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I am happy to talk about Harlesden, but unfortunately I don't know anything about Camberwell...
First of all, Harlesden is in Brent, which is a poor borough and therefore the area as a whole (including especially the Stonebridge Park estates and the Church End estate, where a 15-y-o was recently stabbed to death over a football disagreement - just across the road from my old flat, and also the place where someone was shot in his car a year or so ago) is very deprived. However, it differs from Brixton in that it is further from the centre of London, and is really pretty autonomous - many people seem to live and work in the area, rather than commuting in to town, and it is in that sense a 'real' community - which I never felt part of, as I was always commuting and going out in the centre of London rather than locally.
There *is* a lot of violent crime, yes, but I have to say that I never felt threatened at all, even walking home late at night on my own. the worst I ever encountered was propositions which were relatively easily dealt with, and people asking me for money. The crime, especially the violent crime, is largely confined to the people who are involved in the drug trade (I think mostly coke up there, but obviously other stuff as well). The area is about 60% black and 40% white, but of course there are hundreds of ethnicities round there (largely because it is relatively cheap) - Portuguese, Slavic, Indian, Jewish, Irish, the lot.
While I felt that I didn't fit in (for reasons given above, also a certain amount of timidity - not very good at going out to new places on my own, so never really investigated the pubs etc, and did not fit into the UK garage clubbing scene which is vibrant up there) I never felt *uncomfortable*. |
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). Says on the website that its a mixed gay/straight club, I've never been in one of them, well not one that actually says its a mixed club.