Islington Central Library

Islington Libraries constitute the public library service for the borough of Islington in London. The service provides the best level of library access of any council in the country, with 97% of residents within a 15-minute walk of a branch. The service opened its first library in 1906, after decades of campaigns. Since then, the service and its staff have played a key role in defining the modern public library, incorporating and advocating for open-access shelving, more gender-equal employment, children's libraries, and affordability. The service currently runs 10 libraries that are all open to the public. The service's Central Library is located in the Highbury neighborhood, and is one the service's four Grade II listed Carnegie libraries, built in the historic Metropolitan Borough of Islington. As the Borough grew to its current shape, the service built branches further afield, and incorporated Finsbury Library, initially meant to be the central library of Finsbury. The service has a £3.93 million budget, overseen by the Islington Borough Council. Over the past two decades, the Council implemented budget cuts: these have led to more limited opening hours, but have not led to closures of branches. In 2024/25, the library loaned out 530,000+ items physically (+12% year-on-year), 325,000+ items online (+4%), and registered ~890,000 visits (+6.5%).

St Mary Magdalene Gardens is a public open space located between Holloway Road and Liverpool Road in Islington, north London. It is located on the old burial ground of St Mary Magdalene Church.

The Musical Theatre Academy (The MTA) is a drama college based in Islington, London.

St Mary Magdalene Church is one of Hope Church Islington's places of worship, an Anglican church on Holloway Road in north London dedicated to Jesus' companion Mary Magdalene. It is located in St Mary Magdalene Gardens opposite Islington Central Library. St Mary Magdalene is part of the Parish of Hope Church Islington (previously the Parish of St Mary Magdalene and St David). In 2013 its sister church St David's on Westbourne road was reopened so St Mary Magdalene now functions as one of two worship sites of the Parish, with a single leadership and a staff team. The early 19th century building accommodates the activities of the church congregation, including church services, a winter night shelter, 'Mini Mags' – a toddlers group, and provides spaces to other users. Baptisms and confirmations, marriages and funerals are regularly held here. The building and its iron railings are both Grade II* listed structures, having first been listed in 1954.

The Finsbury Division was one of four divisions of the Hundred of Ossulstone, in the historic county of Middlesex, England. The area of the Finsbury Division is now the core of modern north London. The other divisions were named Holborn, Kensington and Tower. Ossulstone hundred was divided in the seventeenth century, with each of the four divisions replacing the hundred for most administrative purposes.

St Mary Magdalene Academy is an academy on Liverpool Road, London. St Mary Magdalene Academy opened in 2007 and over the past decade has established itself as a high achieving North London school. Examination Results are consistently strong at GCSE and A Level.

Highbury & Islington is a London Underground and National Rail interchange station in the London Borough of Islington, north London. It is served by the London Underground's Victoria line and the Great Northern's Northern City Line, as well as the London Overground's East and North London Lines.On the Victoria line the station is between Finsbury Park and King's Cross St Pancras. On the Northern City Line it is between Essex Road and Drayton Park, 2 miles 21 chains (3.6 km) down the line from Moorgate. On the North London Line of the Overground it is between Caledonian Road & Barnsbury and Canonbury. It is the terminus of the East London Line, with Canonbury the preceding station. It is the 13th busiest station in the UK with over 30 million people a year using it in 2018/19 according to Office of Rail and Road statistics. The station is in Travelcard Zone 2.

