Stations in historically "rough" areas

I always thought Bethnal Green fell into this category.I suspect (with no evidence to back this up) that the tube station was intended as part of a more general slum clearance/infrastructure improvement to "open up" the East End.

The Central Line extension was announced in 1935, the station was completed before the war and used as an air raid shelter before opening for traffic in 1946.

While the Housing Act of 1930 encouraged councils to clear slums within their boundaries it wasn’t until the Act of 1936 allowed designated “redevelopment areas” that slum clearance became widespread.

All the evidence I can find suggests that large scale redevelopment didn’t happen in Bethnal Green until after the war when over 2,000 houses were destroyed or made uninhabitable and a further 20,000 houses were damaged.

Small world! My (maternal) grandparents were both born in the Culford Rd/De Beauvoir area in the 1900s...they insisted they were poor but,as you say,the area is astronomically expensive now,and the houses they lived in,if they had both survived demolition,would have been worth millions.At the time,though,they belonged to Lord Benyon and were rented accomodation.
The whole area South of Downham Rd (the Benyon estate) was cleared and another sort of estate is now on the site.
This pattern has been repeated all over Inner London.....however in my own lifetime,I have seen once squeaky-clean outer suburbs become shabby and down-at-heel,the houses in multi-occupation.

London is an ever changing place, my grandfather was born and brought up in Clerkenwell which was definitely a poor area before WW1. In my lifetime I have seen Tottenham and Edmonton go from nice areas to very run down. In my career with LT/LU I would say the dodgiest places at night were Brixton and Ladboke Grove and West Ham both day and night. I recall the cleaner used to open up at night to let me in when I was working there while the station supervisor hid somewhere, in fact I never saw the supervisor, apparently the ticket office had been broken into more than once. Of course when I began my LT career London was for the most part a dead city after 2300 until around 0530 when the early morning rush began with office cleaners going to work. Before I retired much of London had become 24/7. Greater London is just a sprawl now, there are no really nice areas any more, it is all much of a muchness brought down to a lower standard than I recall as a young adult.

Interesting thread away from the usual rolling stock and service issues.

When I first came to London in 1979 I was advised not to go anywhere in the East ....areas like Ladbroke Grove felt a lot sketchier than today (though l suspect "crime" is less directly obvious to the visitor) - South London was another area.

Gentrification has really crept in , transforming may areas - but my days looking after operations on the North London line , and the Watford - Euston line (amongst others) - saw Stonebridge Park - Harlesden as well dodgy , followed by anywhere east of Highbury on the NLL.

One Friday evening we did a "zero tolerance" campaign on the DC line for ticket checking , and fearing the worst , set off with a mission - it was actually OK , as most of the checked passengers were glad to see some staff around , and with a few exceptions (dealt with firmly - but fairly) - it was an OK evening (s) - repeated several times.

Queens Park used to be a fairly non descript area with few decent eating places , - sort of place where as the area declined , multi occupation set in and standards fell - just a greasy chip shop there in the early 80's , - now a trendy area with lots of nice eating places. I suspect even Harlesden has come up in the world - the NLL certainly has.

Worst trains - the 2337 Watford - Euston (only for the brave) , and the 2345 North Woolwich to Stratford (in my day)

In the 1800s, the area near Parliament was one of the roughest places in England and MPs leaving in the evening only ever used to go home in twos or threes. Nowadays the area surrounding parliament, St John Smith Square, Lord North Street, etc. are worth millions.

I grew up in Dagenham, moved to Barking, spent time in Ilford, a couple of forays to White City and Elephant & Castle before coming back east and landing up in Leyton where I’ve been since 1991. Leytonstone is reasonably quiet, Stratford is ok, Walthamstow, are you serious? You’ve never been to the Village, not cheap.

Actually Chingford is probably the dodgiest place, a friend of mine lived in Highams Park perfectly peacefully, moved up to the top end of Sewardstone Road, the border with Hertfordshire was literally at the end of her road, and she was burgled three times in six months. She’s back in Highams Park.

I worked out of Whitechapel depot from 1977-1979 and I didn't think it too bad an area then, King's Cross was far worse I felt, although walking through the alley to the station entrance from the road behind the depot where we used to park our cars always looked to be a good mugging spot and I used to carry my lit torch.
At the time that whole area was quite run down and the houses in the side streets looked like slums to me, they seemed to be empty but I don't know, the area was always dimly lit. The winos used to hang around the street entrance to the signal store hoping to get at the meths we used to light our Tilley lamps and on Friday nights when they always seemed to have booze and arguments they would occasionally lob full quart cider bottles over the wall exploding on the station platform below. We used to book on early and then nip around to the pub for a quick pint or two before our 2300 start, the Grave Maurice, Rodney's Head and London Hospital Tavern all being nearby but the inspectors used to have a jar in the Grave Maurice, the Rodney's Head was quiet and the LH Tavern busy and pricey so we'd often go up the road to the Old Red Lion which did a nice line in real ales and occasionally we'd bring back a few pint bottles of Sam Smith to drink on the job especially in the summer when working in the platform inverts. It was a dodgy area then but I think it was much worse in the 1980s when I used to visit a workmate at Stepney Green and sometimes stay overnight after a Friday night in the West End. Then we'd visit the pie and mash shop in Roman Road for Saturday lunch and nip along to a pub in the Mile End road. My mate was an east end boy and grew up with the Kray's and he knew some very dodgy people, living in such a place didn't seem to bother him and when he moved in with a girlfirend on the estate behind Bromley-by-Bow station I saw an even more dodgy area. I used to stay for a night sometimes but I was always afraid my car would be gone in the morning.
My opinion of places changed over the years, in the 1970s In thought Finsbury Park very dodgy but in the 1980s I socialised there in Blackstock Road and elsewhere in Holloway road, Camden Town etc in clubs and restaurants on a weekly basis as well as Euston and the West End and would often end up in someone's flat in the wee small hours in some other part of London. I woke up in some very seedy areas at times and was glad to get back to north London. Strangely, overall when I look back perhaps I was simply young and naive because I was not as bothered at the time as I became subsequently!

Don't you mean the 'Grave' Maurice?

I too have imbibed in most of those hostelries in their earlier, some would say, sleezier, days, but I think the area was a better, safer, place then than it is now!