Born and raised here and still living here, having grown up in the Visbuurt and now living in the Falgabuurt, Den Helder is preceded by its reputation of being a city full of chavs and generally unwanted deplorableness. Although there is some merit to that I personally think it's more complex than that and has become an unfair assumption, especially these last five to ten years. Den Helder has been working hard to improve itself and to some degree of success; the city center has gotten a major overhaul and several big events these last few years held here have done the city a great service.

However, the general mentality is still conservative and I still see a lot of alcohol/drug abuse and subsequent mental issues. For example people are feverishly pro-black pete, lots of support for PVV and FvD, you can probably imagine the rest. When I talk about Den Helder with people from other parts of the country I try to describe this city as a 'cultural reservation' of sorts, it's a city with a 'everyone-knows-everyone' mentality that you commonlysee in villages. If you're a very progressive or educated person you might have a harder time fitting in, I'd only really recommend living here if you can find a good job here, if you hold conservative values yourself or if you are progressive, but you can still take a figurative punch once in a while and handle strong opinions that aren't sugar-coated.

I was never big on going out but I have frequented a few 'bruine cafés' here, traditional, dimly-lit Dutch pubs complete with brown paneling on the walls, art deco lamps, rough sailors and other unique individuals - the whole harbor-pub experience. Honestly I've had zero problems in these pubs, but more popular bars appealing to a younger crowd can sometimes get grim, with fights usually fuelled by alcohol and cocaine (which is nothing new for The Netherlands I'd say.)

I hope this helps!