Is Caledonian Road, Islington, London a 'rough' area?

Question

I'm a student in central london and am moving from halls into private rented accomodation in september. One place we are thinking about is in Caledonian Road, with another nearer to Angel. My halls for this year were just near Warren Street and I always felt really safe walking around there in the evening or at night probably because of all the people and activity. I'd like to get some views on whether Caledonian Road and Angel are a nice areas. Cheers.

Answer 1

Depends exactly where you are - the Kings Cross end of Caledonian (or as we Londoners call it, Cally) Road has been decidedly dodgy - but that area is being regenerated so rapidly (with the name "Regent's Quarter" being increasingly applied to it) that it is certainly safer than it was even a couple of years ago.  A fair number of students live around the broad area of Kings Cross - and generally seem to come to no harm - so it can't be as bad as it might look in some areas.

The other end of Cally Road, while not the most salubrious part of London (two big prisons - Pentonville and Holloway - on your doorstep!) is more or less OK. North of Caledonian Road tube station is the best part of the road - the area around Hilmarton Road and upto Holloway Road is perfectly fine. Some of the streets east of Caledonian Road further south (around Barnsbury) are OK, too.

As for Angel? It;s certainly a much busier area (both in terms of road traffic and human life, along Upper Street, particularly)  As to "roughness", it depends very much exactly where you are - some bits have become extremely gentrified over the last 20 years or so, but there are some really rough areas mixed in - - definitely check that anywhere you live round there is secure, with good, multiple locks.

But if the choice is between the north end of Caledonian Road and the Angel area - I'd say both are not really outrageously dangerous neighbourhoods, so long as you are streetwise. The main difference is that one is a lot busier and noisier (and closer to the centre of town) than the other.

Answer 2

It very much depends which end you are at. It's not the safest part of london, but it's quite populous so unless you wander off down little side streets it's quite safe. I've always found Angel to feel quite safe, but up nearer Caledonian Road it can feel a bit less secure. Not that I've ever seen any trouble there.

Answer 3

both those areas change from rough to posh almost street by street

the bottom end of Caledonian Road near to Kings Cross used to be a red light area, but with the coming of the new Eurostar terminal at St Pancras the area has been rising and rising this last ten years and it's now becoming a rather nice place ... the middle section of the Cally (where the Cally Pool and the shops are) is rough on the west side (the council blocks) and posh on the east side ... the top end (after the tube station) is quite middle class

the Angel is a very buzzing area ... the Angel and Upper Street are very lively at night with many restaurants, bars and night clubs and is very popular with the younger crowd ... living there very much depends which street you're on ... here the west side tends to be nicer and the east side rougher

hope this helps