Should we still travel to london in Aug 2011?
August 12, 2011 8:08 PM Subscribe
Traveling to London next week, should we still go?
My wife and I are traveling to Europe starting next week, and we're scheduled to be in London Wed - Fri. I've seen a lot of news about the riots. It looks like our hotel is semi close to some of the reported riot locations. We're staying in the Princes Gardens area.
Normally, I would just stay and try to stick to touristy areas, but my wife is half indian, and with the reports of some anti Pakistani actions, I'm worried.
Help me MeFi. Should we skip London?
My wife and I are traveling to Europe starting next week, and we're scheduled to be in London Wed - Fri. I've seen a lot of news about the riots. It looks like our hotel is semi close to some of the reported riot locations. We're staying in the Princes Gardens area.
Normally, I would just stay and try to stick to touristy areas, but my wife is half indian, and with the reports of some anti Pakistani actions, I'm worried.
Help me MeFi. Should we skip London?
Go. The problems that led to all this haven't gone away, but the large scale actions have almost certainly died down until the next crisis. Also, London is huge, and most of it, especially tourist areas, was not affected. Anti-(south) Asian racism is an ongoing disgrace in the UK, and seems to be rearing its nasty head recently, but it means threats against shop owners in local communities, harassment of ordinary people in working class residential areas, potential vandalism against mosques and temples, not anything that would be a threat to a tourist doing tourist things in central London. Have fun!
posted by crabintheocean at 8:52 PM on August 12, 2011
posted by crabintheocean at 8:52 PM on August 12, 2011
Also, while it's true there were small incidents in a bunch of places, looking at where you're staying, it's really about as far as you can get from any damage of any significance.
posted by crabintheocean at 9:18 PM on August 12, 2011
posted by crabintheocean at 9:18 PM on August 12, 2011
While there was rioting in parts of London, in other parts there were people eating at posh restaurants at pavement tables. Even if it does kick off again (which I think is unlikely), you can very easily avoid it.
posted by Coobeastie at 12:51 AM on August 13, 2011
posted by Coobeastie at 12:51 AM on August 13, 2011
Best answer: Everything is fine here now, there are some 16K Bobbys on the street and The Metropolitan Police are hypersensitive to any large gatherings. I suspect they will be for sometime.
I was out in the riots Monday night / Tuesday morning, observing, and from my comments you'll see that in the Whitechapel / Shadwell area, at least, there isn't any racism against Asians. In fact and speaking from someone who was in the middle of the East End action, it was The Asians who held it together down here. Maximum respect.
So no problems, come visit us and have a great time!
I'm American and have been living here for about fourteen years. I lived in New York for about thirteen years before and my personal opinion is on the the whole British society is far more tolerant than US. So yeh, again, neither you nor your wife will have a problem.
posted by Mutant at 1:27 AM on August 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
I was out in the riots Monday night / Tuesday morning, observing, and from my comments you'll see that in the Whitechapel / Shadwell area, at least, there isn't any racism against Asians. In fact and speaking from someone who was in the middle of the East End action, it was The Asians who held it together down here. Maximum respect.
So no problems, come visit us and have a great time!
I'm American and have been living here for about fourteen years. I lived in New York for about thirteen years before and my personal opinion is on the the whole British society is far more tolerant than US. So yeh, again, neither you nor your wife will have a problem.
posted by Mutant at 1:27 AM on August 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
Seconding everyone else's advice; you'll be fine. I can't say I picked up on any anti-Pakistani sentiments/actions.
posted by alby at 1:58 AM on August 13, 2011
posted by alby at 1:58 AM on August 13, 2011
You'll be absolutely fine!
posted by ozgirlabroad at 2:04 AM on August 13, 2011
posted by ozgirlabroad at 2:04 AM on August 13, 2011
n'thing everyone else. It's quiet now and there were no rioters near Princes Gardens anyway. Apart from a couple of small incidents in Oxford St and Notting Hill, the riots were not in the centre of London. You'll be fine. Have a great time.
posted by essexjan at 2:50 AM on August 13, 2011
posted by essexjan at 2:50 AM on August 13, 2011
If you want to purely stick to standard tourist spots then you'd probably be alright. I don't think the racial thing is an issue.
However, standard tourist spots are a small part of the London we know and love and if you want to venture out of that at all it might not be nice.
There's a climate of fear in the city, at least in the areas that I go in. It's not very nice, kids coming home from a days rioting, acting threatening on the bus. Thugged up guys on the street. People that are saying it's fine, I didn't see it until the last couple of days but it just depends when it comes to your area.
Basically, if you come you can be safe so I wouldn't waste it if you have booked things. However, if you are flexible and can come later it will be much better.
posted by Not Supplied at 3:51 AM on August 13, 2011
However, standard tourist spots are a small part of the London we know and love and if you want to venture out of that at all it might not be nice.
