London's best and worst

Which area of London offers the very best quality of life?

The answer, in a survey compiled by the Evening Standard, is that it is no longer any of the exclusive, over-priced areas, or the boroughs traditionally seen as most desirable. The very opposite is true.

Life is sweeter these days in Hackney or Southwark than in Chelsea. Residents of Dagenham can boast they enjoy a better quality of life than those in Fulham.

In the rankings of quality of life in London's 33 boroughs, even the Blairs' beloved Islington crashes to 19th place, while the City picks up the shaming title of "worst place of all to live".

But the survey also reveals the unexpected areas that provide residents with a glorious quality of life. Croydon is one front-runner and Camden can now be hailed as London's most desirable borough.

Each area was judged by 15 specific criteria to find out precisely how attractive it is as a place to live. The criteria reflect all aspects of life - from local pollution levels to public transport, parks, bars, hospitals, right down to the number of celebrities living there.

Most weight in the survey was naturally given to the basics, starting with the cost of buying a home. Areas were scored by their affordability: the cheaper the better. So Chelsea and Westminster (respectively, almost £500,000 and £400,000 for the average flat or maisonette) came out worst in this part of the ranking. Barking and Dagenham, at just above £95,000, won top marks.

Access to parks and green spaces is a crucial part of most people's normal day, and is therefore a vital criterion for judging quality of life. Bromley and Croydon are the most richly-endowed boroughs, both with more than 1,000 hectares. Compare Islington with a meagre 79.

Opportunist crimes such as muggings and home break-ins are not splashed across newspaper front pages like Yardie killings, yet anyone who suffers these "lesser" offences will know how profoundly they blight lives.

It says a lot about quality of life in Westminster that of all London boroughs, it had the highest level of burglary and street crime according to the most recent Met figures. There were 5,264 burglaries and more than 53,000 recorded cases of street crime in 2002-3. The safest areas include Sutton and Kingston, with well under 2,000 burglaries.

Most Londoners put restaurants and bars near the top of their list of 10 good reasons for living in an area. So where are the very best in town? The Time Out London Eating And Drinking Awards identified more winners in Camden and Westminster than anywhere else.

December is the month when the Audit Commission publishes its annual comprehensive assessments of councils' performance, and last year Camden and Hammersmith were able to enjoy their Christmas after topping the league. Not so Hackney, Islington, Kingston or Waltham Forest - which apparently could hardly get the basics such as emptying the rubbish bins right.

Next, as indicators of the quality of food and wine available in the shops in each area, the survey collated lists of the delicatessens recommended in Harden's Food Guide 2003, together with the network of the French wine outlets, Nicolas.

Traditional markets and farmers' markets are signs of a vibrant borough. None are better overall in this than Westminster and Tower Hamlets, with the celebrated Petticoat Lane and Billingsgate.

To get a clear picture of how well each area does in the arts, it is not enough to add up lists of museums and theatres. So, for greater accuracy, the survey also totted up the number of projects funded in each borough by the Arts Council.

Good sports facilities give an area a distinct advantage, whether they be tennis courts, gyms, all-weather football pitches, climbing walls or yoga studios. Nowhere in London has better such facilities than Bromley or Enfield, according to the capital's leisure and recreation statistics.

Schools are graded by the Department of Education, according to how well pupils do in GCSE compared with the national average of results. Last year saw Barnet earning distinction but it was detentions for Newham, Haringey and Greenwich.

Hospitals with outstanding A&E units are not spread evenly across London. Southwark has one of the best of the lot with two hospitals rated 3*, and Camden is not far behind with a top-rated hospital and one 2*.

Not all of the survey is in deadly earnest. One criterion was a borough-byborough celebrity count. It turns out that Camden is the real Hello! heaven, home to, among others, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Michael Palin, Stephen Fry, Mel C and Sadie Frost. Brent and Lewisham are relatively star-free zones.

There is one final yet vital factor that separates the grim areas from the great. To be deeply desirable a place has to have a switchblade-sharp cutting edge. After all, it is areas like these where new rock bands, fashion trends or art movements are born.

Neil Stephenson, editor of The Face magazine, was the survey's judge of this category and said that Lambeth, Hackney, and Camden have the right stuff right now.

After nearly 600 individual scores in the 15 categories were computed for the final rankings, Camden stands out as the winner in the quality-of-life stakes.

So what if it has one of the worst rates of air pollution, and the average price of a flat is nearly three times the level of the capital's cheapest borough? This is London, after all. It is close to Paradise but not quite there.