This post is part of my London Neighbourhood Guides series. Fancy visiting another area of London? Check out my other guides here, which all include information regarding the sites, history, charm, food and drinks of the area you’re curious about.
Partly that’s because I studied law just down the road in Clerkenwell, so I’d often wander up to Angel between lectures or after classes. But over the past few years, I’ve come to know the neighbourhood even better thanks to our friends, who used to live just off Essex Road. Whenever they travelled, Victor and I would happily move in for a few days to look after their beautiful Ragdoll cat, Maurice. Looking after a cat has never felt quite so glamorous.
Those regular stays meant we experienced Angel a little differently. Rather than rushing between attractions, we settled into the rhythm of the neighbourhood: morning pastries from the local bakery, walks through the quiet residential streets, evenings at neighbourhood pubs and cocktails on Colebrooke Row, and countless strolls along the canal.
This guide covers the neighbouring wards of St Mary’s & St James’s (highlighted in yellow below) and St Peter’s & Canalside (highlighted in light green), stretching from Upper Street, Islington Green and Essex Road towards Colebrooke Row, St Peter’s Street, Duncan Terrace Gardens and the Regent’s Canal.
It is an area of contrasts. Upper Street is lively and filled with restaurants, pubs, theatres and shops, while the streets east of Angel quickly become quieter and more residential. You can browse antique shops, pick up pastries from some of London’s best bakeries, watch a film in a historic cinema, wander through elegant garden squares and finish beside the water.
Angel and Islington Green
Angel Underground Station is the most obvious place to begin. The area immediately surrounding the station is one of the busiest parts of Islington, but walk north for a few minutes, and you will reach Islington Green, which feels like the true centre of the neighbourhood.
The small green sits where the road divides into Upper Street and Essex Road. It may not be one of London’s grand parks, but it provides a welcome patch of greenery amid the shops, restaurants and traffic. This is also where several of the neighbourhood’s most recognisable streets and attractions meet. From the green, you can explore Camden Passage, continue up Upper Street or turn towards Essex Road and the quieter streets leading to the canal.
Overlooking the green is The Screen on the Green, a single-screen cinema with a history stretching back to the early twentieth century. Its distinctive illuminated frontage makes it one of the most recognisable buildings in the area, particularly after dark.
Also facing the green is Bellanger, a lively neighbourhood brasserie serving French-inspired dishes throughout the day. My partner, his family, and I once went there for New Year’s Eve dinner, and it was the perfect place to celebrate. The three of us ordered fish dishes, all beautifully cooked and seasoned, and the whole meal felt suitably special for the occasion.
Camden Passage
Just behind Islington Green is Camden Passage, one of the most picturesque streets in Angel. Despite its name, it has nothing to do with Camden Town. Instead, this pedestrianised lane is known for its antique shops, jewellery stalls, independent boutiques, cafés, pubs and restaurants.
The antiques market helped establish Camden Passage as a destination, and although the area has evolved over the years, it has retained much of its original charm. Even when the market is not in full swing, it is worth wandering through for its narrow cobbled lanes, historic shopfronts and collection of independent businesses.
One of my favourite places here is Kipferl, an Austrian café and restaurant serving excellent cakes, pastries and comforting savoury dishes. It is the perfect place to stop for breakfast, brunch or a leisurely lunch.
If you’re after something lighter, Sushi Show is a great little neighbourhood spot tucked away within the passage. It serves fresh sushi and Japanese dishes in a relaxed setting that perfectly matches the area’s independent feel.
Camden Passage is also home to Katsute 100, a beautiful Japanese tea room offering an extensive menu of teas, along with delicate cakes and desserts. With its traditional interiors and peaceful atmosphere, it feels worlds away from the bustle of Upper Street.
Just around the corner is Pistachio & Pickle Dairy, specialising in British artisan cheeses alongside exceptional cheeses from across Europe. A dedicated cheese shop is always going to be one of my favourite kinds of shops, and this one is particularly hard to leave empty-handed. They do incredible cheese toasties!
If you’re looking for a drink afterwards, The Camden Head is the neighbourhood pub of choice, while the surrounding streets are packed with independent cafés, boutiques and places to browse, making Camden Passage somewhere you’ll almost certainly spend longer than you intended.