The Garage is a live music and club venue in Highbury, North London. It opened in 1993 and has a capacity of 600. The upstairs room, also known as Thousand Island, has a capacity of 150.The venue has hosted a number of underplays, with The Killers, Jack White, Mumford & Sons and Suede being among some of the most recent acts to play the venue. Other acts who have passed through the doors include Green Day, Muse, Arctic Monkeys, Franz Ferdinand, Temples, Jagwar Ma, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Paramore, Oasis and My Chemical Romance.The Garage was originally a Temperance Billiard Hall which quickly gained a reputation for serving great pies, as well as being a haunt for local villains in the sixties. The Highbury Mob often used the Billiard Hall as a meeting place. It became the London Town & Country Club 2, a sister venue to the Town and Country Club (now The Forum in Kentish Town), which is when the first live music events began to be programmed in the building.In 1993, the building was officially reopened as The Garage with Pulp being the first big name to play the venue in May 1993. The venue was renamed The Garage by Mean Fiddler, after the Lex Garage which was once next door. In 2007 it was taken over by MAMA & Company. Jazz Cafe and Borderline were also included in the acquisition, incorporating them in to the MAMA Group's estate from August. In June 2009, The Garage was relaunched as the Relentless Garage with joint naming rights with Relentless Energy Drinks.It was taken over by DHP Family in 2016. This led to a complete revamp of the whole venue in March 2017 to create an all day bar as well as an intimate 100 capacity venue, Thousand Island, upstairs. A new layout, bar, sound and lighting system for The Garage was also added. In recent years The Garage has had acts such as Harry Styles, Jack White, Alt-J, Mystery Jets, Jax Jones, Tory Lanez, The Rifles and War Child’s 25th anniversary shows in performance.

The Centre for Recent Drawing (C4RD) is a non-commercial curatorial space in London, for the exhibition of recent drawing and providing access and discussion for current drawing practice, and to foster the audience for drawing within the general public. It was founded by Andrew Hewish in 2004. Since 2004 C4RD has provided a museum space for the exhibition of drawings by established and emerging international and UK artists, illustrators and designers, architects, art therapists, musicians and students in art from various art institutions in Britrain: Royal Academy, Loughborough University, Goldsmiths College, Camberwell College of Arts, London Metropolitan University, Wimbledon School of Art, Royal College of Art and the Prince's Drawing School. It is a non-profit volunteer-run, non-governmental organisation dependent on private donation. The Centre was established to provide a site in London for the display of drawings free from the commercial concerns that pervade the London art scene and to provide a context for drawing that could also exist beyond the demands of the fine arts. Its emphasis is on recent rather than the more commercially regulated 'contemporary'. As a centre it aims to operate as a node of activity between the artist's studio, art college, school, therapeutic or architectural practice and the public, to provide experience in exhibition and curatorship, to add focus to a college programme and to share the experience of drawing.

Drayton Park is a National Rail station in Highbury, in the London Borough of Islington. It is on the Northern City Line between Highbury & Islington and Finsbury Park stations, 2 miles 56 chains (4.3 km) down the line from Moorgate; it is in Travelcard Zone 2. The station is operated by Great Northern. It is just off the Holloway Road near its southern end, close to the Liverpool Road junction. It stands in the shadow of Arsenal football club's Emirates Stadium, but is shut prior to weekend matches and after all matches due to safety concerns of hosting fans on the station's narrow island platform.

The 12 Bar Club was a music venue in London that opened in 1994 on Denmark Street – known as Great Britain's "Tin Pan Alley" – just off Charing Cross Road and close to Soho.Some of the most famous musicians and groups to play at the 12 Bar before they reached a wider audience include Adele, Martha Wainwright, Joanna Newsom, KT Tunstall (all of whose first London dates were at the 12 Bar), Damien Rice, Regina Spektor, The Libertines, Keane, Seasick Steve and Jamie T. Jeff Buckley also played an impromptu set at the 12 Bar some time before the launch of his debut album Grace. The Denmark Street venue officially closed 16 January 2015 as part of a redevelopment for the area, despite a lengthy battle to keep it open. Shortly after its closure, activists occupied the building and re-opened it to live music. Property owners attempted to evict the activists. The club relocated to Islington, shutting for good a year later.

The Buffalo Bar was a music and arts venue located at 259 Upper Street, Highbury Corner, Islington, from 2000 until 2014.