I moved from Birmingham to Amsterdam 6 years ago and i don't think i'll ever come back. Even the most 'dangerous' areas are well looked after, the grass is cut, the bike lanes are painted, the bins are actually emptied. The council actually look after the poorest areas, i feel my experience growing up in Birmingham was that the poorer areas we completely neglected. Every time i come back to Brum i shocked at how much rubbish and fly tipping there is and quite how run down it looks in places.
Anywhere can be dangerous if you don't know it you always have to be aware of your surroundings. If you're wandering around lost and looking frightened you are advertising the fact you're a potential victim. Look like you're at home and confident but not looking for trouble
Same every where if the area has a large ethnic population li like Brixton Hackney or moss side its dangerous and you'll get mugged. Gangs want to fight other gangs don't bother them and they're not interested in you
I’ve walked the streets of Amsterdam at 3am with a big group of lads and it’s a scary place I’m not gonna lie some dangerous people roam the streets and alleys
Brilliant again Oli , it’s amazing just how many speak English and how good their English is. I think your video shows (to me at least) that hard times are not conducive with bad behaviour, I think that’s controlled in the home, quite a respectable place with genuinely nice and open people, thanks Oli 👍🏻
@@WendallExplores Yeah, it sure does! My hometown is absolutely dire. All I see in my area are people with this look of despair on their faces. There's no real jobs in the area other than hit and miss agency work, zero contracts and poxy part time hours if you're lucky. People are walking around aimlessly not knowing what to do for the best. Even if more people were prepared to start their own business, I doubt it would last any length of time due to high rents, cost of living prices for electricity/heating and so forth. also, with less money about and so many people struggling financially, you'd be lucky to break even. It's so sad to see such decline right across the Country (UK).
@@vanessahenderson1850 England is screwed. If you guys had guns like the US, with your population density; you will be even worse than US. I can see it.
I worked in Apeldoorn for 6 months back in 2016 and it really opened my eyes as to how far the UK had sunk in comparison. It was such a clean, friendly and well run town compared to anywhere in South Eastern England at that time. The thought of going back to the UK filled me with such quiet despair that I ended up moving straight to Canada where I’ve been ever since. I’m now a proud Canadian citizen and have no plans to go back. Sorry to see the UK has continued its steady decline. So many great people left treading water as the ship slowly sinks
I find the south east of England the most unfriendly and boring part of the UK. Up north in England in places like the Lake District and the Peak District and the Yorkshire dales are much nicer and friendlier. Even though there is less money I find the north of England more beautiful than the south east of England. The south east of England doesn’t have much countryside and is mostly flat. It is the opposite up North
@@lifetruthseeking5808 True that. I used to work in Halifax and the folks were dead friendly compared to us “darn sarf” but there was still a lot of litter and general decay. Magnificent buildings that belonged to another age but a lot of folks struggling to get by even then due to the poor economy. Beautiful countryside though
@@skrapadelix yes the poverty in the north is what let’s it down. It has always been the poorer part of England since the end of the industrial revolution
@@margaretthatcher6828 yep, the globalist plan is in full swing here BUT I’m rural off-grid with my own land and water, no planning permission required for most things I do, still have gun ownership and most importantly I don’t have to register my 40+ chickens. For me, it’s still a win at present
Yes. And as a British person living in the Netherlands Dutch is difficult to pick up because as soon as they hear your accent, they immediately start speaking English.
I was over in Amsterdam years ago. I was about 28 years old. I spent ages in the square and there was every nationality. I can honestly say that I felt safe even though there was loads of people there. There was a huge police presence too and I only saw a couple of guys being slung into a police van. The police certainly didn't mess about that's for sure. It was proper policing.
