To ask what it’s like to live in Camden Town?

[Halling]

I fancy a fresh start - and am thinking of moving here / would love opinions

Depends where in Camden ime it's a fabulous place to live. Regents Park and Promise Hill have great roads, lots off green space and plenty of culture. West End on your doorstep. It is very expensive.

Many celebrities / Nepo babies live there. Mornington crescent tube is reasonable and not too busy.

My sis is in Primrose Hill and just a short walk along the canal from Camden. Rents a tiny basement flat but nice area.

I wouldn’t want to be in Camden Town proper. Kentish town, gospel oak, Belsize park, Dartmouth park all better to live in.

I’m there a lot with work and think it’s a shit hole. Loads of drunks, drugs and really scruffy. It’s also one of the most common places in London to get mugged. There are far nicer places to live.

Personally I love living i Camden, it has an amazing energy and is so central and has better transport links compared to places like Primrose Hill and Belsize Park. Being able to access all Northern Line branches makes it easier to get to more locations quickly (I can nip down to Leicester Sq for Chinatown groceries and snacks, and be back home in 45 mins), and having the Overground is useful too. The High St is practical with useful shops, proper sized supermarkets and also more interesting shops and restaurants - personally I am less interested in a High St full of pricey independent shops when you really just want an Aldi and Boots. But we are 7 mins walk to Primrose Hill and can be in Regent's Park in 10 mins. There are lots of tourists of course but that's because it's an interesting place to visit, and why I like being here (and you quickly learn all the short cuts to avoid having to get past them). Lots of homeless and drugs, and low level crime - nothing that has affected us directly, and it's good to be confronted with social issues and not live in a bubble.
The tube overcrowding is a definite downside, though the exit-only issue tends to affect weekends only and we tend to spend those days out of Camden anyway as it's so easy to explore all of London.

Wasn’t nice when my family lived there in the 90s and it hasn’t improved. Isn’t even particularly cool and trendy anymore either.

I’d look east. I’m near Victoria park and it’s quite nice plus it’s close to brick lane/shoreditch which is much better for good bars etc.

I used to live near Camden and loved a visit but you could not move for tourists and that would become tiresome if I lived there

@Spidey66 haha I lived on Anson Road! Definitely Tuffers.

Do yourself a favour @Halling Go onto Camden High Street (near to Camden Lock,) on Google Streetview. It is INSANELY packed/rammed with people. (As far as the eye can see.) Looks like a very young demographic too.

Would have been lovely as a young, free 20-something, but middle aged or older? No way. I can't imagine why anyone over 26-27 would want to live there.

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My friend rented right in the heart of Camden and someone did a poo on her doorstep.

So I wouldn’t recommend Camden Town itself but I do love NW London. Maybe look at Chalk Farm to just get that little bit more residential, less gritty/pooey

Lived & worked in Camden for years (nearer to Primrose Hill), have very fond memories of living there and consider moving back there often. Loved being able to walk everywhere (including to West End). The main road/Camden Town tube area plain annoying in terms of tourists but go one stop away in any direction and it’s lovely imo.

I really wouldn’t recommend it. V v busy, noisy and funny. V fun to video but would be a nightmare to live there. Perhaps try around Belsize Park instead. Still close to Camden but much nicer to
live

I lived there for 20 years but moved two years ago. It’s really gone downhill in my opinion, it’s a shame because it used to be fab. Now it’s just scummy, people are constantly injecting and shitting on your doorstep.

Are you deranged? Kentish Town is an absolute craphole.

Camden isn't much better, but at least the market is fun to wander round and it's handy for Regent's Park...

Camden High Street and surrounds are very busy, noisy, energetic, and fun. I lived in a student halls of residence there when I was 19 and loved it. I'm not sure I'd be quite so keen as a mid 40s working mother, though!
There are lots of places also in the borough of Camden which are lovely places to live, although some of them aren't what you'd call cheap, such as Bloomsbury.

@Halling how recently have you visited? I have not long left London after nearly 30 years. In that time it always been a place I wanted to avoid. Of course everyone is different, but it's never been nice. Go down the road to chalk farm and Primrose Hill and it's much nicer.

Sounds fun to me. Why not try it

Would be my worst nightmare...and a bloody expensive too.

No they don't 😆😆 thousands of immigrants live there because they get social housing priorities.
"Famous people" live in nice places.

Camden town is not just Camden high street. Lots of great places to live without being reliant on the centre.

My friends live in Camden Town and I often stay with them. I'm surprised how quiet it is (their road leads onto Camden Lock) It has residents parking so nobody has a reaso yo walk up the street unless they live there. The houses are beautiful Victorian / Edwardian and worth a fortune.

Personally I would hate to live there as I hate busy cities but if you want to live in Central London I vmcan see the appeal- near Primrose Hill, 10 minutes on the tube to the West End or walk it in half an hour. Too gritty for me though.

My cousin lived there in the 80s and is incredibly nostalgic about it!

I lived in Tufnell Park in my first year at poly and there are some lovely bits of Tufnell Park and Kentish Town. Or certainly were but that WAS eons ago and maybe it's radically changed? Bits are lovely, cheek by jowl to less lovely. Kind of like large parts of London.

I grew up in Dartmouth Park and we were were always so happy to get the bus out of Camden. Look at Gospel Oak, Kentish Town, Dartmouth Park or Tufnell Park.

That is hilarious 😂