Fenham - Newcastle

[hellouthere]

Thoughts on Fenham as a place to live with a young family? Are schools nice? Friendly area? Is there a high street, or place to meet others?

Use to be quite a rough area but I am speaking 20 plus years ago. Might be better now

Quite rough, I wouldn't want to live there. No high street but corner shops, hairdressers, bookies etc dotted about. Very close to Blakelaw, cowgate and Benwell which you want to avoid like the plague! Have you looked anywhere else in the North East? Kingston Park is close, has lots of shops, a Toby carvery plus another pub and a fantastic school

It's one of the cheapest areas to live so full of students, I don't live there but have driven through and it looks rough.

hummm, thank you. Kingston park, not looked there. I'm intrigued. Do you know how is the commute to newcastle from there? We need to commute to newcastle daily.

argh ok. rough. thank you. That explains the almost 'affordable' house prices them.

Fenham is not somewhere I would look to live, although there are some nicer streets than others. What is your budget and what are you looking for (rent/beds/garden)?

Look further out, maybe south east Northumberland. Near the coast etc. Lots of places have an easy commute into Newcastle but have a small town community feel.

@hellouthere Kingston Park is a 20 min drive into the centre of town with no traffic, can be much longer but there's a metro station at Kingston Park which is a direct line into town and takes about 15 mins. Its a lovely area to live in. The shops and metro are all within walking distance.

3 bedrooms, not fussed about a garden, but a small garden is a bonus. I don't mind about off street parking. Top of the priorities is nice friendly school, ok commute (metro best I think? ). It'd be nice to be near some shops too. budget around 280-300k give or take.

Can I ask, I assume Kingston park is the area around kingston park metro station? Makes sense, but it's not too clear on google maps where the area starts and ends. where is the secondary school please? Is there one in the area? Thank you so far! Very pleased to have (what could be) a brilliant tip-off :)

Where abouts in Newcastle are you commuting into? What about something south of the river? Whickham is nice, good access to the A1 which goes across the river.

Low Fell is lovely, bit of a scrum getting over the Tyne bridge into Newcastle but not bad.

20 years ago I was a student at Newcastle Uni and Fenham was one of the biggest and cheapest student areas. Cheap because it was incredibly rough and rundown. From what I've seen over recent years, not much has changed.

The RVI I will need to be most days.

Can I ask thoughts on Heaton? My children will be going into secondary school in the next few years - is the school nice?

High Heaton seems to be well thought of, I've a couple of colleagues who live there - can't comment on the schools as I don't know.

Primaries in Heaton are all good but secondary is more difficult, the main option is JPA which historically wasn't a good school but became and academy with a new head a few years ago and seems to be really turning round. My children are younger but friends with older children currently there are happy but if you speak to anyone with experience a few years ago it wasn't highly thought of.

Heaton is really nice, less studenty than it used to be, lots of independent shops and cafes and has quite a community feeling.

Fenham was rough enough that even as a student we wouldn't consider it! Was a few years ago now though. Heaton was fine, quite popular with students so something to be aware of. No idea about schools though.

I loved living in Heaton. Avoid the more studenty bits and you’re fine. Nice cafes, great parks, bus and metro links and you can walk to town quite easily if you live on the outskirts.

I don't like Fenham at all and I'm originally from the West end of Newcastle.

Lived in Heaton for 5 years and loved it, but as others have said, schools aren't the best.

I now live coastal. 20 mins on metro to city centre. Youd get something round here for the budget you've quoted. Look at Whitley Bay, Monkseaton, Wellfield and Cullercoats areas. All are seved by metro. Lot of good schools to choose from in the area too. Love living here.

I agree that heaton would be a much better option than fenham.

£280-300k might get you a 3 bed in the gosforth area if you wanted. Looking on rightmove, there are some houses in regents farm and brunton park under £300k.

But you’ll find more at that price in heaton. It’s more vibrant than the more suburban bits of gosforth too.

It also depends on how you feel about students for neighbours, too. There’s a reasonable chance of that in fenham or heaton.

Far less likely in Kingston park. Or great park (where you’ll find loads of houses in budget, and good schools - if not much by way of a high street).

The Longbenton area of Newcastle is nice- towards the west there's a nice housing development with lots of 3 bed properties with medium sized gardens (the East is more rough), usually around £200k at the moment. You're really close to shops, metro, bus, parks, pubs, hairdressers, schools, and Asda, as well as Gosforth, which is a posher area of Newcastle with lovely shops and high street. Plus you're near Jesmond Dene which is absolutely stunning 😊

Oh and 15 mins on the metro into town, and 20-25 mins to the coast

@hellouthere

lived in Matfen place near the Moore for three years. Loved it.

I promise you, it is not rough! My entire family has lived there forever. I never had any bother living there, caught a direct bus to the RVI when I worked there in uni holidays.

My cousin teaches at the main primary, all her dc go there, my parents moved there to get me and my brother into the Catholic single sex schools which are great (another cousin is head at the boys) My family all live there.

Just buy to the right of the Catholic Church (church on your right). Left of Curtis Road is slightly more affordable but is less desirable, but my mum lives there, never had any bother. She has a very big 3 bed semi, garage, drive, 100ft garden. Never anything for sale in her street.

I wouldn’t live over the West Road, purely because the houses are smaller (except for Grainger Park Road) and there’s lots of ex-council/tiny back yard/no garden/very restricted parking and it is very busy/not as well kept, loads of chicken shops/taxi places. Streets are steep and leading down to a not brilliant area. Maybe this is the area people are thinking of: driving up from town on the West road, the area to the left isn’t brilliant. There is a massive amount of shops there, everything you could want, but not cafe culture!

It is a very community minded place, particularly for church people (my other cousin plays the organ and organises lots of events in the hall)

This is Kingston Park. I've also sent you a PM..