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AIBU?

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Original poster

Is Thamesmead, SE London, a rough area?

149 replies

Bavon · 05/04/2023 11:01

I've heard mixed things about this area. One person said "you don't wanna go there" . Is it as bad as people say?

OP posts:
Olinguita · 05/04/2023 14:55

Rough and very isolated in terms of public transport. Not been there for about seven years and I don't know to what extent the Elizabeth Line has improved things. It felt really desolate and unwelcoming last time I visited. I find the Brutalist architecture interesting but now it feels like a utopian vision gone wrong

TortolaParadise · 05/04/2023 15:18

Yes, but it is home to many hardworking and decent people.

NeedWineNow · 05/04/2023 15:28

My mum lives in Abbey Wood across the road from Thamesmead. There are a whole raft of new flats going up opposite which look attractive but walking around the whole area looks shabby and run down. Mum says that the noise on the streets and the road noise especially at night is disturbing. She's in a council house and wants to move into sheltered accommodation as she's elderly. We asked if she still wanted to stay in the area and she doesn't. She doesn't feel comfortable about being out and about.

Olinguita · 05/04/2023 16:17

Interesting archive footage of Thamesmead when it was first built

The comments underneath the video are quite touching - lots of people recognising themselves as children or their parents. @TortolaParadise You make an excellent point.

Living at Thamesmead, 1974

A semi-fictional account of a couple who live in the Thamesmead estate. This film shows the architecture and landscaping of Thamesmead and the everyday lives...

https://youtu.be/NtqX9PJv-Nk

Phaseur · 30/04/2023 20:44

It is nowhere near as bad as people are saying on this thread and better than some of the neighbouring areas mentioned. It is however, remote and forgotten. Some nice green areas and cycle routes.

Saniflo · 30/04/2023 20:47

I grew up there. It is rough as shit.

itsmylife7 · 30/04/2023 23:02

Olinguita · 05/04/2023 16:17

Interesting archive footage of Thamesmead when it was first built

The comments underneath the video are quite touching - lots of people recognising themselves as children or their parents. @TortolaParadise You make an excellent point.

Thanks for that link. just been down a rabbit hole 😮

BarbaraVineFan · 30/04/2023 23:08

I was briefly seeing a guy who lived there in about 2003. He wouldn't let me come to his flat by public transport by myself - he would come and meet me and we would travel together. I remember feeling frightened walking around there.

ScarletWitchM · 30/04/2023 23:09

Yes

Gymrabbit · 30/04/2023 23:16

It’s quite rough though there are a few nicer bits and newer flats going up.
Those who are criticising Bexley as a whole though may like to note it’s the 3rd safest borough in London.

CelestiaNoctis · 01/05/2023 02:14

100000%. High rise, cement block, gang filled hellscape.

user1473878824 · 01/05/2023 02:26

OhhhhhhhhBiscuits · 05/04/2023 11:16

I moved out of London 23 years ago. It was a shithole then and I doubt much has changed.

The WHOLE of London?

highonahillwasalonelygoat · 01/05/2023 04:53

Steer clear!

OhhhhhhhhBiscuits · 01/05/2023 09:24

user1473878824 · 01/05/2023 02:26

The WHOLE of London?

Show quote history

No Thamesmead

BeginningToLookALotLike · 01/05/2023 09:35

In the late 80s I went there every month or so for a year. This was for a work experience role. I always went with another friend though and never travelled on my own. However I never saw anyone else in the streets! It was eerily quiet. So it didn't feel rough as such, just isolated. I have no idea what it is like now.

From this thread it sounds like more public transport would be good for Thamesmead. Perhaps extending the DLR from Lewisham would be a start.

Smoky1107 · 01/05/2023 09:44

I worked there for a while, it's not the nicest place. My daughter had to pick me up from Abbey Wood during the train strikes and she was scared waiting.

kirinm · 01/05/2023 10:00

goodkidsmaadhouse · 05/04/2023 13:56

This is a bit of a derail but... I have this strange habit that whenever there's a thread about a partiuclar are on MN I always look it up on prime location to see what a house I could afford there would be like. (Some) houses in Thamesmead are not cheap! (I mean I know they are cheap for London but not objectively cheap.) If it is so rough, who is willing to spend £600k ish on a house there?

Because houses a bit further down the road will cost £1.0m+?

Zebedee55 · 01/05/2023 10:20

I wouldn't live there or Plumstead. Parts of Abbey Wood are ok though.

Lampzade · 01/05/2023 10:30

Phaseur · 30/04/2023 20:44

It is nowhere near as bad as people are saying on this thread and better than some of the neighbouring areas mentioned. It is however, remote and forgotten. Some nice green areas and cycle routes.

Yes , that is what I feel about the area. Slightly remote. Furthermore, there are too many homes built in such a small area. Just a
bit depressing . It really is not as bad as people have said
Plumstead is fine though

malapast · 01/05/2023 10:39

I live in Welling when I moved here Plumstead was on my hit list and I had booked a property to view. I got to the public car park and phoned the agent to cancel the viewing I didn't even need to get out of the car. Thamesmead has a large traveller community and huge council blocks with open street drug dealing and street gangs going on I've driven through to have a look. Wouldn't touch it with a bargepole.

tennesseewhiskey1 · 01/05/2023 10:41

No no no no. No.

Rockbird · 01/05/2023 10:44

I love that film that was posted above. I got slightly fixated on the whole Thamesmead thing years ago. I find it fascinating for some reason. Wouldn't live there though.

malapast · 01/05/2023 10:47

GonnaGetGoingReturns · 05/04/2023 13:56

Ah, thanks for clarifying!

My colleague who lived in Abbey Wood with either whole or shared custody of his sons (now adults) didn’t really have positives to say about it, but he bought his house there, no idea if he’s moved.

I once went on a works outing to Crayford Dog Track (same as person who lived in Abbey Wood.

To be honest a lot of that area and surroundings I class as NF/UKIP in pockets, eg Welling, Eltham, Bexley etc. I’m sure it’s improved or not over the years but it’s near where Stephen Lawrence lived and was murdered and I find a lot of that area to be racist and violent, not all but pockets of it. I’m a white British person by the way.

Show quote history

I live in Welling near to the centre. It's quite nice if somewhat dull and pretty working class employed. Builders, leckies, plumbers and the like who don't put up with any nonsense. Am always comforted that if trouble kicked off ala London Riots of 2011 then the local men would come out in the streets armed with 4x2 and sort it out when the police weren't around. Back in inner London folks would cower in their houses whilst the loonies took over. Easy to get into the centre as well - but forget artisan bakeries and overpriced tat shops. Very multicultural as well now a lot of Asians and now Chinese and not the BNP stronghold of old.

malapast · 01/05/2023 10:48

Some of Stanley Kubrick's seminal distopain film Clock Work Orange was filedn in Thamesmaed.

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