How SAFE is EDINBURGH? | Crime stats, theft, things to look out for 

Yea as an Edinburgh local myself I know all the 'rough' areas and have never had a problem in any of them. It's the city centre areas when pubs are closing that are the danger zones if you don't really know the city. Rose street, Lothian road etc. The cowgate is way better than it used to be because its so lit up now but I still wouldnt recomend a tourist to go wandering down little closes on their own when pubs are closing and pretty much at any time be very careful of getting into conversations with people you don't know on empty streets in the wee small hours. If you are not from here and don't know the accent it can be hard to tell if someone is joking around, being friendly or else is actually being threatening.

I've been here for 7 years from Lincolnshire to Edinburgh to escape DV, my 2 Children and I was rehoused in Pilton, Crewe area, yes there are problems but I've been accepted into the community and have no problems at all, I love living in Edinburgh, it's now my home. 😊😊

Niddrie .Magdalene .porty. WalkedLothian ,n tollcross when it was considered the most dangourous road in eu .it was an amazing time .

You were pretty naive and very lucky. But people out of their part of the world can have a false sense of safety.

Usually 2am. Very broad rule as it depends on the kind of venue, day of the week, and season, but starting to keep an eye out around 2 is a good general rule

No gun crime lol ,one in my street couple off week ago .Bradley Welsh shot in the face .in town .buddies house shooting couple off month ago .it’s got bad for weapons .niddrie I grew up there the place now is a dffrnt place ,look up old niddrie Edinburgh .you’ll see what I mean .

I work at the University of Edinburgh each summer. Fantastic university and city.

It’s definitely not bad by any means - For me, compared to other cities I’ve lived in or stayed for some time it’s still once of the safest feeling ones! But I also don’t stay up past 11 🤷‍♀️

I wldnt go making my mind up about a movie that was utter nonsense .

@@Crosshatch1212 Of course not, it was just supposed to be a bit of a joke but I realize that it could be read two ways. Sorry about that.

It is really almost ridiculous to what extent residents of Edinburgh agree that this is the scariest bit about living here -___- the other day I had to ask a Starbucks barista to keep an eye out for some weird drug dealing kids wandering around their branch because they kept making sus eye contact with me and I was working myself up into a total panic attack haha x)

@@Kakibot that sounds super scary :( hope you feel better now! And you are right - I’ve even seen on Facebook groups several posts of residents raising awareness of these groups :( near the meadows specially. It’s such a pity because tbh that has been the only safety issue I’ve had since I arrived. Edinburgh is a lovely city overall, but like you said it’s not only here, but in all Scotland.

The coos come out after pubs' closing time!!!

depends what area of Edinburgh we are talking about tbh

I went to Athens a few months ago and it was insanely dodgy... So many needles on the floor. The rest of Greece is much nicer

What the spiking with needles it never ever happened ,

@@Crosshatch1212 why would you assume so? Becaus eit never happened to you? Lucky you then! In West Yorkshire it was quite loud about it for a moment or two...

No need we dnt do that here we are usually very friendly to holiday makers foreigners etc etc ,

Hey, don't worry, its a small city and its not really about where is safe and unsafe. There are only a few areas to go out and have fun after dark so you will probably be going there. Its more about it getting a bit crazy when pubs close, not wandering off down little streets on your own and being wary of talking to weirdos on the street late at night. The Scottish accent can sometimes be a bit hard to understand if you are not from here and for some tourists its hard to tell when someone is being friendly or actually threatening so its best to just keep an eye out. Nine times out of ten if something happens or if you see something happen its because of a misunderstanding where someone got involved in some drunk conversation not realising the guy was just looking for aggro.

By next June it ain’t gonna be a place you will want to go on holiday trust me ,

@@Crosshatch1212 Hey don't tell me that :( But why you say so?

@@manoelabrum7415 I know this is three months later but the comment above (by next June you won’t want to go there). That’s just silly. Edinburgh has the same simple rules as any city you don’t know to feel safe and absolutely nothing to worry about. Believe me you will feel perfectly safe when you get to Edinburgh and you will enjoy your time there. I lived in Edinburgh for 27 years and always found it to be a safe city. Enjoy your visit.

