Keep out of Victoria park, Hackney at night

Other known trouble spots that we have heard about include Kingsbury Road, N1, Northchurch Road, N1 (east of the B102 Southgate Road), the main path through London Fields (plenty of assaults and muggings over the years), and Coppermill Lane east of Springfield Marina. Stay safe.

shit, i use three of those roads many times each week :-(

Let's keep it in perspective, though. You're much more likely to get a pasting or worse in a regional town that a big city around UnHappy Hour.

This is true, or at least it is in my experience, but I think the gap is closing (a tiny bit) due to the homogenisation of parts of London's civic landscape. The capital was always no more than a collection of villages, but it's now beginning to look like a collection of small towns; and so the small town mentality starts to creep in, like weeds through cracks in cold, weathered, and characterless paving.

Get well soon Ems.

poor Em! At least she is off on holiday so hopefully she can forget all about this and just have a nice time

Sorry to hear this...

I live near Finsbury Park, it's a lot better than it used to be and I thought they closed the gates anyway after dark, with a police car, flashing lights and megaphone?!?!
finsbury is 100x safer since i've been in london, the police patrol it and night and there is a care taker. run around it alot in the dark.

No wai! I'll protect you EM, I've got a rounders bat and I love pink bikes.

Billhooks for the win

I've got a rounders bat and I love pink bikes.

Yeah i'm pretty sure if you ran at the gang of ten rude bwoys shouting that they'd run for their lives! ;)

Yeah i'm pretty sure if you ran at the gang of ten rude bwoys shouting that they'd run for their lives! ;)

They would if I did it naked. Which I would.

you do that and you'll end up in A and E on a stretcher...face down with a rounders bat sticking out your arse!...;)

He could wear his tweed. That would scare them shitless.

you do that and you'll end up in A and E on a stretcher...face down with a rounders bat sticking out your arse!...;)

Is this not a nomal night out?

just make sure it isn't a group from the local blind school though

what if their blind offenders?....[/Alanpartridgeism]

That just sums that shit hole up, hackney can rot in hell.

fuck, didnt hear about this untill now, hope you both are ok, what happened to object?
we can all say dont go through parks etc at night, but we all know the risk and have chanced it at one time or another :( lesson learnt hope it hasnt shaken you guys up too much.

That just sums that shit hole up, hackney can rot in hell.

Fucking load of nonsense monkey spunkbubble

It's times like that you need a fucking gun. If I could get away with it, cunts like that would get it in the stomach and left to die slowly. The world needs to be rid of the scum.

Fucking load of nonsense monkey spunkbubble

man that place is fucking rough as fuck

That just sums that shit hole up, hackney can rot in hell.

The place is nice enough. But the people are fucking savage shitcunts. Broken Britain, mate [/DAILYMAIL]

Kingsbury & Northchurch? What were the details? I ride this way all the time.

Sorry to hear about the Victoria Park troubles.

shit, i use three of those roads many times each week :-(

Kingsbury Road by the bridge used to be worse (there used to be a funny block on the bridge that made it very easy to block a cyclist after first hiding behind the block) and attacks have definitely gone down, but last summer there were again a few reports of muggings. If when you enter KR northbound you see people gathered on the bridge it is sometimes likely to be a better idea to turn round and do King Henry's Walk or Kingsland Passage/Kingsland Green/Boleyn Road.

There was one very nasty incident in Northchurch Road a few years ago where IIRC a woman was badly injured. There have been intermittent reports of other trouble, but not as serious. On known cycle routes, attackers sometimes lie in wait as they can be certain that cyclists will be along at certain intervals.

Most of the victims of the reported assaults were women.

Generally, even these streets are fairly safe, so don't be too alarmed but use caution. As others have said, when you're riding your bike you are far less likely to encounter trouble than if you're walking, but after dark, populated main streets are a better bet than badly-lit, narrow places like towpaths etc. If you feel really unsafe using main streets, get some cycle training.

And yes, the canal pushing-in problem continues, although I'm pleased that British Waterways have just employed their first towpath ranger, Joe Young. A very poor picture of Joe is in this PDF:

http://www.britishwaterways.co.uk/media/documents/BWL_Tourism_Afloat_Autumn_08.pdf

Say hello if you see him. He came to our December Hackney Cyclists meeting and is a friendly but assertive guy. He will be a good person to report any such incidents to. He's due to build up a larger team of rangers. Currently, it's only him, for the whole of the London canal network, but that's going to change.

It's very important that public spaces are well-managed and the increased presence of such rangers will be a very positive thing for safety. With local knowledge, they will be in a much better position to follow things up than police (and involve them when necessary). But still, it's not really worth risking the canals after dark.

I don't get why people like hackney?? It's run down and depressing and full of pieces of shit, same as camden, another place that could do with a bit of napalm.

man that place is fucking rough as fuck

Is it bollocks....

Places are rough and shite all over London/England/The World....

Borough is lovely...sits right next to E&C etc etc

Oh, and Hackney is lovely. Best place in London. And the most cycling.

I don't get why people like hackney?? It's run down and depressing and full of pieces of shit, same as camden, another place that could do with a bit of napalm.

You clearly haven't lived here for some time or ever, have you?

Is it bollocks....

Places are rough and shite all over London/England/The World....

Borough is lovely...sits right next to E&C etc etc

I don't think you know what you're going on about mate, i'm sure you'll change your opinion when you're getting arse raped by some illegal immigrant eventually

I don't get why people like hackney?? It's run down and depressing and full of pieces of shit, same as camden, another place that could do with a bit of napalm.

London Fields is technically Hackney. Rich hipster twat town. Victoria Park is in fact lovely also...can't stop cunto's traveling though can you?

Hackney has some beautiful places.