Leaving London for a market town?

[Hippogator]

We have decided to sell up and leave London. We could go for a village or a market town. I'm leaning more toward the market town but most people we know keep saying we're nuts as the market town we've chosen and market towns in general have a lot of hidden deprivation and antisocial behaviour in comparison to the villages. Anyone with an opinion or who has done the same?

Good luck (from a Londoner too scared to contemplate either of those)

Market town, definitely.

I did and it's great.

Yes, the market towns become a focus for any criminality that's going on, but that's because they're the focus for all activities and signs of life. A lot of it is minor drug dealing and drug taking and would go unnoticed if it wasn't for the local rag and the local gossips.

It depends on the market town. Most around where I live are very naice. I think (?) I live in one actually. There are some stereotypical ‘housing estate’ places but I can’t say I’ve noticed any real deprivation. Everything and everyone is clean and I haven’t witnessed any antisocial behaviour. At any rate it’s nothing compared to living in London.

A market town will still be very cosmopolitan in my experience, whereas a step further out into a surrounding village from the market town will be less diverse. You'll get people traipsing on to say that they have a couple of dual heritage or diverse families, but, the contrast is stark when coming from London. A village can be harder/ take longer to make friends in, and people often want to make it exclusive. Also Think of the amenities of both the market town and the village, is it ok if you have to drive for a bit to the supermarket/library/religious centre/ swimming facility/ etc or is it ok that those facilities are not where you are. Do you want the DC to walk/ cycle to school. What are the secondary school transport options?

I'm from London, have moved out to a market town and now even further out into a village. I really enjoyed the market town, even if we were on the "wrong side " for the grammar schools. Now, in the village......

Market town without a doubt.
Villages (I live in one) can be suffocating.

You may discover (as I have) that the village is made up entirely of families who have lived there since since the beginning of time. Their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, great grandparents, great aunts, great uncles, second cousins... all live there or have lived there. If not linked by blood they may be linked by marriage or school.
It's a lovely place but my God.

I used to live in a market town and whilst you could say the above may also be true in part, there are enough people around to make it more diverse.

UNLESS, we're talking villages around Oxford or the like... younger generations of families have been priced out and the villages are often made up of rich incomers.

What constitutes a market town? My MIL lives in what I think is a market town in Hampshire which is nice enough and the surrounding countryside is spectacular. Jane Austin country.
Do market towns have a reputation of being rough?
I imagine compared to the relative deprivation of parts of London, (and as you know it’s never far away, no matter where you are) you won’t find it particularly threatening.

Is it St Albans???

If you are city people definitely go for a town, and one not too far from a city. We moved to a village and hated it but live our small/medium city life.

Thing is OP, there's market towns and then there's market towns

@WhiteDust that's exactly where I'm talking about!

St Albans is a city and barely out of London in the first place!

Oh sorry got @whitehalleve and @WhiteDust muddled up.

It's s city but not a city city 😄

I'm thinking of moving there too! I know a few ppl who've made the move there and apart from the commute to London they only have good things to say about the move.

St Albans is effectively a commuter suburb of London, surely?

Pretty town centre but there are a lot of homeless people sleeping in doorways.

Younger generations of families have been priced out and the villages are often made up of rich incomers.

Sounds like where I grew up in lovely London 😢

@WhiteDust come tell me why!? It's Faringdon or Wantage. Anyone know them?

Smiled: St Albans prices nudge London prices.

@WhiteDust yes to the generations in the village. O.m.G!

I didn't want to mention that but, golly, what on earth? I live in a village that basically constitutes of four main families and the stores are named after them. E.g. the electrical/ hardware store is called Allen hardwares. Then basically all other stores and amenities have a family name to them too. I thought that it was an urban tale growing up in London and that people were being mean.

Op market town all the way!!

Wantage isn't somewhere I'd move to.

Farringdon is nice enough, and if you're considering there, maybe also look at Witney.

@ColeHawlins can I ask why not wantage?

DH and I are moving from NE London to Tunbridge Wells- I’m more than happy with that choice. Nice town, good schools, friends nearby, and back in London in less than an hour!

I just don't find Wantage to be very nice.

(I can't find the PMs on this app.)

Villages and smaller towns will have very very poor public transport. This is important to consider if you want your children to do almost any activity, get a part time job when old enough and limit what schools and colleges they can attend. Unless you plan to be their full time driver then research public transport to the max. And then research it again.