Unwelcome pungent aromas assault the senses in this town, which locals claim “smells more like Amsterdam” because of brazen drug use, and where some have fled to Dubai because of fears over knife crime. Kingsbury, which sits inside the London Borough of Brent, is, for the most part, a typical London Zone 4 suburb where many choose to bring up a family. The area has strong historic ties to Jewish, Irish and Indian immigration and today people from all over the world have chosen to call this corner of north-west London their home.

But like many other parts of the capital, Kingsbury residents are having to be increasingly vigilant about crime and anti-social behaviour, seeking to settle in. During our trip to the main Kingsbury Road shopping street, it was heartening to see many independent businesses still surviving despite the well-publicised dire economic conditions meted out by Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Labour. The pavements were busy with shoppers and there was a vibrant feel with cafes, restaurants, hair salons and fruit a veg markets doing a roaring trade.

But according to the latest figures on the Met Police Kingsbury Your Safer Neighbourhoods Team website, 90 crimes were reported locally in December alone last year, including 27 violent and sexual offences, 17 cases of shoplifting, 17 incidents of anti-social behaviour, and 29 other crimes, including drug offences. Overall, the number of crimes reported from September to December in 2025 rose by around 14%.

As an indication of the sorts of scary behaviour locals have to contend with, one shopkeeper told us a client had moved to Dubai, citing his reason as to escape “before the stabbing starts”. Another business owner said a man ran into his shop and took a knife from the butcher’s counter before he plunged into someone outside on the street.

In a separate recent event, a 13-year-old boy appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court last week, accused of stabbing a pupil in the neck with a kitchen knife in front of children at the nearby Kingsbury High School. The boy, who cannot be named due to his age, has been charged with two counts of attempted murder, following the incident at the school.

Hospital worker and resident Alfiya Yarullina told the Daily Express she found open drug use a problem, with people sparking up suspicious cigarettes in public at all times of the day.

“The smell of drugs is constant, it feels more like Amsterdam to be honest,” she said. “I’ve witnessed several times people selling the drugs, I notice the drug dealers, it’s very noticeable actually. The amount of beggars and homeless seems to have increased as well, that’s for sure.”

Hayder Ali, 28, has worked at his family’s plumbing merchant firm, Plumbing Set, since 2019. He said one customer recently told him he was moving to Dubai “before the stabbing starts”. “A lot of my customers are going back home, especially from the construction industry, where you get people from Romania and Poland and other foreign builders,” he said. “They are going home because their countries are doing better than here now, because it’s cheaper and better.”

A manager at a local supermarket, who did not wish to be named, said the spectre of knife crime came right into his shop a few months ago when a man ran inside and grabbed a blade from the butcher’s counter. He said: “He ran inside and took the knife then he ran back outside and stabbed another man outside of the shop. It was crazy, he stabbed him right in the side of his body.”

Another shopper, who also did not wish to be named, said he was originally from Poland and moved to the area around six years ago. He said Kingsbury had changed a lot – and not for the better.

He added: “It’s a nightmare to live in this area, over December we had two weeks of youths constantly letting off fireworks, you can’t get any sleep. In the afternoon, if you come to this road, as early as around 4pm, you can see them drug dealing around the train station, it’s so brazen.

“I come from Poland to the UK for work, but many of the people from my country have gone home now because life is better there, the cost of living is better, there is less crime. If you come in the morning the main road is littered with all sorts of rubbish, they clear it up, but then it just comes back again. There are a lot of homeless as well.”

Family business owner Mohammed Mahdi, who runs The Jeweller London, on Kingsbury Road, said local retailers had learned to watch out for one another. He said: “If anything does happen, that’s worrying. I know I can always go to my neighbours, and I know they will help me out, but it’s London at the end of the day; you have to be careful, wherever you are.”

Mr Mahdi said he didn’t see much police engagement in the borough, but he felt safer “because of the community” with fellow shopkeepers. He added: “We had a suspected robbery attempt last year, a few people hanging outside the shop for a few days and they kept looking in. The shopkeepers got together and they helped us and I think any robbers would be robbers know that about this area.”

In 2015, Mr Mahdi said the shop was targeted by eight thieves on four motorbikes.

He recalled: “They broke into the store, they smashed everything and they took everything and ran, and then the neighbours came in to help they caught a guy, they grabbed one guy, so in a way that’s the nice thing about the people in this area.”

Local business owner John King has run a skip firm with his father in and around Brent for decades. He said there was a problem around the Tube station with large groups hanging around.

But he added: “I mean it does get a bit dodgy around weekends and at night, but most of the time in the daytime it’s alright. You do get police at the train station because that is where a few fellas seem to gather, being a bit cheeky and whatever, but generally I don’t see too much bad behaviour. There are a few people that set off fireworks, and there are drugs and stuff, but is that much different to anywhere else in London?”

A spokesperson for the Met said overall the total number of offences had dropped in Kingsbury by 20% in the past year, specifically drug and violence against the person offences.

“We are focused on tackling crime across London and recognise the impact this has on victims and communities,” said the spokesperson. “Officers have increased the number of patrols in areas that are known to be hotspots for criminal behaviour and carried out targeted operations, including weapon sweeps and arresting prolific offenders. This has seen the number of total offences in the Kingsbury ward drop by more than 20 per cent in the last year.

“At the same time, we recognise there is more to do to continue to drive down crime in the capital. That is why we have put more resources into our neighbourhood teams while working with partners to stop offenders from causing harm to their communities.”

Councillor Ishma Moeen, Cabinet Member for Community Safety & Cohesion for Brent Council, said: “Don’t Mess with Brent is not just a slogan, it is a warning.

“We are cracking down hard on anti-social behaviour. Fines are going up, we’re putting more enforcement officers on the streets, and increasing patrols in the areas that need it most. Anyone who chooses to cause trouble in our borough will face consequences.”

A council spokeswoman added a fly-tipping and littering clampdown has doubled fines in Brent with 5,700 dished out in 2025.