Noone should be scared to walk anywhere at whatever time of night in a civilised society
Obviously it's not ideal, but if the council stopped being shite and actually installed the cameras and lighting that was promised 2/3 years ago, we'd be in a better place
Before the recent cabinet change, they were chasing after road name changes and BS like that instead
This is a terrible crime and shame on the attacker(s), but a few years ago a man was mugged after nightfall and I thought, I would never walk through the park late. This is not victim blaming. In a perfect world, everyone would be able to do what they want, but it isn't. And I really think a lot of people since gentrification see the area as very safe, which it isn't Be careful. In my drinking days, after getting off the tube I took a sneaky leak when that cut-through opened near the bridge opposite SG entrance to FP station. and I was looking every which way. I only did it a few times. Again, men and women, of every type, be careful.
There was a time (I don’t know how long ago this stopped being the case) when the park was closed during darkness. Perhaps if the authorities can’t/won’t improve the security of the park, rather than advising people against using the park at night (I don’t know whether they do even that), they should resume this practice; Attending to the gates twice a day would probably be less costly than installing and maintaining sufficient lighting and surveillance equipment, or having the park patrolled.
@kreuzkav Gentrification??? That’s a laugh (For a start, I’M still here!) Any discernible gentry are in a tiny minority, as far as I can tell. Perhaps they become assimilated by shopping at Tesco and appear just like the rest of us?
Apparently closing the park gates at night is a longrunning and complicated saga. I've lost track of where it got to but the last I remember is that the Council were refusing to close the gates because it took two members of staff to do it and they didn't want to allocate the man power to the job. Does seem very short sighted . . .
I don't think there's any need to blame the council for locking the gates. Should they put up higher walls ? Basic common sense. Don't walk in a park in darkeness. Jeez. It's up to you. I wouldn't jump from a boat into the ocean. I can swim, but I'm not a strong swimmer.
Scruffy, gentrification is a term as you probably know about the middle class upscaling an area. Sure, it's not so bad. It's added to the area. But I think the side-effect could be people feeling the good vibe spreads to the park, after dark. And I wish people could walk the streets and park any time of night but I look over my shoulder on quiet streets late at night and I have a bit of self-defence skills and as an ex-athlete who won competitions I still can run like a gazelle at 50. And I would never dream of walking through the park by myself late from late evening to late morning,.
And this isn't about me or my rants about gentrification. It's about people being careful out there. I'd love to hear no more stories of rape, muggings, attacks in park aor anywhere else. Sadly that won't happen everywhere but please keep away from the park when it's dark or unpopulated. Take care.
My point, @kreuzkav , is that you obviously CAN’T rely on people’s common sense or knowledge of the neighbourhood, which is why I argue that the park should be closed at night time. The fact that it’s left open at night might suggest to a (stupid) person that it’s considered safe by the council.
“Gentrification” had significant currency in the 1980’s. Now it's more of an estate agent’s term used to promote property in undesirable areas. (See “polishing the turd”.)
I always take "Gentrification" to mean things like The Larrick turning (back) into The Stapleton Tavern and losing the pool tables, the Spoons turning into a more expensive offering, betting shops closing etc.
The end result of Gentrification always seems to be areas only populated by the very rich and very poor, all happy and totally boring until something heinous happens to one of the very rich people.
I think London is turning back from it in some areas (like this one), possibly because the council are not doing a Hackney and knocking every block down and replacing them with mega expensive apartments along with basically banning nightlife.
Venice Beach in 2021 is the perfect example of the worst end result in my opinion, total nightmare of tents on one sidewalk and million pound apartments on the other.
@Ali The ban on high value slot machines is not the reason that bookies are closing; they were simply a more efficient way of taking someone’s money and a lobbying point for big firms.
If someone has got £200 burning a hole in his / her pocket then it is going in that slot machine one way or another, or it is going on the 3.30 at Kempton.
Bookies are still prevalent in areas of high foot flow where people have disposable assets like SGR and there’s about six on SSR.
When I started work 2578 years ago it was normal for the whole firm to read the Racing Post in the morning, stop the vans to run into the bookie and put bets on throughout the day and stop work to watch or listen to races.
Bookies then were called things like ‘Ron Smith Racing’ and were banged out all day long but like everything else they have been bought out by the bigger firms, asset stripped and closed in favour of online gambling when the leases on shops expired.
@LukeG As far as I understand Islington do not force residents out to areas in Kent and Essex like most other councils do (they might, but I have never heard of it).
In contrast Haringey have purchased large plots of land in Essex to build properties.
