Is London a crime infested shithole?

[Netcurtainnelly]

Is London a crime infested shithole? 👀

A woman was gang raped after leaving a nightclub, has come up in the news today. I saw someone describing London as a crime infested shithole and it's not a safe place anymore.😫

Annecdote does not = data. I've lived in London for close to 40 years - so, a decade longer than you - and the positive changes in that time are, in my view, remarkable. Car theft, opportunistic street theft, buglaries are an unavoidable fact of life in any large city in the world and - although terrible if it happens to you personally - London is far safer than many of those cities.

The lack of integration and control around immigration is concerning, and we no longer see a positive outcome here. We’ve had enough and will be relocating back to our home country in Europe this summer. Probably best all round, really. Leave London, and the UK, for those immigrants who do actually integrate. And who understand irony.

Birmingham has a higher per capita crime rate but people think London is the worst? I live in London btw and feel safe and love it, wouldn't want to live in a Reform voting backwater thanks

I find these disingenuous posts so depressing. Either the people posting them are a bit stupid or they're baiting.

I'm nearly 60 and have lived in inner and outer London for all but about 5 years of my life. I don't feel London is any more dangerous than it used to be. Most instances of, for example, knife violence are between groups who know each other. I've brought up two boys, now young men, both of whom still live in London. I came home from central London 11pm the other night via two packed buses and saw no aggression or violence or bad behaviour at all.

Opportunistic crimes like mobile phone theft and pickpocketing/bag snatching happen in all major cities and have been happening since I was a child. I remember money belts that we all wore when travelling so nobody could nick your purse. This kind of crime increases when more people are struggling, and unfortunately the quadruple whammy of Brexit, the war in Ukraine, random tariffs and the war in the Middle East have all increased economic instability.

Lived in London over 20 yrs, never any problems. Walked everywhere, home at night, tube commute, not burgled, not mugged, no problems except the occasional anti social behivuour of people being loud on the street at night.

Moved to a small Scottish affluent coastal town. Within two weeks told to ‘go fuck your self, you cunt’ by a man (a stranger). Bikes are constantly nicked, kids scooters, car theft, groups of children smashing windows and stealing things. Crime is everywhere I guess.

I've lived in London all my life. I've never ever felt unsafe. Maybe because it's my home city. Maybe because I grew up in what some posters would have called a rough area back in the day. People who say London is lawless now, what do you mean? Is there crime? Yes. That's nothing new though is it? There have always been dodgy people, violence etc, just like any major city. I love living here, and I'm glad I raised my kids here.

Do stop being so patronising. I copied this from social media Not my words.

I’ve lived here since the early 90s. Now in a leafy suburb but work in the city and go in with my teens most weekends. I’ve never feel unsafe and my older teens go in on their own and with friends all the time. I feel so lucky to live here and although we travel often, it’s still my favourite city in the world.

in the 30+ years I’ve lived here, I don’t remember anyone I know being the victim of a violent crime. I was pickpocketed once in 2001 and a stranger leave me the money to get home.

I find it perfectly safe and fine (although without its share of problems.)

I saw online that the most negative views on London come from people who don’t live here.

And it seems like the story that triggered this post is about an incident that did not take place in London.

i’ve lived on outskirts of London for many years and no I don’t view it like that.

I will say the two things I dislike about London are:

a) Litter - but that is not a London thing. I experience the same issue in all UK cities I have been to

b) How expensive it is - comparing the cost of housing in London to my home town makes me sad.

Where did you read that about Brum.

“Lack of integration” is definitely not something I think of when I think of London!

The village of Mullagmore, County Sligo doesn't sound like somewhere on a hit list either. It still was.

@Netcurtainnelly

I copied this from social media

Then you need to use a bit more critical thinking.

No it isn't
London is a lively vibrant and very interesting city.
Of course there is crime, there is some crime in every city, town and village in the world. London is no more violent or crime ridden than other major world cities and much less so than many.
Epsom isn't in London though it's a fairly affluent town in Surrey

What’s a true Londoner? How are you reclaiming the city? From who?

I have had my phone and purse stolen in a small town. It happens everywhere

It's a shame that the op used the poor woman's gang rape as a launchpad for such a goody thread.

Where do you live?
You posted the link about a horrible crime that took place not in London to ask your question about how safe London is.

Born to the sound of Bow Bells or similar. Reclaiming from all the day trippers and tourists who clog our streets obvs.

I actually do agree the death of the true Londoner is a tragedy. When I moved to London in 1998 you could still tell whether someone was north east south or west London by their accent. Now the London accent is diluted to the point of lost really.

they all had to ship out to Kent and Essex to make way for Sophie and James from Berkshire to buy their first flat in the docklands

No, it isn’t. It is a city of millions of people though so of course there is more crime than local tiny village.

The way some people talk about a place people live is grim. You don’t want to live here? Fine. Don’t live here.

I've lived here for almost all of my 48 years, mostly in 'nice' parts, sometimes in ones not considered so nice. Crime ebbs and flows as in any big city, but I wouldn't say I feel less safe. Things have definitely become dirtier and more run down with more visible homelessness after so many years of Tory austerity but it doesn't make me feel endangered, it's just sad.

It's worse in the least privileged communities but 'gang related' violence only tends to affect people who have some connection with that culture (doesn't mean they are gang members but if they have family/friends involved or go to a school college where there are gang members it may affect you, otherwise unlikely to). Basically other than phone snatching stuff that happens in any city, casual visitors and people from areas without much gang violence and not likely to be affected by gang related crime, which is what a lot of people's panic seems to be about.