Archway Area Guide

Highlights and attractions

Archway is on the A1, the Great North Road out of London. Four-and-a-half miles north of central London, it has Highgate to the north, Highbury to the east, Islington and Camden Town to the south and Tufnell Park and Kentish Town to the west. Leafy roads of mainly Victorian properties in Archway include family houses and period conversions. It has excellent transport links and the majority of the properties for sale in Archway are from the Victorian era, with some quite imposing houses set around Highgate Hill.

Open space

For such an urban area, Archway has a surprising number of parks and green spaces. The largest is Waterlow Park, a hillside park in Highgate Hill with views over central London. It is home to Lauderdale House, an arts and education centre with a café. There’s some fine new planting and Dick Whittington’s topiary cat at the Holloway Road entrance to Whittington Park, which has an outdoor gym and a café run by the local community association. Elthorne Park in Hazellville Road has the Philip Noel-Baker Peace Garden; Dartmouth Park in Dartmouth Park Hill boasts good views over central London, and Girdlestone Park is in Vorley Road.

Leisure and the arts

Jacksons Lane, in a converted church in Archway Road in nearby Highgate, describes itself as north London’s creative space. It specialises in contemporary theatre and circus and runs arts-based classes. The Odeon Holloway cinema is in Holloway Road, and the local council swimming pool is at Archway Leisure Centre in Macdonald Road.

Commuting

Home movers love Archway because of its transport links that connect the neighbourhood with the rest of the capital. With numerous bus services serving North and Central London, and its own Underground station on the Northern line, Archway is a commuters' delight Archway also benefits from good road connections, sitting at the junction of four principal roads leading to adjacent boroughs and close to the M1 motorway.

Nearby points of interest

Emirates Stadium - 1 mile SE
Arsenal Stadium - 1 mile SE
Hampstead Heath (Park) - 2 miles W
Regent´s Park - 3 miles S
Regent's Park - 3 miles S
St Thomas Church - 3 miles E
Lords Cricket Ground (Stadium) - 3 miles SW
University of London - 3 miles S
Madame Tussaud's London (Museum) - 3 miles S
Springfield Park - 3 miles E
British Museum - 3 miles S
Lincolns Inn Fields (Park) - 4 miles S
St Andrew, Holborn (Church) - 4 miles S
St Bartholomew-the-Great (Church) - 4 miles SE
City Temple (Church) - 4 miles S
St Bartholomew-the-Less (Church) - 4 miles SE
London School of Economics and Political Science (University) - 4 miles
St Giles-without-Cripplegate (Church) - 4 miles SE
Dr Johnson's House (Museum) - 4 miles S
St Dunstan-in-the-West (Church) - 4 miles S
St Botolph's Aldersgate (Church) - 4 miles SE
Postman's Park - 4 miles SE
Prince Henry's Room (Museum) - 4 miles S
R. Twining & Company Limited (Museum) - 4 miles S
Christ Church Greyfriars (Ruin) - 4 miles SE

Food and drinks

Archway is home to a respected selection of venues, including The Lion, The Archway Tavern, The Whittington & Cat, The Oak and Pastor, The Florin and The St John’s Tavern on Junction Road (the latter of which is a gastropub with great food and excellent customer service). Many residents also travel up the hill to The Highgate and The Flask. Harman is a recommended restaurant on Holloway Road serving mouth-watering Mediterranean food with Turkish overtones, while 500 is a gem of an Italian restaurant on the Holloway Road - a frontrunner for an award in the latest Waitrose Good Food Guide. Several of the local coffee shops have a loyal following, especially the cool Bread & Bean on Junction Road.

Here are some of our favourite places to eat and drink:

Cote Brasserie

"Cote is inspired by the brasseries of Paris, serving authentic French dishes all day in our classically designed restaurants.

Mosaic Restaurant (il mio Mosaic)

A cosy ristorante & pizzeria hidden in Archway attracts many to discover its carefully selected wines and delicious food. IL Mio Mosaic has a unique atmosphere with its backyard garden facilities.
The regulars call it “Garden Paradiso”. This al-fresco area makes eating and drinking more meaningful and different with the lush surroundings of palm trees, bamboos, and tropical plants. You will also experience the friendliest service in Archway, while you enjoy your wine along with scrumptious dish.

St John's Tavern

This gorgeous pile may not quite boast the directional cooking it once did – but it’s a mighty corner building with cute nooks and crannies, roaring fires, garden, and decent wine list. An Archway classic.

Shops

Archway's town centre has two main streets - Junction Road and Holloway Road, plus businesses located at the foot of Highgate Hill. Every Saturday we have a street market with a distinctive mixture of traders.

The combination of small and large retailers enables you to do all your main household shopping and find something more unusual such as gifts, toys, fine wines and interior design.

For food shopping is diverse with Oriental Food on Junction Road (Chinese, Korean and Japanese), An Apple a Day on Holloway Road, or the Yildiz bakery selling Turkish specialities and an extensive range of Cypriot products. For fresh bread and cakes you have a choice including the traditional baker Stagnells and offerings from further afield at Deli Junction (both on Junction Road).

Archway Town Centre is very compact! Most of the shops are small and independent, there is a huge range of choice within five minutes of the Tube.

Schools

Archway is generally an area where families rely on state education.

Primary school

All the local state primaries are rated “good” or better by the Ofsted education watchdog, the most sought-after being “outstanding” Yerbury Primary School in Foxham Road, on the boundary with Tufnell Park.

The other “outstanding” primary school is St Joseph’s RC in Highgate Hill. Whitehall Park is a new primary Free School in Ashmount Road which opened in September 2014 and has yet to be inspected by Ofsted.

Comprehensive

The “outstanding” state comprehensive school is St Aloysius RC (boys, ages 11 to18) in Hornsey Lane. With the exception of Acland Burghley (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Burghley Road, which “requires improvement”, all the others are rated “good”.

They are: Mount Carmel Catholic College for Girls (ages 11 to 16) in Holland Walk; La Sainte Union RC (girls, ages 11 to 18) in Highgate Road; Parliament Hill (girls, ages 11 to 18) also in Highgate Road; William Ellis (boys, ages 11 to 18) next door in Highgate Road, and Arts & Media School Islington (co-ed, ages 11 to 16) in Turle Road. LaSWAP is a sixth-form consortium of four schools: La Sainte Union, William Ellis, Acland Burghley and Parliament Hill.

Higher education

City and Islington College (co-ed, 16+) is an FE college with a campus in Holloway Road, and Ofsted rates it “good”.

Private

There are two top private schools in nearby Highgate: Channing School (girls, ages 11 to 18) in The Bank, off Highgate Hill and Highgate School (co-ed, ages three to 18) in North Road.

Closest Airports

London City Airport - 9 miles SE
Northolt - 12 miles W
London Heathrow Terminal 1 - 15 miles SW
London Heathrow Terminal 2 - 15 miles SW
London Heathrow Terminal 4 - 15 miles SW
London Heathrow Airport - 15 miles SW
London Heathrow Terminal 3 - 15 miles SW
London Heathrow Terminal 5 - 17 miles SW
Biggin Hill - 18 miles SE
Luton Airport - 24 miles NW

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