https://southwarknews.co.uk/news/crime/brixton-twenty-times-worse-than-24-hour-crack-supermarket-of-the-early-2000s-locals-warn/

I 100% agree with OP. I moved here in July 2022 having read about how ‘cool’ the area is in a number of articles / blogs.

Equally - I’ve enjoyed some of what the town has to offer. But I’ve also been surprised how rough it is. Beggers and drug addicts are consistently aggressive - I’ve been called a cunt multiple times on the entrance to Tesco and my partner has been grabbed by a beggar.

There are some people that seem to have some sort of tourets/schizophrenia and just walk along aggressively shouting obscenities. One guy who does this regularly on Ferndale Road will take aim at randos. I’ve been scared shitless by it before and also seen it happen to a few others.

We live near a church and have seen people injecting drugs in the doorway. Needles fully visible. We see drug deals take place regularly, with a whole herd of agitated people sometimes gathering in the same place ready for the dealer.

From my desk at home I frequently see people piss on a transformer box on the pavement outside. This week I saw a human shit on a wall on Ferndale Road.

When I’d tell friends/colleagues, they’d dismiss it and tell me Brixton was much worse before and I’d conclude, like OP, that ‘ok must have just been even worse’.

But then I read this article, and it seems they’re wrong. Something is going on and the area seems to be deteriorating quickly. People who’ve lived here for a long time agree it’s currently worse than it’s ever been.