Camden can basically be split into two areas: there is the more stately area around the high street that retains some of the genteelness and grandeur of nearby Primrose Hill and Regent's Park (with correspondingly high prices). Then there is the general mayhem surrounding the Camden Locks and market.

For a long time the centre of everything edgy, new and alternative in music and art, Camden is a bit too commercialised to be the centre of counter-culture it once was in any meaningful way (you sell-out bastards).

Still, Camden is an extremely lively place with excellent night-life and live music scene, a great market and lots of weird and wonderful people.

There are lots of drugs here and they'll be offered to you five times before you've walked a minute out of the tube station (or maybe that's just me). There are needle disposal containers in the back alleys. I appreciate that these things could be either a draw-back or major selling point depending on your point of view.

You'll know if you want to live here within five minutes of arriving but personally I wouldn't recommend it. The crowds are mental and what is quirky and fun during the day becomes seedy and downright dangerous at night. I've moved people here and moved them straight back out again two weeks later.

If you like the cafes, bars and scene of Camden but prefer a quieter place in which to actually live I'd recommend Kentish Town or nearby Islington as a more pleasant alternative.

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