@@harryc8415 Exactly it was just nonsense. Lived here all my life and never had any problems. Random things happen everywhere in the world but very rarely in Edinburgh. It is the safest place you will ever go

It s in every big city

No, I would say practically every bit of actual violence is around pub or club closing time. As I said above Edinburgh has one of the roughest nightlives I've experienced anywhere in the world but in the day time its incredibly safe overall.

Do you not leave the house when it’s dark?

@@New-ye2fl not alone, ever. Only with friends and family who can take me home.

Glasgow is safe city ?

Which is sad. Most people who own bikes are safe and careful. I know there are those who are not. It's hard to get the bus and train and be on time, so bikes are necessary. It's really hard to carry them up and down the steps too.

Hayfever is definitely upon us this time of year - for me personally it's always noticeable June and July, and more sensitive people start feeling it from May. I don't think I've ever ran into midges in Edinburgh, although I can imagine there might be some around the small lakes in some of the larger parks or in the Pentlands? It's however a completely different situation to be in Edinburgh and get bit by one little beastie, and to try and enjoy time outdoors in Skye and be entirely covered in them haha. So I'd say midges are less of an issue here (and I believe on the East Coast in general)

Edinburgh was a lot more dodgy in the 90s than it is now

Honestly I wouldn’t want anyone to get too anxious about crime - some people seem to believe there is almost no crime in Edinburgh, and that was something I wanted to debunk! However I think that as long as you stick to the general city life safety rules, you should be good (or at least… not worse off than in other large cities). I might be slightly more worried about accessibility - being a cobblestone hell mixed with M C Escher levels of stairwell obsession, old town and university areas especially can be a pain.

Same in every city in the U.K.

Unfortunately my move was over 10 years ago - when EU made everything notably easier. There is a little video about it on my channel! Are you looking at studying or working here?

@@Kakibot Working I guess, though with my current education (grammar school) I don't think I can score much of a job - mainly I just want to move away from here. I'l look for this video

If you are viewing this video pleased do not be overly alarmed by the tone of the content. I’ve lived in Edinburgh for 23 years and I’ve never seen a knife fight or anyone being overly aggressive. I suspect the person who made the video is trying to make her content “exciting” but running down what has to be the greatest city in Europe and putting frighteners onto people is not the way to do it. Edinburgh is a great city with great people in it. Like all cities it will have its minority groups who are occasionally antisocial.

Are you having a laugh ? When I was sitting in a bar only place open at night with a tea waiting for my sister to finish in the place she went to. Two people were talking about me in the corner. The lady or the man clearly took some photos of me. Then clearly went on to text someone like they had sent them to someone. They were acting very strangely the whole entire time. Not really engaging with one another only to talk about me. Then the one who done all the photos n that went on a call to someone n started to describe me in the phone call saying she this n she that n described my details. In a very strange tone of voice. None of them took their eyes off of me. I was afraid to go out of the bar in case they followed me out. My phone died so I wasn’t able ti check the time call my sister or anything. I had to sit n drink teas. I never left the table for the loo in case they did something to my drink. I kept brushing it all off. But they continued to talk about me and keep an eye on me. Eventually I felt I had enough. I got up shaking to lay for my drinks to leave n I thought they’d follow me. Luckily they didn’t. The fear in me. I started to wonder after if they were traffickers. Waiting in bars without anything to drink or eat waiting for young girls to enter the bar. Who were the photos sent to. Was I just paranoid. I never felt like that in Edinburgh when I was a youth. I know I look younger than my age at the time. I’ve had many bad experiences in my childhood n youth in Glasgow. Maybe one incident in the east end in adulthood. Apart for attracting abusers n my bike being stolen. I feel very safe in Glasgow today. Whereas Edinburgh sounds to be getting worse n worse with hooligans n crime. I’m not sure I feel safe there anymore. Esp what happened in the bar even if it was just nothing.

"feral teenagers" just made my day hahahaha 🤣

Oh yes, absolutely. Whenever I travel to the larger cities, it makes me appreciate just how peaceful and friendly Edinburgh feels, especially considering it is a full blown city with all the big city life perks!

