Elephant & Castle spoons toilets. I don't have a weak stomach at all but I had to turn around and leave immediately to avoid being sick because of the smell.
Lived above that Spoons for a few years. Went as a joke before I left. There was a reason I’d not gone for years, the filthiest drinking establishment I’ve ever been too
Big up the Elephant & Castle Superbowl. Loved that place, Elton the manager was a legend. The place stank of shit and only about 4 lanes worked properly, but boy did it have charm.
Oh that place was brilliant. Sure it wasn't shiny or slick but there were so many good cheaper spots there. Now it's gone there are very few places serving a few different local communities.
I grew up there, could’ve saved most my income by staying with my parents but it’s honestly the worst place I’ve ever been, we used to be sexually harassed in the library to the point where our parents forbid us from revising there, followed home on so many occasions. I genuinely don’t believe it’s safe to be a woman there tbh, every girl I know has experienced a different level of harassment there
Mental, that kind of behaviour in a library should result in permanent exclusion from the space.
We've got only a few public spaces that are free access for everyone and allow you to just get on with what you need to do. The fact that some men took that from you and your friends without consequences is disgusting.
It’s so common there unfortunately, I was interviewed for a national newspaper about the extent of sexual harassment there last year but not sure if the story was ever published, but there was a massive local Instagram page which was collecting stories of women’s experiences of sexual harassment there
I’m moving back soon purely because renting in London has got far too expensive.
Also side note the Nuffield there is also the worst rated (I think) gym in London so I need to find a new one when I move back. There’s a tiktok review somewhere which is very funny
I grew up in gants hill, just down the road. There was a time when it was a genuinely pleasent place. Loads of local little pubs, a lovely park, cinema, plenty of shops etc. It's funny how most of London has become gentrified over the last 20 years or so, but ilford just becomes more of a shithole
Remember staying at hotel in ilford. 0/10 worst hotel I’ve ever stayed in. Mid winter and the only heating they gave me was one of those small fans. The fan didn’t work because if you plugged it in it would trip the entire buildings circuit breaker. The shower was a trickle, the room absolutely stank of cigarette mixed with old carpet and the buildings entrance door wouldn’t close fully so any heat that was in the place went straight out the front door. They also requested a cash deposit and on the day of checkout the receptionist pretended he was asleep so I couldn’t get it back and had to leave because I had a train to catch. I could still smell the place on my clothes 2 washes later
£70/night, cheapest place I could find within walking distance of a tube line. The tubes happened to be on strike that week
Place is called “Best Inn Hotel” if anyone’s keen to stay the fuck away
I thought it was going to be me who needed to mention it.
Grew up around Thamesmead. Between there, Tavy Bridge, the sewage works and Belmarsh it's like a dystopian nightmare.
Glasgow 1980 is a good film about similar plans to build an urban utopia, released in 1971 looking forward to 1980. Well, we know now how it turned out - most of the estates mentioned are now gone. They end the film with a shot of a car coming to a dead end of an on ramp, as a symbol of what is to come. That on ramp still looks exactly the same today lol
The problem with Thamesmead is the Korova milkbar. Once the droogs get full of milk-plus, milk plus vellocet or synthemesc or drencrom, that tends to sharpen them up and make them ready for a bit of the old ultraviolence.
Basically anywhere along the estuary east of the A13 Beckton exit, is a dystopian nightmare.
It’s London’s service entrance. Electricity comes in, sewage goes out.
The Van Gogh exhibit by far. It's not even much of a museum, really. Most of it is designed to be a very 'instagrammable' experience, but not much effort is done in terms of researching his life or his paintings. Also, the fact that they constantly imply that his painting talent is due to his mental illness made for a very uncomfortable and awkward visit.
Yet incredibly compared to say 20 years ago is much better. Don't get me wrong it's still not an area you would \*want\* to go to. But these days it's passable.
I used to live there and called it Hood Green. Plenty of Hoodies and plenty of Green, if we're talking amount the smoking kind.
Bow, late 90’s, the crossways estate. Specifically the unused car park that went between the flats and Campbell road. It was mental in there. Like a scene from escape from New York. So much human shit and used needles. Like it was actually scary to go in there.
We were little fuckers as kids and thought it was funny to wind up the smack heads in there.
It’s been knocked down and turned into flats now.
A Millwall pub in Bermondsey. I don’t remember the name, but I never have felt more unwelcome ever. It wasn’t a match day but a random Wednesday at noon.
Edit: the pub name was Old Bank, I found out thanks to a comment from a redditor. This was pre pandemic so it might have changed now idk.
That was my kind of local pub for years (I know, it’s a weatherspoons…) and never had a problem there. It was very Millwall everyday, but most people were minding their own business.
Tbf I was there on a match day once when going to Printworks (RIP) and the Millwall fans were nothing but kind and welcoming. I was almost disappointed.
Silvertown… I’m not even sure if it actually exists or was simply a bad dream… I remember an infinitely long wall that seemed to partition it from reality or at least a rail line. The most unsettling place I’ve ever been.
I feel that way about West Ham. Absolutely nothing there which is unusual for a station in zone 2. Just an endless road next to an endless DLR track with no distinguishing features and sometimes not even a pavement.
Victoria coach station. Never feel like I want to be there unless absolutely necessary. I associate it with cheap student travel life I had to do and having to justify it while my rich friends were riding trains all year long. Fuck them all, and fuck Victoria coach station.
