North London is the northern part ofLondon, England, north of theRiver Thames and theCity of London. It extends fromClerkenwell andFinsbury, on the edge of theCity of London financial district, toGreater London's boundary withHertfordshire. The term is occasionally used in reference to all of London north of theRiver Thames.

The term differentiates the area fromSouth London,East London andWest London. Some parts of North London are also part ofCentral London.

The first northern suburb developed in theSoke of Cripplegate in the early part of the twelfth century, but London's growth beyond its Roman northern gates was slower than in other directions, partly because of themarshy ground north of the wall and also because the roads through those gates were less well-connected than elsewhere. The parishes that would become north London were almost entirely rural until theVictorian period. Many of these parishes were grouped^[1] into an area called theFinsbury division ofMiddlesex.

In the early part of the 19th century, the arrival ofRegent's Canal inIslington andSt Pancras stimulated London's northerly expansion, continuing when the development of the railway network accelerated urbanisation, promoting economic growth in the capital and allowing for the establishment ofcommuter suburbs.

This trend continued in the twentieth century and was reinforced by motorcar-based commuting until the establishment—shortly after theSecond World War—of theMetropolitan Green Belt, which prevented urban London from expanding any further.

There are sixLondon boroughs that cover areas north of the City of London, and which on that basis might, partially or wholly, be described as comprising North London. They are Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey and Islington. Each London borough is governed by aLondon borough council local authority. All six boroughs participate in theNorth London Waste Authority. Some local government functions are held by theGreater London Authority, made up of theMayor of London and theLondon Assembly.

	London borough	Postcode areas	2011 sub-region	London Assembly[2]
	Barnet	EN,HA,N,NW	North	Barnet and Camden
	Camden	EC,WC, N, NW, W	Central	Barnet and Camden
	Enfield	EN,N	North	Enfield and Haringey
	Hackney	E, EC, N	East	North East
	Haringey	N	North	Enfield and Haringey
	Islington	EC, WC, N	Central	North East

The 2011 London Plan included a North sub-region, to be used for planning, engagement, resource allocation and progress reporting purposes.^[3] It consisted of theLondon Boroughs ofBarnet,Haringey andEnfield. The2004-2008 and 2008-2011 London Plan sub-regions varied in their composition.

The N (Northern) postcode area was introduced in 1857 to facilitate the distribution of mail. There is a Northern postal area, but this includes some areas not normally described as part of north London, while excluding many others that are.^[4]

In 2017, the government asked theBoundary Commission for England to reconsider the boundaries of parliamentary constituencies. The Commission's approach was to start with existing regions of England (in this case London) and then group the local authorities within that area into sub-regions for further sub-division.

The North Thames sub-region includes all parts of London lying north of the river; the 19 boroughs which lie wholly north of the river, plus parts of cross-riverRichmond upon Thames.^[5]

An earlier 2013 study, whose recommendations were not adopted, took a different approach by assigning all of Richmond to the south.^[6]This list includes all boroughs included in the North Thames area:

	London borough	Postcode areas	2011 sub-region	London Assembly[2]
	Barking and Dagenham	IG,RM,E	East	City and East
	Barnet	EN,HA,N,NW	North	Barnet and Camden
	Brent	HA,NW,W	West	Brent and Harrow
	Camden	EC,WC, N, NW, W	Central	Barnet and Camden
	Ealing	UB, W, NW	West	Ealing and Hillingdon
	Enfield	EN,N	North	Enfield and Haringey
	Hackney	E, EC, N	East	North East
	Hammersmith & Fulham	SW, W, NW	West	West Central
	Haringey	N	North	Enfield and Haringey
	Harrow	HA, UB, NW	West	Brent and Harrow
	Havering	RM, CM	East	Havering and Redbridge
	Hillingdon	HA, TW, UB, WD	West	Ealing and Hillingdon
	Hounslow	TW, W, UB	West	South West
	Islington	EC, WC, N	Central	North East
	Kensington and Chelsea	W, SW	Central	West Central
	Newham	E	East	City and East
	Redbridge	E, IG, RM	East	Havering and Redbridge
	Waltham Forest	E, IG	East	North East
	Westminster	NW, SW, WC, W	Central	West Central

Football in the region is dominated byPremier League teamsArsenal andTottenham Hotspur. The two clubs contest theNorth London derby, which has been described as "one of the fiercest derbies inEnglish football and one that separates families in north London."^[7]

The games in the Premier League (and formerlythe Football League) are known formally asthe North London derby. To date,^[when?] 167 matches have been played with 66 wins for Arsenal, 54 wins for Spurs and 47 draws. In other matches, simply referred to generically as North London derbies, the 6FA Cup contests resulted in 4 Arsenal victories to Spurs' 2 with no draws, while the 14League Cup matches have ended with 7 wins for Arsenal against 4 for Spurs with 3 draws.^{[citation needed]}

In the soleCharity Shield between the two clubs, then exclusively between the previous season's league champions and the FA Cup winners, the contest in 1991 was drawn with the Shield shared. Spurs had won the FA cup final in 1991 after beating Arsenal 3–1 in the semi-final, the first FA cup semi-final and the first of five North London derbies to be held atWembley Stadium. The 1991 Charity Shield is the sole occasion so far in which a trophy has been at stake, though in 1971 (0–1) and 2004 (2–2) Arsenal were crowned league champions at the final whistle of the North London derby in Tottenham.^{[citation needed]}

North London has, like other parts of London and the UK in general, atemperate maritime climate according to theKöppen climate classification system. Long term climate observations dating back to 1910 are available forHampstead, which is also the most elevated Weather Station in the London area, at 137m. This both hilltop and urban position means severe frosts are rare.

Temperatures increase towards the Thames, firstly because of the urban warming effect of the surrounding area, but secondly due to altitude decreasing towards the river, meaning some of the hillier northern margins of North London are often a degree or so cooler than those areas adjacent to the Thames. Occasionally snow can be seen to lie towards the Chilterns while central London is snow-free.

Typically the warmest day of the year at Hampstead will average 29.3 °C (84.7 °F)^[8] with around 14 days^[9] in total achieving a value of 25.1 °C (77.2 °F) or higher.

The average coldest night should fall to −5.6 °C (21.9 °F).^[10] On average 35.8 nights^[11] will report an air frost, some 119 days^[12] of the year will register at least 1mm of precipitation, and on 7.4 days^[13] a cover of snow will be observed. All annual averages refer to the observation period 1971–2000.

• Central London
• East London
• Inner London
• Outer London
• South London
• West London

Wikivoyage has a travel guide forNorth London.

• "North London v South London – The debate".Time Out London. 1 May 2009. Archived fromthe original on 16 October 2012. Retrieved11 July 2010.
• Alan Rutter and Peter Watts (13 December 2005)."North London v South London – The debate".Time Out London. Archived fromthe original on 7 June 2011. Retrieved11 July 2010.

• London sub-regions
• Areas of London
• Geography of London

• Webarchive template wayback links
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use British English from May 2017
• All Wikipedia articles written in British English
• Use dmy dates from May 2017
• All articles with vague or ambiguous time
• Vague or ambiguous time from November 2023
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from November 2023