‘Hideous’ borough named least happy place to live in London in 2025

Friendly neighbours who’ll offer up a splash of milk during desperate times, ample job opportunities, and green space right on the doorstep.

These are just some of the factors that might influence how happy we feel in our local area. The numbers have been crunched, and the least happy – yes, technically the saddest – place to live in London has been named.

It’s bad news for Barking and Dagenham, which came in 33rd place among all the London Boroughs – and 220th across the whole of the UK, according to Rightmove’s Happy At Home Index for 2025.

Now in its 14th year, the widescale survey asked thousands of people in more than 200 locations how content they are in their area. It looked at factors including a sense of belonging, safety, access to shops and amenities, community events and proximity to nature.

Last year’s overall winner, Richmond upon Thames, came out as number one in the captial and number two nationally, pipped to the top spot by Skipton in North Yorkshire.

Things weren’t always so, well, unhappy in Barking and Dagenham. In the middle of the 19th century, Barking was actually Britain’s most important fishing port.

And in 2021, the nation’s biggest wholesale fish market, Billingsgate, moved in alongside New Smithfields and Spitalfields.

The relocation of these iconic markets has slowly led the way towards a total transformation of the area, alongside the addition of the Uber Boat by Thames Clippers pier, and the opening of an Overground station in 2022.

Plus, things are definitely on the up in Dagenham, as Crowlands Heath Golf Course is set to be demolished to make way for 1,300 new homes, accompanied by new infrastructure and sports facilities.

The plans cover approximately 24.13 hectares of land that straddles the boundary between Havering Council and Barking and Dagenham.

There’s also Barking Riverside, a development which was delivered as a joint project by L&Q and the Mayor of London, and saw the construction of more than 2,000 new homes amid 443 acres of green space.

According to one report, 41% of these are affordable, which means that they’re offered at below market value (whether renting or for sale).

What it’s like to live in Barking and Dagenham

It’s worth noting that Barking and Dagenham has some of the worst socio-economic challenges in the entirety of London.

According to the 2021 Census, 46,100 households in the borough (a staggering 62.4%) were deprived in at least one of the following areas: education, employment, health and housing.

These statistics place Barking and Dagenham as having the most deprivation not just in London, but across the whole of England.

With this in mind, local @Leodome said over in the r/HousingUK Subreddit that while ‘most of Barking town centre is shabby,’ it’s ‘aesthetically not bad, consisting mostly of pre-1960s redbrick buildings.’

‘The station is hideous, but the transport links are excellent. The market area is really lively, and the water isn’t far, which is a very nice bonus that most areas of London don’t have,’ they penned.

Meanwhile, @donald_cheese has lived there for five years, and previously said that while it has its flaws, it’s got ‘excellent transport links and buses.’

‘There are usually loads of people milling about. Loads of really good kebabs,’ they wrote.

Housing in Barking and Dagenham

According to Rightmove, the average house price in Barking and Dagenham over the past year is £370,824, considerably below the London average of £658,016.

Earlier this year, the IG11 postcode in Barking and Dagenham was identified as the cheapest postcode in the capital for property, while £59,600 was revealed as the salary needed to buy a house in the borough – one of the lowest in London.

House prices in Dagenham over the last year were 4% up on the previous year and similar to the 2022 peak of £368,161.

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