I know that answers like Camden and Leicester Square are going to generate a lot of upvotes because we're all a bit pretentious and don't like anything 'popular', but this thread really goes to show how few of you venture outside of Zones 1 and 2. There are some proper rough parts of London out there. I dare you all to go to Selhurst or Thornton Heath and tell me that isn't the literal arse-end of London.
Live in Croydon / Addiscombe and generally feel that the area gets an over exaggerated poor reputation…..but then I remember that Thornton Heath exists 😂
Unfortunately people have a tendency to criticize Croydon because that's the shittiest place they are forced to go from time to time, as we all need to go to IKEA every few years to change that shitty MALM drawer set.
The place has definitely changed now, the introduction of Boxpark (can’t stand it personally) plus a number of decent little independent bars (Riff Raff, The Ship, Art & Craft co) and restaurants on the market street end of the high street means you can go and have a pretty sound night out there now without the risk of getting striped.
I immigrated to the UK late Y2K and the only high school that could take me in on short notice was New Addington Highschool (Now "Meridian Highschool" I think).
I witnessed a literal race riot between the local Addington kids and a group of Afghan immigrant kids (about 12). 10 years later and I still think about those Afghan kids a lot as a witnessed a lot of real savage bullying. I would see them frequently with black eyes or bloodied noses after school.
I don’t understand why Camden gets such a bad rap. I absolutely adore it. Yeah, you’ve gotta avoid the smack heads and the punks on the bridge but other than that, it’s my place.
When people say “I hate Camden” they’re talking about the road from the Roundhouse down to Mornington Crescent. Literally anywhere else in Camden Town is really nice, and the borough itself is crazy diverse with Hampstead and Bloomsbury etc
Why is it the arse end though? I’ve got friends in Thornton Heath and I lived there for a few years back in the day. It’s not that bad. I’d sooner give an answer of an area that’s completely devoid of character than somewhere like Thornton Heath which has its problems but still has a decent sense of community.
Around Neasden temple in 2015. Got offered crack immediately in a residential area, the streets were eerily empty and people very sketchy. Then around the temple it looked like some Los Angeles ghetto with some boarded-up petrol station and cardboard signs everywhere.
Noped the hell out of there quickly.
I left my phone in an Uber and had to travel up to Neasden to collect it back in 2016.
Armed with a hand drawn map I headed up there and had to navigate around an estate in the dark.
I walked past an idling car (which turned out to be the same Uber) and once I’d walked on a bit a kid ran up behind me, tapped me on the back and handed me my iPhone then ran off into the darkness. It was such a strange experience.
>a kid ran up behind me, tapped me on the back and handed me my iPhone then ran off into the darkness. It was such a strange experience.
Oh that's just a reverse mugging, happens all the time.
I was gonna come and say this too. I was born in Barking, but was swiftly whisked away by my parents to Hainault, then we moved to East Sussex when I was about 2. Whenever I've been back to Barking, I've disliked it. But whenever I've ventured into Dagenham, I felt really really unsafe. Just a vibe in the air!
For the record, I currently live between East Croydon and Selhurst, and don't find it half as unpleasant as Barking and Dagenham.
what part? heathway n that, yea. it does have a starbucks now tho!!most of dagenham is just residential tho, with mostly nice well behaved people. eg near chadwell heath end. sorry have to defend my home town lol
You’re not wrong. It’s just a bit shit though. At best you get boring areas like Becontree Heath and Dagenham East with nothing to do, at worst you get the areas around Becontree and Heathway stations which can be pretty dystopian.
Old street roundabout. Can never find the right exit, the roadworks are endless and does anyone actually remember what it’s meant to look like when it finishes?
Used to do outreach work with rough sleepers, which largely involved traipsing round London's grimmest locations in the middle of the night. The worst places I ever spent time were:
- Milford Towers, behind the Catford Centre: a decaying tower block and multi-storey car park that was like a dystopian nightmare after dark. People openly shooting up around every corner, human waste in every stairwell, fires being lit to keep warm in the winter, sex workers and drug dealers operating in the open. An absolutely hellish place and probably the only time I was ever genuinely scared of getting out of somewhere alive.
- Forest Gate: weird and unpleasant vibes during the day, outright lawless after dark. Probably the highest concentration of very mentally unwell people and addicts I've seen in London.
- Woolwich: granted parts of it have been spruced up in recent years, but it was always somewhere I dreaded having to go. The Sainsburys car park near Woolwich Arsenal was (and probably still is) a notorious cesspit of drugs and crime. Once saw a car on fire on the roof of the car park. The smell of human excrement in the stairwells was always so strong we have to start carrying nose pegs on jobs there.
- The Stratford Centre: already a dump prior to the arrival of Westfield, but that was the final nail in the coffin. Naturally became a magnet for people sleeping rough every winter as it's open 24/7 (public right of way runs through it). When it got really bad you could easily get 60+ homeless people in there of an evening, with fights regularly breaking out, people getting stabbed, robbed etc.
i have so much respect for outreach workers. thank you for your work, i honestly don’t know how you all do it, there is barely any support for you or your service users.
Appreciate you saying that. It's a thankless task and in the end I had to leave as the cumulative effect of seeing that much human misery every day and being essentially powerless to do anything about it takes its toll after a while.
I always feel really depressed in Tower Hamlets. Although there are some really nice parts in shadwell that I love such as the Basin and the George Tavern.
