to be afraid to move to north London?

[Samsean]

Hi

We are relocating to north London (harringay/hackney) due to DP's work. Having just visited the place, it feels scary and unfriendly. Is there anything to be afraid of or is it just in my head?

[PseudoBadger]

And as a north Londoner, I find south london scary :o

[Binkybix]

Some parts of south London are scary too badger!!

[MissMooMoo]

move to crouch end if budget allows! loads and loads of families and great state primary schools!

[Beastofburden]

I used to live in Stepney Green. We were East Lunnon, so's Hackney. We thought South of the River was dead scary .

Moving house is like this. It's normal to be nervous that the neighbours will be awful. Luckily it's usually not true. At least you are not moving city, or country and going 400 miles away from all your friends.

[Pobblewhohasnotoes]

As a south Londoner I'd love to know which areas people consider scary!

[kingbeat23]

@badger - I live in the borough of hackney but have a N postcode, not all of hackney is east (n1, n4, n16)

@pobble - lived in south and still think Loughborough junction is shady as fuck at any time of the day. Do they still have the offy with the grills and all the stock behind it??

[Florence4]

I have lived in Harringey all my life and have always felt very safe. My elderly mother also lives with me and she has never said that she was uneasy about the area. It has many advantages, great transport links, good restaurants, nice parks, variety of large and local shops and a thriving community. As with all areas there is going to be crime and you have to take normal precautions.
I have lovely neighbours who take in my post, and keep an eye on my home whilst I'm on holiday and vice versa. Some neighbours who have moved from Crouch End and Hornsey have actually said to me that they prefer where they are now as it is so convenient, quiet(yes!) and friendly so I would definitely say that Harringey is a nice area!

[Beastofburden]

@pobble- we were ignorant of South London, that was the thing! it was just the unknown.

But to be fair, this was the 1980s and we had just seen the Brixton riots happen, which were dreadfully sad and a real shock to realise how much poverty we had been ignoring on our doorstep all that time.

[PseudoBadger]

Kingbeat - N1 is part islington too right, and N16 is part Haringey. But yes I get what you mean.

Well just to generalise but I wouldn't wander around Lewisham, Peckham, Streatham, Camberwell etc.... But I'm sure there are lovely parts there too that a million MNers will pop up to tell me about :o

[RachellaS]

Hahahaha! Most people I know (North Londoners) feel the same about going south of the river, so it's obviously silly postcode snobbery on both sides. I moved from Clapton Pond, Hackney, to Noel Park, Haringey when we wanted to buy a whole house (with a garden) and Hackney became too expensive.

I live in Noel Park, Wood Green. It's a lovely area with rows of terrace houses in an historic conservation area. People are neighbourlyseveral have already helped me with my gardenand we've even got a new farmers market every Sunday. While the high road isn't the greatest, and one of the horrible commercial building owners sold our Banksy for lots of profit, TFL has earmarked millions of pounds on a project to improve the high road that is supposed to start this year, so it will only get better.

In fact, now is the time to move here before it becomes too expensive to do so, like what already happened in Hackney.

[HarringayBirder]

Mrs De Vere

You don't win. You lose, on account of the fact you can't even spell the name of the place!

[MadBusLady]

Nowt wrong with Lewisham! It has useful and cheap shopping, is pedestrianized and has a lovely clocktower i.e. a much nicer version of Wood Green. And Camberwell is well arty and posh.

[whois]

Hackney is in East London

I live in hackney, N1. So I am both in East and North :-)

[UmPixie]

Harringay is brilliant esp with young kids. I lived in green lanes for donkeys years and still would if I could but am overseas at moment but we kept our place and would move back in a heartbeat. Good primaries. Lovely shops. Great community. Try //www.harringayonline.com. Great parks. Finsbury, chestnuts, fairland, priory and more . Fab transport connections I visited this summer and all te shopkeepers still know us and 3 even came out of their shops when they saw us passing to ask if wed moved back. It really is village London at its best.

[VinegarDrinker]

Yeah, Hackney's a total shithole, don't move here it'll only push the bloody house prices up even further

Few people on this thread who are probably my neighbours!

[UmPixie]

O and I don't even mention the great food and pubs ;-) try moka on wight man road. The Salisbury pub on green lanes. Bianca for really good pizza. Fabulous Turkish and Kurdish too numerous to mention and of course walk over the hill to all the restaurants of crouch end

And 3 stops on the overground and 10 mins later you're o. Hampstead Heath

Missing home--moi?

[HarringayBirder]

Right.

Hackney, as others have said, is east London. Haringey is a borough in the north of London. Harringay is a small area which lies at the centre of the geographical area pertaining to the London Borough of Haringey, which took its name when.

When you say you might be relocating to "Harringay/Hackney" I therefore you mean "Haringey/Hackney". However you did say you had just visited the place. So where exactly did you go?

