To not feel safe in London...and near London..?

[moumoute]

Ok, see, I am scared now. I lived 9 years in London, moved abroad for 3 years. I would like to move back to the UK but I am scared! Being abroad I have started to look at the newspapers including the shitpapers so I see a LOT of crime, in London, near London and actually everywhere in Britain. Am I paranoid now? It seems wrong to move back and raise children in a village near London as I find crimes history everywhere....

tumtetumtetumtetum It's a good thing that you aren't near the friends! Ok, so I live in a pretty part of a major city so I feel priviledged BUT I wonder a lot if I should stay or leave! People are too...too...neutral? passive? Friends gangs is def a thing...I don't have friends!

Bunnyfuller True that. Let's look at knife & rape only
MarmaladeWithToast Sounds reasonnable then! Shit, London is safe...I'm just building paranoia with newspapers

Are you able to read Norwegian? It sounds like you are just reading UK papers

tumtetumtetumtetum Main thing that irks me is swearing on the buses. Did you not start your post with 'FFS'?

See I knew it!!! You have my sympathies. DH thinks I exaggerate the friends thing. I tried to live there for a short while but came away thinking I had developed some kind of social disorder.

On balance better to have life enhancing friends and a 0.something difference in the murder rate!

Lucy7400 ha, good point ;) No way, Norwegian papers are too boring!!

Ah but I am not on a bus. If I were on a bus I would be silently judging the swearing which would undoubtedly be profligate at this time of night. My ears twitch thinking about it.

I've lived in London my whole life. It's fine. Stop being ridiculous and listening to stupid tabloids.

tumtetumtetumtetum Living in Norway it's more about accepting then adapting. I feel abroad, I never abroad when I lived in London...if you know what I mean! How long have you tried to live there? Are you British? I believe that it's A BIT easier for brits and americans to 'accept' in Norway.
Yeah, it might be better to accept 'passe' (=nothingness boring state of everything for Norwegians!)

dovesong thank you dovesong ;)

London is an international city and always will be. I live in an average part of London and haven't witnessed anything different, there are all cultures of people in my neighbourhood and we all get on fine just like we always have, don't worry

Maz2444466 This is a nice AIBU thread, I enjoy it and it makes me feel better about London. Where should I move then? There is still a difference between posh areas and dodgy areas...I don't a huge budget but could get a 2bed zone 2

Or maybe I start renting and see how Br*xit goes

I really can't work out what you want from this thread?

You don't want to stay where you are because its boring.

You're too scared to move to or near London.

You're reading shit newspapers to feed this 'fear' you have - therefore deliberately sabotaging any possible move.

I think you need to dig deeper into what's really bothering you and what's really going on in your life.

If you don't start by tackling that, you'll never move anywhere.

I've never lived in London but another major city 'murder capital of Europe' suposedly at least at one point. Lived there for 4 years including quite a few nights out wandering about late at night in club clothes never ever had a problem always felt safe.

However, have been assaulted 3 times, had bike nicked, place I was lodging their car was nicked, these ALL happened in villages/very small towns with low crime rates considered 'posh' areas.

I've several friends who live in London and they've always felt safe, the only one who's had a crime against them it was when we were at uni together in a different much smaller city.

I do think considering what pps have posted about the ACTUAL crime stats (and it would be extremely unusual for a murder or even serious assault to go unreported) that you have a skewed perspective for whatever reason.

My brother is a police officer in a medium sized city and when he's been on training courses etc with coppers from London he's had similar conversations and the reality seems to be that when you take into consideration the higher population London is no worse than anywhere else. If anything he's expected (having started his career in the 'murder capital') to have dealt with worse.

WorraLiberty Oh yes being paradoxal for sure....I moved to Norway from London so you have to understand that it's disturbing to want to move back to London.....I thought that was it. Then I got to really know Norway.

When I think of Norway I think of the (awesome) black metal scene and the 90s church arsons. And I'm fairly certain there's a high percentage of alcoholism and suicide in Scandinavian countries.

In conclusion: bad shit happens everywhere.

would you the closer you live to the central, the safer it is?

Moumoute What's your budget like if you don't me asking? We are out in the outskirts. Renting is not a bad idea as you'll get a feel for the place and also bide your time in case house prices do fall, but I wouldn't bank on it...There are lovely parts of London a bit further out - Rickmansworth, Pinner, Ruislip. A bit 'sleepy' but great for starting a family, great schools, lovely safe areas. You'd get more for your money than zone 2. I would recommend any of those areas. x

The poor child stabbed by a teenage girl was in York. Quite a distance from London. I feel safe after dark in busy parts of London just because there are so many people about. If you live in a city I think you soon find where and when is fine and where and when is risky and act accordingly.

OP- I sort of understand where you're coming from. I lived in London for 12 years and then moved to an Asian city with very low crime rate and very high levels of personal safety- you really do not have to worry about getting mugged or attacked, even in the "worst" areas of the city. Even in the big bar areas at weekends there is never any trouble/ fighting. I have now lived there 8 years. When I come back to London I sometimes feel a nervousness for the first day or so that I didnt feel before. I think its an instinctual nervousness due to lack of familiarity (because it's no longer home - I have lost that instinctual understanding that x street is fine but y street isnt. I dont have specific fears, I just feel a little wary ). After a day or so, it's all good.

I'm half Danish, but was born and bred in England. I grew up in Addiscombe, never had any trouble, loved living where we did. We (the parents and my younger sis) moved to Leeds when I was in my early teens. To one of the poshest areas, close to the biggest park in the city. Car radios stolen repeatedly. Wheels from Dad's jag stolen. A local druggie broke in when I was 16 but I was in (rest of them were out for the day), so he was caught.

When I left home I moved to a "bad" area. No trouble. When I got my own place it was in another "bad" area. No trouble. Me and DH live in an upcoming but affordable area. No trouble, and we did have a police station at the end of our street that has now relocated. Nothing has changed.

People do awful things everywhere in the world. You can't say that living in a posh bit of Oslo would be safer than living in a zone 2 part (so quite nice really!) of London. And yes, that poor little girl was 30 miles away from me. I'd actually say that, reading the news, more bad shit happens in Yorkshire and other parts of the north than London. But then Yorkshire as a whole is the biggest county so per capita etc...

I visit London many times a year as I have lots of friends there. It feels safer than Leeds due to the number of people around. And the more present police. And the amazing transport links. Scandinavia has high levels of alcoholism, suicide, depression.Two of those could and do lead to crimes being committed. If you want to be free of all crime, move to the ant/arctic. And there's no guarantee there either!

I feel that England and London are dangerous places. I was mugged in Reading, bikes stolen in reading and Guildford. Since moving to the USA I never lock my house or car. Never seen any crime.

The only reason I carry a gun is for Defence from bears and wolves.

You can look up www.police.uk/ and enter the post code or place name of where you might be staying in Find Your Neighbourhood. Then click on 'Explore the crime map'. You can zoom in and select different months crimes were reported, and filter by type of crime (burglary, drugs, etc.).

Nowhere will be truly crime-free but you can gauge relative activity between different areas. I used this to sense check location safety when we bought a house.

Where are you from? Your written English would suggest you are not British.

As for where to live - London is huge. You need to say what your budget is, what you do and where you work and how many people will be living with you. Otherwise its pointless even asking.