Moving family from London - but to where?

[Fruityfruit]

Where would you move your young family to (3 kids, two adults) if you lived in London and wanted to escape the terrifying rising crime, and give your kids a bigger place/more green space?

For context; we are nowhere near being able to buy yet so would have to be renting, and we currently don’t have a car so would need to be somewhere with good public transport availability.

If anyone has any insights/tips/recommendations - please do comment. As much as I love London, I think it’s time to leave 🙁

@Fruityfruit worthing. We are a few miles away from the sea, but the transport along the south coast is pretty decent. Schools have been good, people are nice. No complaints. Only an hour back to London to see friends etc.

I moved from London to Deal in Kent. Lovely little seaside town.

Another Londoner here. Where in London do you live OP? That does sound very unnerving what you’ve experienced. I’m East London & planning to move to Kent to be nearer to family but actually feel perfectly safe here & like the schools. The move is more to get support & be somewhere quieter for DD who is autistic. Are you looking to buy? What’s your budget roughly?

That list is crazy - nearly all northern cities as the most unsafe 🙄. I’ve lived in Manchester and Leeds and love both. I have, however, worked in Watford which apparently is one of the safest, and it is an absolute shithole and not a safe place at all!

we currently don’t have a car

Does this mean that you both drive, yet don't own a car, or neither of you can physically drive a car for whatever reason? Driving would massively increase your options for moving out of London.

We did similar, although don't have children. 20yrs living between zone 1-2 and moved to a coastal town 2hrs away. The peace and quite is lovely. Birds in the garden, a veggie patch and no black soot on the window sills. I do use the car much more here though.

I'd probably look at North Tyneside, as close to the coast and Whitley Bay/Tynemouth/Cullercoats as possible. Excellent schools and transport links (metro into Newcastle). It really is a lovely place to raise a family, but the nicest parts are expensive.

Maybe not, but if that's the OP's perception then maybe we're not placed to criticise. I grew up in NW London and so glad I left over 20 years ago. Very close to where I lived two weeks ago a lady was dragged from a bus stop, had her throat slashed by a mugger and died in the middle of the road. She was waiting for a bus. At 11.50am. The most depressing thing was that the police waved it away as "an isolated incident" and the feeling was that it was okay, someone was arrested so move along please. Needless to say it wasn't even the lead story on BBC. Shunted off to the regional news pages in no time.

You won't regret the move OP. But the creeping urbanisation and all it's associated problems will come to wherever you move to eventually. Seems to be the way the UK is headed generally.

We relocated in lockdown, best move we ever made. DH did lots of research, this ruled out a lot of areas. He looked at crimes rates, weather, property prices. We decided on Norfolk, absolutely love it here, Norwich is a great, safe city. Wouldn’t ever dream of moving back.

You liar!😂

Another vote for fareham here,also consider Lee on the solent absolutely beautiful in the summer you have stubbington which is very quiet,Alverstoke in gosport but gosport is an absolute nightmare to get out of and back into in the evening.

Also Petersfield and Lymington in the new forest is lovely

True, but crime stats for individual boroughs far exceed the highest crime city (Manchester). Westminster has the highest crime rate in the UK (although a lot of these are robberies which probably includes a lot of pick pocketing, and things like public order offences which will include protestors etc).

Cambridge. Still big and multicultural but much less crime. Great transport links to London for family. Very cycle and walking friendly.

Gosport is a shithole; Lee on Solent is full of old people.

Fareham is a dead ghost town.

Winchester?

Worthing or shoreham

Monmouth/Abergavenny if you don’t mind moving to Wales.
Cheltenham/Tewkesbury/Evasham in England.

Is it your way to reduce the immigration to Yorkshire?

Shrewsbury or York

I love about 20 miles North of Birmingham. Close enough to a big city if I want to go but in a much quieter town. Within 1/4 mile there is a huge lake we can walk/cycle around, with wildlife and very peaceful. 3 bedroom houses rent from upwards of about £1k pcm.