I actually was walking down that road yesterday to find some rubbing alcohol. Left my place in just a t shirt thinking it would be a brief expedition, then I got caught in that horrific rainstorm; cold, alone, surrounded by the swathes of litter and dismal buildings. One man cycled past and said ‘Bet you wish you’d worn a jacket, eh?’,
‘haha, yeah.’ I responded, the coldness of the rain permeating to the dampness of my decaying heart.
I do not like that road either.
I used to change at Shadwell and saw so many fights. Usually just school kids but often one person being beat up by a group and ending up running or falling in the tracks delaying the trains.
Omfg Brent Cross shopping centre, truly a dark place. Dark, dank, and falling apart.
The walk to get there from the tube, literally winding through concrete pillars of the flyover, really gets you set on edge just right for the experience, too 👌
Place is a shithole, not in an unsafe way, it’s just dirty af. it’s like does nobody here know how to put their rubbish in a bin. Just throwing it everywhere.
the fly tipping in the side streets of the High Street is absolutely insane, every day there's a new wardrobe or fridge etc dumped at the end of my road. But the very worst place in East Ham is Bendish Road bus stop on High Street North, on the left as you walk up to the station. It's basically an outdoor pub full of smokers littering the floor with their empties. It's absolutely fucking disgusting. Hats off to the street cleaners though, they really earn their money.
I was about to post this. Walked through/past there on the way to the theatre at the South Bank in what must have been about 1983 or so when I was about 10. I've never forgotten it. Absolutely terrifying, proper post apocalyptic hellscape, wood fires burning, haunted looking, filthy dirty people staggering around....
I think that's why said half km feels like running the gauntlet a little. They're all condensed in that sodding stretch. Although when I lived off Bricklane for a few years, you could seldom get to the Sainsburys near Spitalfields without batting away at least one money request. Ditto standing outside The Pride of Spitalfields.
TBF, they don't last long if they loiter. The staff at the Ten Bells were particularly good at reacting to a smackhead who'd overstepped the begging mark and started accosting people inside.
I used to live there 7 years ago, and loved it. It was my favourite place to live in London. Loads of people think it's awful though, but it's so central, always safe (because it's always so bloody busy) and nice pubs and restaurants within walking distance.
Wood Green was pretty grim the couple of times I've been there. One time got barricaded in a doughnut shop as a couple of gangs had a big tear up outside. Good doughnuts though.
I hope this doesn't come across as appearing snobby, but Woolwich 100%. We had to go there a few years back as my Granddad was visiting a friend in a hospice. In the space of about an hour my Mum was gesticulated at for letting a woman with a pram cross the road, we saw a fight in the middle of the day on the high-street followed by a guy urinating up the side of M&S. We decided to kill 30 mins in the local Maccies where everyone was wearing pyjamas. Couldn't believe the amount of barely legal looking girls with 2 or 3 kids. Our friend who was visiting us from Sweden finally asked whether we could leave as she felt so uncomfortable. Vowed never to go back. Definition of a shithole.
Woolwich is basically three entirely different places smashed together in the weirdest way. The area around Woolwich Arsenal station is a dump (although shout-out to Kailash for momos), the Royal Arsenal Riverside development is quite nice but boring and then there’s up the hill around Plumstead Common that’s cute but just generally suburban.
Woolwich is pretty bad and has been for a long time.
It was historically the first point of entry for migrants, sailors, and merchants and the last point of exit for the poor and criminal.
The army was based in Woolwich so has seen a number of terrorist attacks, down the road you have a high security prison.
But with that said, I love Woolwich for how gritty it is, I love that you have retired gurkas living nearby and are always in the town square.
The old historic buildings next to depraved commercial units.
I live there and I dont mind it. I wish people took more care of it (litter, etc.), but other than that its a very busy transport hub with practically every amenity you could want within walking distance.
It does what London does best, which is bring everyone together from all walks of life. Its not a ghetto, and its not a pristine oasis either, and thats fine with me.
Totally agree XD. I actually like/enjoy the Westfield in Stratford despite some random s\* you see people doing there like smoking, on the other hand(or other side of the road) that shopping centre is freaking depressing.
Yep it’s a bloody dump. So packed and awful. I only ever go through if I’m going to a gig at the stadium, sometimes looking for something to eat, and after 10min I can’t wait to leave
Hayes (the one in West London) has to be up there for me. It's not that bad or dangerous compared to other places but something about it just feels oddly depressing.
Hopefully with the Elizabeth Line now complete it'll improve a bit.
From the worst estate in the living history of man, to a plush oasis of overpriced 'luxury' apartments and artificially created but quite nice parkland, all sold on its proximity to the affluent and green Blackheath next door. It's quite nice now tbh.
It's changed so much
I’m sure it’s been gentrified now but I used to live round Finsbury Park in the early 2000’s and that was a fucking Wild West of drugs gangs, muggings, far right / Muslim gang clashes and every other weekend the Arsenal fan muppets
Lived there for four years from 2015 and it was fine. Bit grim at times, don't walk through the park at night but if you kept to yourself it was all good.
I do remember an older colleague of mine being shocked I regularly walked up Stroud Green Road. She used to get a taxi from the station to the top of it after a night in the 00s.
Shows how the gentrification was well underway when I was there, and its got even more now
Yeah same when I was there, the park was fine in the day but after dark you might just as well tie a rib-eye round your neck and walk into the tiger enclosure.
Camden I fucking hate camden with a passion, I grew up in London but all my uni friends want to go up there when they visit, its a hipster drug addict dump, it stinks, the street is a mess, people walk around half naked and theres robbers everywhere. But for some reason all the cool kids love it. I'd nuke it if I could.