Upper Street
Upper Street is the main artery through Angel and Islington. It has long served as an important route through the area and today is home to an enormous concentration of restaurants, pubs, cafés, shops and entertainment venues. There are plenty of familiar names along the street, but its real appeal lies in the independent businesses and local institutions scattered between them.
Ottolenghi opened his first deli on Upper Street, and it remains one of the neighbourhood’s best-known food destinations. The counters are typically filled with colourful salads, vegetable dishes, cakes and pastries. Choosing several salads and combining them on one plate makes for an especially good lunch option.
Tofu Vegan offers something very different. The restaurant specialises in vegan Chinese food, showing just how varied the dining scene around Upper Street has become. It is a good example of how the neighbourhood combines long-established institutions with newer restaurants reflecting London’s global food culture.
Theatres and Entertainment
Angel and Upper Street have an unusually rich cultural offering for such a compact neighbourhood. The Almeida Theatre sits just off Upper Street and is one of London’s most respected smaller theatres. Its intimate auditorium hosts ambitious new productions, inventive interpretations of classic works and performances by some of the country’s leading actors.
The King’s Head Theatre also has a long association with fringe theatre in Islington. Originally established as a pub theatre, it became known for new writing, intimate productions and imaginative revivals.
Further north, Islington Assembly Hall hosts concerts, comedy and community events. I have seen several bands perform here over the years, including La Dispute, an American post-hardcore band, and Mouse on the Keys, a Japanese post-rock band. Venues like this are a reminder of just how much live music London has to offer, often in buildings you might otherwise pass without a second glance.
Together with The Screen on the Green, these venues make Angel an excellent neighbourhood for combining dinner or drinks with a film, play or concert.
The Garden Squares and Residential Streets
One of the best ways to experience this part of Islington is to leave Upper Street and wander through the quieter roads behind it. While Angel is best known for its restaurants, theatres and bustling high street, some of the greatest charm lies in its elegant residential streets and garden squares. Just a few minutes from the crowds, the atmosphere changes completely, with tree-lined roads, Georgian terraces and peaceful green spaces replacing the constant buzz of Upper Street.
Gibson Square is one of the neighbourhood’s most attractive garden squares. Designed in the early nineteenth century, its elegant Georgian terraces surround a central garden, creating a calm residential setting just moments from the shops and cafés.
A short walk away is Arlington Square, another beautiful Georgian square often regarded as one of the finest in Islington. Surrounded by colourful period houses and mature trees, it feels remarkably tranquil despite its central location and is well worth the small detour.
The surrounding streets are equally rewarding. Almeida Street, Theberton Street and College Cross are lined with handsome Georgian and Victorian homes, attractive architectural details and small pockets of greenery. They are the sort of streets where the pleasure comes from simply wandering rather than ticking off landmarks.
One local institution well worth seeking out is The Pig and Butcher. Set inside a handsome Victorian pub on Liverpool Road, it has earned a reputation as one of London’s finest gastropubs thanks to its focus on carefully sourced British ingredients and seasonal cooking. I once described it as serving one of the best Sunday roasts in London, and it remains the kind of place people happily travel across the city to visit.
Essex Road and St James’s
At Islington Green, Upper Street continues to the left while Essex Road branches to the right. Although the two roads begin side by side, they have quite different personalities. Essex Road feels more local and less polished, with independent shops, neighbourhood pubs and a growing collection of excellent bakeries and cafés.
One of its longest-standing institutions is Flashback Records. Opened in 1997, the shop is a haven for music lovers, selling both new and second-hand vinyl, CDs and DVDs. Whether you’re after the latest release or hunting for a rare pressing, it’s well worth a browse.
The Old Queens Head is another neighbourhood favourite. Housed in a handsome Victorian pub, it has evolved into one of Islington’s best-loved nightlife spots, hosting DJs, live music and events while still retaining the feel of a traditional local pub during the day.
Essex Road has also become something of a destination for bakeries. Pophams is perhaps the best known, earning a loyal following for its beautifully laminated pastries before expanding into fresh pasta and seasonal dishes. It remains one of my favourite places to stop for breakfast or lunch.
