Anyone from Purley ?(Croydon)

[Jas8085]

My colleague's parents are downsizing. We are looking to move to a bigger house. (We are in Bromley at the moment). We never considered Croydon because of the reputation, but with a bit of research, I figured out that South Croydon, Sandersted and Purley are nice. This particular property is in Purley- Woodcote valley road. My colleague is happy to take me there to view and have a chat. If we say no, they will put the property on the market. I want to be sure of the area before I go.

Is Woodcote valley road a nice area? Is it very busy/noisy?

[JoJoSM2]

Have you been to Purley? It was one of the areas we considered when moving out to the 'burbs. It's a nice enough area but we did find the traffic off-putting. There's a gigantic roundabout right in the middle of Purley and it's busy whenever I go there. So I struggled for that chilled out, suburban vibe there. What we also found with some houses on the hills was that the noise from train tracks travelled right up the hill and we could hear it despite being a 10 min walk from the tracks/station (I don't think that's applicable to the road in question, though).

In the end, we decided on Sutton. Have you consider going a bit more west too? E.g. Wallington, Carshalton Beeches, Sutton etc.

[Orchardgreen]

Woodcote Valley Road is busy, but the streets off it are nice.

[Jas8085]

@JoJoSM2, we've been to Purley but only on the weekends - Im realising that won't give me a fair idea of the traffic etc

[JoJoSM2]

Well, if it appealed at the weekend, you might like it in the week too. I just find it a bit busy and soulless (no offence to anyone from Purley and I've heard that Michael Buble lived there too ).

[inpainandgrumpy]

Woodcote Valley Road is nice but as others have said, it's not a particularly quiet road. It has a small private primary school on it (St Davids) at the Purley end, so is busy at school drop offs. I think there is also a bus that runs along it these days too.

Having said that, the houses are on the whole lovely and it's a good location with good transport links. If you're after schools, Woodcote is well thought of. You're walking distance to Purley station and very close for m25 links. Purley itself is improving, but the big Tesco junction is horrendous and the Brighton Road busy. Coulsdon is nicer and has a Waitrose.

Croydon is awful at the moment but is getting a lot of investment and with BoxPark, the new Fairfield Halls complex, hopefully Westfield (when that ever happens) and not forgetting the new CroyDong building (2nd tallest building in the U.K. don't you know?!) things are on the up.

Sanderstead is absolutely lovely and people flock there for 3 Outstanding primaries and Riddlesdown and Warlingham secondaries. There's a new secondary due to open next year close by. It has 2 train stations but only if you're down the hill (not by the Sanderstead village shops which are up a big hill!).

[JoJoSM2]

Inpainandgrumpy, you've just inspired me to google those plans for the massive tower - 68 with 41 stories next door stories! Humongous!

[inpainandgrumpy]

JoJo and rather phallic, no?

[JoJoSM2]

I hope not too phallic... I live on a hill and can see the Crydon skyline from my bedroom

[inpainandgrumpy]

I'll just leave this here...

[inpainandgrumpy]

Click to view whole length...

[5rivers7hills]

@inpainandgrumpy I think that!

[5rivers7hills]

I like that I mean, not I think that

[parkview094]

I spent a good chunk of my life living on Foxley Lane. Woodcote Valley Road is nice, but it was always a bit of a cut-through, so as others have said, expect traffic. Not a main road, but much busier than you might think. That whole side of Purley ("West Purley") is generally 'considered' the posh/best bit. (Although I've never really understood where the 'bad' bit of Purley might be).

Don't be put off by 'Purley Cross' (the Giant Roundabout). It does clog up, but it copes surprisingly well with traffic. When I lived there (and I don't suspect it's changed much) - Purley doesn't have a village feel. The high street is nothing special. But it is very well connected for the big sheds on the Purley Way, for getting out of London (close to the M23/M25) and Purley Station does have a good train line into London if that's important.