I cant remember of a dutch person not speaking english, all of those I knew back in time spoke english very well to the point that I even thought they were british. Dutch people are the most open and easy to go with I have ever experienced, I have been to Amsterdam for a few months but that was back in 2005, I dont have an idea how Amsterdam looks today and there you are, updating us on that, many many thanks my friend 😎
Would live in the Netherlands in a heartbeat - maybe not Amsterdam (beautiful but it's a tourist mecca) but a smaller city. The Bijlmermeer doesn't seem bad at all. 'Life in general is much better' - totally correct.
Hello Wendel . I am Dutch myself and grew up near Rotterdam and lived near Amsterdam for 20 years. I have now lived in The Hague for 10 years. The Bijlmer was quite dangerous 20 years ago, but I think The Hague / Oostbroek North and Rotterdam South are more dangerous in the evening than Amsterdam's Bijlmer.
@@WendallExploresThat would be exciting. My neighborhood sometimes reminds me of videos from Birmingham. People hrow their trash in the streets at night.. They tried to pickpocket me twice this year. And most people prefer to stay indoors at night. Liverpool is paradise compair to my town.
@@trip-tripper The funny thing is that I think that the Schilderswijk in The Hague is known as the worst district of The Hague in the Netherlands. If you really look at the figures, my neighborhood comes out the worst: Rustenburg/Oostbroek. 70% don't even speak Dutch. There have been 3 stabbings in my street alone this year. But in England it is certainly much worse.
Pay more council tax ,no chance to the overpaid robbers most of Cornwall council tax goes on council pensions and none of them do a decent days work, most council employees I've ever met are entitled obnoxious and obstructive 50 quid a week to get your bins empted .
That's a great insight to how Amsterdam are doing in comparison to the UK, are you venturing around Europe now? It will be very interesting to see what is actually going on rather than watching and reading fake news. We in the Uk are drowning and that is because it's a small island, and I don't think people get that, there's only so many sardines you can fit in a tin. Thank you Wendall
I visited Amsterdam in April for the first time and was shocked. Let's just say the protests in the square had nothing to do with Europeans or the Dutch people. And let's just say if I was vocal about the shopkeepers sweeping their rubbish into the street we were severely outnumbered. Not a comfortable position to be in with your girlfriend and a huge eye opener
Wendall the UK population already pays very high council tax, Problem is a lot are not paying it, usually the ones who are trashing it! Everything looks a lot more relaxed in and tidy in the Netherlands, like the UK was 20 years ago, must be our bad government /councils feeding the fat cats salaries and spending poorly making bad choices.
The whole council tax is a scam. It goes to central gov to then be dished back out. And then what is 'given' back is often ringfenced on certain agenda-fuelled projects. That's why you have councils spending millions on making places that don't need to be 20mph zones and on EV chargers rather than sorting the potholes!
Exactly. Would I pay more, to make things look like in this video…? NO! We already get fleeced! The extra income from rates going up even more, won’t end up fixing the problems they were meant for. They’d probably pay for more hotels for migrants, more translation services in hospitals etc, and if there’s any left, it’ll end up boosting the salary of the council leaders. How much money from speed cameras actually go to fixing the roads? FUCK ALL, so why would this be any different?
Let's also not forget that most councils right across the UK are now bankrupt. I came across an upload on YT a few days ago for the local council where I live. It was sickening to watch. I was literally sat here thinking to myself, I wonder how many people in total have their noses in the trough all giving it the big talk but no action with their pathetic regeneration projects. All I see when I'm out and about is shops/buildings still being left to rot, scaffolding and plastic barriers and roads/paths being dug up. At the heart of what's supposed to be the town centre, it took them over 2.5 years to actually finish the regeneration project for that area and now we've still got a bridge that's nowhere near finished. That alone, will no doubt take them another couple of years to complete. It riles me that people are paying council tax and services are being cut to the bone. Everywhere looks so deprived and I'm now seeing more homeless than ever before along with more business closures. It's so sad to see.
