Are there any no go areas in London

[iLoveFoood]

Are there any completely no go areas in London? And why?

Are these violent or extremely dangerous areas, full of gangs or what?

Downing St. I do have vague memories of walking down it as a child, but you can't do that any more.

Morriszapp Where in Glasgow? I’ve lived here all my life and never heard of this.

Lisson Grove ? What if you need fish and chips?
Agree about Downing Street, I remember strolling along there

Lisson Grove shock? What if you need fish and chips?

I think the poster probably meant the Lisson Grove estate rather than Lisson Grove near the Seashell.

I find this ridiculous
I can see that where I live and have raised 3 children is being named a no go area
I must have missed that memo, I’ll get us all packed up and out straight away 🙄

I can see that where I live and have raised 3 children is being named a no go area

By who? Hasn't basically everyone said there aren't any no-go areas?

I said there were no go areas

But that was cos of wheelchair access

I’d rule it out from about Bury Street up to the north circ I think

Its really sad, but I was bought up in Bury Street in the 60s and 70s and my parents lived there until the 90s. It used to be a quiet, unfashionable area who nobody had ever heard of, but it was not an unpleasant place to live. Im now further down the A10 and get trains through Seven Sisters and Tottenham Hale and seen kids openly taking drugs on the train in the afternoon. HWwever I do get trains home late from Seven Sisters and it doesnt feel that unsafe at the station or train at night

Yes, I remember it being one of the posher bits of Edmonton. Galliard Road has gorgeous houses on it, I remember walking down there alone as a teenager. After the incident there though, I wouldn’t go to Jubilee Park now. The Bounces Road thing recently, the lady beheaded in her garden, the unprovoked Asda stabbings says to me that it doesn’t matter if you are in a gang, the retaliatory nonsense is getting ridiculous and you could easily get in the way of gunfire. They had a section 60 in place after the car shooting. Up towards Hazelbury it gets much better.

It’s not exactly a bustling metropolis though so it’s not like I’d be purposely going there anyway, so I don’t actively avoid it. The cinema etc is amazing though, no qualms about going there.

On a more serious note, my friends and I once characterised crime in London as follows:

Gang violence - only applicable if you're in that world, only happens in certain places.
Random violence - happens everywhere to pretty much the same degree.

Therefore, as non-gang members, all areas were as safe to us as the next, because we had as much chance getting mugged on the King's Road (which did once happen to my friend) as I do walking back to my South East London flat (which touch wood has never happened).

However, due to the fact that teen gang violence is pretty much the prevail of zones 2 outwards and tends towards the east of London, some areas will statistically look less safe for us than others.

Doubt it.

Where I live in Manchester gets described very badly whenever it's mentioned on here (particularly memorable this year was a poster saying it was a stabby shithole full of scrotes and chavs). In fact it's a very nice place to live and I've always felt safe here.

I agree, but not with the categorisations. I think you do have to look proportionally at the population and demographics of the area before you categorise like that. You can’t say “it happens everywhere” because in a town of only 50 elderly people there are statistically less likely to be muggings than in a town with the population of Newcastle (which Enfield has). Same with being run over, yes it could happen to anyone anywhere but way less likely if you live on an island with one road that only donkeys go down, so of course it feels safer.

Gang violence, particularly drug related over spills to other crimes and then becomes random violence. There have been many aggavated burglaries this month in the area by people who are in a drug induced psychosis or who need money to pay for drugs. Muggings of teenagers are on the increase because gangs are emboldened by being in a group. Police busy dealing with local stabbings (and over the summer we had them night after night in retaliation) mean that other crimes aren’t being dealt with, it’s not just, I’m not in a gang so it doesn’t affect me. Your community is affected and slowly will deteriorate. The riots didn’t happen in a bubble, they affected us all.

Has anyone mentioned Hamleys in December- those bloody kids trying to play with all the test toys, it's a real elbows out moment for me because surely someone in their mid 40's should have priority on toy testing?

People are saying avoid Lisson Grove - the Maida Vale area? I'm quite stunned by that tbh. I always thought it was posh!

Oxford Circus at rush hour. I was six months pregnant when I started trying to get in, my child is now 3 and we've only just made it to the platform

The worst area for moped crime is Bloomsbury, near the British museum. I work near there and have never seen any but have been warned of it.

As PPs mention, there are gangs everywhere but unless you're in one it's unlikely to touch you. Also, they do tend to stick to quite small patches. I live in between two warring gangs and barely ever see anything to concern me.

If you're looking at broad statistics, rather than specific types of crime, somewhere like Oxford Street or Covent Garden is likely to have high levels of crime due to large amounts of shoplifting, purse snatching and pickpocketing. But if you don't flash cash, and make sure your purse and bank cards are securely zipped inside your bag or pocket, you're less likely to be a victim.

(I once worked for a few months in a West End store. I was forever advising customers not to walk around with their wallets sticking out of their back pockets, or their bags open with purse visible at the top.)

If I were a mugger I'd be straight off to that town of 50 elderly people and the crime rate wouldn't stay low for long. Look at county lines - crime doesn't stop where the criminals live.

Waterloo at rush hour

Lisson Grove?? This Lisson Grove? www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/Lisson-Grove.html

Hamley’s in December.

I've lived and worked in lots of the places named on this thread and come to no harm. I've even walked around Homerton late at night. However, general advice holds good everywhere in London: keep your valuables out of sight, stay alert, avoid poorly lit areas with no one around.

You’ll say, oh London has more people. That’s exactly my point. More population, more crime. If it doesn’t stop at county lines, why aren’t all the areas the same.

Confused re Lisson Grove too.
There nowhere I would t go in day but I’d def avoid places like Wood Green at night.i don’t know S/E London at all so cant comment on that.

yes, I'm still hoping someone will come along and clarify the Lisson Grove thing...is there another one I don't know about?! I'm a lifelong Londoner but have disengaged with it all recently so probably very out of the loop.