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Post by Deleted on May 13, 2022 8:32:00 GMT
Out of curiosity which areas would you say have been the dodgiest? I did a bunch in 2019 when I had a month to myself - including changing buses at 1am in Peckham for example. Didn’t feel particularly safe or unsafe but this was august I went through Harlesden on the 260 once, unaware of its generally poor rep, and felt uneasy even at the top deck of a bus with the kinds of people walking around there, especially Church End. That's the only time I've ever felt truly unsafe travelling through an area The rules around there, just don’t look at anyone. I don’t think I’ve ever caught a 18 and there not be some drama. Those drivers at RP earn their money. |
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Post by Deleted on May 13, 2022 8:35:01 GMT
Out of curiosity which areas would you say have been the dodgiest? I did a bunch in 2019 when I had a month to myself - including changing buses at 1am in Peckham for example. Didn’t feel particularly safe or unsafe but this was august Harlesden & Peckham - once upon a time, Peckham was a no go area for someone from Brixton (and vice versa) due to the long standing beef between the areas. Most other areas I've no issue with I feel a bit safer in Peckham to be honest. Towards the Rye it’s pretty ok and the town centre is always busy with families and older people doing their shopping. Harlesden on the other hand has an air of something could go very wrong at any moment. Dalston at the moment is also pretty bad. Wait for a bus at Kingsland and you’ll see open crack dealing going on opposite by the market. |
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Post by ronnie on May 13, 2022 8:51:17 GMT
Harlesden & Peckham - once upon a time, Peckham was a no go area for someone from Brixton (and vice versa) due to the long standing beef between the areas. Most other areas I've no issue with I feel a bit safer in Peckham to be honest. Towards the Rye it’s pretty ok and the town centre is always busy with families and older people doing their shopping. Harlesden on the other hand has an air of something could go very wrong at any moment. Dalston at the moment is also pretty bad. Wait for a bus at Kingsland and you’ll see open crack dealing going on opposite by the market. Peckham is gentrified now frankly- after my midnight bus trip (to do the 345 end to end and then get the last 360!) have been there several times late in the evening and is as good as it gets Harlesden was dodgy for sure. Mercifully the 266 was in the day although 18 was at 8pm ish and 260 at 11pm!) The scariest from a desolation perspective was Dagenham dock - proper post apocalyptic area! |
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Post by Deleted on May 13, 2022 8:58:08 GMT
Catford and Lewisham are scary, especially at night. I do a lot of night cycling, and I literally don’t feel safe with all the gangs hanging about. Woolwich and Plumstead as well, and Croydon obviously. Bexleyheath is getting very rough as well, especially when all the gangs of teenagers are hanging about. There’s always community police at the bus stops by the clock tower in the afternoons.
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Post by Deleted on May 13, 2022 9:04:31 GMT
I feel a bit safer in Peckham to be honest. Towards the Rye it’s pretty ok and the town centre is always busy with families and older people doing their shopping. Harlesden on the other hand has an air of something could go very wrong at any moment. Dalston at the moment is also pretty bad. Wait for a bus at Kingsland and you’ll see open crack dealing going on opposite by the market. Peckham is gentrified now frankly- after my midnight bus trip (to do the 345 end to end and then get the last 360!) have been there several times late in the evening and is as good as it gets Harlesden was dodgy for sure. Mercifully the 266 was in the day although 18 was at 8pm ish and 260 at 11pm!) The scariest from a desolation perspective was Dagenham dock - proper post apocalyptic area! I find Erith spooky for similar reasons as Dagenham Dock. The whole area feels like what a post nuclear war town would like like. The thames being so wide compared to further west into London gives it a weird vibe for me. |
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Post by Deleted on May 13, 2022 9:39:16 GMT
Peckham is gentrified now frankly- after my midnight bus trip (to do the 345 end to end and then get the last 360!) have been there several times late in the evening and is as good as it gets Harlesden was dodgy for sure. Mercifully the 266 was in the day although 18 was at 8pm ish and 260 at 11pm!) The scariest from a desolation perspective was Dagenham dock - proper post apocalyptic area! I find Erith spooky for similar reasons as Dagenham Dock. The whole area feels like what a post nuclear war town would like like. The thames being so wide compared to further west into London gives it a weird vibe for me. There is a Costa coffee in the shopping mall ! And yes the Thames has a whole different rather menacing appearance. It’s not Richmond that’s for sure. |
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Post by Deleted on May 13, 2022 9:54:18 GMT
I find Erith spooky for similar reasons as Dagenham Dock. The whole area feels like what a post nuclear war town would like like. The thames being so wide compared to further west into London gives it a weird vibe for me. There is a Costa coffee in the shopping mall ! And yes the Thames has a whole different rather menacing appearance. It’s not Richmond that’s for sure. There is even a pier ! It’s like a seaside from a nightmare, where the sea has been replaced by dirty sewage water and the sand has been replaced by mud. |
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Post by route53 on May 13, 2022 15:35:25 GMT
Erith is definitely an odd area for sure.