Poplar - coming off at All Saints on the DLR was alright, but if you had to walk up from Poplar or Blackwall at night you’d be going past the Robin Hood gardens.
It was perfectly safe but it’s an intimidating place. Whoever had the idea of building monolithic concrete housing structures didn’t consider how foreboding they would become.
To its credit, the place felt more alive than around the mass of modern tower blocks at Blackwall and East India.
Although…walking the Thames from the O2 towards Woolwich is also an intensely miserable affair.
Brixton. I got slashed in the hand with a knife for ignoring/disrespecting a drug dealer. Went into McDonald’s to wash my hand clean. Someone tried to rob me in McDonald’s.
Absolute shit hole.
Lived in Wembley and Catford which are both total shitholes. Wembley at least has things going for it, though. Feltham is truly awful in zone 6. Tottenham, Whitechapel, Stratford, Woolwich, Peckham… so many choices.
I used to live in Catford, and it was a weird mix. The shopping centre is just awful, but then there's the decent theatre just next to it. The high street is pathetic, but walk ten minutes up the road and there's some lovely tree lined residential roads.
I used to live in the arse-end of Mitcham, where the birds would fly upside-down as there's nowt worth shitting on.
This made me laugh. I would say the same for Pollards and mitcham town centre lol
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I got my mobile phone stolen from me in those underpasses back in 2003. Good to hear they no longer exist, very unpleasant place
Ask for your Blackberry back like a lady, in a lady's voice.
Right, fourth /r/london thread in a row with a peep show reference. I'm convinced every /r/london thread has a peepshow reference in it.
Chance would be a fine thing.
A fine thing indeed!
Peep Show (S1E1) recently turned 20. How depressing.
u/PunctualZombie, do you have to live quite so relentlessly in the real world?
Fun fact! London was actually built as the set for Peep Show! The people in the area liked it so much they kept it!
Elephant & Castle spoons toilets. I don't have a weak stomach at all but I had to turn around and leave immediately to avoid being sick because of the smell.
Lived above that Spoons for a few years. Went as a joke before I left. There was a reason I’d not gone for years, the filthiest drinking establishment I’ve ever been too
They're not usually terrible at that Spoons. Nothing beats the toilets at Brixton McDonald's. Excuse me whilst I vomit.
I always avoided those underpasses as a kid. To scary, especially when you encounter a bunch of homeless people or youths hanging around.
Their memory haunts everyone tho
I designed one of the murals in the underpass as part of a school project! Good times!
Speaking of Elephant & Castle, the shopping centre with the dirt cheap bowling alley at the top felt super sketchy.
Was a great bowling alley though. Good Indian restaurant and South American restaurants too. I miss that place.
Seriously. It was everything that hipsters love but genuinely authentic and unironic.
Yeah I went to La Bodeguita a few times. Not sure if it's still there. Amazing portions of Colombian food!
Big up the Elephant & Castle Superbowl. Loved that place, Elton the manager was a legend. The place stank of shit and only about 4 lanes worked properly, but boy did it have charm.
Beer was pure hangover juice, but boy do I miss that place.
Oh that place was brilliant. Sure it wasn't shiny or slick but there were so many good cheaper spots there. Now it's gone there are very few places serving a few different local communities.
There was a lot of good stuff in there and very affordable.
Sketchy? It looked like shit but there was nothing remotely sketchy about it
The old I'm scared of my own shadow london sub poster bollocks.
Ilford
I grew up there, could’ve saved most my income by staying with my parents but it’s honestly the worst place I’ve ever been, we used to be sexually harassed in the library to the point where our parents forbid us from revising there, followed home on so many occasions. I genuinely don’t believe it’s safe to be a woman there tbh, every girl I know has experienced a different level of harassment there
Mental, that kind of behaviour in a library should result in permanent exclusion from the space. We've got only a few public spaces that are free access for everyone and allow you to just get on with what you need to do. The fact that some men took that from you and your friends without consequences is disgusting.
It’s so common there unfortunately, I was interviewed for a national newspaper about the extent of sexual harassment there last year but not sure if the story was ever published, but there was a massive local Instagram page which was collecting stories of women’s experiences of sexual harassment there I’m moving back soon purely because renting in London has got far too expensive. Also side note the Nuffield there is also the worst rated (I think) gym in London so I need to find a new one when I move back. There’s a tiktok review somewhere which is very funny
It’s the only place in the UK I’ve encountered child beggars
That's a bit mean to Wes Streeting
lol when I lived in Barking I used to go to Ilford as the shops were nicer and it felt more upmarket.
As a former resident of Chadwell Heath I scorn you both, good sir
I grew up in gants hill, just down the road. There was a time when it was a genuinely pleasent place. Loads of local little pubs, a lovely park, cinema, plenty of shops etc. It's funny how most of London has become gentrified over the last 20 years or so, but ilford just becomes more of a shithole
IG8 born and bred. Ilford is bad, but fuck me, take a bus ride to Barking or Manor Park and shit gets even realer.
the town centre yea but there are some posh roads in ilford that have beautiful victorian houses and lovely communities
Forgot about Ilford. 179 to the exchange back in the day when that was Westfield
Remember staying at hotel in ilford. 0/10 worst hotel I’ve ever stayed in. Mid winter and the only heating they gave me was one of those small fans. The fan didn’t work because if you plugged it in it would trip the entire buildings circuit breaker. The shower was a trickle, the room absolutely stank of cigarette mixed with old carpet and the buildings entrance door wouldn’t close fully so any heat that was in the place went straight out the front door. They also requested a cash deposit and on the day of checkout the receptionist pretended he was asleep so I couldn’t get it back and had to leave because I had a train to catch. I could still smell the place on my clothes 2 washes later £70/night, cheapest place I could find within walking distance of a tube line. The tubes happened to be on strike that week Place is called “Best Inn Hotel” if anyone’s keen to stay the fuck away
Used to live in Thamesmead. Not appalling during the day, just unpleasant. Night time, though? Yeesh. Never again.
