Well, I lived in the rougher parts of Notting Hill in the early 70's. I don't need to "suspect" anything. I lived around Westbourne Grove and Ladbroke Grove. Yes, that was very different from how it is now; then, it was hippie/druggie land.

But it wasn't dangerous. There were a lot of burglaries; people in poor neighbourhoods tend to rob their neighbours, for some reason. But I don't recall any shootings or stabbings. I didn't even know anyone who had been beaten up on the street. There was no racial tension, that I was aware of; black and white people lived as neighbours, all jumbled-up, and got on fine.

I also spent 15 years living in Islington; that was only rough on football nights, when racist supporters from out-of-town took over the streets and pubs. Gentrification of Islington amounted to not much more than rising house prices (I moved out of London forever in about 1996). Islington had rough estates that I would keep my kids away from; but I didn't have to helicopter them to school. They walked or took the public bus.

Islington's much more dangerous now. There are regular reports of rapes and murders, in parks and corners where I used to hang out with my kids. "Gentrification" is not synonymous with "crime reduction".