City of Westminster

City of Westminster
London borough and city
Trafalgar Square, an open plaza in the city
Coat of arms Council logo
Westminster shown within Greater London
Coordinates: 51°30′44″N 00°09′48″W / 51.51222°N 0.16333°W / 51.51222; -0.16333
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Country	England
Region	London
Ceremonial county	Greater London
Created	1 April 1965
Admin HQ	City Hall, Victoria Street
Government
• Type	London borough council
• Body	Westminster City Council
• London Assembly	Tony Devenish (Conservative)
• MPs	Karen Buck (Labour) Nickie Aiken (Conservative)
Area
• Total	8.29 sq mi (21.48 km2)
• Rank	288th (of 296)
Population  (2022)
• Total	211,365
• Rank	92nd (of 296)
• Density	25,000/sq mi (9,800/km2)
Time zone	UTC (GMT)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (BST)
Postcodes	EC, NW, SW, W, WC
Area code	020
ISO 3166 code	GB-WSM
ONS code	00BK
GSS code	E09000033
Police	Metropolitan Police
Website	www.westminster.gov.uk

The City of Westminster is a London borough with city status in Greater London, England. It is the site of the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament and much of the British government. It contains a large part of central London, including most of the West End, such as the major shopping areas around Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Bond Street, and the entertainment district of Soho. Many London landmarks are within the borough, including Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Whitehall, Westminster Cathedral, 10 Downing Street, and Trafalgar Square.

The borough also has a number of major parks and open spaces, including Hyde Park, Green Park and most of Regent's Park. Away from central London the borough also includes various inner suburbs, including St John's Wood, Maida Vale, Bayswater, Belgravia and Pimlico. The borough had a population of 204,300 at the 2021 census.

The original settlement of Westminster was historically a separate urban area to the west of London, growing up around the minster church of Westminster Abbey. Westminster was an important centre of royal authority from Saxon times, and was declared a city in 1540. It was gradually absorbed into the urban area of London, but London's official city boundaries remained unchanged, covering just the area called the City of London, broadly corresponding to the medieval walled city. From the 19th century some metropolis-wide administrative bodies were introduced. The County of London was created in 1889, replaced in 1965 by the larger administrative area of Greater London, which since 2000 has been led by the Mayor of London. The cities of London and Westminster retain their separate city statuses despite having long been part of the same urban area.

The modern borough was created in 1965 as part of the same reforms which created Greater London, covering the area of the three former metropolitan boroughs of Westminster, Paddington and St Marylebone. The local authority is Westminster City Council. To the east, Westminster borders the City of London, with the boundary marked by Temple Bar. Other neighbouring boroughs (anti-clockwise from north-east) are Camden, Brent, Kensington and Chelsea, Wandsworth and Lambeth, the latter two being separated from Westminster by the River Thames. Charing Cross in Westminster is the notional centre of London, being the point from which distances from London are measured.