Bexleyheath has gotten rougher over the years sadly, I definitely don’t feel safe in Woolwich, I remember many a uni night travelling back from there waiting for a 177 or 180 back to my uni digs in Greenwich, needless to say I kept alert and hid all my valuables all the way home
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Post by YX10FFN on May 13, 2022 16:45:11 GMT
Another honourable mention is Fieldway. Can't believe I hadn't thought of it already. Not only is it eerie and quiet but it's depressing as you wind through it on the 64. Read that it was one of, if not the biggest hubs of gang activity in Croydon
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Post by Deleted on May 13, 2022 17:18:11 GMT
Another honourable mention is Fieldway. Can't believe I hadn't thought of it already. Not only is it eerie and quiet but it's depressing as you wind through it on the 64. Read that it was one of, if not the biggest hubs of gang activity in Croydon New Addington as a whole is pretty dodgy. As are St Mary Cray/St Paul’s Cray. There’s something about council estates on the edge of London and the green belt. |
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Post by YX10FFN on May 13, 2022 17:24:26 GMT
Another honourable mention is Fieldway. Can't believe I hadn't thought of it already. Not only is it eerie and quiet but it's depressing as you wind through it on the 64. Read that it was one of, if not the biggest hubs of gang activity in Croydon New Addington as a whole is pretty dodgy. As are St Mary Cray/St Paul’s Cray. To its credit New Addington has gotten a lot better in the last 20 years, largely thanks to the Tram which has brought far better employment opportunities and less isolation. However Fieldway remains pretty grim. |
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Post by busman on May 13, 2022 17:52:17 GMT
Erith is definitely an odd area for sure. Bexleyheath has gotten rougher over the years sadly, I definitely don’t feel safe in Woolwich, I remember many a uni night travelling back from there waiting for a 177 or 180 back to my uni digs in Greenwich, needless to say I kept alert and hid all my valuables all the way home Erith feels like it needs knocking down and building all over again! The whole layout of that place is wrong. Bexleyheath is filled with sweary louts during the evenings. Woolwich always feels on edge in the evenings like something is about to kick off, but I’ve never had trouble there even in the pubs. Plumstead isn’t that edgy. The area around the high street is just filthy and full of dog sxxx because locals don’t give a toss. Some areas of Abbey Wood are dodgy…but all in all it feels much safer than parts of Acton and Harlesden in the early 90’s. I recall a lot of the hardcore gang members from South Acton estate and St Raphael’s estate going to jail and those areas improving a little bit. I heard Acton is completely different now, much like Peckham. Kennington was pretty bad too. About 15 years ago I was in a cafe down there with my younger brother. He was from the wrong postcode and someone saw him from outside. About 20 boys piled into the shop and were just staring at him. I already gave my hotheaded bro advice on what to do before they came in (basically focus on me, talk and act as if everything was normal, deny that you know x, y or z, get ready for drama but don’t be the one to start it) They surrounded us for about 5 minutes, I had a chat with one or two of them and then to our amazement they left. I honestly thought it was going to get ugly as there were a lot of stabbings and shootings around there. If those guys wanted to do something, we would have been toast. |
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Post by Deleted on May 13, 2022 20:49:19 GMT
Erith is definitely an odd area for sure. Bexleyheath has gotten rougher over the years sadly, I definitely don’t feel safe in Woolwich, I remember many a uni night travelling back from there waiting for a 177 or 180 back to my uni digs in Greenwich, needless to say I kept alert and hid all my valuables all the way home Erith feels like it needs knocking down and building all over again! The whole layout of that place is wrong. Bexleyheath is filled with sweary louts during the evenings. Woolwich always feels on edge in the evenings like something is about to kick off, but I’ve never had trouble there even in the pubs. Plumstead isn’t that edgy. The area around the high street is just filthy and full of dog sxxx because locals don’t give a toss. Some areas of Abbey Wood are dodgy…but all in all it feels much safer than parts of Acton and Harlesden in the early 90’s. I recall a lot of the hardcore gang members from South Acton estate and St Raphael’s estate going to jail and those areas improving a little bit. I heard Acton is completely different now, much like Peckham. Kennington was pretty bad too. About 15 years ago I was in a cafe down there with my younger brother. He was from the wrong postcode and someone saw him from outside. About 20 boys piled into the shop and were just staring at him. I already gave my hotheaded bro advice on what to do before they came in (basically focus on me, talk and act as if everything was normal, deny that you know x, y or z, get ready for drama but don’t be the one to start it) They surrounded us for about 5 minutes, I had a chat with one or two of them and then to our amazement they left. I honestly thought it was going to get ugly as there were a lot of stabbings and shootings around there. If those guys wanted to do something, we would have been toast. I had a similar experience on the 119 coming home from clubbing in Croydon at night when I was 18. I decided I’d had enough so went home