I suspect that this will be the next attempt to get rid of Broadwater Farm and the Northumberland Park estates and residents, again I just do not hear of Islington trying to shift residents this way or levelling blocks left right and centre to make room for luxury flats.
For a totally different example, when the White Lion first reopened I went in and was served by a female who I can only describe as speaking to me like she just stepped out of Cowes Week and I had just stepped out of an episode of Rab C Nesbitt, she was truly awful and shockingly rude to what she obviously deemed as the local riff-raff.
Anyway, so I get my drink and lo and behold the guy who gets served behind me literally cracks her full force right around the face!
Clearly I do not condone giving anyone a right hander but I cannot say that I was particularly surprised.
The other male members of staff hid and I stepped in with a different (absolutely heroic) barmaid who told the guy he obviously had to go or he was going to get restrained and nicked.
So the pub totally misread the area and clientele however it is nothing like that now, the Aussie guy that runs it does it very well and it feels inclusive for all, I simply do not understand why some pubs find this hard to comprehend.
On a lighter note, Morley’s, Lidl and the knocking shops are definitely fighting the good fight against gentrification.
Comments
Strangely it is on the Evening Standard site when viewed on a phone but not on my desktop.
Noone should be scared to walk anywhere at whatever time of night in a civilised society
Obviously it's not ideal, but if the council stopped being shite and actually installed the cameras and lighting that was promised 2/3 years ago, we'd be in a better place
Before the recent cabinet change, they were chasing after road name changes and BS like that instead
@kreuzkav Gentrification??? That’s a laugh (For a start, I’M still here!) Any discernible gentry are in a tiny minority, as far as I can tell. Perhaps they become assimilated by shopping at Tesco and appear just like the rest of us?
Scruffy, gentrification is a term as you probably know about the middle class upscaling an area. Sure, it's not so bad. It's added to the area. But I think the side-effect could be people feeling the good vibe spreads to the park, after dark. And I wish people could walk the streets and park any time of night but I look over my shoulder on quiet streets late at night and I have a bit of self-defence skills and as an ex-athlete who won competitions I still can run like a gazelle at 50. And I would never dream of walking through the park by myself late from late evening to late morning,.
“Gentrification” had significant currency in the 1980’s. Now it's more of an estate agent’s term used to promote property in undesirable areas. (See “polishing the turd”.)
The end result of Gentrification always seems to be areas only populated by the very rich and very poor, all happy and totally boring until something heinous happens to one of the very rich people.
I think London is turning back from it in some areas (like this one), possibly because the council are not doing a Hackney and knocking every block down and replacing them with mega expensive apartments along with basically banning nightlife.
Venice Beach in 2021 is the perfect example of the worst end result in my opinion, total nightmare of tents on one sidewalk and million pound apartments on the other.
slots capped.
If someone has got £200 burning a hole in his / her pocket then it is going in that slot machine one way or another, or it is going on the 3.30 at Kempton.
Bookies are still prevalent in areas of high foot flow where people have disposable assets like SGR and there’s about six on SSR.
When I started work 2578 years ago it was normal for the whole firm to read the Racing Post in the morning, stop the vans to run into the bookie and put bets on throughout the day and stop work to watch or listen to races.
Bookies then were called things like ‘Ron Smith Racing’ and were banged out all day long but like everything else they have been bought out by the bigger firms, asset stripped and closed in favour of online gambling when the leases on shops expired.
In contrast Haringey have purchased large plots of land in Essex to build properties.
I suspect that this will be the next attempt to get rid of Broadwater Farm and the Northumberland Park estates and residents, again I just do not hear of Islington trying to shift residents this way or levelling blocks left right and centre to make room for luxury flats.
For a totally different example, when the White Lion first reopened I went in and was served by a female who I can only describe as speaking to me like she just stepped out of Cowes Week and I had just stepped out of an episode of Rab C Nesbitt, she was truly awful and shockingly rude to what she obviously deemed as the local riff-raff.
Anyway, so I get my drink and lo and behold the guy who gets served behind me literally cracks her full force right around the face!
Clearly I do not condone giving anyone a right hander but I cannot say that I was particularly surprised.
The other male members of staff hid and I stepped in with a different (absolutely heroic) barmaid who told the guy he obviously had to go or he was going to get restrained and nicked.
So the pub totally misread the area and clientele however it is nothing like that now, the Aussie guy that runs it does it very well and it feels inclusive for all, I simply do not understand why some pubs find this hard to comprehend.
On a lighter note, Morley’s, Lidl and the knocking shops are definitely fighting the good fight against gentrification.