to be fed up of living in a deprived neighbourhood?

[fluffymouse]

We moved neighbourhoods in London to up size. Quite simply we could only afford a place big enough for us as a family in London in a dodgy neighbourhood. By any conventional marker the area is very deprived. It has a rather notorious reputation too, and has meant some people have been reluctant to visit us.

I have tried being positive about the area (it is on the up, like all areas of London that are not already up!). I am starting to think it would be nice to just move out to a nice village now.

Pros of our area:
Good community feel
Crime rate acceptable by London standards
Feels safe for the most part
Diverse neighbourhood - good ethnic foods

Cons:
Drug dealing neighbours who have been verbally abusive and threatening
Antisocial behaviour issues
Very few of the parents at dd's preschool speak English - limiting opportunities for play dates
Local schools - most do well considering, but children starting with attainment well below average, high turnover of pupils, and lots of pupils at early stage of English language acquisition
Very poor provision for children despite there being lots of children in the area - put simply no one bothers to provide as it wouldn't be taken up for the most part. No ballet, gym etc. Even the children centres offer very little.

WIBU to move us all out to a beautiful village up north where we can get a 4 bed house for the price of a bedsit here?

I love living in London. Yes, it's busy and sometimes dirty and the tubes are packed and it's expensive to buy a house but it's still the most wonderful city in the world in my opinion. I go up to the top of our nearby hill and see the shard and the london eye and canary wharf and think how lucky i am to be so close to everything this city has to offer. Walking down the Thames at night seeing St Pauls or Tower Bridge has never failed to put a smile on my face. We thought about leaving before we bought this house but then we found a wonderful area that was (at the time - unfortunately not now) still affordable, my commute to canary wharf is 20 minutes on a good day, the schools are good, it's very green, our street is so scarily nice i'm not entirely sure I fit in (we have street parties, and drop in drinks, and organized carol singing, and a mailing list!). And in 10 minutes i can be in london bridge walking along the river, going to borough market, looking at all of the amazing history, going to the southbank, popping into the tate. I love it.

There are other places I love, and some of those are in the North :) But I'm happy just to visit those and come home to London every time!

I think that's it. Depending on your immediate environment, neighbours, journey to work, schools and other daily concerns of life, anywhere can be wonderful or hellish.

I live in a 'deprived' part of London, but we have a decent sized house backing on to parkland, nice neighbours, good schools so we love it.

Neighbours like those described up thread would very quickly change that. They'd also turn a rural idyll into hell.

Agree that there should be tighter, enforced laws about dog ownership and antisocial behaviour that other can't get away from ie they live next door.

I do have to say though Kerala that the problems you had can be found in the shitty corner of any town in the UK. I guess the difference is that you are not paying a fortune to live there in the rest of the UK.

A deprived area is the same no matter where in the country is. In the rest of the country you could afford not to live there.

Sorry for my comment random , I meant it flippantly, not that you yourself are boring.

No offence taken.

toots That's pretty much exactly how I feel. I spent my later childhood and teenage years in a soulless suburban shithole and still remember the stultifying boredom, the endless hanging round bus shelters. For me, the novelty of living here still hasn't worn off and I don't think it ever will. I don't get all this 'I could never raise children in London' thing. London is incredibly child friendly And my DCs are having a ball here.
I can understand the appeal of living somewhere small where 'every one looks out for each other'. It's very much like that where Dsis lives and she loves it. For me, that sounds a bit too much like 'everyone knowing your business'. Some people find that suffocating and claustrophobic and actually like the anonymity of a city.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-33351516.html

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-49292780.html

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-33045897.html?premiumA=true

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-30007257.html

Housing associaton/privately rented properties normally don't allow dogs so could you report that?

MPs/councillors/ newspaper editors etc probably all live in nice environments so do not appreciate what you have to put up with. It's about time more was done to let them know how devastating it is for you and your children not to be able to relax or feel safe in your home environment.

I believe Prince Charles would be a good person to write to, a long with everyone else you can cc it to, and newspapers! Keep doing it until something is done.

So may be there needs to be a Mumsnet campaign to stamp out such dogs and antisocial behaviour especially as it's affecting your mental health !

If you PM me these problem areas I'd be happy to do contact them all myself if you like.