New house Surbiton/Tolworth

[CLW0502]

Hey lovely mums

I am a first time mother. My partner and I have had an offer accepted on a house equal distance between tolworth station and surbiton station. The road itself is lovely and seems to have lots of family’s on it. Yesterday we walked down towards BnM in Tolworth, we were really really unpleasantly surprised with the main road A240 that leads down towards the tolworth Broadway. Don’t get me wrong I’m sure there is nothing wrong with Tolworth however it made me feel really uncomfortable. I just wanted to know if there is anyone else out there living in the same area? Have they had any problems? Does it have a nice community feel to it? I’m very anxious about this move as it’s our next big step and obviously a big spend buying a house. Any information would be really appreciated :)

Chloe

tolworth broadway is grotty and horrible, id only go there if i lived local and needed to pop down for some bread or iceland. its perfectly safe just dull, dirty and boring. if you want to wander the shops then head to surbiton its much nicer.

Yeah tolworth is shit but it sounds like you're close to surbuton too so could easily walk there and never have to go to tolworth. I would go for it

Thanks a lot for your comments. Yes I completely agree. Tolworth is very dirty looking.

I drive past there on the way to Kingston and never noticed any litter. Or do you just mean dirt on facades and windows from all the pollution?

What made you uncomfortable? Granted it isn't the most glamorous high street but Surbiton's one is also extremely busy with traffic, charity shops and nail bars and buses driving past every 10 seconds etc.

I know the area between Surbiton and Tolworth well. It's a nice area. You'll go to Kingston for proper shopping and Tolworth has a M&S food so can't be that bad(!)

Also there's lots of baby groups and baby franchises running in Surbiton. It's an affluent area.

Do you mean you're moving to the area off the Ewell Rd? Where have you lived before? It's quite normal for outer London. It's not as posh as Surbiton high street/Victoria Rd but it's fine and as you said, a family area with students around too.

Can you be more specific about your worries/ concerns?

We go to Tolworth Broadway just for Indian grocery shopping and park in M&S. Nearby areas like Surbiton, Stoneleigh, Worcester Park or Epsom are much better for residential living.

I'd say it's pretty normal for London surburbia. A bit rough round the edges but not that bad.

I’ll be moving from Battersea/Clapham area which has a very village like feel to it but is also very expensive if you want more space. The area we are looking at in surbiton is Malvern road. When walking down to Surbiton main high street I get a good feel about it. There’s also nice pubs and cafes around that area. When walking the opposite direction toward tolworth it seems like a different mix of people. Lots of men standing around on the street staring. Perhaps it was a bad day but I didn’t get the same feel. Also lots of transport cafes and it felt more like a really bad area in London instead of the leafy quieter area of Surrey we are hoping to live in. Thanks for all your comments

I moved from near you to Surbiton when I had kids. Surbiton is lovely!!!! I was so happy there. Tolworth is a bit rough but I can’t see why you’d have to go there.

Technically its Surrey but its not. You want Farnham or nearby for Surrey feel

It doesn’t sound like you want leafy and quieter as you’re more focused on cafes and pubs. Sounds like you’ll be within walking distance of them in Surbiton anyway. You might also like Kingston as that’s huge with tons of shops and places to go out. Teddington has that ‘London villagey’ feel so might suit you better if you’re after sth similar to Northcote Rd. It has lots of Victorian housing like Clapham/Battersea but you’d get better green spaces.

I agree with @EarPhones, Surbiton is not 'proper' Surrey, it's more London Borough (even though it's not). It sounds to me that you're after something more along the lines of Weybridge or Cobham but it's ££££ there for nice houses.

But it's still a nice enough area and you're near Fishponds which is nice and there's a big playground at Alexandra Park. Also Bushy Park and Hampton Court are nearby.

Surbiton is in London. The boundary of Surrey starts further south but it’s all a pretty continuous built up area. So you’d need to go further out for a country feel. Having said that, real villages don’t have buzzy high streets with lots of cafes and pubs so not what the OP is after.

All helpful comments. Thank you for your input. Also, I’m new to mumsnet so I’m not very sure about the abbreviations. What does OP mean? I’ve seen it on some other threads and thought I have no idea what that means 😂

I'm in the same exact situation and also saw a house in Malvern Rd :) We have a 8 months baby girl. Did you end up moving there? We have the same concern.