5 ms·

Which areas are you familiar with? I witnessed the aftermath of a murder last week in Stoke Newington! (Saw that the road had been closed off) I've seen women

by indy 1y ago

Which areas are you familiar with? I witnessed the aftermath of a murder last week in Stoke Newington! (Saw that the road had been closed off) I've seen women publicly urinating into drains on a busy road (Hackney) There are massive increases in the number of homeless people (Tooting, Clapton, Shadwell), several times I've seen a homeless looking person harass women passing by. Seen needles lying around (Shadwell, Commercial Road) The general advice now is never to wear a watch in Central London, this wasn't the case 10 years ago. I've seen security guards restrain people trying to leave shops in Central London after they shoplifted. So yeah, some areas might not look sketchy, and these gentrified places (e.g. Stoke Newington) might be ok if you stick to the bars, restaurants and then Uber home, but for a lot of people these remain dangerous if you're in the wrong place at the wrong time.

vidarh 1y ago
I've literally spent hours walking around Shadwell and Commercial Road over the last couple of months, as well as places like Bow, Canning Town, Forest Gate, Romford that used to be awful. I've lived in Croydon most of the last 25 years. I'm also not seeing any more homeless in London now than I used to see on Oxford Street when I lived by Marble Arch in 2000, for example. There were large encampments in the subways near Marble Arch at that time - I've not seen anything like it since. > The general advice now is never to wear a watch in Central London, this wasn't the case 10 years ago. Says who? I've never heard anyone say this, and don't know anyone who'd worry about wearing a watch in Central London.
- johnisgood 1y ago
  > Phone snatching in Central London has become a significant issue, with the Metropolitan Police reporting around 80,000 phones stolen last year, primarily by organized criminal gangs. To combat this, police have increased visibility and implemented operations to deter theft, particularly in hotspot areas. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jul/26/mobile-phone-theft-europe-uk-police https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jul/26/mobile-ph... If you do not like The Guardian, search for "central london phone snatching".
  - vidarh 1y ago
    Yes, that's a lot. And yet per the Crime Survey, in London we are less likely to be a victim of crime than in the country as a whole, and crimes are at one of the lowest levels in decades based on interviewing people about whether they have been victims of crime, not police reports or press.
    - johnisgood 1y ago
      You are free to believe that, but I would still be on alert.
      - vidarh 1y ago
        I'm not going to live in fear due to the fevered fictions drived by the gutter press and not supported by any data.
        johnisgood 1y ago
        I would not care about the data. Just go out and see for yourself. Maybe you are lucky and you somehow manage to avoid these areas or you go there at the time when not much is happening, like early in the morning or whatever. Additionally, being alert does not equal to living in fear.
        vidarh 1y ago
        I have "gone out and seen for myself" and what I see has consistently matched the data. What you're describing here reads very much as cowering in fear to me. And this kind of fear-mongering with no relation to reality is actively harmful and part of what is seriously damaging the UK as a society.
        johnisgood 1y ago
        Look, they are not active all the time. 10 am in the morning on a Monday on a particular street, nothing might happen. It varies and I have no inside information. If you look it up, you can see these snatching, it is recorded by CCTVs.
- indy 1y ago
  "Says who?" Then we are living in separate universes because this is common knowledge. Wearing a nice watch in Soho, Liverpool Street, Tower Bridge is super sketchy and you're likely to get comments about how 'brave' (stupid) you are. These are just the places I've been to, West London is meant to be much worse. Edit: Here are some links I found - "Machete-ban petition launched as London watch robberies rise" https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-64991862 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-64991862 - Statistics for stolen watches from 2018 to 2023 https://www.met.police.uk/foi-ai/metropolitan-police/disclosure-2024/march-2024/statistics-stolen-watches-2018-2023/ https://www.met.police.uk/foi-ai/metropolitan-police/disclos...
  - vidarh 1y ago
    Again, never heard it. Never felt remotely unsafe. Don't know anyone who has had issues with it. And can't find any actual data to corroborate that robberies have somehow reached such endemic levels. EDIT: It gets comical to see that Met stats are now somehow trustworthy after the number of people here making a big deal of distrusting them. But notably the data shows the numbers to be small - in the hundreds per month - and having dropped significantly between 2018 and 2023. Furthermore, most of these crimes are burglary or theft, rather than crimes such as robberies or violence, so the chance of having them taken off your wrist is substanlly lower. The article then covers an increase in "high-value" watch thefts from 2021 to 2022. Between 2021 and 2022 the numbers did in fact increase, and they were lower in 2021 than in 2023 as well. But we're talking 4885 watches total (not restricted to "high value") in 2021, of which about 1/3 are robberies. So you're much less likely to have your watch taken off you than e.g. your phone stolen.
    - vidarh 1y ago
      Just past the edit window, so let me also add that the article points out a number of "high-value" watch thefts that suggests about a quarter of these thefts on a yearly basis would be "high-value". If anything, these articles have made me feel more secure rather than less secure - these numbers are tiny given the size of London. Sure, maybe don't go around flashing your watch if it's worth tens of thousands of pounds.

