Inside London's Most Dangerous Town 🇬🇧
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- Опубликовано: 9 апр 2024
- I had been hanging out in Camden Town with all the tourists, freaks and weirdos, but it was time to get down to business..
I ventured to Croydon in South London. This is an area that has a reputation for high levels of crime. Gang activity is rife in the area and many locals do not feel safe. I took to the streets of the town to chat to the locals about the current situation in early 2024. It was particularly difficult to get people on the street to chat to me on camera, so I do thank those who did. I must say that in general the people I met were friendly, although it was obvious to me there was a heavy atmosphere of danger in the air even in the middle of the day.
Here are links to some statistics referencing the crime numbers in Croydon, and some new articles about recent crimes there too:
Crime & Safety in Croydon, London - crimerate.co.uk/london/croydo....
Croydon Crime Stats - www.plumplot.co.uk/Croydon-cr...
Croydon records highest number of violent offences - www.eastlondonlines.co.uk/202...
Inside the Lawless London borough plagued by life crime - www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...
Knife crime capital of England - news.sky.com/story/croydon-th...
#London #croydon #crime #dangerous #streetinterview #brokenbritain
westminster and parlinment are the most dangerous places in london
Top comment
And Whitehall, always something incredibly evil lurking in Downing Street
@@chuckc7815 Respectable crime.
That's the truth.
Exactly 😂
It’s not just Croydon, the country is a train wreck…
You slowly drop used engine oil into a hot soapy fresh bathtub what happens the British are the hot soapy clean water in the tub mass migration is the used engine oil dripping into it
Yep even Camden, the ''hip'' touristy area he starts in, is looking run down, most of the shops on Chalk Farm Rd behind him are boarded up and graffiti'd there are beggars and people sleeping in tents, and it's dirty and littered.
You can find dregs anywhere,..The wise people know the best places,..
Tell me a place on Earth with western Christian values that's not.....
@@billybatts8283 They must all be great as the rest want to move there.
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Hello how do you make such monthly, I am a born again Christian and sometimes I feel so down 🙁of myself because of low finance but I still believe in God.
Thanks to my Cole_ worker who suggested mrs Sandrina Edmondson
She's a licensed broker here in the states 🇺🇸🇺🇸
Great to see you guys talking about her, she really changed the game for me.
Please how can I contact her? I do love to see for myself?
I broke down in Croydon about 20 years ago. And the guy in the yellow sweater reminded me of the guy who came to my assistance, nobody asked him to, but he did, he let me crash out in his flat, we went for a beer with him and his pals, and he wouldn't take anything from me even though without his help I'd have been totally screwed.
Good people.
Makes you proud to be British
and all he wanted in return was for you to w*nk him off?
That was 20 years ago. Britain has changed immeasurably since then. Your experience unfortunately is well within a bygone era.
@@jamesgraham446 Since when exactly? There's lots of good people around
Louder for all the doom and gloom merchants. The country is in a terrible state because of austerity
Did it ever occur to you that was because the fellow that helped you was actually British? Bet you won’t admit that to yourself, though. But you know it’s true. You really think Midnight Rude Boy at 6:52 is going to extend that kind of local hospitality to you, especially if it happened after sunset?
The majority of Britain has been turned into a futuristic, dystopian horror movie. Thanks Government. It resembles the film, "Escape From New York".
Yes.
ive been thinking this for a while
It’s not the government it’s the council’s
But Snake Plissken isn't going to save us.
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Croydon is definitely not the most dangerous part of London. It’s a concrete jungle.
@@Narrative711nah
It wasn't the most dangerous part .I was in new cross. At the time😂
Bradford is far more dangerous then Croydon!
@@hawky2k215yeah if your a 12 year old girl
@@hawky2k215 Yeah, but nobody goes to bradford unless they are into islams so we leave them to it.
My Mum was a Psychology lecturer back in the 90's when i was growing up as a kid. She had studied at Oxford and knew lots of well-to-do people who were "finacially blessed".
I travelled to London with her one particular weekend and stayed in an incredible multimillion pound residence near Camden which had marble floors and high ceilings. When my Mum and her friend went to sleep i snuck out onto the balcony to smoke a cigarette (i was only 14). As i smoked i looked down on the streets below.
I was absolutely astounded at all the drug dealing, crime, yardies and fights going on in what was supposed to be an afluent area. I ended up sitting there watching the madness unfold for at least an hour before i crept back inside.
I'm no sociology expert but something tells me that London has been full of crime and skulduggery since its inception.
London's always been quite notorious for crime but so has any major city, really.
I can honestly say I wish I moved out of London way before I did. I've been away over 4 years now after 29 years of the craphole that is london.. and even on the rare stint i do go back for a weekend (to see naive family who still live there) I get an overwhelming feeling if dread as the train leaves Newcastle to go down. It's not even just the crime etc.. its just the normal uncriminal people... you smile at someone and they look at you like there's something wrong. Having to analyse everyone instantly.. its draining.. I hate it
That's so true
Very articulate and fair in how you investigate these statistics. Great the way you interview the people who truly know what’s going on- the people who live it in the streets and residents. Great videos my friend! Keep up the great work!!!
I remember Croydon around 1970. Just your normal regular town. Alas all swept away amidst the mass immigration and social replacement.
Dystopia here we come !
I could cry when I see what's become of Croydon. I grew up there in the 70's and it was a fantastic place. It is unrecognisable now to the town i once knew. Like the 62 year old interviewed, I was born in St Mary's maternity hospital back in the mid 60's. I could not have wished to grow up in a nicer area. But like others have said, it's not just Croydon, so many other towns have taken a similar downturn. Though gladly, not all have become as dangerous as Croydon. But honestly, if you could look back in time to the 70's you would not believe you were in the same place. Very sad.
Multiculturalist policy-making did this to Croydon.
Lots of places in the UK were fantastic places to live in the 70s and 80s, but not now. There are other places that were down at heel at that time, such as inner south London, and then became gentrified only to go downhill again.