There's a climate of fear in the city, at least in the areas that I go in. It's not very nice, kids coming home from a days rioting, acting threatening on the bus. Thugged up guys on the street. People that are saying it's fine, I didn't see it until the last couple of days but it just depends when it comes to your area.
Basically, if you come you can be safe so I wouldn't waste it if you have booked things. However, if you are flexible and can come later it will be much better.
posted by Not Supplied at 3:51 AM on August 13, 2011
Everything is fine in my area, and has been for a few days, and I live between Brixton and Clapham, where some of the looting/rioting was.
I've just been down in Brixton market, and everything is 100% normal. There were a few shops that got smashed up in the riots, but they're open now, although with some boarded-up windows.
If I read it right, you're staying in Princes Gardens, in Acton, which is near to Ealing? Acton is a relatively quiet area, and while there was trouble in Ealing, you wouldn't need to go to that area. Get the Central Line into town and you'll be in tourist-land in 20 minutes, and I'm sure there will be a huge police presence there.
I would say come.
posted by Infinite Jest at 4:15 AM on August 13, 2011
I've just been down in Brixton market, and everything is 100% normal. There were a few shops that got smashed up in the riots, but they're open now, although with some boarded-up windows.
If I read it right, you're staying in Princes Gardens, in Acton, which is near to Ealing? Acton is a relatively quiet area, and while there was trouble in Ealing, you wouldn't need to go to that area. Get the Central Line into town and you'll be in tourist-land in 20 minutes, and I'm sure there will be a huge police presence there.
I would say come.
posted by Infinite Jest at 4:15 AM on August 13, 2011
Come on over. It's died down, and you'll be fine.
posted by Pallas Athena at 5:49 AM on August 13, 2011
posted by Pallas Athena at 5:49 AM on August 13, 2011
It's fine. I was out all night a few days ago, and the city was back to normal (except with more police).
posted by canadia at 8:13 AM on August 13, 2011
posted by canadia at 8:13 AM on August 13, 2011
While Hackney Central was in turmoil on Monday, I was just round the corner in the big Tesco buying fat free yoghurt. The news footage is very scary, but it really was small, intense patches of rioting, and avoidable unless it was right on your doorstep. I was much more frightened when Voldemort took over a couple of weeks ago, and again this afternoon when those enhanced apes went wild in San Francisco.
posted by Hugobaron at 1:49 PM on August 13, 2011
posted by Hugobaron at 1:49 PM on August 13, 2011
Response by poster: Thanks MeFi! We're going to make the trip!
posted by fnord at 5:53 PM on August 13, 2011
posted by fnord at 5:53 PM on August 13, 2011
I know you already made your decision. But in case you're still a little worried, I thought I'd reassure you it's the right one, by providing some examples of more typical British behavior.
A few assholes mugged a Malaysian student who had been injured during the riot. The rest of London raised £22,000 to "do something nice for him."
A few assholes trashed London's streets. The rest of London showed up the next day with brooms.
A few assholes destroyed 89-year-old Aaron Biber's barber shop. The rest of London raised £35,000 to rebuild it.
A few assholes rioted. Hundreds of thousands of other Brits took photos of themselves staying calm and drinking tea. Those are the real faces of Britain.
Your odds of encountering anybody who rioted are pretty small. But I can pretty much guarantee you'll run into somebody who gave money or took time to help clean up.
In short: you made the right decision. London is looking forward to seeing you.
posted by yankeefog at 5:31 AM on August 14, 2011 [6 favorites]
A few assholes mugged a Malaysian student who had been injured during the riot. The rest of London raised £22,000 to "do something nice for him."
A few assholes trashed London's streets. The rest of London showed up the next day with brooms.
A few assholes destroyed 89-year-old Aaron Biber's barber shop. The rest of London raised £35,000 to rebuild it.
A few assholes rioted. Hundreds of thousands of other Brits took photos of themselves staying calm and drinking tea. Those are the real faces of Britain.
Your odds of encountering anybody who rioted are pretty small. But I can pretty much guarantee you'll run into somebody who gave money or took time to help clean up.
In short: you made the right decision. London is looking forward to seeing you.
posted by yankeefog at 5:31 AM on August 14, 2011 [6 favorites]
I live in London and things don't feel too dangerous now. There;s a sizeable Asian population in London so your wife will not seem particularly notable if you see what I mean. You don't say where you want to go, but assuming you want to see the typical tourist sites of museums/Oxford St/Piccadilly Square, you should be OK. Most of the disturbances were out of Central London and far from tourist spots, which are generally well policed at any time of the year.
If it makes you feel better, I live in Ealing, and while riots hit here I can still go to work as though nothing happened. People have worked hard to stick together and clear things up so that we can all get on with enjoying living here.
posted by mippy at 1:38 PM on August 14, 2011
If it makes you feel better, I live in Ealing, and while riots hit here I can still go to work as though nothing happened. People have worked hard to stick together and clear things up so that we can all get on with enjoying living here.
posted by mippy at 1:38 PM on August 14, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by mozhet at 8:27 PM on August 12, 2011