A little further along is Quince Bakery, a smaller neighbourhood bakery producing exceptional breads, pastries and seasonal bakes. It has a quieter, more understated feel than some of London’s better-known bakeries and is well worth seeking out.
The mix of independent shops, neighbourhood pubs and excellent bakeries gives Essex Road a distinct identity. It may not receive the same attention as Upper Street, but for me, that’s exactly part of its appeal.
Colebrooke Row and Duncan Terrace Gardens
Colebrooke Row is one of the most attractive streets in the neighbourhood. Running alongside Duncan Terrace Gardens, it is lined with elegant Georgian houses and feels surprisingly peaceful considering how close it is to Angel.
One of my favourite stops is Jolene. Jolene may now have several locations across London, but the original is in Newington Green. Victor and I used to stop there at the end of our weekend morning runs, which made the promise of a pastry especially motivating. Its croissants remain Victor’s favourite in London, so the Colebrooke Row bakery was always going to become a regular stop whenever we stayed nearby.
Just a few doors away is 69 Colebrooke Row, better known as The Bar with No Name. This intimate cocktail bar has developed a reputation as one of London’s most inventive drinking destinations. Behind its understated façade, you’ll find beautifully crafted cocktails inspired by seasonal ingredients and unexpected flavour combinations.
If you’re after a traditional pub rather than cocktails, The Earl of Essex is just around the corner on Danbury Street. With an excellent beer selection and a relaxed neighbourhood atmosphere, it’s the sort of pub that feels genuinely local rather than designed for visitors, making it the perfect place to pause before continuing towards the Regent’s Canal.
Running alongside the street are Duncan Terrace Gardens, a peaceful linear park following the route of the New River. Despite its name, the New River is not a natural river at all but an artificial waterway completed in 1613 to bring fresh drinking water from Hertfordshire into London.
Today, the gardens provide a welcome green corridor through the neighbourhood. Benches, mature trees and colourful planting make them an ideal place to pause before continuing towards the Regent’s Canal. It’s one of those quieter corners of Islington that many visitors miss, yet it perfectly captures the neighbourhood’s residential charm.
Regent’s Canal and the Islington Tunnel
A short walk from Duncan Terrace Gardens brings you to one of the most unusual stretches of the Regent’s Canal. The canal runs from Little Venice in west London to Limehouse Basin in the east, passing through neighbourhoods including Regent’s Park, Camden and King’s Cross. Here in Islington, however, the waterway disappears beneath the streets into the Islington Tunnel.
Completed in 1820, the tunnel stretches for almost a kilometre beneath Angel and remains London’s longest canal tunnel. Unlike most sections of the Regent’s Canal, there is no towpath through the tunnel, meaning walkers must leave the water, cross the neighbourhood above ground and rejoin the canal on the other side.
The eastern portal, near Duncan Street, is a fascinating place to pause. Every so often, a narrowboat quietly emerges from the darkness before continuing east towards Shoreditch and Hackney. It’s a reminder that, despite being hidden for much of its journey, the canal remains a working waterway and one of London’s most enjoyable walking routes.
Just beyond the tunnel entrance lies City Road Basin, once an important hub for goods arriving by canal. Warehouses and industry have largely given way to modern apartments and offices, but the basin still retains a peaceful atmosphere, with narrowboats moored along the water and the Islington Boat Club introducing young people to life on the canal.
Although this stretch of the Regent’s Canal is less continuous than those in Camden or King’s Cross, its hidden nature is part of its appeal. The combination of historic engineering, quiet waterside paths and residential streets makes it feel like one of Angel’s best-kept secrets.
Final Thoughts
Angel is often associated almost entirely with Upper Street, but the neighbourhood becomes far more interesting when you explore beyond the main road. Its character comes from the contrast between busy streets and quiet residential corners, old pubs and fashionable bakeries, theatres and cinemas, garden squares and hidden waterways.
You can browse antiques in Camden Passage, eat lunch on Upper Street, pick up pastries on Essex Road, walk through Duncan Terrace Gardens and finish beside the Regent’s Canal. It is polished without feeling uniform and lively without losing its residential character. That mixture is what makes Angel and the surrounding canalside streets such an enjoyable part of London to explore.
If you want to explore another part of Islington, why not read my guide on Clerkenwell and Bunhill — two neighbourhoods just south of Angel?
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