Hi: I'm visiting London for a week this spring 2015. I found a place to stay near Stoke Newington rail station. The area seems to have good transit to get to downtown London and I chose this area for the low cost of accommodation. Is this considered a generally safe area, particularly returning in the evening? Any feedback will be most appreciated.

Not sure I would stay in Stokey if I were a tourist. It's a bit off the main transport routes (no tube) and used to be what they call 'edgy'. When I lived in that area it was very run-down and definitely dodgy, but has recently undergone gentrification. I think visitors would only tend to stay there if they have friends in the area. On the other hand there have been a lot of trendy bars and restaurants opened in the last decade and there are clubs, music/dance venues, and family-friendly activities popping up all over the place.

To be honest London is not really a city of 'no-go' areas. There are plenty of slightly seedy down at heel parts and bits of Stoke Newington/Tottenham are like this. The transport is not terrible as it has overground and also (depending which bit of SN you are in) Manor Park tube not a million miles away. Based on the Fodors demographic though I probably wouldn't recommend it as it isn't the London of white 5-storey townhouses with railings...

As for safety, I don't think it's any different from most parts of London. If you act sensibly and don't walk around covered in bling and flashing the cash, you should be fine. There are always plenty of people on the streets at all times of the day and night.

RM

I know Gertie - I like some of the less obvious bits myself - always good for ethnic eateries e.g. the vietnamese bits of Shoreditch, street markets, street art, converted breweries and whatnot round Spitalfields. I just worry about recommending them on here when I see people have a meltdown over things like their toilet flushing pressure or lack of choc on pillow etc.

RM67: absolutely. I too don't think N16 is Fodor's Touristland. But maybe the OP is different, someone who wants to see London 'red in tooth and claw'. If he/she just wants an inexpensive base to explore from, N16 could be just the job. Looking forward to seeing what happens.

Me too

The OP asks if it's handy to get to "downtown" London. The problem is that the places that people want to see are spread across the city and there is no one centre of the place, so downtown doesn't really exist. The nearest tube stations are either Arsenal or Walthamstow, neither really close, or overground from Stoke Newington.

By the time you've paid for train fares twice a day, it might not end up any cheaper than staying a bit closer in.

I stayed on the southern border of Stoke Newington in September 2012. The nearest tube station was I guess about a mile. There were lots of buses which were great when there was no traffic. When there was traffic, I got a little antsy.

I managed to see a lot of London but I did get a little sick of getting to and from my apartment towards the end of my time there. I did like the neighborhood a lot - it reminded me of San Francisco in some ways. But I was down in the southern part - maybe it is a whole 'nother world in the northern part.

If the place you've got is near Stoke Newington or Rectory Rd railway stations, it's merely a pain to get to and from. RM MUST be confusing Manor Park with Manor House (which is merely miles away from anywhere I'd call SN) Manor Park's in Ilford, which is hardcore Essex

Anywhere else, and you need a chauffeur. Seriously: people who live in real SN just don't have to travel round town much - or are hardened cyclists, or are in training for Olympic-level walking races. Or (whisper it gently, because it clashes with their public perception) drive round like everyone else in SN.

It's got nothing to do with "safe" or "edgy" (this is London we're talking about. Not some third-world gangster hangout like St Louis). It's just absurd, in a city blessed with decent transport, to live somewhere that really hasn't got any unless you're prepared to run a car.

However little you're paying for the flat, you'll blow everything you're saving on cabs.

If the OP wants to see how real people live in London, especially young people, then Stoke Newington/Tottenham is an excellent place to do it. There are plenty of buses and the underground, how do you think people get to work? Drive? I think not.

"There are plenty of buses and the underground"

Bollocks.

There is no underground in SN: that's why it's cheap. Buses to Highbury & Islington or Manor House are the least-hassle way to a tube station: buses into and back from town take a lifetime during rush hours - and of an evening that easily goes on to 8 pm.

It's OK if you work from home, in the City or in Canary Wharf, because the above-ground trains work. Otherwise, it's a painful way of getting fit and realising why the campaign for dedicated cycleways has got so hysterical lately.

>>If the OP wants to see how real people live in London, especially young people, then Stoke Newington/Tottenham is an excellent place to do it.<<

Maybe true

But IF wanting to visit sites in the center of London / doing 'normal' visitor activities, it ain't so hot.

Takeaway7: Just how cheap is this place you found and do you know the actual post code? Unless it is dirt cheap you'll probably spend as much (or more) as you save just on extra transport, and waste a lot of time.

How big a place do you need and whet is your budget and maybe we can recommend other/better areas.

It is Manor House - I don't even recall typing 'Park' tbh. Also it tried to autocorrect down at heel to down at hill though I did spot that one before submitting...

It's a basic room to let in a flat supposedly a 5 minute walk from Stoke Newington Rail station. The comments here are most useful and now have lots to mull over. The distances to places I want to see during the day do seem kind of formidable and no direct Tube station seems an issue. Thanks for the feedback.