I live in Harringay (obviously) and although it is somewhat down-at-heel I am not sure I would move anywhere else in London even if I could. The schools are great; there are superb transport links (we can be at Stansted or in Leicester Square in about 40 mins); there are three decent swimming pools a bus ride away, and canals and country parks can be reached by bike (and there are four excellent parks within walking distance of here).

If you want small, individual and arty shops, head to Crouch End or Muswell Hill. Ethnic food? Seven Sisters. Big shops? Wood Green has Mozzas, M&S, Primark, TK Maxx and more. Harringay Arena (on the north-east side of Finsbury Park) has sports, clothes and food shops etc.

Our street is most of the time very quiet even though we live five minutes from a major thoroughfare which never sleeps; buses are many and frequent and when you get off you will find decent greengrocers, a quality butchers and a plethora of Turkish restaurants which foodies regularly trek across the capital to visit.

As for south London, I don't want to start a Mumsnet "postcode war" but when I was a student I lived in the Oval and all I can say was the vibe was... interesting.

BTW I have also lived in Camden Town and Islington and I know the Holloway Road area well. If I could live anywhere in north London I would choose Islington because of the beautiful houses, good transport links and excellent shops and restaurants. Highgate is also lovely but way out of my league! Crouch End and Muswell Hill are more affordable but also achingly middle-class... although a lot of people seem to like that sort of thing.

If you need any more info, I'll be happy to help!

@HarringayBirder

[HarringayBirder]

Oh yes - I meant to say, we had a stupid Banksy which fortunately got sold. Funnily enough there was a much better one in Tottenham which also got quietly sold a few months ago, and no-one made much of a fuss about that..

[labelwriter]

They are both lovely and I say that as someone who has lived both North and South. It's always a bit scary when you move somewhere new. Hackney has amazing green spaces and shops and friends in Haringey love it. I am in South East London now after nearly 20 years as a North London girl, and I love it and I never thought I would say that!

[whois]

As a south Londoner I'd love to know which areas people consider scary!

Where to start?

The massive estate with imposing and depressing tower block of missery between Beemondsy and Old Kent Road.

Some areas between Old Kent Road and Peckham.

Parts of Lambeth, Streatham, Brixon. Probably parts of many areas!

Note the emphasis on 'parts' there are absolute shit holes in every borough of London.

[OTheHugeManatee]

SE Londoner here. YANBU

[Suziki]

Hey there I'm not a regular poster on mumsnet but this discussion that seems to be writing off Haringey intrigued me .
Moving always means adjusting and settling takes time. I've worked in Haringey for five years and lived in the cross over area between Stroud Green/Finsbury Park and Harringay (also known as "the Ladder") for 3 and been in Tottenham now for nearly a year. It is a mixed community like much of London which I love.
I used to live in Crystal Palace and many other parts of London.
Comparatively, Haringey is a busier area than any other places I have lived in except for Istanbul and therefore much more going on as you would expect.
Please remember you will get all sorts wherever you go.
We live in a big busy city and you need to be alert and aware of your surroundings logically. Stereotyping is easy to do and I guess I have been guilty of it in the past
There are lovely parks like Finsbury Park, Alexandra Park and Downhills Park and Markfield Park which leads up to Lee Valley nature reserve via the canal in
Haringey I regularly go for walks in with my baby daughter and husband. There are great friendly active comnunity groups like the Tottenham Community Choir which I am a member of and I love the people and the spirit. I go to several different baby groups across tbe borough. Shopping and going out wise you will find all you need and want . Very good quality Turkish and Kurdish food along Harringay's Green Lanes and many other restaurants in Crouch End and Tottenham and Stroud Green , health food shops in crouch end, community based open markets in Noel Park, the Ladder and Alexandra Park. .. There is poverty and the
troubles it brings with it as well but I dislike seeing that
hardship as much as the arrogance and selfishness I
see in some people though not all of course who are
rich selfish stuck up and mean. I hope you have a smooth and easy move :)

[pamish]

I live right in the belly of the beast - one minute from Seven Sisters tube station, and two minutes from South Tottenham overground station. Waves to the other SoTo's popping up

It's hard to see your area, and your home, trashed like this, and whole populations demonised.

Could it be that Samsean has problems with people 'not like her'? A place like Tottenham has long and convoluted history, like everywhere else in, especially, big cities, it's about movement. N15 - the postcode encompassing about a quarter of the borough of Haringey - is one of the most 'diverse' postcodes in the world. However, that doesn't mean we all move every six months - how many City of London dwellers stay put all their lives? All of London is changing, bear in mind that its population has increased by a million people in the past decade.

So we are, a cliche, multicultural. Wherever you are, you will find like-minded souls, as there are so many souls to choose from. It is not specially dangerous here. YABVVVU.

[pamish]

I wonder what 'visiting the place' means? Brings to mind that Jennifer Saunders sketch where they troll around in their enormous car sightseeing in Brixton, till they panic and flee.