earlier than my mates on my own, travelling back home to Sidcup. A gang got on the top deck and went through the bus trying to intimidate people, one boy they made him give him cigarettes, it seemed like they knew him from their school days and were bullying him etc. One of them sat next to me and one sat in front of me. They started asking me what area I’m from, and what music I was listening to etc. I managed to wing it, I don’t know how but I stayed cool all the way to Bromley even when one of them smashed a bottle of vodka on the floor to threaten someone. One of them took my phone off me to look through my music weirdly, and when I got off at Bromley to get the N47 to Lewisham to connect with the 321 home, they got off with me. I stayed cool and calm and they gave me my phone back in the end, I was SO lucky. I think it was because I didn’t act intimidated and they liked the rap music I had on my phone that I was embarrassingly into at the time. I was scared though. |
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Post by thesquirrels on May 13, 2022 21:00:22 GMT
Biggest problem as I see it is Thamesmead north of the Spine Road (the loop working around Crossway/Bentham Road. South of the Spine Road is close to Abbey Wood station for Lizzy Line/SE trains, West Thamesmead (Broadwaters - where the 244 and 380 go) is close to the new Woolwich station and also Plumstead. The trouble really is the the Goblin line is effectively ruled out in probably all of our lifetimes now, and the Waterfront Transit bus/tram line is also now impossible because of building work : so that just leaves the DLR - and with that you potentially are robbing Beckton of part of its current service, which will not be popular. DLR is, however, the only way I can even remotely see Thamesmead getting trains in anything like short order. The positioning of the new Barking Reach pier also seems to make serving Thamesmead from that in the future very difficult. Lots of problems, and no really effective solutions apart possibly from the DLR. Bus services (and let’s assume post changes, so with extended 472 etc) are ok from the loop - most obvious connections are catered for (Woolwich, Abbey Wood, Erith, Bexleyheath all served, and served well). Major gap is Thamesmead to the west side of Bexley borough. And finally, the dear old 180 - in my experience, from the east it mainly empties at Woolwich and then refills with Charlton/Greenwich bound passengers. I would guess that end to end passengers may marginally increase in its new form of Erith to North Greenwich, but not by a huge amount. In recent years, of the 177/180 pairing, the 177 is much the stronger partner. Fact fans : with these changes it will mean that only Woolwich to Charlton will remain from the original 180 when it started. I do question sometimes how useful the DLR will actually be going to Thamesmead. It's something, but it's not what's going to be ideal. It'll be a branch off an already relatively infrequent branch. The options are to either double the service down the Beckton branch or half the service to Beckton. Doubling the service would be fine heading towards Thamesmead, although probably not as much heading the other way as I believe the line into Central London is pretty much at capacity. There'd need to be mass changes at somewhere like Canning Town and I'm not sure if the DLR service into Central London, or even the Jubilee Line can take that additional strain. Likewise even the Overground, there'd need to be mass change at Barking as I don't think many from Thamesmead will want to head to Tottenham. The Elizabeth Line going to Thamesmead sounds like the best scenario. It'd probably not have huge impacts on already existing services, along with providing the residents of Thamesmead a link towards Central London along with points on the way such as Custom House or Canary Wharf to change for other lines should they need to go elsewhere. Very much a side point in all of this but I wouldn't rule out the usefulness of a link from Thamesmead to the western end of the Goblin. The Whittington and the Royal Free lie near Upper Holloway and Gospel Oak respectively and there is plenty of need for health care staff - Thamesmead is one of the last relatively affordable areas of London for family accommodation and a zone 2-4 commute (cheap) of less than an hour would appeal to plenty. The GOBLIN has thrived providing those odd along-the-top links and I think plugging Thamesmead into that would be a good fit. It would also be about 25 minutes from the Victoria Line at Blackhorse Road and all the onward links that provides. It isn't even particularly far - I recall visiting my late father in an upstairs ward at the RFH on one of his many inpatient stays and seeing the Lintons flats in Barking on the horizon from the upper floor windows. |
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Post by danorak on May 13, 2022 21:11:48 GMT
Peckham is gentrified now frankly- after my midnight bus trip (to do the 345 end to end and then get the last 360!) have been there several times late in the evening and is as good as it gets Harlesden was dodgy for sure. Mercifully the 266 was in the day although 18 was at 8pm ish and 260 at 11pm!) The scariest from a desolation perspective was Dagenham dock - proper post apocalyptic area! I find Erith spooky for similar reasons as Dagenham Dock. The whole area feels like what a post nuclear war town would like like. The thames being so wide compared to further west into London gives it a weird vibe for me. There's a relevant famous line from the late, great Linda Smith: "I grew up in Erith. It had a suicide pact with Dagenham". |
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