@@WendallExplores kinda of a ball ache of course but better than walking over a dead rat using a Jonnie as a raincoat … putting the great in Great Britain
They are not really council estates. Despite government trying to appropriate the housing for it's political plans lately, social housing in the Netherlands is done by private not for profit associations and foundations since the beginning of the 20th century.
I’ve worked around there and had a good look around the Bijlmer while there. I also found it to be safe. But I did finally come across bullet holes in the window of the coffee shop near the train station. Apparently 20 years ago it was worse- guys from work used to be escorted through the Bijlmer to the train station by security guards for protection. You’re 20 years too late
@@beebee2781 The government allowed some big companies to build offices there, those big companies helped bring some life into the area. They are still there.
I have only been to Amsterdam twice once in the 70s and again in the 80s, had no problems in the daytime but at night got approached several times at night by groups of black bloke's which was really scary. Nothing happened luckily but on one occasion i was just buying a pkt of cigs in a shop and when i walked out of the shop i was surrounded by a group of black blokes and i noticed one bloke had a knife in his hand, i quickly made my move and got to my hotel which was next to the shop.
For me these videos, and my own travels, serve as a reminder to the level of decline in Britain since the turn of the century. In my opinion it is all due to poor government administration. I really thought we were moving forward as society and country during the 90s but in many ways we have gone backwards.
As someone else has commented, the Bijlmer isn't anywhere near as dodgy as it was about 20 years ago. It had a really bad rep back then and I had some bad experiences there. Also like one guy said a lot of those old high rise blocks were demolished, I recall one in Ganzenhoef in 2002 which had been emptied out prior to demolition, but was then full of squatters for a time. Btw those blocks weren't built in the 50s, they didn't start construction of the Bijlmer until the late 60s. But even 10 years ago that had changed. I left NL in 2018 btw and returned to the UK. I was living in Diemen so technically not the Bijlmer, not even Amsterdam council, but it's on the metro routes serving the Bijlmer and pretty much surrounded by it. I noticed that there were expats on the metro going to stations in the Bijlmer (because they were talking amongst each other in Euro English not Dutch) and also tourists staying in air b&bs in the Bijlmer, so yes it isn't like it used to be.
Everywhere Ive lived in England in my 41 year life has been full of bleak depressing buildings cramped streets, litter, dog feces and general despair. And as we all know, we have to pay for the privilege of all the above 🤢
Great video as always. A nice and clean place... Shame Lewis decided to use the ground to drop his cigarette butt at 09.31. Keep up the good work. One of the best channels on here. I love the bicycle and pedestrian first culture. Maybe this is what's lacking in the UK. People not just driving through. Again Ace work Wendall and thanks Lewis.
Wendall, have you considered videos on "ordinary-average" places around the UK, where Criminality, degradation, and hopelessness is not the main theme? I was born in Walsall, and have lived in North Wales. Whats "normality" in UK cities is a far cry from a lot of Britain. Come to Anglesey, you will find lack of employment, you will find alcoholism, you wont find dangerous places. You can even wear a Wolvs or WBA shirt in any pub thats showing a midlands team playing a welsh team... and you won't get beaten up or stabbed!!
I was brought up in Liverpool but now reside in St Helens. If this is rough to the Dutch, then I'd love for some of them to see parts of Kensington or look at how run down Anfield looks, or even some parts of St Helens with Darbyshire hill. They'd faint. Good and bad parts to 'rough areas' everywhere.
I lived in NL for 5 years. Yes there is a lot of immigrants in NL...but the difference to the UK is that in NL the government pay much higher level of government assistance...people are,better off , richer..so the housing estates and towns are better.
I'm British (Birmingham) born, background Jamaican parents, living for years now in the Netherlands. I was once lost in the Bijlmer around midnight with my car with British number plates. I noticed a car following me around. I stopped, the car pulled up beside me. I wound down my window and the guys in the other car in perfect English asked if I was lost. I said I was and they simply directed me on to the correct road. I have been back to the Bijlmer many times and have not for a nano-second felt bothered by it.
