine example of some sort of architecture, as is the Baptist Chapel, where occasional Jazz concerts have been held.
Islington and Camden have had their share of problems, and the antics of their largely left wing local governments have led to the monicker, "Peoples' Republic Of...".
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