@@lemsip207 this whole country is being wreckballed at the moment and we haven't even reached the end of that process.
But in another decade it should start to improve again, I can't see this lasting because the countries causing it are on the slide.
agreed from a early 60s born person from Croydon
sad very sad
They are building tower blocks, but most sit empty, Saffron Tower the tallest one with purple and red colours on the outside currently has 66 flats for sale on one website. A one bed flat starts around £70k up to £250k.
The ones that are occupied are going to the new arrivals.
Being from the midlands myself, I could tell exactly where about you are from. Your accent was difficult to place at first. Then I could hear you replacing the “Th” sound of words that begin with “Th”, with a “V” sound and it told me a lot.
I love what you’re doing with your channel and how you confidentially approach people with a plan for your video 👍🏼
Some of the people you interviewed sums it all up perfectly. Especially compared to what London was like 50 years ago
I lived in Mitcham for 41 years and used to go to Croydon every week. It’s definitely not how I remember it from years back.
Mitchum used to be alright
Same as me,used to go to Croydon regularly for the shops and for pie and mash,people were friendly always ready for shits and giggles,never had a drama whilst there,saw a few but never felt uncomfortable or worried
Amazing how it's declined. It was the Saturday shopping destination for Tooting residents😢
I lived in Colliers Wood. Croydon was our go to shopping place.
I lived on the pollards hill estate as a kid back in the 80’s - early 90’s! Went to Alfred Mizen school and my sister went to William Morris! Still remember the library and the shop on the corner by the bus stop! Happy memories!
I dont think Croyden is London's most dangerous town mate. Try the Wandsworth estates after dark. Try the estates of Harlsden -- Stonebridge. Try Woolwich, try Haringey, which had the highest knife crime incidents between 2022 and 2023 (632), followed by Enfield (599) and Barnet (399 incidents). Gun crime: try Haringey and Southwark.
Try House's of Parliament after dark🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯. Its a joke OK calm down😊
Try Newport,Gwent...not even after dark....
We lived in croydon for 60 years was nice place until 20 years ago I hate going back there but have family in south croydon it has changed for the worse to many yobs on the street to much knife crime
Yeah diversity really has worked hasn’t it 🫣
@@EpicAelflaedShame the migrants always get the blame. To be fair, if the British tax payer chose to invest in them and a decent security service, I think things would be different.
I was born in the UK and lived in South London and Bristol but have spent my life in Australia travelling back and forth every 3-5 years for the past 40 years. Parts of those areas have always been rough. However, during that time I have seen quite big changes in places that were once familiar to me. Now I don't really have any urge to return.
Wendell, I appreciate your compassionate approach to these videos. I know some people would characterise it as poverty porn, but you give people a chance to speak and you do so without judgement.
I was there in February 2023. Went to watch a match between crystal palace and Liverpool on a Friday evening. Going back to the Hotel in the Centre ( just opposite that empty shopping center you showed) was quite a scary experience. Some kid cut himself with a flick knife on the bus. The bus floor was full of blood. Some guy took off his shirt and applied it as a tourniquet around the kid’s wrist. I would definitely not have gone had I watched this video first. Didn’t feel safe at all. On the bus afraid to look at anyone just stared outside me and my son and were massively relieved to get back to the hotel safe and sound
Who won the the game?
@@javieralvarez1072 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
you probably stayed at the jury's inn hotel. there's a YMCA across the street. you would have been safer staying on the bus
It was hard growing up in Croydon , got awful after 1999, so glad I escaped to the coast.
I'm staying there now working I'm from Liverpool Yemen it is pretty rough not guna lie 😮
Having lived there, I’d say Tottenham, Bruce Grove and Harringey would give Croydon a run for its money
And Edmonton !
Wonder why
Lol yep my misses lives in Croydon and I lived in West Norwood. I used to go to Bruce Grove a few times a week - seeing someone there - and yes another wonderful diverse place
Do you know muswell hill and crouch end? I grew up there. Lovely place.
Lived in Bruce grove was some spot lol, elephant and castle the road up there to camberwell lived there too mad spot aswel
I can't imagine why someone would choose London to live in. Too expensive, too big, too impersonal and too many weirdoes surround you.
Exaaaaactly!
lazy "men" who don't want to work hard and don't want to learn more languages other than the standard english
Well now, that's the uK
This is true. Even now in Kensington there creep has started. Cayman Islands for me.
I use to work in West Croydon as i lived in Sutton most of my life ,and always went shopping in Croydon there as well as bars and clubs, my cousin lives off London Road, i walked along there last year to her house 20 minutes each way, thankfully didn't see any thing bad going on.
Up until the mid-1980's Croydon was a fantasic town to live and work in, vibrant and full of energy with the best and most varied retail outlets in the whole country, after Harrods and Selfridges (In London), Allders was the largest department store in the UK, and many people to this day thought it was the best to shop in - Not to mention Croydon's two other iconic department stores, Kennards and Grants.
Prior to 1989 when North End was pedestrianised and closed off to traffic, on a Saturday, around Christmas and during the annual shop sales (Without exaggerating), it was impossible to walk along the high street without brushing every single person you passed, to say Croydon was busy back then would be an understatement.
Surrey Street Market has been trading since 1276, one of the oldest markets in the UK and there was a time during the 1970's / 80's when there was up to a five-year waiting list for a stall, and many generations of families worked there.
Today Croydon is a shadow of its former glory, totally neglected with 80% of the shops either dilapidated or boarded up, depressing, filthy and full of unemployed wondering immigrants. This demise is solely due to Croydon Council and the amount of corruption, incompetence, and their mismanagement - Unfortunately not one Council leader was held to account or prosecuted, but instead getting massive financial payoffs and moving on to other high-powered jobs - All well documented.
There is investment but only hungry opportunist investors constructing high-rise low-quality tower blocks, mainly rent only apartments.
Unfortunately, Croydon is not an isolated case, there are literally 100's of other towns and area’s just like Croydon throughout the United Kingdom.
