Most Londoners and plenty of visitors can find their way to and around Camden, even if they don't always recognise that they're in the borough such is the extent of the north-western stretch that really warrants the NW postcode and its southerly plunge into what might be regarded as the West End.

With a population of 270,000 Camden is about averagely peopled for a London borough, but since it's the seventh smallest by area the population density is unsurprisingly high.

For many Londoners, being in "yer actual CAMDEN Camden" means being OUT out, as the great Micky Flanagan would have it. Shoreditch, Brixton and other rising stars may have taken over as the Alt-London hubs, but that stretch of High Road from Mornington Crescent and Camden Town forking left for Chalk Farm and right for Kentish Town is still the heart of the borough, with its attendant markets, pubs, restaurants and music venues.

To the south are the railway stations of Euston, St Pancras and Kings Cross and further south still Camden heads 'down west' along the Tottenham Court Road or into Holborn and Covent Garden.

In the north and west of the borough we find Highgate, Hamsptead, Swiss Cottage and Kilburn. Camden may be a pretty compact borough, but it's still a good five miles from Fortune Green down to Covent Garden.

POLITICS

Camden Council has its headquarter, currently being refurbished, on Judd Street, just opposite the magnificent St Pancras station and hotel. It is Labour controlled, with 43 Labour councillors and seven Conservatives.

Both MPs are also Labour, including party leader Keir Starmer in the Holborn & St Pancras seat. Tulip Siddiq is the MP for Hampstead and Kilburn.

POLICE

Islington is of course policed by London's Metropolitan Police. After many years in which local policing was managed on a borough by borough basis, the Met has now restructured into 12 regional 'basic command units' - known as BCUs - with two, three or even four boroughs in each. The first of these to be formed was the Central North BCU, made up of Camden and Islington.

Each borough still has a main 24 hour base, with Camden's Police Station in Holmes Road, Kentish Town and another large police station, currently closed to the public, at Lambs Conduit Street in Holborn. The BCU commander is Chief Superintendent Andy Carter.

HEALTH

As with policing, some community health matters for both the boroughs of Camden and Islington are overseen by the one organisation, the Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust. This is particularly the case in respect of mental health.

However, the North Central London Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is probably the key organisation shaping heath provision in Islington.

The University College London Hospitals, which nobody can decide whether to call UCL, UCLH or UCH, are based in the south of the borough, with the main building very close to Euston and Warren Street tube stations. Other sites are clustered off Tottenham Court Road, some nearer to Goodge Street tube station.

The main UCL hospital has a 24 hour accident and emergency centre; the entrance is at the Euston Road junction with Gower Street.

There is also an accident and emergency centre at the Royal Free Hospital which is in Pond Street, Hampstead. Public transport options include Hampstead and Belsize Park tube stations, both some 10 minutes walk away, or Hamsptead Heath statiion on the overground which is much closer. Various buses, including the Number 24 from central London via Camden Town stop right outside.