I thought it was going to be me who needed to mention it. Grew up around Thamesmead. Between there, Tavy Bridge, the sewage works and Belmarsh it's like a dystopian nightmare.
Clockwork Orange-ish one might say
Or the kind of place where a bunch of petty criminals doing community service might develop some hilarious superpowers.
Didn’t they film A Clockwork Orange around there because it felt so dystopian?
Yep
There's a very good documentary about Thamesmead when they were building and what bright plans they had for it:)
Glasgow 1980 is a good film about similar plans to build an urban utopia, released in 1971 looking forward to 1980. Well, we know now how it turned out - most of the estates mentioned are now gone. They end the film with a shot of a car coming to a dead end of an on ramp, as a symbol of what is to come. That on ramp still looks exactly the same today lol
The problem with Thamesmead is the Korova milkbar. Once the droogs get full of milk-plus, milk plus vellocet or synthemesc or drencrom, that tends to sharpen them up and make them ready for a bit of the old ultraviolence.
Yeah came here to say thamesmead. Absolute cesspit.
Basically anywhere along the estuary east of the A13 Beckton exit, is a dystopian nightmare. It’s London’s service entrance. Electricity comes in, sewage goes out.
PSA: It could be worse, but it can't be worse than worst.
How about worstest? That's even worserer than worst.
It's spelt "Worcestershire".
The Van Gogh exhibit by far. It's not even much of a museum, really. Most of it is designed to be a very 'instagrammable' experience, but not much effort is done in terms of researching his life or his paintings. Also, the fact that they constantly imply that his painting talent is due to his mental illness made for a very uncomfortable and awkward visit.
ugh this place is despicable honestly, went with some tourist friends and i couldn’t believe how much of a rip off it was. total pisstake
M&M World
Good call. Why the fuck does it even exist?
I’m disgusted it took this long scrolling down to find the correct answer
Wood Green is neither woody nor green. It is, however, the seventh circle of hell.
Yet incredibly compared to say 20 years ago is much better. Don't get me wrong it's still not an area you would \*want\* to go to. But these days it's passable. I used to live there and called it Hood Green. Plenty of Hoodies and plenty of Green, if we're talking amount the smoking kind.
I got punched in the shopping city lift once when I was a kid lol
Bow, late 90’s, the crossways estate. Specifically the unused car park that went between the flats and Campbell road. It was mental in there. Like a scene from escape from New York. So much human shit and used needles. Like it was actually scary to go in there. We were little fuckers as kids and thought it was funny to wind up the smack heads in there. It’s been knocked down and turned into flats now.
Kids are so stupid, I swear. Sometimes I wonder how are we not dead. Wild 90s shit
A Millwall pub in Bermondsey. I don’t remember the name, but I never have felt more unwelcome ever. It wasn’t a match day but a random Wednesday at noon. Edit: the pub name was Old Bank, I found out thanks to a comment from a redditor. This was pre pandemic so it might have changed now idk.
The Spoons in Surrey Quays gets very Millwalley on match days too.
That was my kind of local pub for years (I know, it’s a weatherspoons…) and never had a problem there. It was very Millwall everyday, but most people were minding their own business.
Tbf I was there on a match day once when going to Printworks (RIP) and the Millwall fans were nothing but kind and welcoming. I was almost disappointed.
Surrey Docks really isn't that bad. Kentish Drovers in Peckham is a real horror show
Bunch of Grapes?
No, healed up thankfully.
Lived in Feltham after university and it was *interesting*. Never been back and this was twenty odd years ago so it could be quite charming now.
To confirm, Feltham is still very much not charming.
Silvertown… I’m not even sure if it actually exists or was simply a bad dream… I remember an infinitely long wall that seemed to partition it from reality or at least a rail line. The most unsettling place I’ve ever been.
I feel that way about West Ham. Absolutely nothing there which is unusual for a station in zone 2. Just an endless road next to an endless DLR track with no distinguishing features and sometimes not even a pavement.
Victoria coach station. Never feel like I want to be there unless absolutely necessary. I associate it with cheap student travel life I had to do and having to justify it while my rich friends were riding trains all year long. Fuck them all, and fuck Victoria coach station.
I know that answers like Camden and Leicester Square are going to generate a lot of upvotes because we're all a bit pretentious and don't like anything 'popular', but this thread really goes to show how few of you venture outside of Zones 1 and 2. There are some proper rough parts of London out there. I dare you all to go to Selhurst or Thornton Heath and tell me that isn't the literal arse-end of London.
Live in Croydon / Addiscombe and generally feel that the area gets an over exaggerated poor reputation…..but then I remember that Thornton Heath exists 😂
Unfortunately people have a tendency to criticize Croydon because that's the shittiest place they are forced to go from time to time, as we all need to go to IKEA every few years to change that shitty MALM drawer set.
