Any regrets moving to Brixton?

[han]

I've lived in Brixton for 5 years...have never had any problems at all (touch wood!). As others have said - busy areas are much safer than quiet ones. I love it here, and often walk home alone late at night. The fact that there are always people about make it far safer than suburbia. I think as long as you feel relaxed walking down the street and don't look as if you're loaded then you'll have no problems at all.

 

[hayduke]

I've lived all over Brixton for 10 years and, touchwood, I've never had any hassle (oh, aside from 'the change guy').

Is that the guy with one leg in the wheelchair? I never really feel guilty about passing beggars by, but that guy seems a bit of a sad advert for our decaying NHS. What's the deal with him? Anyone know?

 

[isvicthere?]

I've lived all over Brixton for 10 years and, touchwood, I've never had any hassle (oh, aside from 'the change guy').

QUOTE]

Yeah, I got mugged off by him quite a while back - August '99 - and he still appears to be plying his "trade". Ever since then I've always been really brusque with him. Wanker!

 

[Mrs Magpie]

Is that the guy with one leg in the wheelchair? I never really feel guilty about passing beggars by, but that guy seems a bit of a sad advert for our decaying NHS. What's the deal with him? Anyone know?

More of a sad advert for drug abuse really....He's a heroin addict and lost his leg because of an abcess...the other addicts who hang around with him call him Afrika. He's OK. He's one of the people who did their best to protect the hapless Donal MacIntyre when he spent three days in Brixton trying to get mugged on camera.

<edited to add>
He's not the change scam guy.

 

[Loki]

I've never had any trouble in Brixton although my bro got mugged outside the Ritzy (it was almost funny; while he was being mugged another bloke came up to him and asked if he could spare a fag.)

One of my exes had a dodgy experience walking down one of the roads off Coldharbour Lane; two blokes in a car tried very hard to persuade her to get in, following her down the road. She had to call the mate she was visiting who rushed out of his house and the dodgy blokes scarpered.

But this sort of thing happens all over London. I feel safer in Brixton than I did when I briefly lived in suburban Beckenham, with pissed up lager louts and teenage brats making the streets uncomfortable.

 

[suzee blue cheese]

I'm not full of the joys of living in Brixton at the moment. So here's a depressed persons pov. Finding it grim, ugly and depressing tbh. A recent long weekend away was a real pleasure - no coptors, no sirens, no in-your-face attitude, and fights at the checkout in Iceland...

Only real trouble I've directly experienced was in my first couple of years - all of it along Acre Lane/Bedford Ave - fronted it out and nothing came of it. Worse things have happened to other folk - not necessarily in Brixton.

I've been here @ 13 years I guess - can't really compare to living anywhere else in London as I've never lived anywhere else for more than a year or so. I don't always feel so negative about living here, it very much depends on where my head's at, but I am starting to feel it's time to move on.

 

[Red Faction]

Brixton is great. Lived there for 17 years- olny successfully mugged once when i was 13 on my way home from school (id just run the cross-country so could barely move) by a group of about 7 16 year olds
but that was a one off
never had any hassle apart from that
staggered back off my face many a time- at all sorts of hours
never got any bother

tbh - whitechapel high street at 3am is a million times scarier than brixton hill!!

 

[Santi-Panchita]

...the other addicts who hang around with him call him Afrika. QUOTE]

This guy really helped me out one night as i staggered home a bit worse for wear. Not seen him since, but i greatly appreciated his help!

 

[ChrisFilter]

I've lived all over Brixton for 10 years and, touchwood, I've never had any hassle (oh, aside from 'the change guy').

QUOTE]

Yeah, I got mugged off by him quite a while back - August '99 - and he still appears to be plying his "trade". Ever since then I've always been really brusque with him. Wanker!

change guy eh? when I got mugged on CHL it was by a bloke who started asking me for change.. went into garage, came out and there were 5 or 6 of them. the bloke I gave a quid to did seem to be trying to stop the others, but they may have been part of an act.. who knows.

only bit of bother I've had, and to be honest, it was my fault for being a bit careless.. feel more comfortable in Brixton than Camden where I lived before.

