Local elections profile: Haringey

Ahead of the local elections on Thursday 7 May, we have produced short guides to London's 32 boroughs.

Where is it? The London Borough of Haringey is in north London. It is bordered by six other boroughs: Enfield, Waltham Forest, Hackney, Islington, Camden and Barnet.

What's it like? Haringey is at the heart of north London: it has leafy, affluent areas beside busy urban neighbourhoods; hundreds of restaurants serving cuisine from all over the world; and great parks and open spaces. And it's home to a Premier League football club.

Neighbourhoods: Tottenham, Wood Green, Crouch End, Muswell Hill, Green Lanes, Stroud Green, Fortis Green, Seven Sisters, St Ann's, Noel Park, Hornsey.

Places of interest: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Alexandra Palace, Tottenham Marshes, Markfield Beam Engine and Museum, Bernie Grant Arts Centre, Finsbury Park.

Pub quiz fact: The world's first regular public TV service began on 2 November 1936, broadcast from Alexandra Palace. The first day's programming lasted for one hour.

Population (2024 estimate): 263,850.

Demographics: According to the 2021 census, 57% identify as white, 17.6% as black, 8.7% as Asian, 7% as mixed race and 7% as another ethnic group.

Average property price: According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) the average house price in Haringey in December 2025 was £625,046.

Average monthly rent: The ONS reported that the average monthly rent in February 2026 in Haringey was £2,197.

Transport: According to TfL there are seven Tube stations, five London Overground stations and around 425 bus stops in Haringey.

There are also a number of suburban rail stations and major interchanges at Tottenham Hale, Seven Sisters and Finsbury Park train stations.

Local history: The area was likely settled by the Saxons and was part of the Middlesex Forest.

The current High Road was part of a Roman road built to connect Londonium - Roman London - to settlements in the north.

Like many of the villages around London, the arrival of the railway in the 19th Century brought industry and housing to what were becoming suburbs.

Rapid development around areas like Wood Green and Bowes Farm saw agricultural land become streets of middle class housing.

In the 20th Century the area was bombed in the Blitz during World War Two, and in the post-war period it was popular with immigrants from the Caribbean and Ireland.

The borough name is Haringey - it was created in 1965 with a merger of the boroughs of Wood Green, Hornsey and Tottenham.

There is a district within the borough called Harringay: along with Hornsey, the names are all thought to derive from the name of a Saxon chieftain called Haering.

What is the borough's electoral history? Haringey has been run by the Labour Party since 1971, after a three-year period with the Conservatives in charge.

The decline of the Tory vote – they haven't had a councillor on Haringey Council since 2002 – was mirrored by the rise of the Lib Dems.

Their highest number of seats was 27 in 2006 when Labour won 30, but throughout the past 20 years Labour has increased its number of seats at each election.

What happened in the 2022 election? The turnout was 34.4% and there was a swing of 1.1% from Labour to the Lib Dems.

Labour: 50 seats (+8)

Lib Dems: 7 seats (-8)

Since the election there have been a series of expulsions and defections in the Labour group - one joined the Greens, two are sitting as Independent Socialists and two as independents. The Greens also won a by-election in 2025.

Professor Tony Travers of the London School of Economics said Haringey was strongly Labour held, "but it's a borough of two halves: on the west side there's a strong Liberal Democrat presence, they'll be hoping to push further east, Labour are certainly going to be in retreat.

"How well will the Greens do? Probably quite well, so Haringey looks as if it will go to a no overall control position. It is hard to judge which party will be biggest."

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