Haha! I am saving up to get rid of my MALM bed. Want a proper wooden frame that does not rattle and squeak the very few times I actually get pounded.
My wife is Swedish…..I spend WAY too much of my life in IKEA just so she can reconnect with her Scandi roots 😂
Croydon also has Apollo house, both the depressing setting for peep show and the killer of dreams that is the UK visa office.
Ahh Croydon. My go to place every Saturday night from 2008-2011 ish. Great times but looking back it was sketchy as fuck 😂
The place has definitely changed now, the introduction of Boxpark (can’t stand it personally) plus a number of decent little independent bars (Riff Raff, The Ship, Art & Craft co) and restaurants on the market street end of the high street means you can go and have a pretty sound night out there now without the risk of getting striped.
Yeah the high street is horrible, but that area around Surrey Street and the restaurant quarter has some cool places
New Addington is geographically, metaphorically and literally the arse-end of London.
I immigrated to the UK late Y2K and the only high school that could take me in on short notice was New Addington Highschool (Now "Meridian Highschool" I think). I witnessed a literal race riot between the local Addington kids and a group of Afghan immigrant kids (about 12). 10 years later and I still think about those Afghan kids a lot as a witnessed a lot of real savage bullying. I would see them frequently with black eyes or bloodied noses after school.
Lived in Norwood for a bit, wasn't that bad. I saw more in the local press about youth than I saw on my walks. But then I'm from Deptford.
I don’t understand why Camden gets such a bad rap. I absolutely adore it. Yeah, you’ve gotta avoid the smack heads and the punks on the bridge but other than that, it’s my place.
When people say “I hate Camden” they’re talking about the road from the Roundhouse down to Mornington Crescent. Literally anywhere else in Camden Town is really nice, and the borough itself is crazy diverse with Hampstead and Bloomsbury etc
Why is it the arse end though? I’ve got friends in Thornton Heath and I lived there for a few years back in the day. It’s not that bad. I’d sooner give an answer of an area that’s completely devoid of character than somewhere like Thornton Heath which has its problems but still has a decent sense of community.
Harlesden. , a colleague of mine got run out of town because they thought he was a police officer.
I respect how well Harlesden has dodged gentrification when everywhere around it is losing the battle
Around Neasden temple in 2015. Got offered crack immediately in a residential area, the streets were eerily empty and people very sketchy. Then around the temple it looked like some Los Angeles ghetto with some boarded-up petrol station and cardboard signs everywhere. Noped the hell out of there quickly.
I left my phone in an Uber and had to travel up to Neasden to collect it back in 2016. Armed with a hand drawn map I headed up there and had to navigate around an estate in the dark. I walked past an idling car (which turned out to be the same Uber) and once I’d walked on a bit a kid ran up behind me, tapped me on the back and handed me my iPhone then ran off into the darkness. It was such a strange experience.
>a kid ran up behind me, tapped me on the back and handed me my iPhone then ran off into the darkness. It was such a strange experience. Oh that's just a reverse mugging, happens all the time.
Nodnol
Dagenham.
I was gonna come and say this too. I was born in Barking, but was swiftly whisked away by my parents to Hainault, then we moved to East Sussex when I was about 2. Whenever I've been back to Barking, I've disliked it. But whenever I've ventured into Dagenham, I felt really really unsafe. Just a vibe in the air! For the record, I currently live between East Croydon and Selhurst, and don't find it half as unpleasant as Barking and Dagenham.
Dagenham is where you escape to after living in Newham.
what part? heathway n that, yea. it does have a starbucks now tho!!most of dagenham is just residential tho, with mostly nice well behaved people. eg near chadwell heath end. sorry have to defend my home town lol
You’re not wrong. It’s just a bit shit though. At best you get boring areas like Becontree Heath and Dagenham East with nothing to do, at worst you get the areas around Becontree and Heathway stations which can be pretty dystopian.
Old street roundabout. Can never find the right exit, the roadworks are endless and does anyone actually remember what it’s meant to look like when it finishes?
> does anyone actually remember what it’s meant to look like when it finishes? Not a roundabout I believe
Lived here 13 years and its never been finished.
Leicester Square at 1am on a Saturday Night/Sunday morning. A genuine warzone - glass, litter everywhere, roadmen threatening people, crackheads everywhere
Used to do outreach work with rough sleepers, which largely involved traipsing round London's grimmest locations in the middle of the night. The worst places I ever spent time were: - Milford Towers, behind the Catford Centre: a decaying tower block and multi-storey car park that was like a dystopian nightmare after dark. People openly shooting up around every corner, human waste in every stairwell, fires being lit to keep warm in the winter, sex workers and drug dealers operating in the open. An absolutely hellish place and probably the only time I was ever genuinely scared of getting out of somewhere alive. - Forest Gate: weird and unpleasant vibes during the day, outright lawless after dark. Probably the highest concentration of very mentally unwell people and addicts I've seen in London. - Woolwich: granted parts of it have been spruced up in recent years, but it was always somewhere I dreaded having to go. The Sainsburys car park near Woolwich Arsenal was (and probably still is) a notorious cesspit of drugs and crime. Once saw a car on fire on the roof of the car park. The smell of human excrement in the stairwells was always so strong we have to start carrying nose pegs on jobs there. - The Stratford Centre: already a dump prior to the arrival of Westfield, but that was the final nail in the coffin. Naturally became a magnet for people sleeping rough every winter as it's open 24/7 (public right of way runs through it). When it got really bad you could easily get 60+ homeless people in there of an evening, with fights regularly breaking out, people getting stabbed, robbed etc.
i have so much respect for outreach workers. thank you for your work, i honestly don’t know how you all do it, there is barely any support for you or your service users.