I have travelled and lived in most of Asia and when one compares the United Kingdom to all these other countries you realise just how backward and third word the United Kingdom has become - Extremely sad but 100% fact.
1000% fact and it is extremely sad, really is!
As a son of Croydon (b.1976, Mayday Hospital) educated locally I confirm this is true.
Allders was a massive draw along with Grants. I did OK in life and emigrated from the U.K. (as did many of my peers) several years ago. The past is a foreign country.
Thank you for your comment.
i'm sure that when you were living in Asia the locals were cursing what their community had come to now that unemployed longhaired white people were mooching around their town and degrading their atmosphere!
Croydon is alright. loads and loads of green spaces. loads and loads of great international food and ingredients. great transport, great culture, easy to lose a tail, easy to meet new people.
So you're saying it's only unemployed immigrants walking around? All the English have full time jobs right?
@EhsanMusic
Hello Ehsan, Please take the trouble to read my comment again, then cut and paste where you found the "Only immigrants."
(Prevalence)
Where has our country gone heart breaks ..
The country is fucked !
THE ENGLISH ARE SELLING EVERY CITY OUT TO ISLAM BLACKS & INDIANS
Croydon was a great shopping destination, as a kid I used to get on the 264 bus with my mum and dad from Tooting and go into Croydon often.
As I grew up into my late teens Croydon was a decent night out, many would travel into Croydon from afar to party. Now Croydon in my opinion is a place to avoid, they can build as many souless lego blocks as they want but you can't polish a turd. It's grimy, dangerous and will only get worse. The council are corrupt and useless and any decent people in Croydon have moved away.
The 264! That was my bus too. Yeah, it was a lovely place 20-30 years ago.
Speaks volumes that subtitles are required.
My daughter and son-inlaw will not work in Croydon, colleagues have been targeted by muggers etc....and it's dangerous!
is it heck. have lived here many years. you need to behave sensibly like in any gritty town centre, but its perfectly fine for every day living. your daughter and husband must be a bundle of joy being scared to work in a place blimey.
...keep away from it!
My brother lives there, Rolex watch, houses all around the country & he loves his lifestyle in Croydon
It's a big borough, not just a massive shopping centre.. wouldn't move back there even if my life depended on it.. dung heap..
Really????
Somewhere between Mogadishu mumbai capetown & lagos
welcome to Blairs Britain
Exactly how the govt planned 😮
Lol… Blair bombed Libya .,. To give you modern Britain !!
@@abc33944ghadaffi armed and funded the IRA
@@abc33944wasn't it "call me Dave "?
@@abc33944 Libya totally had it coming. Like a lot of places today. Maybe we did, who knows.
Blairs' Britain?. Last year had record immigration, 1.25 million under a Tory Brexit government that vowed to cut immigration. And these are not white, hard working European immigrants but mostly third world with no assets, few skills and no concept of or desire of UK society.
Fact. There are two thousand and seventy three super rich millionaires living in Croydon. It's true that there are rough parts but there are also hugely wealthy areas in Croydon.
What has that got to do with this? Are they going make Croydon better? Wake up, sheeple.
Very interesting! Looked run down espec for London. Broken window theory? Thanks for risking your neck! The people u interviewed seemed really nice - impressively strong too considering their environment. If I lived there I think itd probably break me. Excellent report thanks!
My view on Croydon, I grew up here from 1982 onwards, then it was a very middle class area, great community spirit it was mainly white then. When the housing prices went up in nearby areas like Brixton, Battersea, Clapham and such. Resulted in an influx of people from rougher areas moving in as they could sell their homes , move to Croydon get a better home with money left over. They brought that more ghetto culture to the area, be it violent crime, and drug culture. This resulted with a lot of people moving out to towards coulsdon, redhill, Guildford and outside of London. The area has been neglected by the government and council as it mainly minorities and poorer English people. Where areas like Brixton and Clapham have gone through regeneration, Croydon ha gone through degeneration. The council has mismanagement public funds , fraudulent council staff, council being bankrupt, councils placing ridiculous charges making it not viable in terms of business. Croydon also has a massive rat infestation problem. Croydon is okay if your don’t present as vulnerable in terms of how you carry yourself. No local resources for the youth, no support for the vulnerable, local healthcare extremely poor, as the chap stated local hospital which use to be called Mayday is referred to as Maydie. I could go on and on, really sad when you think of the potential in the area, nice buildings, good transport link’s. On a governmental level no discipline in school, teachers are unable to effectively correct misbehaving children, like wise parents have their hands tired. This lack of discipline in the homes and schools just extends to the local and greater community, were some youngsters feel they can do what they like with no repercussions. A lot could be nipped in the bud if deal with it effectively at school level and homes
I was born in Luton 1980, lived in the burbs and London for a while. The further you move out the better your life gets.
Until Covid19, they managed to wreck almost every other place during that time. Now the country is a smouldering pile of faeces and not even as bad as it will get.
Well said bro. Very much spot on! I was born in Brixton and grew up there all my life (early 90s). I watched areas and estates around me getting gentrified, my old friends who were in the life of crime and many others who grew up in Brixton and neighbouring areas, were forced to move out from their council homes and homes they had on mortgages and given money to move out of the area, most of my friends moved further down south (South Croydon, Croydon, Mitcham, Thorton Heath) this was around 2006, even though Brixton was once the gun crime, and drug capital of London, over the years we heard and saw crime rates sore in Croydon whilst crime in Brixton started to decrease, .
@@sweetbutshowa Where are the other 7 comments gone? Lol wow free speech is another thing that this country can no longer boast about.
Big Trouble In Little Britain. Great.
Bang on assessment. I went school in Croydon. Everything you said is 100% fact
What about horley, is that OK as currently in the process of buying a house there?
Got out of Wandsworth 5 years ago, would never live there again.
