Hitchin or Letchworth garden city?

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We're looking to possibly move to this area and wanted to get some advice from locals! We can get more for our budget in Letchworth and there are some lovely looking houses, whereas we could only afford estate type houses in Hitchin (nothing wrong with that, they're just very similar to the house we're leaving).

Is Letchworth safe and are there any areas to avoid? Similarly, is Hitchin worth the extra money and are there any areas to avoid there? Schools-wise, we're looking ahead to secondary and Hitchin seems to have the best ones. I'm not sure about catchment areas though - does anyone know how likely it would be to get into Hitchin Boys / Girls from Letchworth? We're wondering if it's worth getting a smaller / less nice place in Hitchin to be closer to good schools and be in a nicer town, or whether actually Letchworth is better than it seems on paper.

Thank you!

I’ve lived in both. Hitchin has a more better town centre with more shops etc but historically Letchworth was always more expensive. If you look at the housing stock Letchworth was far far better larger houses at the top of the market and many more of them than Hitchin.

The comments about a Waitrose in Hitchin and a Morrisons in Letchworth are beyond pathetic. And Hitchin being ‘posher’. It boils down to this. There is more money in Letchworth as the people who buy the nice houses have more money as send their children to private schools. The ‘type’ that buys in Hitchin are those who’ve made money on property in London and don’t necessarily have well paid jobs or money. They buy for the state schools.

Those in Letchworth in the best houses have the last laugh as better houses and only four mins from Hitchin. Win win.

My kids grew up in Letchworth, safe, countrified, beautiful.
Crap shops!
Hitchin has more lively pubs, nightlife and shops, and high achieving schools.
The journey down into hitchin from Letchworth is a complete nightmare of gridlock however.

I loved being in Letchworth as the mum of teens, never worried about them. Surrounded with country, trains to London etc
If you want to alter your house you might fall foul of the Heritage Foundation who guard the appearance of the 'first garden city' with ferocity.

I find Letchworth really soulless and depressing whereas Hitchin is quirky and full of character, I don’t agree that property prices are cheaper in Hitchin either. The shops reflect this - Gail’s, White Company etc in Hitchin.

We don’t live in Hitchin anymore but I’d choose it over LGC any day of the week. My friends who have moved for cheaper properties spend all their time in Hitchin. The schools particularly secondary in Hitchin are excellent and that’s definitely not true of Letchworth.

Letchworth isn’t a terrible place to live or anything I just think Hitchin is nicer. You’ll have to look at schools etc, properties and spend some time in both and see what you think.

Do a right move search and you’ll see the most expensive houses sold are in Letchworth not Hitchin. I’m talking the higher end of the market - 1.7 plus are mostly in Letchworth. There are 4 million pound houses there.

I'm from another town nearby and often go to Hitchin for a Saturday afternoon wander, nice shops, coffee shops and things going on. I went to Letchworth for an afternoon once, I could only find a horrible shopping centre with poundland type shops. There were lots of nice houses to drive by though.