Living in Osu: rent, noise, Oxford Street and what it is really like

Osu is the nearest thing Accra has to a neighbourhood you can live in on foot. Food, bars, banks, pharmacies, supermarkets and the sea are all within a walk, and the street is busy from breakfast until well after midnight.

That is the whole appeal, and the whole problem.

At a glance

The district figures describe the whole assembly, which also takes in Ridge, North Ridge and part of Labone. Korle-Klottey Municipal counted 68,633 people in the 2021 census.

What it is like

Oxford Street is the spine: shops, restaurants, bars and street sellers, and the traffic of everyone coming to use them. Around it are older residential streets that are much quieter than the high street suggests.

Osu is also old Accra. Osu Castle, built by the Danes in the seventeenth century, stands on the shore, and Parliament House is on the edge of the neighbourhood. It has been a place people come to for a very long time, and it behaves like one.

Rent and housing

The top rent band, driven by location rather than by the size of what you get. Expect:

• Flats and apartments, from older blocks to new serviced buildings
• Rooms and chamber-and-halls in the older compounds off the main streets
• Short-let apartments for visitors, which push up asking rents nearby

You pay for the address and you get less space for it than in the suburbs.

— Rent in Accra, every district ranked — The rent advance

Getting around

The best-connected residential area in the city for anyone without a car.

• On foot for most errands, which is rare in Accra
• Trotros and taxis everywhere, and ride-hailing is quick to arrive
• By car it is harder: parking on and around Oxford Street is scarce, and the evening traffic is the neighbourhood’s own

— Getting around Accra — The trotro, explained

Schools and healthcare

Hospitals. Ridge Hospital is close, and the 37 Military Hospital is a short drive. Pharmacies and private clinics are all over Osu itself.

Schools. Osu is central enough to reach schools across the city, and the international schools in Cantonments are next door.

— Hospitals in Accra — Schools in Accra

Power, water and flooding

• Power is on prepaid ECG meters. Older buildings are less likely to have a generator, so ask.
• Water is patchier in the older compounds than in new blocks. Ask whether there is a polytank, and how often it runs dry.
• Noise belongs in this section, because it is a utility you cannot switch off: bars, speakers, traffic and generators, late into the night, most of the week. Visit at 11pm on a Friday before you sign.

— Electricity and dumsor — Noise across the city, on the map

Daily life

• Food at every price, from street kelewele to restaurants
• Nightlife is the densest in the city
• Supermarkets, banks and pharmacies within a walk
• The coast, though Osu’s own shoreline is not a swimming beach; Labadi is a short trip east

— Accra nightlife — Plan a night out — Accra’s beaches

Who it suits

It suits people without a car, people who want everything within walking distance, and people who are out most evenings anyway.

It does not suit light sleepers, anyone who needs to park, or families wanting a garden. For a quieter version of the same location, look at Labone.

— Living in Cantonments

Before you sign

1. Visit at night, at the weekend
2. Check which way the bedroom faces, and what is on the other side of the wall
3. Ask about parking, in writing if it is part of the deal
4. Check the water supply in older buildings
5. Get the advance and the period it covers in writing

— Where to live in Accra — Your tenancy agreement — Housing and land scams