"Jonathan Osborne" wrote in message
...

It would really help someone like
me, who loves the tube and wants
to explore London using it, but doesn't
want to get off at a shady place and get mugged.

Speaking as a 6 foot white man in his late 30s who typically carries a
plastic bag..

The dangerous parts of London are quiet and suffer from poor transport
links. The immediate vicinites of tube stations do not qualify. The only
real exception to this is Brixton, which I have always found to have a
mildly menacing atmosphere, but so long as you leave the station and walk
briskly like you know where you are going, and do not allow yourself to be
seen using a map either on the train after Stockwell or after leaving the
train, you will be fine there in daytime or even up to about midnight.

Don't walk into any council housing estates at any time of day or night.
Don't walk canal towpaths alone in any neighbourhood, no matter how affluent
it might seem. Don't explore the abandoned railways in the Surrey Quays area
alone. I've heard the Finsbury Park - Highgate abandoned railway is also a
muggers paradise. NEVER walk down Cold Blow Lane without at the very least a
nuclear deterrent.

Don't wear a suit.

Certain stations at the southern end of the Northern Line have next train
indicators in the ticket hall. This is because passengers were being mugged
on the platforms, so prefer to wait in the ticket hall until the train is
due. This is probably only a problem late at night.

Having said that, the one time I was nearly mugged in London was on a
platform at Clapham Junction not long after the evening rush hour... but I
was wearing a suit.

--
John Rowland - Spamtrapped
Transport Plans for the London Area, updated 2001
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acro...69/tpftla.html
A man's vehicle is a symbol of his manhood.
That's why my vehicle's the Piccadilly Line -
It's the size of a county and it comes every two and a half minutes