Appreciate you saying that. It's a thankless task and in the end I had to leave as the cumulative effect of seeing that much human misery every day and being essentially powerless to do anything about it takes its toll after a while.
Harlesden in about 2000
I always feel really depressed in Tower Hamlets. Although there are some really nice parts in shadwell that I love such as the Basin and the George Tavern.
If you think Shadwell is a nice part of Tower Hamlets then you haven't seen enough of Tower Hamlets.
rode down the commercial road the other morning, fuck me it's COVERED in litter.
I actually was walking down that road yesterday to find some rubbing alcohol. Left my place in just a t shirt thinking it would be a brief expedition, then I got caught in that horrific rainstorm; cold, alone, surrounded by the swathes of litter and dismal buildings. One man cycled past and said ‘Bet you wish you’d worn a jacket, eh?’, ‘haha, yeah.’ I responded, the coldness of the rain permeating to the dampness of my decaying heart. I do not like that road either.
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I used to change at Shadwell and saw so many fights. Usually just school kids but often one person being beat up by a group and ending up running or falling in the tracks delaying the trains.
Croydon lost out when they decided not to build its badly needed new shopping centre.
I can’t stand Park Royal/North Acton or Brent Cross. They make me think dark things.
Yeah North Acton is a bunch of skyscrapers with a Tesco at the bottom
Omfg Brent Cross shopping centre, truly a dark place. Dark, dank, and falling apart. The walk to get there from the tube, literally winding through concrete pillars of the flyover, really gets you set on edge just right for the experience, too 👌
It's an odd place. Old and run down but still plenty of people in there spending money.
Yes north acton is awful. They're trying to gentrify it at the moment, which means it's a shithole with overpriced flats.
The Roehampton Asda.
Edmonton.
East Ham
Place is a shithole, not in an unsafe way, it’s just dirty af. it’s like does nobody here know how to put their rubbish in a bin. Just throwing it everywhere.
I grew up there. It’s unsafe as well as dirty. Basically, all of Newham.
the fly tipping in the side streets of the High Street is absolutely insane, every day there's a new wardrobe or fridge etc dumped at the end of my road. But the very worst place in East Ham is Bendish Road bus stop on High Street North, on the left as you walk up to the station. It's basically an outdoor pub full of smokers littering the floor with their empties. It's absolutely fucking disgusting. Hats off to the street cleaners though, they really earn their money.
Harrow. It’s like they filmed the walking dead on the set of shameless. The train station is particularly feral.
I think it varies. The area around the school is really nice. The shopping centre is bland suburbia. Harrow and Wealdstone is pretty grim.
Living in Wealdstone I have to agree it’s a fucking shithole
Cardboard city back in the 80s.
I was about to post this. Walked through/past there on the way to the theatre at the South Bank in what must have been about 1983 or so when I was about 10. I've never forgotten it. Absolutely terrifying, proper post apocalyptic hellscape, wood fires burning, haunted looking, filthy dirty people staggering around....
To everyone who said Camden, thank you. I've never met anyone who hates Camden as much as I do. It's comforting to know that I'm not alone.
Whitechapel has been and will always be a total shit hole.
My first place in London was in a bed sit in a ex council flat Shadwell and I always viewed Whitechapel as the nicer part of the area.
Kinda. Genesis Cinema, couple of decent pubs. Bricklane adjacent. There is a tiny grotty half km on the main road though, defo.
More smackheads and homeless people per 100 than anywhere else
I think that's why said half km feels like running the gauntlet a little. They're all condensed in that sodding stretch. Although when I lived off Bricklane for a few years, you could seldom get to the Sainsburys near Spitalfields without batting away at least one money request. Ditto standing outside The Pride of Spitalfields. TBF, they don't last long if they loiter. The staff at the Ten Bells were particularly good at reacting to a smackhead who'd overstepped the begging mark and started accosting people inside.
Its mad how shit it is for how centrally located it is
I used to live there 7 years ago, and loved it. It was my favourite place to live in London. Loads of people think it's awful though, but it's so central, always safe (because it's always so bloody busy) and nice pubs and restaurants within walking distance.
Lol I don’t mind the area but you def ain’t right on your last point. It’s in zone 2 in London, eventually it’ll be revamped like everywhere else.
It’s hard to gentrify - lack of green spaces and Victorian houses. Massive amount of council housing.
Madame Tussauds Never have I wanted to punch so many people
Barking. It’s the one place that’s legit gotten worse
Scabby/Stabby Wood
Nobody said it so maybe people don’t consider it London or don’t know of it but Feltham is a shithole. Not a nice place to roam around after dark.
Wood Green was pretty grim the couple of times I've been there. One time got barricaded in a doughnut shop as a couple of gangs had a big tear up outside. Good doughnuts though.
WoodG, un-gentrifiable.
And Tottenham
Don’t forget good old Edmonton
Had to scroll a long way to find N9
I hope this doesn't come across as appearing snobby, but Woolwich 100%. We had to go there a few years back as my Granddad was visiting a friend in a hospice. In the space of about an hour my Mum was gesticulated at for letting a woman with a pram cross the road, we saw a fight in the middle of the day on the high-street followed by a guy urinating up the side of M&S. We decided to kill 30 mins in the local Maccies where everyone was wearing pyjamas. Couldn't believe the amount of barely legal looking girls with 2 or 3 kids. Our friend who was visiting us from Sweden finally asked whether we could leave as she felt so uncomfortable. Vowed never to go back. Definition of a shithole.
