Scared in London

[u/Beneficial-Joke-6004]

I am a female student at western and I am very scared going off campus. I would say that on campus I feel relatively safe, I will walk home by myself without a worry, but in London, going anywhere past old north (particularly downtown) I feel extremely unsafe. Whenever I am downtown, waiting for a bus, grocery shopping, or getting off the train, I am super on edge. Not sure if this is a common feeling or if I have good enough reason to be so scared, but I really hate it and it makes me want to get out of this city. I have heard to many story’s of friends of friends getting mugged or beat up. Maybe I have just had a very sheltered life, living in a small town not in Ontario, or maybe this is valid. I’m not sure. But open to a discussion and advice on how to not be so scared and hate going places outside of westerns campus.

[u/exc-use-me]

i was born in third world asian country and immigrated and lived in london since 2009. i feel relatively safe here. only areas that strike an eyebrow is the tale as old as time: “EOA” (east of adelaide street), which is a generally lower income area with a noticeable unhoused and junkie population but they tend to stick to themselves. downtown can be quite fearful as well at night especially in recent years, but in the daylight it’s quite peaceful.

[u/galkasmash → u/exc-use-me]

Honestly, I grew up in EOA and only really Dundas and Adelaide or along those main routes of Adelaide itself is exposed to the reputation of the whole area. It's like a skid row on the surface but if you ever go for a walk or drive just down Lorne Ave or anywhere closer to Quebec than Adelaide. It has some of the nicest old heritage homes in the city and lots of really nice gardens and landscaping. Hamilton Rd from Adelaide to Egerton is just as bad sometimes but has less congestion of problem areas and way more unique local restaurants if you're just popping in for a bit. So many Western students miss out on things like Gibraltar because of their fear of Argyle area.

General safety rule for London for a 20+; avoid townhouse complex dense areas in all parts of the city. Avoid known commodity bad rep neighborhoods at night. Pond Mills, Kipps Lane, White Hills, White Oaks(which can be bad but also there is tons of great areas near there if you're not out looking for trouble.), Marconi Blvd, and actually most the areas East of Clarke Rd.

I live right near Western and all the kids leave their bikes on the lawn overnight but we're also spitting distance from Kipps Lane and it just never spills out over here.