If you live in London and have kids, where do you live?

[leopardprintcoat]

And do you like it? Why? Are there any down points? Are you planning to stay long term or move out at some point?

[DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen]

I use to live in SE4,moved after 10 years as could never afford the jump from a flat to a house and ds was getting bigger and we wanted a garden,also secondary schools were a concern. Lived in London for 20+ years in total.

[Crumbelina]

I live in north Kingston and absolutely love it. Great shopping, pubs, restaurants and cafes, excellent schools and we have Richmond Park, Bushy Park, Hampton Court and river walks along the Thames on our doorstep. Transport links are good but Crossrail 2 will really make a difference. I've lived in London for most of my life and I plan to live in our current house for at least 20 years.

[NotCitrus]

Streatham. Love it, no intention of moving. We bought 10 years ago though. Tiny garden which is fine by us, huge green spaces and two supermarkets within a couple minutes walk. Lots going on, loads of families with kids.
Downsides - traffic. Can take an hour to get to say IKEA which would be 15 min with no traffic. Ditto the tip, and going there is necessary given council charges for all bulky waste now, and flytipping has become a big problem.
And Southern Trains and Thameslink can both be crowded and cancelled, but generally you can turn up and go.
House prices have risen hugely in the last 10 years.

[CroakingCrocus]

Well there are around 9 million or so people living in London and loads of them have kids....

Live in South East London. Love it. Loads of green space, good schools, lots of interesting restaurants nearby, etc. Planning to stay for the foreseeable as our house is big enough.

[Mummyme87]

I live in Sutton (5min walk from high street), Surrey/south London borders.

Very family friendly, some of the best schools in the country, easy access to London. Transport links... lots of buses to Wimbledon (SW trains), Morden (northern line) and then you have southern trains and thameslink... as a PP said can be delay issues but generally okay.

We only moved here recently and I love it. I would love to live somewhere like Southfields and earlsfield but I don't have a spare million 😕 House prices always going up in most parts of london

[JohnLapsleyParlabane]

South Norwood. Friendly area, lovely parks. We're not at the point of needing schools yet but I hear good things about most of the local ones.

[TheCyclist]

Leytonstone. Love it - i'm something of an evangelist about the place.

Loads of open spaces and parks, great schools, rapidly improving high street, great community. And still one of the few cheaper (highly relative, I know) areas of London that's within easy reach of the centre (about 20 minutes to Tottenham Court Road).

[TheCyclist]

(sorry, forgot the downsides)

Main roads are racetracks - some of the most appalling driving I've ever seen. We've got a historic problem with flytipping - although that seems to be improving. Occasional stabby incidents between gangs from the two smallish estates. They don't seem to bother 'civilians'.

[babydad]

Hither Green, moved from Streatham due to not being able to afford the move from flat to House.
Love Hither Green, its got great schools, good green spaces and is rather sleepy for somewhere so close to Central London. Imagine we will stay here until Secondary Schools.

[Needmoresleep]

Central London. We love it and the kids love it. It is very quiet, almost village like at weekends, but lots to do, excellent transport, and great job opportunities.

[DavetheCat2001]

West Norwood.

Great community area, very safe, lots of cafe's and pubs opened in the last few years. I have lived around here for 15 years and the change in that time is amazing. Live very close to my son's primary school which is excellent and he loves.

Downside is we can't afford to buy a house here as everyone who can no longer afford Dulwich/Crystal Palace/Herne Hill has moved in and prices have rocketed. We manage in our 3 bed maisonette with 2 young children, but it's getting more apparent as time goes on that we definitely need more space.

[Lozza70]

Highams Park, good schools, loads of families, Epping Forest and the Highams Park and lake for the outdoor stuff, great community feel and only 25 minutes into Liverpool St on the train or 2 stops to get onto the Victoria line. Have lived here for over 10 years and plan to hang around.

[indieblack]

Another one in South Norwood waves to JohnLapsleyParlabane and I love the variety of green space within walking distance. We bought a while ago so have a house with a decent garden though we don't use it much as we're always at a different park or playground.