I lived in Diemen which is fairly nearby the Biljmer...I went to a house party there once...the tram stop was really sketchy, but the flats themselves were quite nice
Welcome to Amsterdam bro! I have been living here for 4 years now after France, Germany and Italy. This the safest country I have ever been, you can literally hang out wearing a Rolex downtown Amsterdam and nothing will happen to you
28:06 I hear this sort of thing said so often in these videos, it’s so, so depressing.☹️ The worst part is, at my age, I’m too old to leave, I’m stuck here now.😩😬
The uk definitely feels like since the mid 2000’s sh*t has gone down hill on purpose and if it’s not on purpose it’s just been bad decision after bad decision which after nearly 20 years feels like statistically some things should have gone right. As a new dad and a self employed person I’m seriously thinking of moving because bad prospects, high costs and the level of potential danger has increased not for me but for my kids and this is coming from a kid that grew up in north hull with no siblings so I’ve seen it and done it but I don’t want that for my kids when the playing field is so heavily stacked against them
Not only bijlmer, Amsterdam north (de banne). Or west side(brandweer buurt). Every city got his hood. Poverty makes every city in the world dangerous,especialyif it concentrated on one aera. Ps i live on that corner where you interview that african brother (8:15 / 10:00 ) it a save aera.
1994 class trip from Germany to Amsterdam was like a culture shock. Many asian and black immigrants which we hadn't in masses in Germany at that time, security guards at random supermarkets and a gang of elderly arab youths chasing us through the red light district until a "lady" kept us safe in her etablissement till they gone. Scheveningen Alkmaar and Dordrecht where nicer and friendlier.
glad to see you enjoyed my country. I would say Amsterdam really doesnt feel the same as the rest of the Netherlands. My hometown of Nijmegen (or periphery) is much more laid back still. But, compared to your other video's....yeah I think you're quite right in saying that even the more notorious neighbourhoods in NL are quite safe, quite open. We're far from perfect but we try and take care of our people, I would like to think. Speaking of 'our people': nail on its head, mate. As I see from your vids in UK, Amsterdam too has quite a lot of people who *say* it's more notorious or bad. Where as a matter of fact, there's just a lot of nice people who are from different backgrounds.
London, Liverpool,Amsterdam,New York. There are dangerous places. I live in one of the highest crime areas in London but it's home to me and don't feel threatened. You grow up there you learn to read your surroundings and spot potential situations im a pensioner nowadays but still wander though the back streets on my way home from the pub.you can get robbed outside Buckingham Palace as easily as Peckham rye
I'm 40 years old I'm never pay for any bills in my life so I don't know what you're on about council tax and all that adult pay for one boot at all I just live a life a luxury I don't pay for nothing😊🎉
I'm off to the Netherlands in two days. Spent about three months at the start of the year and a good chunk of last year and year before there too. The Netherlands puts Britain to shame - to the point it almost makes me embarrassed to even invite my boyfriend over here! Can't really speak on criminality but in terms of the environment, everywhere is so clean and well looked after. You certainly wouldn't know you were in a "rough" part of town just by looking. Maybe that gives you a bit of a false sense of security but I certainly have never felt frightened just going about my business even as a foreigner in a strange country. Can't say the same about the UK where you can definitely feel like an outsider just in the next town over!
Nah I don't think so as firstly I'm pretty sure that there is still intelligence sharing between Dutch & UK authorities even though we've left the EU, secondly he wouldn't be on yt if he were wanted. It has been the case in the past though and a few British criminals were arrested in NL/Amsterdam and extradited. A few years back there was some tv series made about this, I think it was a UK tv series. Anyway whilst interviewing a police officer in front of the newish police station on NZ Voorburgwal (after Warmoesstraat police station was closed), and not just any police officer but the one on the team specialised in looking for foreign crims on the run, a guy walked past behind the cameraman who was a wanted criminal from the UK, and he was arrested. Pretty stupid really to be strolling in central Amsterdam, I guess he thought with all the tourists he'd be anonymous three.