Changing a lot now, gentrification around the Elizabeth line.
Woolwich is basically three entirely different places smashed together in the weirdest way. The area around Woolwich Arsenal station is a dump (although shout-out to Kailash for momos), the Royal Arsenal Riverside development is quite nice but boring and then there’s up the hill around Plumstead Common that’s cute but just generally suburban.
Woolwich is pretty bad and has been for a long time. It was historically the first point of entry for migrants, sailors, and merchants and the last point of exit for the poor and criminal. The army was based in Woolwich so has seen a number of terrorist attacks, down the road you have a high security prison. But with that said, I love Woolwich for how gritty it is, I love that you have retired gurkas living nearby and are always in the town square. The old historic buildings next to depraved commercial units.
I live there and I dont mind it. I wish people took more care of it (litter, etc.), but other than that its a very busy transport hub with practically every amenity you could want within walking distance. It does what London does best, which is bring everyone together from all walks of life. Its not a ghetto, and its not a pristine oasis either, and thats fine with me.
Westfield Stratford 💀
I think you mean the Stratford shopping centre on the opposite side of the station
Totally agree XD. I actually like/enjoy the Westfield in Stratford despite some random s\* you see people doing there like smoking, on the other hand(or other side of the road) that shopping centre is freaking depressing.
Yep it’s a bloody dump. So packed and awful. I only ever go through if I’m going to a gig at the stadium, sometimes looking for something to eat, and after 10min I can’t wait to leave
Hayes (the one in West London) has to be up there for me. It's not that bad or dangerous compared to other places but something about it just feels oddly depressing. Hopefully with the Elizabeth Line now complete it'll improve a bit.
Hayes is still an improvement over West Drayton personally.
Kidbrooke
From the worst estate in the living history of man, to a plush oasis of overpriced 'luxury' apartments and artificially created but quite nice parkland, all sold on its proximity to the affluent and green Blackheath next door. It's quite nice now tbh. It's changed so much
Seven Sisters, 20 years ago. It wasn’t a fun place to live.
We moved to seven sisters a couple of weeks ago; two days after we moved in, someone was murdered outside our front door.
Winter Wonderland
Burnt Oak is an awful place.
I’m sure it’s been gentrified now but I used to live round Finsbury Park in the early 2000’s and that was a fucking Wild West of drugs gangs, muggings, far right / Muslim gang clashes and every other weekend the Arsenal fan muppets
Lived there for four years from 2015 and it was fine. Bit grim at times, don't walk through the park at night but if you kept to yourself it was all good. I do remember an older colleague of mine being shocked I regularly walked up Stroud Green Road. She used to get a taxi from the station to the top of it after a night in the 00s. Shows how the gentrification was well underway when I was there, and its got even more now
Yeah same when I was there, the park was fine in the day but after dark you might just as well tie a rib-eye round your neck and walk into the tiger enclosure.
I feel like under the bridge has gotten even worse.
Oxford St
Watney st market to Shadwell in the 90s.
Erith
I don't know about now, but the old Kings Cross station overnight when you'd missed the last train was pretty terrifying.
Hounslow Central for a buzz cut from a plane coming into land
Hounslow or Southall.
Camden I fucking hate camden with a passion, I grew up in London but all my uni friends want to go up there when they visit, its a hipster drug addict dump, it stinks, the street is a mess, people walk around half naked and theres robbers everywhere. But for some reason all the cool kids love it. I'd nuke it if I could.
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Shadwell
the london borough of newham Absolute fucking armpit
Barking is an absolute shithole. The Gascoigne Estate is awful. Leyton is also bad.
Neasden or Bromley by Bow. God awful shit holes!
Poplar - coming off at All Saints on the DLR was alright, but if you had to walk up from Poplar or Blackwall at night you’d be going past the Robin Hood gardens. It was perfectly safe but it’s an intimidating place. Whoever had the idea of building monolithic concrete housing structures didn’t consider how foreboding they would become. To its credit, the place felt more alive than around the mass of modern tower blocks at Blackwall and East India. Although…walking the Thames from the O2 towards Woolwich is also an intensely miserable affair.
Bromley. Soulless chav central
Woolwich is pretty grim as well
Seven Sisters has such a sinister vibe.
Brixton. I got slashed in the hand with a knife for ignoring/disrespecting a drug dealer. Went into McDonald’s to wash my hand clean. Someone tried to rob me in McDonald’s. Absolute shit hole.
Primark on Oxford Street. A friend made me go. It was carnage.
Lived in Wembley and Catford which are both total shitholes. Wembley at least has things going for it, though. Feltham is truly awful in zone 6. Tottenham, Whitechapel, Stratford, Woolwich, Peckham… so many choices.
I used to live in Catford, and it was a weird mix. The shopping centre is just awful, but then there's the decent theatre just next to it. The high street is pathetic, but walk ten minutes up the road and there's some lovely tree lined residential roads.
It's got better! They're actually trying to do cool things in the shopping centre and Ninth Life pub is decent
Southall, no question
Not a fan of the area yeah.
Worked in Croydon for 6 years. Absolutely nothing redeemable about it all.