 

[Xanadu]

Sounds like Brixton is safer than where I live in tottenham. I'm seriously considering moving there now.

As bad as Tottenham is, I've not been mugged there. I've been mugged in Holloway (they got my brand new uninsured phone, caught them, just about to beat the fuck out of them when a wanker security guard let him go), Enfield (x3, never successful) and Edmonton (guys who used to go to our school, gave their names, addresses, date of birth, even the option of school photos to the police but they did fuck all ).

I did get attacked by some 14 year old kids on the train home a couple of years ago, but I beat the fuck out of them and two of them had to be dragged off the train by their mates. They thought I couldn't fight back cos I was covered in puke and barely able to string a sentence together

 

[bromley]

Before moving to Brixton look at the train track at the overground station. Nothing said trendy like a man shooting up on the stairs...

 

[gaijingirl]

Before moving to Brixton look at the train track at the overground station. Nothing said trendy like a man shooting up on the stairs...

As a Brixtonite brought up in Bromley, I can categorically say that whilst yes I have seen drug users in Brixton overground, they have generally left me alone... unlike the pissed up wankers at Bromley South after the Wetherspoons opposite has kicked out bottling each other on the train platform, throwing up and generally being pretty fucking intimidating... I've had some of the least comfortable travel experiences ever getting the train from Bromley South late at night - one particularly memorable journey involved the train being halted no less than 3 times for various fights to be diffused..... I always breathe a huge sigh of relief when I get back to Brixton...

And that's just the train station... my brother has lived in Bromley his whole life and he won't drink there any more.

Don't get me wrong, Bromley used to have quite a lot going for it, back in the days of the 3 Compasses/Chislehurst caves parties etc, but nowadays, give me Brixton over Bromley any day..

 

[bromley]

No need for a Bromley bashing!

We've (you and I) discussed the whole Bromley V Brixton thing many a time and this isn't the right thread to do so again.

The point I was making is Brixton has a serious drug problem that hasn't been mentioned yet. DoUsAFavour should know about it before he moves (apologies if that sounds patronising i'm not very good at explaining myself!) if it doesn't bother him then he should move there, the drug problem is the only reason why I wouldn't live there.

As for the Bromley debate (sorry!), you're right about the drug users not bothering you unlike the white shirt beer boys, but as i'm used to them I find seeing people shooting up more intimidating. Guess you could put it down to ignorance, but you can see my point!

 

[ChrisFilter]

I live in Brixton n' I've never seen anyone shooting up. besides, what's a smackhead gonna do to you if they've just shot up?

fair point though, smackheads in the streets aren't what you want.

 

[lizardqueen]

...feel more comfortable in Brixton than Camden where I lived before.

I lived in Camden immediately before I moved to Brixton and I had more than a few dodgy incidents on my way home from work there. I'm not saying there were necessarily more dodgy people, but the streets were a lot quieter at night and that made me feel quite vulnerable.

I feel a million times safer in the mad streets of Brixton - at least there are always loads of people around.

 

[gaijingirl]

No need for a Bromley bashing!

We've (you and I) discussed the whole Bromley V Brixton thing many a time and this isn't the right thread to do so again.

The point I was making is Brixton has a serious drug problem that hasn't been mentioned yet. DoUsAFavour should know about it before he moves (apologies if that sounds patronising i'm not very good at explaining myself!) if it doesn't bother him then he should move there, the drug problem is the only reason why I wouldn't live there.

As for the Bromley debate (sorry!), you're right about the drug users not bothering you unlike the white shirt beer boys, but as i'm used to them I find seeing people shooting up more intimidating. Guess you could put it down to ignorance, but you can see my point!

My Mum comes to visit from time to time. I remember the first time I walked her back to Brixton train station. We had to, quite literally, step over blokes sitting on the steps on the way up to the platform busy with their tinfoil... my Mum didn't even register!! Mind you, she'd had a good time that night, so I don't think she was registering all that much... IYKWIM

 

[Carageto]

I wouldn't say I feel less safe in Brixton at night than anywhere else. I've lived here for 6yrs and never had any probs and when I first moved I used to walk back from the last tube most nights.