I'm not happy paying more council tax. We need to shrink the size of 'government'. Efficiency is the key...not throwing more money to pay for pensions etc. I noticed that there is a common theme with these types of areas in both the UK and the Netherlands.
Ah seeing the old shopping trolly in the canal was very nostalgic indeed!😂, i think the main reasons the UK is in such a mess is because of corporate greed paired with the lack of checks on the type of people the government are importing willy nilly!🤔, also the division in wealth distribution and privatisation of all the companies by certain governments!😏, In Holland they have a much fairer system thats very inclusive to all people, no one gets a bum deal like here in the UK!😢, if i ever come into money im off at the first opportunity i get!😂, thanks for another amazing vodeo Wendal!😁✌️
Most Dutch snub Amsterdam, the Randstat in general. I live in the South of The Netherlands. I do visit Amsterdam but only parts. Not because I’m scared of it, but there are parts that are worth visiting and parts not. Basically the tourist areas are crap.
I was there in 2022. I came to the same conclusion. It's an area that used to be known for high crime rates but really isn't like that anymore. A lot of white Dutch people are still prejudiced about it, though. Wendall, you missed sll the cool street murals, though. You have to go round the streets south of Nelson Mandela park to see them
The Bijlmer had a bad reputation for a long time, which is for the most part undeserved. It is mainly older, white Dutch people that think of the Bijlmer as being dangerous - despite the fact that they probably hardly go there. The funny thing is, the Amsterdam Arena, home of Ajax, is situated in the Bijlmer, so there are 50K plus, mainly Dutch people going there every couple of weeks. Maybe 20 years ago, when the high rise flats you saw in Florijn were spread all throughout the Biljmer, was it considered more of a "ghetto", but the majority of those have been demolished and replaced by family homes. The Bijlmer is very multicultural and that is the main reason it has a bad reputation among older Dutch people. If anything, Amsterdam West is probably considered more dangerous these days than the Bijlmer
The young so very international professionals bubbles from the city centre don't go there either, nor do they have any clue about the "older white Dutch people". They just make up racist stereotypes about these older white Dutch to feel better about themselves, but have no clue how narrow minded they themselves are.
It's just like Blacon in Cheshire, that's clean and graffiti free, no spice heads bent over stuck like a statue, no crack heads scurrying about, it's just like that place in the Nederlands😊. Na just kidding, Blacon is a shit hole, just like it's Welsh contemporary cia parc. Both large council estates, both have there good parts both got there shit pits. They are colourful places but dangerous if you go to the wrong part and don't belong there or got a good reason for even being there or know anyone local then you could find yourself in trouble. Same is, same as.
Go to Croatian bigger cities and you will see big poverty not only in suburbs but also in city centers. There you can see homeless people which dig through trash. And road infrastructure in Croatian cities is really bad.
50th Birthday on the 23rd - Brothers dragging me there. I will be out of my depth i think - and i will be staying away from the coffee shops lol, ill be sampling the booze instead.
My man, great that you’ve come to Amsterdam/ The Netherlands. However, Bijlmer is not a ghetto compared to UK. Nor is Amsterdam a busy city compared to either London, Birmingham or Manchester.
Amsterdam is lethalat night. I sat and smoked in one housing area and was instantly sureounded by young mocro members. Luckily im as street wise as they come and dealt with the situation accordingly but its best to stay in at night
Another interesting video, I think a lot depends on a number of things, Time of day can be a big one, and what you are out and about looking for being another big one. Seattle for example is generally a chill city but 1st and Belltown can be pretty crazy in the middle of the night and if you are wandering around looking for trouble you will likely find it. It's not all that different in any city I suppose. The statement "my boys won't do shit for less than 10k..." is a pretty interesting statement though, that sounds a lot more like Organized Crime than petty street crime. or perhaps it's just big talk... hard to tell really.
