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How safe is London?

How do you feel about safety in London?

  • I feel very safe in all parts of London. It's as safe as it ever was!

    Votes: 10 15.6%

  • I feel safe in most parts of London. Any increase in crime is minor.

    Votes: 32 50.0%

  • I feel safe in central London, but try to avoid other parts of the city.

    Votes: 12 18.8%

  • I look over my shoulder in central London and don't dare set foot in the outskirts.

    Votes: 2 3.1%

  • I avoid London entirely nowadays. The gang violence has simply gotten too great.

    Votes: 8 12.5%
  • Total voters
    64
JW8725 said:
London is ok to visit as a tourist but a crap place to live.
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Personally, I'd disagree. At least if you live in London, you've got the chance of having a salary to be able to enjoy London. Until recently, the strength of the pound made it an extortionate city for tourists where the main sights are vastly overcrowded and overpriced.

I'm not sure I'd want to live in any other UK city after spending the last decade in London.
 
Over the last 25 years, I've lived and / or worked extensively in many cities in the UK and North America (London, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle, Leeds, Belfast, San Diego, Houston, Washington and Ottawa to name the major ones) and have never felt threatened in any of them.
I think a lot is down to you the way you act - if you walk around looking nervous and "lost" then you are setting yourself up as a target.
If, however, you carry yourself confidently and look as though you belong you will generally be safer. Of course, it also helps to do some research and avoid the areas of obviously higher crime... 😉
 
My 2 pence:

I've lived in New Cross for 18 months now. Its an area known for being 'a bit rough'. But I've not had any bad experiences, apart from a small punch up in a pub. I feel quite safe. As someone here said, if you dont look like a victim, you're alot less likely to be one.
 
JW8725 said:
London is ok to visit as a tourist but a crap place to live.
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I think almost everyone can say that about their hometown. I know after living my entire life in St. Louis, I would say that, but in reality, this is a fairly good place to live.
 
Lots of the mickey taking in the finding a flat thread is about "South of the River". It's sort of a tradition that people who live North of the river take the p*ss about it.

Having said that I read a guidebook for US military officers on assignment in London that had a few quotes to help them "fit in" with the locals.

One of them said; "In most cities the river is the centre of the city. In London it's the edge of it." 😱

I feel as safe as I ever did here
 
I've lived in London for 8 years. I've never fealt in any danger. I've seen some dangerous people/things, but it was rarely directed at me and when it was I was sure I was stronger than them...
 
Not as safe as it used to be.

Which doesn't affect me because I have been living here for 20 years so I know everyone around my area. When I was 13 and got into trouble with some other boys or something we would have a fight...with our fist. I can't remember the last time I have been involved/witnessed/heard about a fist fight that took place with in my cirlce of friends or in the area that I live in.....
 
I've got to say, I'm a little surprised that a good 10% of voters said "I avoid London entirely nowadays. The gang violence has simply gotten too great."

Seems like a lot more than I'd have guessed...
 
London is as safe or dangerous as you make it.

I don't think I'm ever at full ease but to sum up the dangers, on the same day the 7/7 bombs went off, one of my friends was stabbed and killed by someone he didn't know or speak to in Romford, which is in zone 6 on the tube and apparently a safe area. Well it is safe for the most of it.

Just be mindful, keep your belongings safe, like wallet in a chest or front jeans pocket rather than back jeans pocket or in a bag. If you have a laptop, use a rucksack and put the laptop into a sleeve inside it. Also get non standard headphones for your iPod/iPhone.

Also, my dad is a Police Officer and his main jurisdiction is on the Underground, there have been reports of pickpockets dip your wallet, they have a smartcard reader, read the card, put it back in the wallet and put the wallet back in your jeans/bag.
 
I live in St Johns Wood and i love it...its very safe. Anytime i go outside central to places like Hackney, Deptford, Peckham, Tooting, Clapham etc i walk very fast, avoid using the iPod on my iPhone or using my iPhone period (non standard buds) and usually dress locally a la hoodie, jeans, sneakers.

I've seen blood spatter on the kerbs, walls in tooting/hackney....rough towns
 
I have never had trouble. There are parts I feel a bit uncomfotable, like when I used to cycle through Brixton and Clapham, but I was more worried about the buses running me over. East London, the White chapel area feels very tense which I don't like. I think it is one of the safer cities, especially when you consider it's size.

But lastly there was a police 'have you seen' sign I saw in Clapham which had written on it something like:

Grenade found in road, please contact us if you know anything
 
daneoni said:
I've seen blood spatter on the kerbs, walls in tooting/hackney....
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I've seen blood spattered in Chelsea which few people would call 'rough'. What we're familiar with is always less scary. There are parts of Peckham, Brixton and Tooting that I'll wander around and parts that I won't - and you generally more confident (and are therefore likely safer) in areas that you know.

One of the things about London is that there can be pockets of social housing, gentrified areas and suburbs within a very small geographical area so it sometimes doesn't take much to suddenly find yourself somewhere you didn't quite expect.

I do wonder if our cities (not just London) have become less safe for teenagers. When I was growing up, kids didn't carry knives. If there was a fight, it was shouting and fisticuffs. Nowadays, the press would have us believe that knives are pretty much commonplace.
 
You're far more likely to be run over by one of our many homicidal bus drivers than be involved in anything else.

And watch out for cyclists. They don't stop at zebra crossings and will happily chase pedestrians off the pavement if it knocks 20 seconds off their journey time.

Oh, and you'll need goggles if it rains to prevent idiots waving umbrellas from poking your eyes out.
 
I feel safe pretty much anywhere in London. I'm always aware of my surrounding but then that is just common sense. There are surely worse areas to be around (i.e. where you're statistically more likely to robbed or targeted in some way) but then this is no different to any other city, in any case if you employ some common sense you should be okay.

The whole knife crime image of London has been inflated by the media. Sure, it happens, but then if they media reported every road accident people would think our drivers are out of control too.
 
yg17 said:
How safe is the Finchley Road/ Swiss Cottage area? I'm staying in a hotel near there in a couple months.
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Safe, as long as you don't go much further north than Finchley Road Station. Beyond that, you need to watch out for thieves, the Gallagher brothers, and big cats that have escaped from zoos.
 
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