Is the Camden/ Islington border a rough part of London?

[AbsentmindedWoman]

Honestly, I am always amazingly wide of the mark when judging these things To me it looked fine though. It was about half a mile walk from Caledonian Road tube station, and a bit further from Camden Road overground - that sort of area? Sort of between Camden Square and Caledonian Park?

I've read some alarming things about Caledonian Road, how it's full of drugs and stabbings Currently been in Hampstead and been here for years and years now so compared to that a lot of other probably lovely places look a bit run down or seem a little edgy. I'm very out of touch.

Would you live there?

Someone I know commutes in from Ely, so there's still hope....

I'm a woman and live in Islington and I love it here. As a previous poster said, it is very densely populated and very diverse. Extremely wealthy streets are only streets away from more deprived areas.

It's not a shit hole. We've got loads of green spaces. My family cycle and and walk everywhere.

I'm lucky I live in a nice road and there are some estates I wouldn't take a short cut through at night. But that's true of many places.

PMSL at the idea of this being a rough part of London.

Born and raised Newham council estate here.

I would be terrified if my teens were out and about in London.

Why? Are your teenagers in gangs?

I think Suzanne Moore used to live just off off the Caledonian Road (Kings X end) about 20-25 years ago. Even way back then it was a mix of gentrified and non-gentrified. Some of the housing around there is genuinely beautiful.

Schooling is a mix - most schools are good but a lot of the middle classes move their children into the astonishingly good schools around Camden proper.

Parents I've met living around the area tend to be professional and left-field - lots of higher-level academics.

Seriously, a walk around the area will surely tell you all you need to know, OP.

If you live in London already, surely you can just walk around?

Tottenham is huge - I know South Tottenham pretty well and it's fine - plenty of families live happily there.

Why do people who not only don't live in the actual area/have any actual knowledge of the actual area but don't even live in London come onto threads like this?

Genuinely?

If someone posted a thread about buying in a particular area of Tallin, I would read but assume I really didn't have that much to offer in the way of useful knowledge.

It's the craziest thing.

But am I missing something?

Genuinely - could one of the non-London/no idea about this bit of London posters tell me why they posted?

I don't want to be mean - I genuinely want to be enlightened.

Living anywhere in London would be my idea of hell...I live in a very safe rural beautiful part of Norfolk and count my blessings everyday....I would be terrified if my teens were out and about in London.'

Well handily you're not being forced to live here so that's dandy then

Living in rural Norfolk would be my idea of hell. I feel claustrophobic whenever I visit the countryside

How do your teens get out and about to see their mates or to go and do, fun stuff? Can they hop on a bus or tube? Is there a wealth of stuff to do on their doorstep? Or are they reliant on being ferried round by their mum because they live in the middle of nowhere and there's nothing to do for miles

That's my perception of living in rural Norfolk. Which is why it's great I don't have to live there. How's about this. I won't come onto a thread about what it's like to live in rural Norfolk and slag it off. I don't have to live there and can't offer any kind of useful opinion to someone who wants to know about what it's like to live there

Maybe you shouldnt do the same about London

chooses from a massive selection of world cuisines from wonderful local restaurants to order Deliveroo via my lovely super high speed fibre broadband that I bet I couldn't get in rural Norfolk, before I order West End theatre tickets, because I have the world's best theatres on my doorstep and I can go to see world class actors after work any night I choose

I grew up in NW3 on a council estate off Adelaide Road it was rough as fuck and it made me a tough cookie. After we moved out to Hertfordshire then all the posho bastards moved in and made it all expensive and amazing etc etc. Missed the boat There! Don't regret leaving London though.

But am I missing something?

Yes, been working in London for nearly 20 years so I feel I'm qualified to comment.......

MrTrebus I used to go to a kids' Saturday club at Bray, I didn't live on the estate but have very happy memories of that particular tower!

Has London got a lot less safe since the 00s? As a teenager there weren't any neighbourhoods I wouldn't go to and I felt completely safe in Harlesden and Tottenham.

Japanese walking in Edmonton is scary because there was a shooting at 2pm in the afternoon at the bus station last month. It's massively busy there, so people don't even care if there are witnesses.

There was a shooting at the Asda in the Green around 2 years ago.

An 11 year old raped in the park walking home from school (on a route we used to take home as kids too). It's off a very busy road and happened at about 5pm.

A man jumped in to an old lady's garden and beheaded her. She ran the cafe on the high street and it was just a random attack.

A boy was stabbed in Craig's park on the Edmonton border before the riots. He was on his bike and was apparently in the wrong postcode.

In a shop in the precinct a man took £5 from my sons hand that we had just given him so he could pay the cashier. He was aged 4.

Even when we were kids there was a story about someone being stabbed in the swimming pool changing rooms and that was 25+ years ago!

There are of course some nicer streets but you may or may not get home alive if you have to walk through all this every night

I live in Islington, not far from the Caledonian Road, and it’s boringly safe. Yes you can get your phone stolen but it also happens in Marylebone outside my husband’s office. There’s a few weirdos about but they are pretty harmless.

Honestly, I had to go to Lewisham for an appointment and that was way more daunting than anywhere in Islington.

I wouldn't live there because my money could go further for the sake of another 10-15 minutes journey.

People saying nowhere in London can really be rough because it's so expensive to live there - don't you realise there are huge council estates, and lots of housing association properties, all over London? So you get multi-million pound houses cheek by jowl with low-rent flats.

Hardly !

Well that’s where I live! We’ve been here for over five years now, having moved from hackney. I can honestly say I have never felt scared or had a bad experience. I take shortcuts through some estates too - though there might be some I might not cross at night. If you are a bit careful it is perfectly fine, as with anywhere in London. It’s a diverse area and we love it for it.

Not quite the right area but not far... I have family on Hackney/Islington border (N1) and it’s great there - pretty quiet and residential but not far from lots of lively places if you want that. I’ve always felt pretty safe there. Since they got the overground transport is good too.

I'm not far from Cally Road and like a lot of inner London it's got the posher bits rubbing shoulders with council estates. It's a funny road though as retail premises change a lot but I think it's just not where people travel to shop. Personally I've not had any issues in 15/16 years as an Islington resident. I quite like it as a borough-am a northerner who has resided in Haringey and Camden. There is stufg to do and decent amenities and is no shit hole. There is a spate of moped thieves taking phones and laptops which is less good.

Honestly, I had to go to Lewisham for an appointment and that was way more daunting than anywhere in Islington.

Oi now, I live in Lewisham!

Dodgy things happen in all parts of London. My friend was murdered in broad daylight in the summer in one of the most tranquil parts of West London there is.

I'm sorry to hear that NoLove.

I lived fairly near Cally Road until this year. My only objection to the no man's land between Canonbury and Camden would be lack of infrastructure. There are lots of nice roads, but no handy supermarkets or decent sized parks and no real feeling of community.

I'd suggest Kentish Town as a decent alternative or if you don't need to be on a tube line, Crouch End, which has a lot going for it.

This article specifically highlights Cally Road as an area which typifies the wealth divide

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/mar/08/tragic-killing-alan-cartwright-caledonian-road-kings-cross