Is Glasgow a safe place to live?

[GoodnessGraciousMeh]

My DD has recently moved to Glasgow for a job. She is shocked at how rough it seems, and there is a programme on iplayer which is on later tonight on player about Glasgow which was filmed recently. It's really shocking. She is living alone in a not particularly nice area and I am really worried. For people who have experience of Glasgow, please tell me your thoughts.

Watch the documentary. The women on there squarely blame many of the so called protectors for a lot of this violence.

The protectors are the knuckle-dragging neds who turn up every time there's trouble, like rent a mob.

Why all the London comparisons? OP isn't asking about London!

Gang violence is one of the areas in which new types of immigration does have a negative impact though. Not because immigrants are more violent but because you get new turf wars in previously "stable" areas. Or even in areas where there was already violence between gangs because it adds a dimension. There is a line of thinking that gang activity is OK so long as it's all kept under the rug/doesn't explode into the open. (The problem with this is that this involves ignoring the fact that vulnerable people are being sucked into drug dependency, children are being groomed into drug running, girls and vulnerable women being groomed into prostitution) But if you take that line then it wasn't a problem before but is now that new gangs coming in are making the problem harder to ignore. I don't think that by the way, but if you take that mindset it's immigration causing the problem not systemic indifference to anything that isn't protecting private property of the wealthy.

Absolutely. I was really surprised, as what I heard about Byres Road and surrounding areas was very different to my experience.

There is a lot of mention of the hotel for the homeless at Four Corners causing issues. I presume some of these, but not all, are recently arrived immigrants. It's always been where newcomers to Glasgow have found themselves to be fair : but it sounds like the provision is not sufficient and causes its own problems.

I think it's aways a default comparison. OP hasn't commented on any comparisons with Birmingham really which are perhaps more pertinent.

The 3rd or 4th poster said that London was more dangerous than Glasgow - people responded to this.

But as a pp has mentioned Birmingham - it appears to have slightly lower crime rates than Glasgow, but higher than London.

But, again, it will vary from area to area in Birmingham. It's nearly always city centres that come up as worst when you drill down.

AI just told me Birmingham was generally higher than Glasgow but it was a very swift look!

Yes..I agree. I mean we are saying the same thing…?

Im talking around 2012-2014ish. Was absolutely fine then imo. Again, as far as any city can be safe.

Agreed.

But the “let everyone in” side are also stupid sheep who are baaaaa-ing for their own downfall.

Idiots on both sides.

Glasgow has always had rough areas. I grew up there in the 70s. Easterhouse, Drumchapel and a lot of the East End were pretty bad then.

I still go back a lot as I have family there but we very rarely go into the city centre. If we go out at night it will usually be the West End.

The city centre has changed a lot but so have most cities. We did a bus tour there for DD's birthday and a lot of the centre is pretty scruffy but parts are also very lively. That's just how Glasgow has always been.

I don't think you need to worry about your daughter. If she has lived in Birmingham then she'll cope with Glasgow.

If she's really uneasy in the East End she could look at Anniesland or Knightswood. Not as expensive as some areas and and still pretty accessible transport wise.

its not the best area unfortunately, can she move? I am not sure what area I would suggest in actual Glasgow though, maybe look out Milngavie way? Bearsden?

Glaswegian living in London but who visits regularly… I’ve noticed a massive degradation in cleanliness over the last ten years. I used to work on Sauchiehall street and it was never the finest street but oh my goodness what’s happened to it now! Closed up shop fronts, all you can eat places and empty bloomin cycling lanes. Especially with bins and streets. However I’ve always felt safe walking in the main areas. I would never have hung around hielanman’s umbrella back in the 90s and neither would I today. Ditto st Enoch square. Like others have said the west end is probably better for a newbie but toll cross not bad. Toll cross used to be the place my mother would tell me I was allowed to walk to alone and not further (east). There was always gang violence in glasgow with Young whatever and a religious violence I don’t experience in England. However, I think most Glaswegians are lovely people who would go out of their way to help others. But I suppose I’m biased!!. People are mentioning Birmingham - I love Birmingham too. Lovely people.

to add I have lived in the east end the south side and close to the west end, think its classed as north side, hated them all, but appreciated Maryhill's closeness to the west end and would have stayed there had it not been for terrible neighbours and surrounding idiots setting fire to the bottom of the building and the fire brigade coming out all hours more than once. We can not afford good areas and we live outside Glasgow in a crap area too lol

I live in Glasgow and I love it. I'd never move and I've always felt safe here but I don't walk about by myself at night, that's just common sense. I've lived in other big cities and taken the same precautions. If your daughter has lived in Birmingham she'll know the score. I can't comment on what the city centre is like at night now because I never go out (old and boring)

The East End is not very dangerous that's ridiculous. Some parts of it are not the best of areas though and I wouldn't live there myself.

Like all cities it has good & bad parts. Having lived here for nearly 30yrs now, both DS are students in Glasgow now.
To compare - 3yrs ago we went on family holiday to Norfolk, our visit to Norwich left us all feeling very threatened/vulnerable during daytime which none of us have ever felt in Glasgow. We were all fairly shocked.

Glasgow city centre is just depressing now, it used to have such a buzz.

😂

OP has said she can only afford Tollcross. She can't afford to move to Dowanhill or Bearsden.

There are plenty of safe places within the east end. People sound rough, but there's community and when you get past the scary sound of some, there's more good people than bad. From the outside looking in, it can be hard to see that. Like everywhere, it has it's bad points. I've see much worse places.

Watching the doc last night it seemed to me that on all sides the people who went into town like the immigrants who are hangings around St Enoch's and then the wee neds who hang about the 4 corners all just want to be in amongst it and they're all looking for trouble. I could even say the same about the rival protest groups, I do agree that the politics of the anti-immigration lot are embarrassing, hateful and depressing but even the worthy types are out there looking to get themselves involved in the stooshie.

If everyone just minded their own business and didn't go about looking for trouble there wouldn't be so much carry on. Having said that the drugs are obviously a major part of the problem.

@Lamelie "police-recorded data". Meaning this could be showing a much higher prevalence of rape and sexual assault in Glasgow v London OR a much higher rate of reporting (or recording of reports) of rape and sexual assault to Police Scotland v the Met. I genuinely don't know which. But I would be very careful about comparing such data.

@GoodnessGraciousMeh Glasgow is a fantastic city full of families and young professionals. I have a lot of family and friends there. I love visiting. It's a city like many others and has some of the worst rates of poverty in Scotland and the UK. That is not unique though and the creativity and warmth of the city and its people are immense.

Guy I knew from Glasgow years ago, he grew up there in the 1970"s when it was really rough, he had to learn Kung Fu so he could "walk up the road from the disco without getting battered" as he put it, called Birmingham the Glasgow of The South (ok, it isn"t really South but it is to Scotland I suppose)