We are ethnically being driven out of our own country, change has to happen
The prison or the borough?😉
Armed resistance
I agree
So what happened to chav towns like Jaywick? There are no ethnic people there.
Too late for changes…much too late.
The state of any town, city or country is a direct reflection of the people that live there...
The people have been changed so the state of the place has changed accordingly.
Croydon is not the worst. Try around Camberwell.
Good video mate. I'm from London north. Where you were, I had passed by there few weeks ago...smh.. absolutely dreadful mate. Bleak, depressing. When I went to visit my mates in Swansea,(townhill, mayhill) it was similar. England unfortunately is falling apart. I guess everywhere has its no- go zone. Be safe mate, cheers 👊🏻
No go zone, but you go there? Stop talking shite
Back in the 60`s, when I was a teenager, Croydon was a nice and popular place. Good shops, bowling alley and some decent pubs and clubs around and I did my apprentice training in Croydon Technical College. My in laws came from Roundshaw, a rough estate from when it was built, but most of the people were OK. Then the Home Office building opened in Wellesly Road, and it attracted the cause of the current problems, who were housed in the local area. Now, it`s a right shit hole.
Even in the late 90s Croydon was good. Buzzing night life with loads of clubs and bars. The Whitgift Centre at the weekend was so busy and full of people shopping it took ages just to get up the road. Its interesting you mentioned the Home office. Croydon has a lot of immigration with west croydon in this vid, a hub, I'd say 90% of the people are immigrants. Nice to see people from literally all over the world in one area but 90%? Theres an alarming amount of mental health issues and homelessness too.
@@VikViking121 It its very sad to witness the decline in real life, I sadly still live just up the road an I am called an old codger by now
Yes I use to go to Croydon in the 70s to see Bands at the Greyhound on a Sunday Night great times .Status Quo played there all the time .Spent some time in the pubs in South Croydon ,Worked At Dees of Croydon as well .I also attended Croydon Tech for a while, but I thought in those days they classed it as being in Surrey ???But I wouldn't visit it today times change but not for the better.
I remember the bowling alley in croydon in the 60s .we used to sit in there
Now they've literally closed all the clubs besides 2 and most pubs and closed but still some open. The night life is beyond sht now.
So many good people struggling is heart breaking. Thank you for giving them a voice on youtube.
What makes them good? Most of the people he spoke to were alcoholics, delinquents and people living off benefits. Nothing good about them!
What? He talks over most of them with leading questions.
Failed society
I lived in Belize Park and worked in St. John’s wood in 2000 to 2004. Those were both very upscale neighborhoods yet. People frequently had bars on their windows. Further, I had one experience where I was concerned that an older neighbor might be having some problems and we called the police. They told us to call the noise police. There was no concern about property theft. The one thing you saw was a lot of parking in enforcement.
What have we done to Britain? 🤬🤬🤬
Flooded it with 3rd world.
Yeah it's a wreckage now, but I don't think it's as bad as it will be in another few years.
It's not us it's this Tory government cheap labour they bang on about labour there the the ones who these migrants here to line there pockets and get rich 🤑
@@DailyCorvidmr positive over here 😭🤣
Robert Mawbey. We didn't do it. The evil government did. I hate them.
Great vid. Noticeably fewer interviews and it's interesting people are so much less happy to chat. Keep doing your thing Wendall 👍🏻
At the start of the video I was trying to guess where you were heading. I was so shocked when you said Croydon, my home town. I’ve lived in Australia for the past 6 years and it makes me so sad to see what my home has turned in to.
Why didn't you stay to try and fix the problems in your home town.? You can't moan from afar. You are part of the problem.
Would you stay and fight?
No...
Bye then...
@@Peterbrendanalbertbecause life is for living and exploring new places. Not for being a stick in the mud.
@@kellykelly5291 And that explains why. Thanks.
I can tell you for sure Croydon has hardly changed in the last 6 years. A few extra shops closed down cause of the pandemic like every high street, but lets not pretend it was some fantastic dream place only 6 years ago!!
@@Peterbrendanalbertlike asking why didn’t he become a free mason and run for mayor
Lived round here for a short while last year. One thing that stood out to me was that they'd have security on the doors of the puregym and locks on the female area within the gym. No music was played in the gym, instead the guys would come in playing their portable speakers from their backpack. Never felt safe walking home late after a workout with all the nutters around.
As a young lad in the 1970's a posh English family moved to my Scottish village from Croydon. At that time, i assumed Croydon was a rather nice town.
The only part of London I've ever lived in was Woolwich way back in 1984/5.
Went back for a visit, in 2012 and the whole place was completely different!
It felt like I was in foreign city.
Unfortunately immigration has destroyed not only Croydon but Britain in General. I barely noticed one English person in that video. Seriously where have all the Brits gone? The British government should be absolutely ashamed of what they've done to this country.
the fat woman and the drunk at the station were English
You look like an immigrant yourself 😂😂😂
He literally talks to at least three white people with English accents in the video
Not really, don't blame every immigrant. Many contribute to the economy. Check many Northern cities with white Brits- rough and damgerous too. It's the system, government that allowed poverty. Desperate people can snap.
Well let's face it, most of the British government aren't British! 😄
30 years ago labour flooded Croydon with immigrants and changed it beyond all recognition! I lived in central Croydon for years and we moved to get our children out and into a good area and secondary school.. just after we moved the riots happened.. right down our road! That was confirmation we’d done the right thing .. having said that people in Croydon are generally friendly!
Thirty years ago, the Tories had been in government for fifteen years.
@@lukekelly7371 Croydon Borough Council were controlled by Labour thirty years ago, from 1994 - 2006.
Breaks my heart. Went to school in Croydon my whole life in the 90's and 80's. Once the shopping center deal for Allders and the rest fell through and more people looked for cheaper cost-of-living, it crumbled so quickly. So many of my favorite places are gone. Lovely to see Surrey Street market still there. I still go home to visit every year but you have to know where to go and what time to head inside by.
London is 35% indigenous British. The capital city.