 

[fanta]

Brixton is as unforgiving and vicious as the rest of London is when you're broke or down on your luck. No fucking difference.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

I disagree fanta...I arrived with nothing, straight out of hospital, penniless and homeless as my home burnt down while I was in hospital and people really were good to me......

 

[suzee blue cheese]

I live in Brixton n' I've never seen anyone shooting up.

Where do you live!! I see people fixing up on a near daily basis in the telephone booths next to the Bodyshop. If I'm wearing sandals, I watch the pavement for discarded sharps when crossing that area because I don't want to end up with one in my foot. While the building at the back of Morleys remained empty, you'd often see a junky or two fixing up into whatever vein they had left be it an arm, a leg or directly into their groin. The whole area was littered with old needles. Have you not noticed the sharps bins around the place? It's there, believe me it's there.

I'll second Brixton overground as being a horrible place - I didn't enjoy the experience of stepping over junkies to get through my front door in Barcelona and I feel pretty much the same way about stepping over them to get a train here. Whether someone fixing up in front of you & your kids is a threat isn't the point, when you stop to think about it, it's just really depressing.

Yes, Brixton has lots of great things about it but it's hardly gods own country. Enough good people have left because they were perhaps unlucky and were on the recieving end of unwelcome attention once too often. And plenty of good people have stayed. You make your choice, you take your chances..

 

[fanta]

Hmmm. Can't beat that market though...

 

[ChrisFilter]

Where do you live!! I see people fixing up on a near daily basis in the telephone booths next to the Bodyshop. If I'm wearing sandals, I watch the pavement for discarded sharps when crossing that area because I don't want to end up with one in my foot. While the building at the back of Morleys remained empty, you'd often see a junky or two fixing up into whatever vein they had left be it an arm, a leg or directly into their groin. The whole area was littered with old needles. Have you not noticed the sharps bins around the place? It's there, believe me it's there.

well, I've only lived her 6/7 months, but have honestly never seen it.. maybe I'm subconciously choosing not to register it or something? I walk past there twice a day n' all.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

Yeah but it happens all the time. Walking past is different from walking through...I don't go to the park near me anymore, and the GDBA have said no way can we exercise the Guide Dog there either....full of sharps....there's usually a junkie with works in his groin...same goes for a lot of places slightly off the main drag....

 

[Mrs Magpie]

...which is not exclusive to Brixton either. I've seen junkies fixing up in many other places all over London.

 

[jannerboyuk]

All London discussions about the safest place are of course relative to other places in London. I lived in Brixton for a year, walking down CHL late at night and although i was aware of some problems it just seemed that the atmosphere was relaxed.
My ex-girlfriend moved to North London (tottenham) and i can barely bring myself to visit. The aggressiveness and attitude of people just stinks and i would prefer Brixton or even Newnham a thousand times to North London.
Cheers
Jeff

 

[bromley]

...which is not exclusive to Brixton either. I've seen junkies fixing up in many other places all over London.

There's places in Bromley that have junkies aswell, kneedles in parks etc. I didn't mean to imply it's exclusive to Brixton.

Brixton is the only br station that i've been to where people have been shooting up on the steps and I wouldn't want to live in a place like that, although they are no bother it's just something that freaks out a guy from the suburbs like myself!

Intressting how people living in Brixton defend it when ever it's being slated whereas people in Bromley argee with them!

 

[suzee blue cheese]

...which is not exclusive to Brixton either. I've seen junkies fixing up in many other places all over London.

Agreed. I'm sure we've both seen junkies fixing up all over the world. It's a depressing sight wherever it's happening.

For all the times I've noticed those phone boxes by Morley's get used for phone calls compared with the many, many more occasions I've seen them occupied by someone cranking up for either a fix or a shit, I think they're long overdue for removal. Perhaps replace them with one of those self-cleaning pay toilets and/or pissoirs. Enough guys use Morley's side doorways as a piss place, or round the corner from what used to be BaseIIBase, it would really help reduce the stench.