by indy 1y ago

vidarh 1y ago

I've literally spent hours walking around Shadwell and Commercial Road over the last couple of months, as well as places like Bow, Canning Town, Forest Gate, Romford that used to be awful. I've lived in Croydon most of the last 25 years. I'm also not seeing any more homeless in London now than I used to see on Oxford Street when I lived by Marble Arch in 2000, for example. There were large encampments in the subways near Marble Arch at that time - I've not seen anything like it since. > The general advice now is never to wear a watch in Central London, this wasn't the case 10 years ago. Says who? I've never heard anyone say this, and don't know anyone who'd worry about wearing a watch in Central London.

johnisgood 1y ago
> Phone snatching in Central London has become a significant issue, with the Metropolitan Police reporting around 80,000 phones stolen last year, primarily by organized criminal gangs. To combat this, police have increased visibility and implemented operations to deter theft, particularly in hotspot areas. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jul/26/mobile-phone-theft-europe-uk-police https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jul/26/mobile-ph... If you do not like The Guardian, search for "central london phone snatching".
- vidarh 1y ago
  Yes, that's a lot. And yet per the Crime Survey, in London we are less likely to be a victim of crime than in the country as a whole, and crimes are at one of the lowest levels in decades based on interviewing people about whether they have been victims of crime, not police reports or press.
  - johnisgood 1y ago
    You are free to believe that, but I would still be on alert.
    - vidarh 1y ago
      I'm not going to live in fear due to the fevered fictions drived by the gutter press and not supported by any data.
      - johnisgood 1y ago
        I would not care about the data. Just go out and see for yourself. Maybe you are lucky and you somehow manage to avoid these areas or you go there at the time when not much is happening, like early in the morning or whatever. Additionally, being alert does not equal to living in fear.
        vidarh 1y ago
        I have "gone out and seen for myself" and what I see has consistently matched the data. What you're describing here reads very much as cowering in fear to me. And this kind of fear-mongering with no relation to reality is actively harmful and part of what is seriously damaging the UK as a society.
        johnisgood 1y ago
        Look, they are not active all the time. 10 am in the morning on a Monday on a particular street, nothing might happen. It varies and I have no inside information. If you look it up, you can see these snatching, it is recorded by CCTVs.
indy 1y ago
"Says who?" Then we are living in separate universes because this is common knowledge. Wearing a nice watch in Soho, Liverpool Street, Tower Bridge is super sketchy and you're likely to get comments about how 'brave' (stupid) you are. These are just the places I've been to, West London is meant to be much worse. Edit: Here are some links I found - "Machete-ban petition launched as London watch robberies rise" https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-64991862 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-64991862 - Statistics for stolen watches from 2018 to 2023 https://www.met.police.uk/foi-ai/metropolitan-police/disclosure-2024/march-2024/statistics-stolen-watches-2018-2023/ https://www.met.police.uk/foi-ai/metropolitan-police/disclos...
- vidarh 1y ago
  Again, never heard it. Never felt remotely unsafe. Don't know anyone who has had issues with it. And can't find any actual data to corroborate that robberies have somehow reached such endemic levels. EDIT: It gets comical to see that Met stats are now somehow trustworthy after the number of people here making a big deal of distrusting them. But notably the data shows the numbers to be small - in the hundreds per month - and having dropped significantly between 2018 and 2023. Furthermore, most of these crimes are burglary or theft, rather than crimes such as robberies or violence, so the chance of having them taken off your wrist is substanlly lower. The article then covers an increase in "high-value" watch thefts from 2021 to 2022. Between 2021 and 2022 the numbers did in fact increase, and they were lower in 2021 than in 2023 as well. But we're talking 4885 watches total (not restricted to "high value") in 2021, of which about 1/3 are robberies. So you're much less likely to have your watch taken off you than e.g. your phone stolen.
  - vidarh 1y ago
    Just past the edit window, so let me also add that the article points out a number of "high-value" watch thefts that suggests about a quarter of these thefts on a yearly basis would be "high-value". If anything, these articles have made me feel more secure rather than less secure - these numbers are tiny given the size of London. Sure, maybe don't go around flashing your watch if it's worth tens of thousands of pounds.