London is 35% skewered dead lambs hanging off metal railings. But it's cool because it has Wendy's.
And yet we get called racist
I was born in London in the early 50s, I still live here, I would put the London indigenous population at around 15%.
I travel all over London and never feel threatened or in danger, maybe because I am no longer a teenager, just a Pensioner
What does that even mean? What do you mean by indigenous British? The Regional ethnic diversity UK government statistics doesn't classify any group as "indigenous British". It uses the terms "White British", "White Other", of which collectively, they weigh in at a sum of 54%. This far outweighs any other individual ethnic group, and far outweighs "Black" and "Asian" which together has a sum of 34%. Stats taken from: www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/uk-population-by-ethnicity/national-and-regional-populations/regional-ethnic-diversity/latest/
@@albert21able yeah the people talking like it's the South side of Chicago are people who live in county durum and further afield and very rarely visit London. I've felt less safe on bristol than I have in London.
London is just disgusting I hate modern London. Back in the 90s it was ok, but I avoid it like it's a plague rat these days!
and every other city is going the same way.
So much worse when I moved there in the 90s. Even King’s Cross is amazing nowadays. You don’t like shit areas getting nicer? You preferred Peckham and Hackney in the 90s? Surely not.
Virtually all areas in zone 1 ,2 and 3 are better.
I lived in Croydon for 33 years, when I had enough money to buy a property I decided to move to East Grinstead. I never had any trouble in Croydon, but even in my lifetime it changed drastically. I wouldn't feel safe going down London Road at night at all. I still work near East Croydon station so I'm there once a week or so. Still feels like home. Great video, really interesting to read some of the comments.
Good video but I have to critique you on some of your points/musings about Croydon. I think you've read some puff pieces about it.
Contrary from being 'on The Up' Croydon is in steep decline.
-The residential prices are actually insanely high, not affordable. And with more London professionals and office workers able to work from home for some of the week people are moving further down the train line where they can get houses for the same prices they can get a tiny flat in Croydon.
-On the commerical front, Croydon was a retail town for decades, and at one point people came from quite far away for the shopping. As a result of council mismanagement and increased competition elsewhere from places like Westfield in London. Croydon's retail sector has been declining since the early 2000s. The COVID lockdowns essentially finished off most of what was limping on. The remaining big chain stores that are left are dropping out 1 by 1. And the smaller high street stores are either abandoned/derelict or occupied by take-aways and vape shops. There's no real retail here now.
On the office space side of things, there's basically a whole road of empty office buildings 5 minutes from the station.
On top of all of that the council has been bankrupt 3 times in recent years, so we have less and less services, but ridiculously high council taxes. A 2 bedroom flat will run you about £2400 a year in council tax.
In short Croydon is in late stage decline, with no real prospect of it turning around. Most people with the means to are either leaving or looking to leave as soon as they can.
100 per cent facts.
I was born in Mayday in 1976. Educated locally. University was my ticket out of Croydon. Exited HMS U.K. in 2015 for safer, warmer, cheaper, more meritocratic climes.
My grandparents moved out of central London to Croydon in the 1940s, it was a prosperous town near the ‘countryside’, many happy memories, I went to school there and worked there for several years and it was always thriving, I remember everyone coming out of shops and offices to watch the Olympic torch procession in 2012!
Rapidly went downhill in last 10 years, I only live a few miles further out but never go there 😢
Would have been good to look at the history as well, the Almshouses, the Minster and the Palace!
I lived in S London for 25 years and hated every moment. When we retired I told my husband (Born and raised in Brixton), that I was not staying in London anymore. Eventually he saw the sense and we moved 12 years ago. I miss Croydon and Bromley for shopping but that is all.
I used to manage the Riley's club there in the 90s, travelled there often to a shop I like but that was 20 years ago after. It is mass uncontrolled migration, legal and illegal that is dragging everywhere down.
The town centre in Croydon has gone massively down over the last 10/12 years. The High Street used to be buzzing. The Whitgift shopping centre (where you go to here) was meant to have a complete refurbishment in to a Westfield which has been stalled for years. This has meant the town centre retail hasn’t been invested in at all as there is the potential for this to come along. A previous Labour run council invested very badly in housing projects and commercial property which bankrupted the council. High property prices have pushed some in now more gentrified areas of Brixton and Peckham in to cheaper Croydon. The North is very different to the South. The worst parts of Croydon are in the North, Thornton Heath and Selhurst are particular problem areas for crime etc. They are worse than where you are here. Sanderstead and Selsdon in the South are far more affluent and are much safer. Other tough areas of London are some parts of Brixton, Tottenham and North Peckham
Yeah the area he spent most of the video in has gotten really hurt by the general decline in brick&mortar retail. Even 10 years ago there was a lot of activity in the Whitgift Centre and in that stretch of North End. The rougher elements where there as well but you might not notice them much in a sea of shoppers. Now retail footfall is so much lower and the whole atmosphere is grim.
Still, it's hardly an excursion into a warzone... you're just a few minutes walk from Boxpark, random indie coffee houses, etc. During daytime I wouldn't worry about that patch at all. Despite its current state it's still a commercial area that people go to all the time. There are worse areas in Croydon and in London more generally.
People shopping online has partially caused this. It's not always cheaper as then you have to pay shipping costs. They do that mostly because they get harassed by drug dealers, beggars, hawkers, and chuggers in town and city centres. I try and buy what I can in supermarkets and then suburban shops before I go to the city centre.
All over the UK shopping centres are empty.
@laurastuart3814 Malls were often built at the height of a boom and completed just around the start of a recession.
@kscterry "A previous Labour run council invested very badly in housing projects and commercial property which bankrupted the council." Says it all really doesn't it? Them and the scumbag tories have ruined our once great country.
dude thankyou for doing what u do, Much respect.
I was born in and spent the first 40 years of my life in nearby Sutton but moved to the south coast about 30years ago. In those days everyone used to go to Croydon for the shops, night clubs and 'in' pubs, so I found this video SO depressing. The thought of re-visiting Croydon, after watching this, is BOTTOM of my bucket list.
