to want to move house in London just because the area where I live has become extremely poncey?

[Mintyy]

Yes, yes, of course we have been unbelievably lucky that we chose to live somewhere that became gentrified and therefore have made a lot of money on our house.

However.

We now feel like we have less and less in common with the people who live here. We are 49 and 51 and have good but not outstanding incomes.

I have just discovered that my new neighbours (who paid an extraordinary amount for their extremely average terraced house) are newlyweds in their early 30s. They are going to be doing building works, so I am imagine an extension and a loft conversion.

We are going to have nothing whatsoever in common with them are we?

I sincerely yearn for more authentic London living. Either inner city or further out and less pretentious and overpriced than where we are now.

Such a pita to have to move though! And nothing on the market .

Positively Dickensian!

In Tulse Hill there is a good choice of excellent schools, these days, depending on which bit of Tulse Hill.
Primary and secondary.
I don't think Tulse Hill is a bad place to live - it has brilliant transport, easy walking distance to Brockwell Park, but the horrible junction and gyratory will never afford the right environment for cupcakery, I reckon. It is also much closer to very high density social housing than either Balham or E Dulwich, for example.

I'm I'm Sydenham,round the corner from the Thorpes and Mayow park.

Let's house swap!Actually....I like it here a lot as there is a mix of people and there are loads of interesting people here.
It can be a bit rough like most places in London but the high street is beginning to improve. The house prices have gone mental in the last six months. My house value has doubled in the last nine years and it's not fancy whatsoever.

That's awful. And probably an illustration of what people are getting at in a nutshell.

Oh, that is so bad. I am so sorry to hear that, MmeD. I really hope you completely luck out and end up with somewhere ultra-secure, overlooking a park.

I was visiting your area a while back and wondered if any of the c a f e s was you.

I'm really sad and cross now.

Sorry, that last post was to MmeDefarge.

I do think that part of the issue is the insane cost of property in London which means that areas that should be mixed become desirable because people can't afford to live in the current naice areas. We live W London and in the last year or so our area has moved from probably affordable by a couple of teachers both working to needing a 6 figure household income to buy. We already have a waitrose so it's chichi cupcake shops I've got to look out for. Currently the area is very ethnically mixed and I hope it stays that way. However, it is increasingly middle class.

You do wonder how people doing average jobs will ever get on the housing ladder in London.

Marsha - no, often not in S London.
I can think of schools in the E Dulwich area which are not 'outstanding' but are a mc magnet, and a school in Brixton that is Outstanding but not remotely sought after by the chattering classes.

My DS's school was 'Outstanding' and had 33% FSM - in the end if the closest housing to a school is a high density estate, that will reflect a large portion of the intake - wealthy mc people may buy a Victorian terrace, but not so likely a 70s ex local authority 5th floor deck access flat. That's the reality.

Im getting over it, but its been hard. my MH has severely deteriorated, and on ESA. So hard to lose it all on a whim. At least my customers miss me! two years on they still talk about it, and lots have become good friends, so I think I am really lucky really. And DS is doing really really well.

Got an Atos interview on the 19th yay!

My new plan is to marry money. Should have done it years ago!

I'm pleased to hear that. I only really know a few schools and their grades, and the big scramble to live nearby (Dulwich Village for eg).

@ MmeDefarge. Good luck. Apparently wearing a fair deal of red helps. Seriously. I saw a woman giving tips on this on Richard and Judy years ago.

a santa costume?

Hmmm, I had my fill of "authentic London living" in Dalston in the nineties. Which is why I now live in a rather naice part of the North.
Still, each to their own.

Have you revisited Dalston recently, Moomin?

In a way, it's an old, urban story: an are is a bit down-at-heel and attracts a vibrant, but not terribly monied population: gentrification begins, the vibrancy that made the area attractive for those who were already living there declines.

I'm looking at you, Bellenden.

(E.Dulwich folks will know what I'm talking about.)

I used to work in a small publishers in Dalston.

I think the thing that I am quite saddened by, is the loss of so many left-field, non-profit making organisations: progressive, idealistic, often arts or politics based. I think it is sad when property-values endanger a city's ability to dream of how to live differently. Dreams, bohemias, counter-cultures, experiments and utopias need bricks, mortar and actual space to work out their ideas. And these have been really rather priced out of large swathes of London.

I think the Catford cat is fibreglass, btw.

I haven't actually Cat. I was in London in the Summer but we never ventured to our old stomping grounds.

You're going to tell me it's gone all Stoke Newington aren't you?

Moomin I'm not going to ruin the surprise, you should take a little bus tour next time you're around.

ha ha dalston is a bit different now

I grew up in a small market town in the East Midlands.

I would move back at the drop of a hat if we could afford to.

But we have been totally priced out of the market because of it's accessibility to London and its good schools and its history.

Rent it out? Then rent elsewhere or buy elsewhere. Keep it as a good investment

Mintyy you are both v similar ages to me and dh. I get what you are saying. It's been happening for a long time to our bit of London. We take a very steely view though. We get on with neighbours. We are close to reasonable hospitals. Schools for dc sorted until they are 18. House prices currently rising crazily as you have mentioned. We will not think about moving until we have the dc's through school. We would be mad. Financially, no-one really knows what will happen with pensions so the money in our house is our safest bet for helping us have a reasonable retirement.
Whenever we feel the need for edgy, we hop on the tube and nip there.

MadameDefarge, I am sorry to hear what happened.

Blu has it I think. I remember going to Northcote road in Clapham about six years ago on a Saturday. There was hardly a person on the street who wasn't white, which is astonishing when you consider where it is. They may as well have put a gate round it.