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!

All my life I have known people who grew up outside London, then moved here in their 20s, decide that it's gone downhill and is scary when they reach middle age / teenage children.

On the flipside, everyone I know who was born and grew up here seems to stay, with a few exceptions due to being priced out of the housing market.

I don't think London has changed. I think it's more that you moved here as a young adult and you only see it through that lens. Back then you weren't worried about safety. Now you are. I heard similar sentiments expressed in the 80s, 90s, 00s... London was far more 'edgy' when I was a child in the 80s than it is now.

Liverpool in the 80s was hardly a safe place. And knife crime has risen across the UK,as has county lines, etc. Not a London specific problem.

Usually. Zone 2.

But on Monday I had to turn back from meeting an associate cos a nutter kept trying to pick me up.

Yuk.

I felt far safer in London than the midlands shithole I’ve had to move to as I couldn’t afford London anymore.

I’m currently laying in bed with my toddler who has been woken up by the two women scrapping outside the shop across the road and the jeering crowd they have drawn. Apparently, Greg thinks one of them is a fucking slag - or that’s what someone over the road is shouting out of their window at them. Sadly, it happens all the time. Never had this shit in west London.

Small town England is something else. Try looking a bit different there and see how you get on.

metro.co.uk/2022/05/26/liverpool-merseyside-police-issue-knife-warning-after-ava-white-case-16720206/amp/

no knife crime in Liverpool….

London not even in the top 5 for crime

www.liverpoolworld.uk/news/crime/the-most-dangerous-areas-for-crime-in-england-and-wales-are-revealed-how-safe-is-liverpool-3523150

also I find your conflation that a bag on a bus in London is dodgy compared to a bag on a bus in primarily white areas slightly racist

Yes pretty much - I wouldn’t walk through a park on my own in the dead of night (well not if I could help it), but that’s about it.

I think control access to the news if it’s worrying you OP. Stranger attacks are really rare.

Also interested in your view that some people smoking weed are dangerous ‘baddies’.

Liverpool or Chester was only for a night out. I don’t think I’d be worried about crime on a night out in any of the cities including London.
Day to day it was nice town in Cheshire. Think like Nantwich…. It gives my zone 4 London suburb town a certain perspective. It’s a reasonably sized town but certainly a different feel safety wise.

I am Zone 3 South East London and to be honest one of the things that fears me most is the traffic chaos. Cars/Bikes don't stop at crossings. People drive to fast. (Illegal) scooters and motorbikes wizz in and out the traffic like maniacs. I am more fearful of being hit by a car than being attacked or mugged.
I don't think I am at anymore risk of being attacked by a random stranger in a park in my part of London than I am in a park in medium town Oxfordshire/Northamptonshire (where my family is).

Okay the traffic and driving is really scary. People don't stop for red lights.

Not my words, it was my daughter and I didn’t prompt her. She might have picked up on my being worried though walking through a group of lads and older man smoking weed in the park at 11am though.

I’m in zone 4 and I don’t feel safe. I drive everywhere or get cabs in the evening and hate public transport during the day too. My area has a high crime rate and I worry about my children’s safety. I wouldn’t live here given the choice.

Sorry, no one has to live in Zone 4 in London. It's probably expensive. Why not move.

To Nantwich? I hear it's nice.

Why would you worry? My kids have been able to recognise the smell of weed since they started walking to primary school. My next door neighbour smokes and he is 60. That's not specific to London either.

Twenty years ago, when I lived in London, I was stabbed in a mugging during daylight hours. It was an awful experience but I recovered, and moved away from London for career reasons (which helped to distance from the scene of the crime). I am taking my kids on holiday to London tomorrow as I think the positive side of the capital, and all it offers outweigh the potential menace. All places in the UK can be affected by crime and antisocial behaviour. It is about thinking glass half full, not half empty and making the most of life.

Sure Nantwich is like a safe haven…

crimerate.co.uk/cheshire/nantwich

crimerate.co.uk/london

nantwich has 85 crimes per 1000 capita and London has 87. Puts things into perspective doesn’t it

In SE London and generally feel safe in our area. Feels safer than 20 years ago when we first moved here when there were more problems with gangs of teens and local park was unsafe (re-landscaping helped make it safer). I walk around quite happily, run in the park and walk after dark as streets are well lit. Worry about my teenagers out and about but I don’t think London is less safe than a lot of towns now.

@Needmorelego

Same.
I feel safer walking through soho alone than walking through my town center alone infact I wouldn't do it.

I live in zone 3, north east London, in a very quiet new build area. I feel safe here, I didn’t feel as safe in Clapton, despite loving my time in the Hackney borough, mugging and burglaries were common, as were RTA and assaults. I knew I couldn’t run once it was dark (even if it was 6pm!) and I knew that I probably wouldn’t be treated in a correct, respectful manner by the police, should I ever need them. The police aren’t going to be much better over here, but people mind their own buisness and it’s a much more peaceful environment.

Yes, as safe as I do anywhere else. I live in a large, fairly run down town myself though so I'm not a stranger to anti social behaviour and crime. I think people who live more rurally are the ones who are more "scared" of the big city.

But London is a very big city. That website breaks London's figures down on a borough basis. They range from mud 50s to over 600! OK so the City and Westminster are very high, presumably mainly pickpocketing tourists, but there are several Borough's with rates over 100.
Personally, Central London is fine. My outer Borough there is a real risk of knives, muggings etc. The town centre doesn't feel particularly safe in daytime, I really do not feel safe after dark. My immediate neighbourhood is ok but I prefer to drive at night.

Some parts of our nearby city have become no go recently. Walking to the shopping centre from the train station in the middle of the day now feels uncomfortable, and you certainly wouldn't do it alone. In our local small semi rural town you get groups of young men hanging about now, which you never used to. They just stand in a huddle, smoking whatever and staring at passing women.

Lived in south london near Brixton for 5 years, always felt safe. Generally others around. I feel much more unsafe in a rural location!

but i wouldn't personally see walking past a group smoking weed as unsafe - and I wouldn't think twice to run/walk in the woods/park during daylight. Wouldn't at night but that's because you can't see where you're going!

I live in zone 6 and feel perfectly safe both around here and more centrally, no qualms about public transport, walking home alone at night etc. I feel nervous in more rural/isolated areas. Maybe it's just what I'm used to.