Based on 34,776 pest control call-outs with a valid postcode district, attended in the 12 months to October 2026. Bed bugs accounted for 4,942 of those call-outs, and London dominates the national picture.
As featured in the Evening Standard. “London’s biggest bed bug hotspots revealed as capital dominates UK call-outs league table” (Evening Standard, 5 October 2026) drew on this data, reporting London’s lead in the UK bed bug call-out table.
As featured in The Times. “Why we’ve seen fewer wasps this summer - but more rats, mice and ants” (The Times, 7 August 2026) drew on this data, naming Islington, Whitechapel and Croydon among the UK’s bed bug hotspots.
Bed bugs are London’s pest. Our engineers attended 4,942 bed bug call-outs across the UK in the last 12 months, and the capital’s postcodes fill the top of the table: south-west London (SW) leads on 337 call-outs, with east London (E) on 329, south-east (SE) on 327 and north (N) on 266. No other British city comes close.
Key findings
- Islington (N1) is London’s bed bug capital, with 45 attended call-outs in the 12 months to October 2026, ahead of Croydon (CR0), Whitechapel and Aldgate (E1), Poplar and Canary Wharf (E14) and Battersea (SW11) on 40 each (JG Pest Control call-out data).
- South-west London (SW) is the busiest postcode area in the UK for bed bugs, with 337 call-outs in 12 months.
- Only two districts outside Greater London make the UK’s top 15: east Oxford (OX4, 29 call-outs) and east Brighton (BN2, 26). The other 13 are all in the capital.
- Grouped central London codes hold their own: EC1 logs 30 call-outs, W1 27 and SW1 19.
- Outside London, Birmingham (B, 131) and the Brighton area (BN, 109) lead the country.
The UK’s top 15 bed bug districts
| District | Area | Call-outs (12 months) |
|---|---|---|
| N1 | Islington | 45 |
| CR0 | Croydon | 40 |
| E1 | Whitechapel and Aldgate | 40 |
| E14 | Poplar and Canary Wharf | 40 |
| SW11 | Battersea | 40 |
| E3 | Bow | 36 |
| SW17 | Tooting | 32 |
| N16 | Stoke Newington | 30 |
| E6 | East Ham | 29 |
| OX4 | east Oxford (outside London) | 29 |
| N17 | Tottenham | 28 |
| NW6 | Kilburn | 28 |
| SE1 | Southwark and Borough | 28 |
| BN2 | east Brighton (outside London) | 26 |
| E2 | Bethnal Green | 26 |
Joint places: BN2, E2 and SE15 (Peckham) all logged 26 call-outs; the table shows the first 15 alphabetically.
What the map shows
The pattern is a ring around a busy core. The busiest single districts - Islington (N1), then Croydon (CR0), Whitechapel (E1), Poplar (E14) and Battersea (SW11) level on 40 each - form a band of dense, fast-turnover rental housing around the centre. Central London is just as active once its patchwork of micro-districts is read together: on the map we group the lettered codes into their parents, and grouped EC1 (Clerkenwell and the City fringe) logs 30 call-outs, W1 (the West End) 27, SW1 (Westminster and Victoria) 19 and WC1 (Bloomsbury) 17.
East Oxford (OX4) and east Brighton (BN2) are the only districts outside Greater London to break into the UK’s top 15 - both dense student and private-rental quarters, and a reminder that bed bugs follow turnover of people rather than city limits. They spread through luggage, transport and second-hand furniture, so the busiest districts are the best connected ones.
The UK picture
In a hotspot? What to do
Check mattress seams, bed frames and headboards for live insects, shed skins and the tell-tale pepper-like droppings. Bites in lines of three or four along exposed skin are another early sign - our guide to the signs of bed bugs covers what to look for.
If you find them, act fast: a light infestation is dramatically cheaper and quicker to resolve than an established one. We carry out more bed bug heat treatments than any other UK company - one whole-room treatment kills every life stage, including eggs, in a single visit - and our K9 detection dogs can confirm whether an infestation is active before you commit to treatment. For same-day help anywhere in the capital, see our London bed bug treatment service. We are open every day except Christmas Day, early until late.
Comparability. This page moved to a live extract of our job records in September 2026 and now counts only the 16 pest categories we publish. The headline total is therefore not directly comparable with the 39,204 shown on earlier versions of this page, which drew on a wider job set.
Use this map
Journalists, councils, schools and websites are welcome to embed our interactive bed bug map of London. Copy the code below into your page. It works on phones and desktops, and has no cookies or tracking inside it. The map updates each month with our latest figures.
Please credit "Data: JG Pest Control" with a link to this page. You can open the map full screen, or show any other pest by changing pest=Bed%20Bugs in the code (for example pest=Rats). Prefer to draw your own graphic? Download the data by postcode district (CSV). For anything else, see our press page.
Frequently asked questions
In our call-out data for the 12 months to October 2026, N1 (Islington) tops the table with 45 attended bed bug call-outs, followed by a four-way tie on 40 each between CR0 (Croydon), E1 (Whitechapel and Aldgate), E14 (Poplar and Canary Wharf) and SW11 (Battersea).
Density of flats and shared housing, a fast-moving rental market, and heavy commuter and visitor traffic all help bed bugs spread. They travel in luggage, second-hand furniture and clothing, so districts with high turnover of people see more infestations.
No. The hotspot map reflects where treatments are most often needed, not an inevitability. It does mean it pays to check mattress seams and headboards regularly, and to be careful with second-hand furniture and luggage after travel.
Professional treatment is the only reliable route for an established infestation. We carry out more bed bug heat treatments than any other UK company - a single whole-room heat treatment kills adults, nymphs and eggs in one visit, without repeat chemical applications.