Hello Wendell, glad to see you back my friend. Love your videos. We love you here in northern California. Thanks for all your hard work my friend peace and God bless.🙏💯💙🇺🇸
Cheers mate
These places are nothing on Oakland!
@@Westhamsterdam I’m from London and spent some time in Oakland, what an absolute hole. Feel very sorry for the locals with so many implants from all over the US going there. What a true dump.
A good old English city, well it used to be
honestly the place is buzzing these days. yeah the threat of death is always present, but outside of that its got everything.
Still is. What do you expect the centre of a once global empire to be like?
Camden still feels that way. Very british style of punk rock etc
The surprises of Multiculturalism
🟥 🟧 🟨 🟩 🟦 🟪 🟫 ⬛ ⬜
God bless the English language
That Whitgift shopping centre is absolutely incredible. I remember being brought shopping there before Christmas with my parents when I was a kid (so you're talking 25 years ago - I'm 33 now) and it was heaving with colour and Christmas lights and busy people and happy crowds and packed shops and so on. To see it just utterly collapse in that space of time is mental.
A while back I got stranded in Croydon overnight, I had a really nice homeless man, offer me what little change he had so I could get a bus to Brixton, obviously I didn't accept, but every encounter I have had with people from Croydon has been positive. There are some really good souls there!
I wonder what could have caused Croydon to have become such a violent dump?!?!
We all know why.
Walking up from Mayday Hospital a couple of years ago thought entering a third world country .
@@philhawley1219oh we sure do pal
Blacks?
There are many social reasons,but the main reason is crap policing, I'm ex met .....
The empathy you have in this FIRST video i watched of yours made me subscribe. Bless you man ...
So happy that I left the UK 26 Years ago, I knew Croydon very well difficult to see it Now. I have lived in Thailand Teaching English. Now retired I have a great life. Bought a lovely house for a crazy cheap price that I could never have afforded in England. My Thai wife and and I live very comfortably on the State pension.
I left nine years ago, also to teach English (but in central Europe). Quality of life is off the charts! Godspeed.
Why you watching this then?
@@chriswalton4955 because he knew Croydon well , hence an interest as to what it's become ,the same as me who grew up in the area & moved away,curious to see it as it is today , is it really that hard to understand?
The market he was on around 15:00 is Surrey Street Market. It's been there nearly 1000 years. It's around 800 but some people say it goes even older than 1000 years to the Anglo Saxons.
"Fugue for a Darkening Island" by Christopher Priest tells the story of Croydon and the UK, written 50 years ago but spot on with its predictions. Life goes on.
Now there was a writer.
Thank you for that. I've never heard of it until now. I have just ordered a copy!.
Death goes on.
House sold, money in the bank. Backpacking in Asia. Missing England wanting to buy a house in horley.
@@Goodman849stay in Asia tou traitor
Immigration has destroyed my city of London
And the uk
How's Brexit turning out for you, then? Oh, and the next time you see a doctor that is of a different colour or has a foreign accent, don't forget to let them know your views, and that you'd prefer not to be treated by them. Let me know how that goes.
@@everettscott4745See a doctor !! You mean the ones coming off the dinghy. When I was young you went to the doctor's surgery in the morning and waited your turn Always got seen before midday. No such thing as appointments. If you were too ill to visit surgery the doctor made house later in the afternoon. Now it's a joke.
@@philipnapier3585 Dang, man, how old are you? That was then, and this is now. Rice is no longer sold in brown paper bags from corner shops. This is called CHANGE. It always amazes me when people hark on about a past that never existed. It's an era of romantic make-belief. Do you also remember men wearing donkey jackets, delivering sacks of coal, and the chimney sweep?
I don't know how you're conflating 'immigration' in one sentence with those 'coming off the boat'. Just twaddle.
@@philipnapier3585 but what does that have to do with immigration?
I was born in Lewisham in the 70s. It was always poor and scruffy, but it was safe and had a community. The place changed beyond all recognition for various reasons. My Dad moved us away and it was the best thing we ever did. My Aunt and Uncle are the only members of the family who are still there. They are trapped. They are the only Londoners living on her street. Everyone else escaped or died.
Thanks for your videos. Good social documentation. It’s important.
I moved to Croydon from Nottingham when I was 18, and I never personally felt in any danger because I'm very aware and street smart, but I witnessed a lot. Decided enough was enough when not only a kid was stabbed to death across the road from my house, but someone also got shot, so I moved myself and my kids to Kent.
Hope you and your kids feel safer and happier now in Kent.
THESE CRIMES KEEP TAKING PLACE IN ALL PARTS OF LONDON AND NOT JUST CROYDON.
What is the real cause of this? There are places that are poorer than Croydon.
BECAUSE OF LACK OF DISCIPLINE. MOST OF THEM WERE BROUGHT UP WITH NO FATHERS TO ENFORCE THE DISCIPLINE WHICH THEY NEEDED, DURING THEIR CHILDHOOD
Great video Wendell..
Be mindful in some of these places even in daylight..🙌🏼✌🏼
Croydon is dystopian, but it also has a strange vibrance to it. I don't think having the home office based there helps. There was a good range of restaurants in South Croydon when I was there and nice pubs too. You could also get a good price for just about anything if you knew where to shop. I prefer Croydon to places like Elephant and Castle. North London can seem sterile at times. But ultimately, it comes down to the fact the UK as a country has been in steady decline for decades. Lack of visible investment and a huge brain drain.
This is something of which you're so proud you're broadcasting it to the world...
Mass immigration has got a lot to answer for
Karma for colonising half the planet. Can't go thieving around for few centuries and expect no repercussions.
