> The whole of London is an undesirable area in my opinion
Agreed. I think OP was more referring to crime. Ok maybe Chelsea vs Croydon is a bit different, but compared to any of the surrounding areas e.g. Wimbledon and Clapham, it isn't much different.
(I was in South Wimbledon - close to Mitcham and Tooting - for 2 years)
You might be surprised. In the year to date, Kensington & Chelsea have had about 12 crimes per 100 people according to the Met. Croydon have had about 6 crimes per 100 people. K&C does come out better if you look at certain subsets of serious crime, but Croydon is consistently in the "better half" of London Boroughs in terms of crime, often doing very well.
Most of the worst boroughs in London in terms of crime are the inner-city boroughs, regardless of wealth (Westminster in particular is a crime ridden hellhole if you look at the raw numbers by population, due largely to the amount of business and nightlife and low number of people living there; but Croydon city centre suffers from some of the same effect, dragging the overall crime rate for the borough up, even though the totals for the borough still remain better than average for London).
Agreed. I think OP was more referring to crime. Ok maybe Chelsea vs Croydon is a bit different, but compared to any of the surrounding areas e.g. Wimbledon and Clapham, it isn't much different.
(I was in South Wimbledon - close to Mitcham and Tooting - for 2 years)