Some London boroughs like to have a web presence that draws tourists in, should anyone be interested, or highlights places of interest for the benefit of local residents. These websites attempt to reinforce the idea that a borough has history, or culture, or some sort of life, and is therefore a desirable place to be. Other boroughs have moved on. They see their websites solely as opportunities to feature council services and to engage with those who already live there. More and more council websites have been narrowing their focus in this way recently, cutting out the faff and concentrating on bin collections, housing benefit and council tax. This may be a better way of hitting key delivery targets and probably saves money, but it also makes these councils out to be dull joyless places inhabited by drones.
Eleven years ago, in a very subjective manner, I compiled a ranked list of London's borough tourism websites. The boroughs with the most visitor-friendly information on their website earned five stars and the boroughs who ignored visitors earned no stars. Here's 2013's list.
I should say that 11 years ago all of these boroughs had clickable hyperlinks but I've removed all those which no longer work. To be fair the majority of London council websites have utterly transformed over the last decade, often more than once, switching to new mobile-friendly slimmed-down templates. But the fact that only a third of the links still function (or successfully forward) should give an initial hint as to how the world of borough tourism websites has fared. Not well.
You could argue that no borough needs an online tourism portal these days because everything's elsewhere, splashed across social media and bespoke listing sites. Or you could argue that boroughs need an online tourist portal more than ever because although upcoming brunch pop-ups always get publicity, nobody's ever going to gush about a niche volunteer-run museum in zone 5.
So I've gone searching for the current tourist-focused offerings of all 33 boroughs, and here are the rankings I'd give them now, eleven years later.
It's all terribly subjective, but essentially it boils down to "If I wanted to find places and events of interest in your borough, would your website tell me?" Generally no, alas, is now the answer. In 2013 the most common score was ★★★ and now it's ★. To be more mathematical, in 2013 the average was about 2½ and now it's just under 2.
A special mention to the philistines at Brent, Camden, Hackney and Newham, all of whom have lost three stars. Someone must have pulled the plug on some pretty decent content to get those kinds of falls. As for improving boroughs, nobody's managed to add three stars but Greenwich, Hillingdon and Croydon have added two.
Bexley is a good example of how to be visitor-friendly with minimum effort, just a simple page with photos and links to seven external websites. Camden is a good example of how to appear visitor-friendly without actually being helpful, focusing more on council projects than places to go. Harrow is a good example of the drab functionality of many a borough website, fine if you want to book a tennis court or rent an allotment but failing to shout about its museum. And Westminster is a good example of a borough that's never tried in all the years I've been analysing borough websites, and likely doesn't care because tourists will always flock to Westminster anyway.
My runners-up awards go to Greenwich, Hillingdon and Hounslow, all of whom have created a bespoke website with tourists in mind. They'd genuinely like you to visit Well Hall Pleasaunce, Eastcote House Gardens or Bedfont Lakes, not just aim for the obvious observatory, airport or stately home. Webmasters at the one-star boroughs look and learn.
It's no surprise to find the City of London in pole position. They have bottomless pockets and a world class range of attractions, plus a keen desire to attract visitors at weekends when all the financial traders have gone home. Their portal thecityofldn.com was completely refreshed last year and matches the best tourist websites, both in content and presentation, should you ever be bored and in need of inspiration. It is perhaps a surprise also to find Richmond at the top, but my word Richmond take their tourism strategy really seriously.
This is the latest Visit Richmond Visitor Guide, a glossy 52-page full colour proposition. It includes a foreword from the leader of the council, a welcome in six languages and an invitation to request a Braille edition if required. It lists umpteen genuine attractions, waterside opportunities, cultural venues, regular markets and family-friendly options. It has a proper map. It has tempting shots of bars, restaurants and hotels at the back, all of whom I suspect have stumped up cash to appear. It even has a Ted Lasso walk you can follow if you want to see some key filming locations, though it won't take you long.
The guide is available to read online but you can also pick up a real copy at the Visitor Information Desk inside Richmond station. Admittedly this is run by friendly volunteers, not the council, but the selection of leaflets available is considerable and reminiscent of how things used to be before the smartphone era. It obviously helps if your borough includes attractions of the calibre of Hampton Court, Kew Gardens and Ham House, plus numerous other gleaming baubles Barking & Dagenham can only dream of. But there's a real feeling of "come on over, maybe stay and make a weekend of it". Flicking through the booklet and the monthly What's On supplement, maybe even a week.
It's easy to forget that the average London borough has a population of over a quarter of a million people, putting them on a par with our largest regional cities. But whereas the likes of Nottingham, Newcastle, Northampton and Norwich are still more than keen to bang the tourist drum, most of London's boroughs can't even bring themselves to consider that anyone could be tempted to visit. It'd be nice to see a few better attempts at outward-facing upbeat websites in a few years time. In the meantime if you're ever bored one weekend with no idea where to head, you could do a lot worse than Visit Richmond.