So you admit that 3rd world migrants are a punishment? Because they certainly don’t benefit us
@@sureduckkarma my arse,and you overlook the fact Britain has given billions of the tax payers money away in world aid for decades,so you are chatting absolute fraph
@@frankiekimber3973Read and learn something, I won't live forever. Britain profited from slavery and a theft of resources for centuries. How do you think London and other cities/towns were built? Not to mention it killed millions of indigenous people in the empire, with famines and brutality. So spare me your outrage.
All developed countries do foreign aid, Britain isn't special and doesn't give the most either, so I don't see how's that an argument.
Should of stopped them coming in 70 years ago, its like letting mice and rats into your home for life .
Not many places in London are good anymore
I live in SW London and it's OK round here
I think he meant for visitors, I have to agree I totally avoid London now. Since about mid 2018 it's been bad to visit.
@@SOLXXX41yup Kingston bruv
Rubbish 😂Mayfair is beautiful so is loads of places in London. How shallow .
@@paulsmith2823I used to live in Kingston 😂Hounslow is worse
Wendell sir, it's because the police have withdrawn from the streets over decades from foot patrols that crime across the country, including Croydon, has gone up. The police are supposed to prevent crime before it happens by a visible presence, not react to it afterwards.
I was at Camden Market on 3rd April about 4pm so I might have seen you. I walked past the guy with the mohican. He was singing with two other blokes, it put a smile on my face, they were pretty happy. It was really good there. Some strange things to see in the stalls.
Top video Wendall. I have only been to Croydon once when I traveled from the Black Country down there for work at the council depot. Driving through the local area was enough to back up comments on the video and that was a number of years ago now. Keep up the good work! …. Smithy
Just discovered the channel mate watched a few videos and loving the content bro keep it up 🎉🎉
I've lived near Croydon and now the West Country. Just as likely to get stabbed in our local town as in Croydon. Poverty and deprivation caused by politicians, has broken Britain.
Yes exactly, where there is poverty there is crime and there is poverty everywhere. This video is so misleading. Nothing to do with diversity or race.
Hi mate, i'm following you from Paris, as a french who used to live in London (Willesden Green) for two years, between 2001 and 2003. It seems that London, and England overall, is much more dangerous now. Anyway, i still love your country and english people as well ! Good job, love your vids, mate !
Croydon McDonalds has a walk through airport style metal detector before you go in. Enough to make you lose your appetite
Or the will to live ?
All security is either BLACKS or Asians ..welcome to the UK Rule Brittania 😄😄😁😁😁😁😂
But there's plenty of chef knives behind the counter. 🤔 😳
😂
Born and bred here. Growing up in the 80s and 90s was great, I only remember good things about it friends family Whitgift was a vibrant shopping area along with the new Drummond centre which is now centrale. Had three cinemas, London road was always safe to walk down even at night.They had a massive Victorian department store called allders everyone was for healthy and worked had good incomes as they commuted from the city. Then labour took over the running of the council A bad bunch moved in, the people who grew up there all fled to Sussex, Essex etc not a good thing to abandon your home town but what was left then started to decline rapidly throughout the 2000s and never worked its way back again, so it is what it is now ☹️
I also grew up there in the 80-90s and 100% agree I have nothing but good memories but I moved away in 98" sad to see what it's become
I grew up in Hackney mate.. it makes Croydon look like wonderland. If you go to a club and they ask if you got any weapon's and you say no, they give you one.
Clearly a long time since you were in Hackney boy
Love Hackney. So nice nowadays
@@JohnSmith-sm7ez yeah, it's been ethnicity cleansed. The soul has gone out of it .
I lived in Croydon for 6 months back in the 80's, it was a burgeoning sh1th0le then, heading towards the heart of darkness without a return ticket. The Police were present, walking the beat! One even told me to stop running - me and my mate were having a race - which I found most puzzling because we were young and wanted to run, coming from a rural part of the country I found that alien, like being told not to breathe. I understood a little later why the sight of young men running was a trigger to cops.
The Whitegate centre was bustling, bought some great records there. Shopped in that open air market, glad to see that it's still there. That was a nice part, nice people.
Did have some fun though.
Give Harlesdon a look. Makes Croydon look peaceful
💯
I know Harlesden very well, I went through there last Friday around 9 pm, no problem.
I went to church in Harlsden and school in Croydon. Only saw shit happen in Stockwell, bits of Brixton (the ungentrified bit), Camberwell and Newham where I worked for 3 years each
Grew up there.
Left when I was 15.
It was an S hole then and it's worse now.
Harlesden homeless rats & mice are now moving to Croydon.
I used to work as a manager for the Vue cinema in Croydon and the upper ups told me to tell the poor kids that worked there to confront and stop some black hoodlums to stop stealing sweets/getting free refills. Those workers were jumped by the kids after their shift and never came back. Those jobs had a very high turnover as many quit w/o ever saying anything. I see Croydon is still a shithole but I'm glad I'm no longer in the UK. I don't believe it will be getting better in the next few decades.
I emigrated in 2015. From Croydon too. I watch the decline of the UK with no joy. But it didn't reward competence, so I took my skills to central Europe.
I was in London as a tourist by my self when I was 16 years old. That was in 1985. Times have changed for sure!
If you think so many cultures can live together in harmony, wish it could but sadly it cant
True. You can't put cats and dogs in a room, close the door, and expect them all to get along. It will come to a violent head at some point. It's for the same reason all creatures in nature from lions to ant colonies, have their own territory and will fight to the death to defend it. Any creature in nature without it's own territory or habitat in which to raise its own young and carry on its way of life soon goes extinct. That's a fact. In Africa, lions, cheetahs, and leopards are all "cats" but maintain completely separate territories for these very reasons, as do all creatures in nature. Humans use to do the same until only about 100 years ago. When you break a law of nature, you're in for a very hard lesson.
Our first family Television was a Philips Television manufactured in Croydon circa 1973
A Philips G8 by any chance?
@@PrinceJohn84 don't know. All I can tell you there were 6 buttons for different channels : As this was for the Irish market, 2 buttons were RTÉ 1 and rte 2.
