Do you feel safe in London?

[Led9519]

Been here 15 years and i’m not sure I feel that safe anymore. We’re in zone 4 suburbia pretty much but Sabina Nessa, Sarah everard, Zara Aleena are all recent and it’s awful.
Then in our town there have been a few stabbings which seems par for the course… it’s not even that rough here. Went to feed the squirrels today and there was a 40 year old and group of kids smoking weed which was odd, my daughter then asked ‘have the baddies gone.’
Was speaking to my female friends about the woods/trails nearby and if they’d walk/run in there alone, the answer was no, not even in the day.
I’m sure statistically it’s just as safe as anywhere really but it’s a shame!

its pretty safe, nowhere is completely safe. I live partly here and partly in a very rural area in Yorkshire

In Yorkshire there is no street lighting, pavements, or reliable phone signal, and we are in danger from fast traffic on country roads, cows/bulls, power cuts, etc of course all these things can happen in London too, but not so much

In Yorkshire I am also aware of the isolation. In london someone would hear me scream!

I think I’ve read too much, at the tube station I don’t stand too close to the edge of the platform in case anyone feels like pushing me off (has happened) and then survey the passengers for any see it say it sort it issues. The news just seems to stick with me. We go on holiday to a more rural area and it feels much more chill and safe.

(Tube pushing off hasn’t happened to me btw… just been in the news that people have been)!

Yes very

Yes and no.
Depends where abouts I am and what the situation is.
For example I can be out in central London at 10pm on a dark winters night but public transport is still running, shops still open, there are people everywhere so I could ask for help if needed or have a 'safe' place I can walk into (ie a busy railway station)
When I go to the medium size Midlands towns where my family lives 10pm in town means no buses, everywhere shut, no one around - even taxis are hard to get because there's no Uber/Bolt service. Infact it can be like that at 7pm. Empty and isolated.

I do but my experiences are more in central. There I do feel safe on my own when it’s dark, there are always so many people about.
I live in a town (not London but not too far away) and there are a lot of antisocial gang issues, drugs, poverty, stabbings aren’t rare, and I still walk home on my own in the dark from the station late at night.
Statistically I’m very unlikely to get caught up in anything dodgy and I refuse to feel afraid.

Depends what area of London! In Central London I feel very safe. Croydon not so much (I live near to Croydon and was born there - it used to be a lot safer!).

I feel very safe here, safety in numbers.

I'm never on my own, there are always people around.

Everywhere else I've lived has had loads of lonely and isolated places where I feel unsafe.

Whether this reflects the reality I've no idea.

I feel pretty safe in London. I’m currently in the middle of the Norfolk countryside and the isolation makes me feel more nervous than the city.

Nope. Living in zone 2, commute into zone 1. even just walking around it feels like people want to charge you off the pavement. Lots of carelessness. Was even assaulted by a random drunk man recently on the way home from work.
Lots of positives to living in London, but if I wasn’t tied to the area for work I’d be off!

Depends on the area I'd imagine. I spent 2 days on my own in central London last week, out in the West End for dinner and theatre, on the tube, coming and going to the Tower Bridge area after dark and I felt perfectly safe. Probably less so in less busy areas though.

Definitely - particular in central London. I live close to the Edgware Road and you could run down there at 3am and find hundreds of people who would help you immediately if you were in any kind of trouble.

Lived in London all my life, I feel very safe here, including at night. The news can seem overwhelmed and there's been a few particularly nasty and shocking stories lately, but I don't get any sense that women are at greater risk than at any other time. It's just now that people are recognising the pattern of violence against women and drawing connections between incidents as indicative of misogyny. There's not more cases than before but they are, justifiably, coming under greater scrutiny.

My 14yo goes out on their own and walks back from the tube, sometimes after it's dark, but it's pretty safe because either end is busy and full of people. This evening they went to a theatre show with a friend in a part of town I do regard as a bit sketchy, and that can be a bit empty between their destination and the nearest tube so I did advise them to not stick around long after the show so they left with most of the audience, to try not to have their phone out and to be a bit aware of their surroundings. So just common sense, really.

I lived for nearly 20 yrs in london and never once felt unsafe. I guess a safety in numbers thing and also just never got unlucky and used to be out a lot at night/coming home late at night.

I’m there 2-3 days a week for work. Loved there in the noughties. Have never once felt unsafe there.

Pretty much always. I’ve been ambulating myself around all over the city inebriated and late at night for almost two decades without incident; I run along the more desolate parts of the Thames path, through woodland and linear walks in my SE suburban area etc after dark for much of the winter and have never felt scared. None of the murders you mention were specifically “London”, to me; unfortunately women have been murdered just for existing all over the UK.

I’m childfree though, so don’t have DC to worry about in terms of gangs, county lines etc. I’m also very confident and don’t have a problem warding off leery men on the (rare) occasions I’ve had to. I can see why people might worry for their teen DC getting caught up in gangs or the crossfire.

London is very safe for women.

Yes, overall.

Lived here all my life. I've been pickpotted once and that's pretty much it.

Yes and I grew up as a minority in a northern city that was famous for gangland violence and now travel the world. I think the subtext of 'no because of people around' is downplaying it and saying stick to safe zones whilst not trying to say the issue out loud.

Been here (always lived in zone 2) over 35years and not had any reason to be scared so far.

Central London is fine you’re never out of sight or ear shot of someone else. I get nervous on public transport though, saw a half full carrier bag on the bus once and immediately got off (told the driver) in case it was something nasty. Would never do that elsewhere.

But in general I mean more suburbs. I live near green chain walk in south East London and only a few of the mums would walk along a quiet bit of it in the day if they were on their own.

London is a very safe city. Certainly far less crime per person than most large towns and cities in the UK. Also the worst violence is mostly gang related so completely unlikely to involve you. You ever been out on a Saturday night in a small town? It’s terrifying - kids just looking to fight strangers. You don’t get that in London

But in general I mean more suburbs. I live near green chain walk in south East London and only a few of the mums would walk along a quiet bit of it in the day if they were on their own.

would you walk down a quiet secluded path on the outskirts of a town. Or the countryside? Women are frightened everywhere.

Central London yes, other parts of London most definitely not!

I live in SE London. I don't find it dangerous. In fact it is better than when I arrived 30 years ago.

About the only thing that does concern me now where previously I didn't care are teenage boys because odds are one of them has a knife. That is new, and that bothers me.

And yes, I have been threatened by a man with a knife near where I live. That was five years ago.