Is London a crime infested shithole?

The village of Mullagmore, County Sligo doesn't sound like somewhere on a hit list either. It still was.

“Lack of integration” is definitely not something I think of when I think of London!

Where did you read that about Brum.

I will say the two things I dislike about London are:

a) Litter - but that is not a London thing. I experience the same issue in all UK cities I have been to

b) How expensive it is - comparing the cost of housing in London to my home town makes me sad.

i’ve lived on outskirts of London for many years and no I don’t view it like that.

And it seems like the story that triggered this post is about an incident that did not take place in London.

I find it perfectly safe and fine (although without its share of problems.)

I saw online that the most negative views on London come from people who don’t live here.

in the 30+ years I’ve lived here, I don’t remember anyone I know being the victim of a violent crime. I was pickpocketed once in 2001 and a stranger leave me the money to get home.

I’ve lived here since the early 90s. Now in a leafy suburb but work in the city and go in with my teens most weekends. I’ve never feel unsafe and my older teens go in on their own and with friends all the time. I feel so lucky to live here and although we travel often, it’s still my favourite city in the world.

I've lived in London all my life. I've never ever felt unsafe. Maybe because it's my home city. Maybe because I grew up in what some posters would have called a rough area back in the day. People who say London is lawless now, what do you mean? Is there crime? Yes. That's nothing new though is it? There have always been dodgy people, violence etc, just like any major city. I love living here, and I'm glad I raised my kids here.

Lived in London over 20 yrs, never any problems. Walked everywhere, home at night, tube commute, not burgled, not mugged, no problems except the occasional anti social behivuour of people being loud on the street at night.

Moved to a small Scottish affluent coastal town. Within two weeks told to ‘go fuck your self, you cunt’ by a man (a stranger). Bikes are constantly nicked, kids scooters, car theft, groups of children smashing windows and stealing things. Crime is everywhere I guess.

I find these disingenuous posts so depressing. Either the people posting them are a bit stupid or they're baiting.

I'm nearly 60 and have lived in inner and outer London for all but about 5 years of my life. I don't feel London is any more dangerous than it used to be. Most instances of, for example, knife violence are between groups who know each other. I've brought up two boys, now young men, both of whom still live in London. I came home from central London 11pm the other night via two packed buses and saw no aggression or violence or bad behaviour at all.

Opportunistic crimes like mobile phone theft and pickpocketing/bag snatching happen in all major cities and have been happening since I was a child. I remember money belts that we all wore when travelling so nobody could nick your purse. This kind of crime increases when more people are struggling, and unfortunately the quadruple whammy of Brexit, the war in Ukraine, random tariffs and the war in the Middle East have all increased economic instability.

Birmingham has a higher per capita crime rate but people think London is the worst? I live in London btw and feel safe and love it, wouldn't want to live in a Reform voting backwater thanks

Annecdote does not = data. I've lived in London for close to 40 years - so, a decade longer than you - and the positive changes in that time are, in my view, remarkable. Car theft, opportunistic street theft, buglaries are an unavoidable fact of life in any large city in the world and - although terrible if it happens to you personally - London is far safer than many of those cities.

The lack of integration and control around immigration is concerning, and we no longer see a positive outcome here. We’ve had enough and will be relocating back to our home country in Europe this summer. Probably best all round, really. Leave London, and the UK, for those immigrants who do actually integrate. And who understand irony.

It’s a big city. Horrible things happen everywhere.

🎯

No. This is MAGA and Reform fed propaganda as we have a Muslim mayor. In the same way that New York and Minneapolis are being described as lawless states due to their Mayors. It’s an agenda, not a fact.

Well, other than for a few years, I’ve always lived in London.

Never had any sort of problem.👍

Sadly all those sort of crimes were happening in London much more than 5 years ago. I was burgled in 1997 and again in 2011 when they also stole my car. Phone theft is obviously a newer crime since everyone now has smart phones. Although it was happening when people had dumb phones too.

I am very sorry that happened to your son. I hope your move goes well.

Speaking more generally, and not at all referring to your post of course, there really seems to a negative narrative being pushed on SM about London since Khan became mayor and the rise of Reform. I think we can draw our own conclusions about that.

Because a lot of people are salivating at the prospect of having a pop at London and Epsom is close enough.

Surrey overall is in the top 5 safest counties, which days a lot considering it is highly populated, compared to the other contenders eg Scilly isles etc

Often accompanied by AI slop images. Apparently the Tube to Peckham is very dodgy these days. Though it's news to me that the Tube even goes to Peckham...

It’s definitely dirtier than it used to be - rubbish piled high in central London- it’s so embarrassing that this is what visitors to our capital city see.

the ubiquity of phone snatching makes it feel more unsafe I think - if it hadn’t happened to you then you know someone it had, in a way that when I was growing up in London was uncommon.

shoplifting is basically decriminalised - police aren’t remotely interested. Violence against retail workers is worse there then other cities.

I know, she was raped by several men, outside a church and it is not funny