I managed to put it out of order a couple of times ( born 1972 ) : very bad idea to turn this thing back in again just after turning it off. It ended its days being used for my Atari ST.
How fascinating,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Back in the day when Britain had production and the stuff they pumped out was super awesome.
These days the only super awesome finds are American fast food chains for junkies.
Yes my dad and brother worked at the Phillips factory
I was born in Mayday hospital and grew up in Thornton Heath. Along with W Croydon, probably the roughest parts of the borough. Croydon is one of the largest London boroughs, with some very nice and wealthy areas, but varies greatly. I left in 1991 and don't think I'd go back.
Black Swan demolished now a block of flats I think
Where do you live now?
also | was born mayday hospital early 60s also grew up Thornton heath went to ECclesbourne school then Whitehorse manor then moved to Shirley
moved away 2001 and wont be going back
@@James-jd6in Nor would I, even the British Army would have problems at night in that stinking filthy rough place full of B.....Ba,,rds
I went to do a scene in a rap video in Thornton Heath, and the camera man was attacked when arriving, though i did not see it. Truthfully not an area where I would mess with anyone.
Left London 22 years ago. The spirit of London has gone along with the original people. Those few that are left have been pushed out and marginalized. Our politicians have sold us out, London has been lost forever.
I grew up in Croydon and moved away with my parents at 17, I’m. 61 now. There were places that were rough then but a visit to the Whitgift centre 5 years ago broke my heart to see how run down it was. I was also struck by how friendly and engaging strangers were, something I have brought with me through the years but had forgotten how prevelent it is in Croydon you noticed it too. Good old Surrey street market looked like a shadow of what I remember back in the day you couldn’t move down there.
I used to wander all those streets in the middle of the night without a care for my safety. You wouldn’t catch me out there after dark these days it’s becoming a sad world😢
Croydon the most dangerous place in London!?!? LOOOOL Even in the local area, Streatham, Peckham and Lewisham are more dangerous places to go. Croydon is a shopping centre.
Definitely Lewisham and some parts of Peckham. Streatham not so much now. Because Croydon is so big, it gets more attention than the other worse places.
Brixton is the worse, far more gangs than anywhere else. Lewisham is better than West Croydon. South Croydon and East Croydon are not bad places. Its West Croydon and Thornton Health that's more problematic.
@@shanaazcloete8531Brixton isn't that bad now. Gentrification has changed the demographics for good and bad, but for crime, it's nowhere near as rough as it used to be. It's more full of yuppies than criminals nowadays.
Try anywhwere in Newham.
Toooooootenham , North London Jungle !
Born, raised and still living in Croydon. Whilst crime is still a major issue here, I feel as though a lot of it usually happens between parties who are already on bad terms with each other (e.g. gang or school related) and if you just keep to yourself you'll be fine. It really is sad to see the state Croydon is in, though. I have very pleasant memories of being a kid in the 2000s and messing about in the Whitgift Centre with my brother whilst on a shopping trip with our mum. Went back in there recently and I honestly could not believe how hauntingly quiet it is. Most people nowadays will just go to Bromley or Sutton (also going downhill a bit) for all their shopping needs.
You mean criminals keep committing crimes.... Shocking
England is the 3rd world
..but just carry on bending over England
@@cantagiousca5220you don't know what you are talking about do you?
Open your eyes. Awaken from your happy nostalgic images.
Its beyond The Crusades 4.
Thats why we went there x3 times. To avoid this.
1.2 MILLION PER YEAR EVERY YEAR. explosive exponential breeding.
Its over. Keep the memories.
@@007JNR
I'm not from the UK but I come from very humble beginnings and videos like this make me nostalgic.
The man with the dirty yellow top is a legend. Had a rough life but gets his points across very well
Croydon used to be Surrey.
As far as rough sections of major cities go, that doesn't look very bad on video. Be interesting to get your perspective in cities here across the pond. Great vid as usual.
Vlogging in the hood? I don't think that's a good idea.
Oakland U.S. some parts of Luisiana
Yeah roughness is very much relative. You have to remember that the murder rate in London is around 12 per million, which is peanuts compared to most major cities in the US.
Croydon is rough by London standards, but there are tons of places more dangerous in the US.
He's only on the town centre that's why it didn't look so bad
Not half as bad as many US cities, its definitely not a ghetto. However, compared to what it was like 20 years ago, the change downwards has been incredible and fast.
I lived and worked in Croydon since I was 13 in the 1980s and 90s I worked in Co-op, WH Smith, The Greyhound carvery as a chef and then in 2000 moved to the coast and I've only been back there about 5 times since. Croydon was my life. It was always busy daytime and nightlife was good. West Croydon is just a small part, it's always been home to the Asian community but it's where a lot of other migrants are housed now. South and east Croydon are more affluent and built up. It's sad to see the empty Whitgift Shopping centre, the boarded up empty shops. But that's the same with all big towns now. Absolutely right about the lack of police. They're not doing their job properly. They turn up after a crime when the damage is done. Maybe if their was more police presence, and the friendly bobby seen walking about the streets then there wouldn't be so much crime. A lot of violence is often domestic which is something that is difficult to police, but is still a sad statistic today.
I lived in Morden up the Road, and Croydon was our Saturday shopping venue, 20 years ago we moved up North, but I'm stunned at how it's fallen apart , those shopping centres were absoloutely heaving back then, but it's slowly just bled to death economically , and sadly literaly too, the place was once up for City status, tragic.
Good video wendel, if you like rough places mate you should try Easterhouse in Glasgow. Love your stuff mate 👍
Lol he won’t have the stones to go to a Glasgow estate
Im from Croydon and can vouch for this one lol east end Glasgow looks like they're recovering from a war that never happened
Great video, I used to work in West Croydon 10 years ago it was the same as described by the people that you spoke with. If you do not go out looking for trouble you will be fine. That shopping centre was meant to demolished and replaced with a Wesrfields10 years ago. Lastly housing in Croydon is also unaffordable and people are being squeezed by greedy entities.