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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
Unspeaked

Unspeaked

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Dec 29, 2003
2,448
1
West Coast
This question is both for locals and tourists who've visited.

It seems that any recently posted thread about London (whether it's about visiting, finding a flat or riding the underground) touches in the subject of crime and safety.

I don't think anyone doubts that there's been a lot of talk recently of the increased violence in the greater London area. But is it really as bad as they say, or even close?

Do you behave any differently in public now than you did a few years ago?

If you're a frequent tourist, are there areas you used to visit that you now avoid, or routines you've changed entirely?

In general, do you feel safe in London?
 
Unspeaked said:
In general, do you feel safe in London?
Click to expand...

London is huge. Walking up Lower Clapton Road at 3am or parts of Stockwell are completely different than other parts of town. Saying that, I find London very safe... but the question is utterly meaningless without context.
 
Blue Velvet said:
London is huge. Walking up Lower Clapton Road at 3am or parts of Stockwell are completely different than other parts of town. Saying that, I find London very safe... but the question is utterly meaningless without context.
Click to expand...

How long is a piece of string? Although I must say I'd feel a lot safer walking around Stockwell at 3am than Lower Clapton Road but only because I know it and more importantly I'm a local.
 
arkitect said:
Which part of the 600 odd square miles did you have in mind?

;)
Click to expand...

I apologize if my original post wasn't clear, but what I was at was is London *less* safe today than it was a few years ago in terms of how *you* experience it.

I don't think the size of the city if relevant to answer this question.

Surely any city - whether its population is 500,000 or 5,000,000 - will have parts that aren't very "safe."
 
Unspeaked said:
I apologize if my original post wasn't clear, but what I was at was is London *less* safe today than it was a few years ago in terms of how *you* experience it.

I don't think the size of the city if relevant to answer this question.

Surely any city - whether its population is 500,000 or 5,000,000 - will have parts that aren't very "safe."
Click to expand...

In my opinion London hasn't changed much in that regard over the last couple of decades.If you practice the usual safeguards you will be fine,3am and looking like a tourist is not a good combination. There are parts of London that aren't safe at night but I'm not going to name them as people live there, suffice to say they are often not the usual suspects. London is as safe as or safer than comparable cities.
 
Peterkro said:
How long is a piece of string? Although I must say I'd feel a lot safer walking around Stockwell at 3am than Lower Clapton Road but only because I know it and more importantly I'm a local.
Click to expand...


I live in Stockwell too - have done for 5 years. My view is it (Stockwell) has actually got a bit safer recently. Simple things like decent street lighting help a lot. Though I wouldn't hang around the estates in the early hours....

In general I'd say London is pretty much as it was say 10 years ago, but with the exception that violence amongst teenagers escalates to knives and guns much more quickly than it use to
 
So for those of you that think London is no different than it was: are you saying that folks who live outside the city but work within it that may have spent some time shopping or visiting pubs after work but now can't wait to get home are overreacting?

I have a lot of good friends who live in London, and they seem to be split into two camps: the majority who don't notice any difference whatsoever in safety and a small sect that fears being anywhere in London after dark.

(Personally, from my visits, I don't feel any less safe today than I did years ago and consider London a very safe place.)


arkitect said:
And that wasn't what I was saying either… I was just curious what part of this rather large, sprawling city you were wondering about.

;)
Click to expand...

Well, I was wondering about whatever part of the city the person replying is exposed to.

That's the whole reason I added a poll - I'd like to see what individuals feel about their own experience in their "own" London.

Otherwise, I could have just looked up the crime statistics online and that would be that...
 
Settlements in London have existed since 63AD and a 'City' since 100AD as long as there has been London there has been crime and I would argue that the crime (amoungst other good points of course) has shaped its history into the city it is today!

You will never get a city crime free, myself spending a LOT of time in London but originally from Manchester i'd say i feel about as safe in London now i generally know my way around properly than I do in Manchester.

Crime is all relative, if you have been a victim it seems to have got worse, otherwise i'd say it's probably about as it always has.
 
Unspeaked said:
So for those of you that think London is no different than it was: are you saying that folks who live outside the city but work within it that may have spent some time shopping or visiting pubs after work but now can't wait to get home are overreacting?
Click to expand...

Amongst the places I would avoid are mainline rail stations after 11pm on Friday nights,drunk commuters are not the nicest of people as a rule.
 
I tend to avoid going south of the river or east of the city when I'm in the city, I grew up there but live in yorkshire now.

I generally feel safe in london, I just don't like going to the shadier areas.
 
The times I've been in London, it felt just as safe as my hometown. There are sketchy areas in SLC, but for the most part it's as safe a large city as you get in the USA, and it's nowhere as large as London so I think that says a lot.

SLC
 
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