A quick walk to Crystal Palace for trendy shops,cafes and bars though new gastropub and coffee places are springing up in S Norwood itself. Most primaries are good and or improving though there is a Harris monopoly at secondary. Lots of baby and kids groups everywhere so really family friendly.

We bought here as it was affordable and we were priced out of SW London. I genuinely love it here now and have great neighbours and there's a real community feel.

[indieblack]

I should say I'm a Londoner born and bred so no plans to move out.

[SmellTheGlove]

Also live in Kingston (waves to Crumbelina!). It's a great place for bringing up kids, although lots of people agree so it's expensive! I grew up in Putney and never lived too far away! We would maybe move away in 9/10 years when DS finished school in order to buy a proper big detached family home in the country as we'll never afford that here.

[DavetheCat2001]

It's funny how popular the 'Norwoods' have become over the past few years!

When I first moved in it was full of gangs and really run down.

Now it's all naice cafe's and shops springing up everywhere.

[Anononoo]

Just north of centre. It is brilliant. Never nothing to do.

[Teds77]

Nunhead (SE15) and love it. Loads to do and loads of lovely green spaces, great primaries and some good secondaries around though we are some years from that. We manage fine without a car. Wanted a decent sized house when we were buying in 2008 and looked around Nunhead, Telegraph Hill, Brockley, Honor Oak.

[whatty]

We live in SW20- 20mins on the train to Waterloo and it's a 10 min bus ride to Wimbledon for cinema and good high street, as well as loads of bars and restaurants in Wimbledon Village. Lots of green spaces and families too- and an easy journey out of London on the A3. Planning on staying put as family are also local.

[whinetasting]

W7 (Hanwell). It's fab- close to Ealing and Kew but not the prices! We have a direct train to Paddington (12 mins) plus are getting cross rail in a couple of years. Schools are brilliant- 1 ofstead "1" rated high school and another top 100 state school high school. Primary schools also excellent. Big parks.

[JessieMcJessie]

Crouch End (N8). My DS is only a baby but I see lots of happy kids of all ages here. It has a very nice small town centre feel with lots of independent shops and cafes and a rich Victorian history, but also plenty of retail parks within a short drive for all sorts of necessities. Loads of Turkish grocers selling fresh produce but central London only half an hour away. Downside is that housing is expensive and mostly terraces with fairly small gardens but there are good parks around, including Alexandra Palace up on the hill behind us and Hampstead Heath and Highgate Wood not far away. I have heard school places are hard to come by.

DH and I both have jobs that don't really exist outside major financial centres (we just moved back to the UK after 6 years in Hong Kong) so it's London till retirement for us. We hate commuting so moving to Kent or Essex or Surrey was not an option for us even though we could have got a much bigger house and garden there. We are 20 minutes by overland train to Moorgate from Hornsey station, which is 5 mins from our house.

[BikeRunSki]

I grew up in SW1. Can't get much more central than that! My first school faced the Natural History Museum. My secondary school was 10 mins walk from the Tate Gallery (the original one).

[idontlikealdi]

Zone 4 SE London. Always loved here and we love it, good schools, parks, family friendly, decent commute. Lucky enough to buy before prices went utterly bonkers.

[SilverSixpence]

Beckenham/Penge. Lived here on and off for past ten years, really nice community, great transport links, Crystal Palace and other lovely parks nearby, several outstanding schools.

[Crumbelina]

Waves to SmelltheGlove. . I grew up in the Putney area too (well, Roehampton ) and have always loved SW London. I don't think anywhere else in London can rival our green spaces - especially Richmond Park.

We've managed to stretch ourselves and buy a detached house here, but it's a complete wreck and we're renovating it ourselves (so we're looking at a 5+ year project - urgg!). We'll definitely stay here and then do the same as you. I want to ship out to the country and buy a big house with an amazing view.

Off topic but it's quite strange seeing how areas of London have changed. Putney's always been naice, but I remember when Kingston wasn't desirable at all ... noone wanted to live in Balham etc. ...