To move to Woking

Hello,

Just came across this post and looking for locals opinion of what the area is like near Marston road and Sythwood in Woking? We are thinking of moving and are seeing a few properties in those areas but I am not so sure. Our littlest ones will need a good primary/infant school and ideally to be close enough to the train station for commuting.

Thank you in advance for your help!

I’m not convinced transport links are good, in the sense that getting to the town from outlying villages is not easy on public transport. Once in the town, the train links are good, it’s true.

We moved away 12 years ago and I wouldn’t go back.

I live in Surrey and am amazed by the positive comments about Woking! I really don't mean to be unkind, and am delighted for the people living there who like it, but local opinion is that it's pretty grotty! There is constant building work (for literally years and years now!) which means roads are regularly closed and traffic rerouted, so the hold-ups are huge. It's certainly true that the transport links are very good, but the shopping centres are quite poor - Guildford is way better for shopping.

Hi there ..I wonder if you ended up buying there..I'm in a similar position in considering the move from London particularly because of the presence of a couple of schools in Woking that are outstanding. However when I went there once to visit I was not impressed at all by the village and preferred Guilford instead. Where did you end up moving to? Are you happy ? How does it feel living there?

Listen to the War of the Worlds sound track. There's even an immersive experience layered reality version of War of the Worlds in a theatre.

Anyway, glad you're enjoying living in Woking.

Just be careful the tripod diesn't get you 😁.

All the best for your move in the Autumn! We successfully moved during July. We are in a house in Horsell. We are really enjoying Woking so far. And my DS (2yrs old) is loving his new nursery with so much outside space. We went to the theatre last week Friday and it was such a treat for it to be just around the corner. The walks are beautiful and Horsell Village has a brilliant butcher. Loving the big M&S foodhall too. Lots more to exploring to do; but so far so good. Oh and the commute has been reliable and fast like others have said!

I beg to differ he's in the US now and used to live around Chertsey somewhere but that was several years ago.

Woking is very nice and has had a lot of investment, new cinema, shopping centre etc. The schools are generally very good.

Horsell, St John's, Goldsworth Park are all nice, as are the villages outside. The pizza express is fit for royalty 😂

There are plenty of nice bits to live in, and I agree that there are fantastic houses south of Oriental Road, but they’re very pricey, and the local high schools down that area are excellent if you’re catholic or independent but harder if not - though now there’s hoe valley which is a bit closer to some of that area. Horsell’s a very nice bit, not the only one by any means, but it’s v handy for all those schools and the train and it’s a nice compromise if one of you wants a village and the other one much prefers being close to town. And the town centre is vastly improved!

Horsell is a fallacy that is often repeated on here like it’s a magical village that makes everything about Woking better. In reality it’s fine if you want to convince yourself you’re still in London with the commensurately smaller housing, some nice deli style places and food outlets, but that’s it.

the best housing in Woking by far are the south side of the railway line roads - south of Oriental Road but before you hit Old Woking Road. There’s some great older places there, proper size, driveways for more than one car. All walking distance to town centre and the top local schools.

Hook Heath and St Johns are nice as well but a tiny bit too far out for walking to town

there's plenty good about Woking but you’ll usually get the following on these threads from the sheep

• “it’s only known for a train line”
• “town centre is soulless”
• Horsell is the only good bit to live in

its like bingo every time

Chesney hawkes lives in Woking 😁

Hi there - firstly, thank you for making this post. There is so much negativity and I think people’s responses have been measured. I’m interested to hear whether you moved and what your personal thoughts were? I’m in the same position as you are wondering the same thing :)

It depends what you're looking for. I'd move towards horsell Rather than Maybury /old woking unless you can afford "the nice bit" or private schools.

Great transport connections, good housing but is getting more expensive

We used to live in Knaphill very close to the Buddhist temple. It was lovely and there was such a nice community spirit. I was sad to leave.

I lived by Brookwood Park for a couple of years. Loads of green areas, easy 15 min cycle into the centre/train station for work along the canal cycle path, plenty of shops and some basic stuff to do like decent pubs, a theatre, restaurants, gyms etc. Big shipping mall with all the usual chains. Really easy connections to Guildford or central London for nicer shops and things to do. A bit grotty in areas but no more than anywhere else I think. No idea about schools, but my massive garden backed onto a primary school with very cute and happy seeming kiddies who'd chat to me through the fence haha.

I personally hated it because I was in my 20s and more interested in gigs and urban life than the things Woking had to offer! But I could still see all of the good points for someone looking for those kinds of things. You could definitely do worse for the money!

I go shopping in Woking, take ds2 to Big Apple for bowling and Laserquest. I think it's perfectly pleasant.

I went to school in Woking & spent most of my 20s living nearby. It's a nice place, great for shopping, has a decent cinema & theatre, lots of bars & pubs. It's very easy to get in/out of London as you are near the A3 & M25 & of course trains are direct to London Waterloo. There are definitely worse places to move to..

As newly weds my husband and I purchased our first house on Goldsworth Park. We sold it and moved to a Semi-detached house nearer to Woking Park.

The town has had millions of pounds invested in it. It's always been good, IMO, for shopping, cinema, theatre, gym, leisure centre, eating, pubs etc.

My husband used to commute to London and I worked locally. We lived in Woking for nearly 20 years. It's changed and moved on in the last ten years or more since we moved elsewhere in Britain.

I've never been a fan of the, 'Chertsey Road' in the evening just because it's busy with pedestrians spilling all over the road from/to pubs and fast food places. But, I'm usually at home with my cup of cocoa by then, anyway !

Moved to Woking 6 months ago, we are very happy here! We used to live Walton-on-Thames (wasn't very happy with the area and the schools are terrible), before this Surbiton and Highgate. We compared with Guildford, but found Woking to be much nicer (a lot more leafy, surrounded by woodland etc), better commute, cheaper housing, not as crowded. It ticked every box for us. We live in the "posh" bit just south of the station near the Hockering estate. Woking isn't cheap, but much better value than most Surrey tows. The schools are excellent (state and private), people are humble and friendly, the town centre is very handy and now we have a Gails bakery and M&S food hall I am there all the time! We are 10-15 minutes from RSH Wisley Gardens which is in Wisley, Woking.

my great aunt used to live there.
i was always envious of the number of trains to waterloo and it took literally 27 minutes. (from woking to waterloo. nothing to do with my GA house)
plus gok wan did panto there like a month ago.

It's not a terrible place but depends what you're after as more and more like London everyday. The surrounding villages are much nicer. Currently there's issues with the new tower blocks so the main thoroughfare had been shut which causes chaos. I wouldn't go out in woking alone in the evening but the same could be said right now for guildford too. Try looking at Horsell, Ripley, Clandon, Horsley, Chobham, St John's if you want a more village feel