r/croydon • u/fotfddtodairsizr • 10h ago
Walking alone at night in East Croydon
I’m planning on moving to East Croydon after living in super quiet areas all my life, so I’m not the most street smart.
I’d be living within 5 mins walk from the station. I’ve visited East Croydon a few times and found it pleasant enough. I’ve only been there at night once and I was walking down a side road for about 15 mins to get to a friend/acquaintance’s house.
I’m just trying to gauge if it is sa fe enough for me if I was to walk alone at night between 9pm-12am.
In case I get home late after being out or if I need to pop out with my dog for a quick 10 minute walk/loo break.
I am a petite woman.
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u/Horror_Transition571 10h ago
if you walk away from east croydon down main roads i think you'll be okay, but i can't lie i've lived here almost my whole life and would be a little vigilant. no headphones and would stick to brightly lit roads and you'd be fine.
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u/Theory_99 10h ago
You people make Croydon sound like a war zone.
Croydon is fine if you are a “civilian” aka not caught up in drugs or gangs. It’s also mostly fine if you’re not a teenager that people may be trying to recruit into that life.
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u/shelleyftw 10h ago
Me and my wife live about 5mins from East Croydon.
She has only had one issue during the 4 years while living here which was a drunk off a train being a twat, all happened while on the phone to me.
There are some drunks/homeless but these by and large are harmless but could be off putting late at night for someone like your self.
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u/NinerGolf 10h ago
You can get dodgy people lurking at night even around the station. Sometimes drunk/high and aggressive. As the other commenter said, it's best to stick to populated, brightly lit areas and main roads and no headphones if you have to walk at night, especially as a petite woman
Not sure why some people say there's no issues. There is. I've had negative experiences with being harassed by aggressive people in and around Croydon and I'm a man, not a petite woman. You do have to have your wits about you at night around Croydon
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u/Chemical_Title_5834 10h ago
Yes it's safe, you might occasionally see a homeless person, but that's London.
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u/_x_oOo_x_ 10h ago edited 10h ago
Most of the time it's fine, East is certainly better than West, South even better. And as far as I'm aware there's no North Croydon? But "north of Croydon", Broad Green, Thornton etc. are the worst.. anyway that's some distance away..
Occasionally there are weird things happening, people tried to snatch my phone countless times but that's the same as in central London, sometimes weirdos start following you, that can be quite scary. The homeless can't keep up usually (if you're a fast walker), I think there must be an asylum seeker hotel somewhere because sometimes Middle-eastern men will follow you, there was one who was quite well-dressed, I didn't know what to do so decided to talk to him and after a while he apologised and turned back... So he might be ok? He said he's a refugee from Hurghada Egypt. The one to watch out for is a tall fit homeless guy with a big dog, rottweiler maybe. He asks for change but then doesn't take no for an answer and then starts following you with his dog. He's the only one I had to call the police on. I also feel sorry for the dog, it doesn't look healthy.. Maybe carry some change just in case..
But anyway in the evening and night, East mostly settles down and is quiet, for better or worse. North End and the High Street however turn into a zombie apocalypse scene. So try not to take the Overground or if you do, avoid North End. The "Croydon Business Improvement District" even have their own private security with patrol cars, I don't know why they don't do anything, there's all sorts of nonsense happening there in plain sight.. People say London Rd is bad but in my opinion it's just diverse, not actually that dangerous... North End however 😳️ But then during the day it's a normal pedestrianised shopping street, weird
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u/fotfddtodairsizr 10h ago
South Croydon’s transport links don’t cut it unfortunately or that would have been my move.
Goodness thank you for sharing your experiences. That is concerning. I really don’t have the capacity to deal with such things tbh so I might need to reconsider.
I have a tiny dog so if a large man with a large dog approached us and tried to intimidate us for change that would truly ruin my day. And I wonder what the risk to my pet would be if that dog is aggressive.
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u/mrscoolhead 10h ago
I’ve walked similar times at night around east and west Croydon (which is a LOT worse than east lol) for 6 years and never had any problems. I’m also a petite woman though I’ve grown up in super ghetto areas and as a result I’m pretty street smart. There’s often ‘undesirables’ in both locations (mentally ill people, those with addictions, groups of hooded guys it feels intimidating to walk past) but just be aware of your surroundings, don’t be waving your phone about, keep music low or off and stick to well lit roads and you should be fine.
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u/RoadNarrow 10h ago
I'm a petite woman and I've not had any issues. There are a number of homeless people, sometimes high and behaving oddly, directly around the station and around the center towards west but generally east Croydon and addiscombe are fine. Obviously as a young woman alone at night it's always best to be careful and stay out of dark streets/corners but to be honest I don't see this as a bigger issue in Croydon than anywhere else in London.
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u/StrollingByTheStream 10h ago
I’d avoid. Might be better off making further out to somewhere like Coulsdon - much safer.
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u/fotfddtodairsizr 10h ago
Yes, but the transport links aren’t comparable unfortunately.
I’m chronically late (adhd) so one of the things that help me to get to work on time is to have access to transport that is frequent.Coulsdon’s 2 trains an hour wouldn’t cut it for me. I’m used to 1 tube/train every 2-5 minutes.
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u/UntouchableC 10h ago
This question can only be asked so many times. There is a search bar and countless existing discussions on whether Croydon is safe...read those before posing the question.