My girlfriend and I did the “Jack the Ripper” tour of the East End in ‘89. Our group got mobbed by bums at one point, but it was still cool.
Because I was actually living there, the locals quickly helped me get up to speed on what areas to avoid, so I never had the pleasure of fending off bums on the East End ;-)
I had friends from Brixton, but knew better than to visit them there.