Either visit one of the A&E (accidents and emergency) centres (if more serious) or talk to a pharmacist! The only other option is probably a private GP, but that might still take too much time.

And yet we get people administering drugs into their circulatory system literally on our doorstep or trying to kick our locked garden gates open for a handy dandy shortcut, two things that give me the creeps before I even leave my house 🤷‍♀️ I think people need to have realistic expectations: telling someone this is the safest city one's been to only makes others vulnerable to the sort of petty crime targeting visitors.

I was a nurse in Edinburgh and also lived there for many years. I went out to a number of gay bars with friends and only once received some verbal abuse (this was twenty years ago). Assaults did occur, but as suggested in the video these tended to be late at night, and was usually targeted against individuals. Hope that helps?

You'll be fine as long as the followers of the 'religion of peace' that live there don't find out you're part of the LGBTQ community. Should you become a victim of them the police will not do anything to help you and it will go unreported for fear of being called an 'Islamophobe'. On the other hand, should a straight white male assault you I can guarantee worldwide coverage and a full investigation to take place until the perpetrator is brought to justice.

You are married or am I missing something

@@Crosshatch1212 No, I'm straight, but my wife and I used to go out to all the gay bars in Edinburgh, because some of our friends (who were gay) felt more comfortable there.

Edinburgh as a whole is a very progressive city and especially in central areas it isn't uncommon to see people dressing in very expressive styles etc and generally not having any issues, particularly during daylight. The only time you may exercise some level of caution would be around the gay bar areas late at night, but even then it is quite unheard of and the most you would expect is a bit of light hearted heckling from someone walking by the opposite side of a street and since it is a busy area there are usually many people around right up until like 3/4am and the demographic of the area would suggest to me bystanders etc would step in if anything did surprisingly occur. I personally have never experienced any problems, though am very masculine presenting, even while holding hands and flirting in open areas. The only issue that comes to my mind is a friend of mine was on a date with a girl on Prince's Street and a woman started asking uncomfortable questions, but a man overhearing the situation came over to check they were okay and cleared the other woman off.

Where are you from?

@@New-ye2fl “naw, where ye fae? “

A date rape drug, usually slipped into a person's drink causing them to enter a state of semi or unconsciousness and forget the things that happen while under it's influence.

@@ericawaddle94 My Gawd!! A so called friend "roofied" me to get at my girlfriend of nearly 20 years! I was on strong base and my dog had just died and he got in touch again through bloody facebook about 2 weeks after i opened an account!! Ruined my life,only still recovering! That was in `15!!"Drink up yer coffee Bill,Drink up yer coffee,It`ll get cold"!!

google

I don’t know the situation in Scotland but here in Paris, the type of youths responsible of 99% of the criminality is always the same : people from Africa or the third world in general. I assume it’s the same in Scotland as it’s the same in England, Italy, France, Germany, Sweden, everywhere in Western Europe.

@@charlesmartel930• I live in Borehamwood England, near Edgware, St Albans, and was assaulted by white yobs. The most threatening are these white boy teens who wanna be L.A. rapper gang-bangers

Hey hey! I would say that a short time visitor will likely always feel safe (except for perhaps the spiked drinks in bars which have not been happening all that much since this video has been shot). It's more when you settle here long term - that's when you sometimes run into verbal abuse which someone who doesn't represent any sort of minority doesn't experience. Part of it is that Brexit has just given certain folks a free pass for hating on any foreigner, part of it is just people having miserable lives and picking on anyone who's visibly different, often these are people who are very drunk or very high and thus hardly represent the baseline Scottish attitude. HOWEVER - Scotland still is a safe country, the amount of harassment is minimal. Also, it's a country where if anything seems dodgy or anyone's stalking you or using any sort of offensive language, people will usually either stand up to defend you or you can feel safe to ask someone to protect you (bus driver, barista at Starbucks, you name it: I've done this before when I felt unsafe and people were always ready to stay by my side).

Live their ??

Please tell us what neighbourhood you live in so we can avoid it.

@fundifferent1 Absolutely not! Edinburgh is a welcoming cosmopolitan city. Everywhere has morons and we are no different, but you will be absolutely safe! Enjoy your visit 👍🏻

There are people of color who live in Scotland as well!