Bad vibes in certain places in london

[stevens27]

Does anyone else just get a horrid feeling in certain places in london?

The only one that particularly freaks me out is Russel Square tube station. I feel so much sadness and get quite on edge down on the platforms and I don't know why! Does anyone else feel this way about anywhere in London?

Croydon is just left in a perpetual state of awaiting gentrification in the way that (most of) Peckham and (much of) Brixton has had over the years. I don’t think it’s coming, no one really seems to want to invest and the council is bankrupt. Covid and subsequent lockdown gave a lot of businesses the push to move out of the area. Boroughs such as Wandsworth have been allowed to ‘relocate’ their homeless or vulnerable residents to Croydon, and there’s obviously little to no support in place for these people should they seek it so this doesn’t help.

its a real shame though as it could be great- and it actually once was- there are some beautiful (unfortunately many in a state of disrepair) buildings that tell an old tale of haberdashery, milliners or lace shops, there were a huge amount of dressmakers and tailors once in the area and people used to travel in from a considerable distance to shop there.

That's it. I'm going to Croydon.

I've lived in London more than 20 years and never been there, but this thread has convinced me I need to go and experience it.

I was heavily pregnant and home and home alone in a ground floor flat near the old greyhound track/Arena shopping centre (DH was overseas) and a bit on edge, watching on Twitter where looters were moving next, so I’ve never been so grateful!

Another time, after DS had been born, I was having my hair done in a hairdressers on that same parade of shops, and suddenly all the male stylists dropped what they were doing and ran out — someone had tried to hold up a jewellery shop across the street, and they got the guy on the ground and sat on him till the police arrived, after which they nipped back in and went back to cutting, blow drying etc.😀

Green Dragon and the Cronx Tap opposite are decent for a drink! Surrey street market always worth a look for fruit and veg. Basil and Grape a lovely stop for wine and quality pizza! It’s not all bad :) look up at the buildings above Grants on the High Street for all the stone carvings of the Croydon shops of old. Don’t leave without a walk around the Whitgift centre, it’s like being in an abandoned ghost shopping centre in some parts.

I always think if I was a photography student and I had a project to do on urban decay and neglect, Croydon would be the absolute perfect location, and would provide some beautiful shots 😅

There are also easier/ more obvious locations for gentrification before you get to Croydon. Brixton, like you mentioned, as well as places like Forest Gate, Wembley, Charlton, Thamesmead all have a lot of areas ripe for development, as well as the benefit of Inner London definition/ funding and better transport (or confirmed plans which will spur the redevelopment).

Croydon, like Ilford, suffers from coming second to other options.

@WhatapityWapiti

😂 yes, I see what you mean! I never went as north as Drayton Park on the train, have only driven past it getting out of London so assumed the same. I should go back and check it out, I love carved wooden awnings, the ones at Bruce Grove Station are beautiful.

Moorgate and Old Street are awful (Old Street in particular, it’s so claustrophobic and you feel you’re never getting out), but I never felt that at Essex Road. Possibly because when I was getting out there instead of my usual stop it was because it meant I was going to the pub to sit in a beer garden for the evening so my perception is probably skewed!!

To be honest, if I don't see satan dancing with goats on the high street and zombies feasting on the righteous I will be disappointed. It's a long trip from northeast London if it just turns out to be ordinary!

Not any more it’s not.

Peace and contemplation is the last feeling I get from that place.

You're not the only one, OP - there's an entire horror film devoted to Russell Square tube station: Death Line with Donald Pleasance (1972)

"Beneath modern London, buried alive in its plague-ridden tunnels, lives a tribe of once humans. Neither men nor women, they are less than animals ... they are the raw meat of the human race!"

I love Brickwood!

Croydon is huge - West Croydon had been a dump as long as I can remember, same as Thornton Heath, but other parts, like Sanderstead and Purley, were leafy, aspirational places to live if you grew up in less salubrious parts of South London, like I did. The Borough has the most over subscribed school in the country and two village estates with incredible houses but East and West Croydon are dire.

I have used Waterloo station for years and every time I do I think If there's a place that needs to be razed and replanned it's the area outside the main entrance. It's dingy, traffic choked and run down. The whole block is a dreadful approach to a mainline station in a capital city.

Wembley. But only because I was miserable when I lived there. 28 years since I moved to south London and I’ve literally never taken that end of the Jubilee/Met line again.

Brixton is a weird one. We lived in it for 10 years very centrally and have lived within a couple of miles of it for about 22 years. 10 years ago it was great, felt largely safe, lots going on for kids and families. Very much on the right side of gentrified. Since then, rents have gone up in the arches, lots of businesses have folded, cost of living/austerity/homelessness has got much worse and it's started to feel a lot more dicey again. We frequently walk past guys openly smoking crack when taking the kids swimming - not ideal. Also loads more begging etc. Many people we know are trying to sell up and move out of central Brixton as they no longer feel safe. So it feels like it's up and come in a way and is now going the other way.

As a S London girl I have a visceral 'here be dragons' feeling about North London anyway. Not that all of the south is an earthly paradise, of course.

Wasn't there a plan to put a Westfield there at some point? Not sure whether that would have helped tbh.
To be clear, when I talk about Croydon I'm talking about the main shopping street.

Definitely - it's a sense of unfamiliarity that makes you feel unsafe. I went to visit a friend in Edmonton/Tottenham and was very nervous!

Sorry, missed an earlier post about that!

Caledonian Road

Now that is definitely true!

My great aunt lived opposite Mitcham common. The whole place was just miles and miles of suburb and I reckon I date from visits to her my fixed determination never to live in a place like that. Motspur Park is another place that gives me the suburbia gloom.

Westfield Stratford. I hate it. And yes, I don't often go.

Yes, there was, and the failure of that project plays a big part in Croydon's spiral down the dumper. As a pp says, the shopping centres were effectively closed to make way for a huge new revamp that never happened, and so now it's basically a ghost town.

It's such a shame, because Croydon has so much potential. It's got fantastic transport links to central London and the south coast, it's actually a very green place - loads of parks etc - some good schools and absolutely tons of fascinating history. I lived most of my life in a very pretty and leafy part of south Croydon that I actually still really miss, but in the last few years there I didn't go anywhere near the town centre unless I absolutely had to because it's just so depressing. I feel sad when I see it getting slagged off but I also totally understand why!