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?

Why do you still live there? Maybe if you answer that it'll help you work out why you haven't moved and if moving is right for you.

We left London to move to somewhere more rural and haven't regretted it yet.

I was in a similar situation to you OP. Bought a house on an enormous 1930s council estate on the SW London borders, which was fine when we were no working, but then DD arrived and suddenly the anti social behaviour and general run down-ness of the place started getting us down. In fact it all sounds so similar to you, I'm wondering whether it's the same place!

Anyway, we moved. To Essex, not the North

*When we were BOTH working, DYAC

I disagree with that Wowfudge. I've lived all over the area in some of the most affluent and most deprived areas - city centre, Salford, Ardwick, Cheadle, Wilmslow, Withington and Moss Side.
There's good and bad about everywhere. It depends what your priorities are. I think South Manchester is a nice place to bring up kids.

Does anyone have any recommendations in the north west besides Manchester? Sorry OP, don't mean to take over your thread.

Which part of London are you in? It might just be that you don't know the area that well.

East Midlands/North Notts. Anywhere on the East coast mainline for ease of getting back into London if you wish. Grantham, Newark, Retford and surrounding villages (good secondaries in Southwell and Tuxford) and cheap compared to London.

Hyper yes! Cheshire. Chester in particular. Lots of affordable but lovely spots. Not all footballers wife-ish here at all.

I live in Shropshire (Midlands). Easy commute to West Mids, NW and even London within 2.5hrs. Live in small market town, kids are attending a village school. You could get a new build 4bed detached here in your price range though you won't get really rural for 300k....more like small town/large village living. It is seriously pretty round here, v low crime rates etc

Depends on your longer term plans.

We moved to a shit bit of Hackney 12 years ago, when our first child was a baby and before it was trendy/extortionately priced. Seven years later we moved. Our house had quadrupled in value and we could afford to move to a bigger house in a Zone 4 leafy (albeit not 'cool') suburb of London with better schools, a calmer atmosphere etc.

We are a mixed race family, btw, so loving among 'forriners' wasnt an issue. The crime and grime was depressing after a while...but tell ya what. I secretly miss it now .

If you want long term value in your property, dont leave London...thats my advice. Its only by staying in London for the long game that we have property that has appreciated enough that we will be able to afford (eventually) to release equity to give our kids decent deposits for flats in future (or disown them and live the life of reilly! ).

Look at Bedfordshire or North Bucks. Cheap(ish) house prices, gorgeous villages and pubs and 35 mins from London straight to Kings Cross and a direct line to Brighton. Oxford and Cambridge a short drive also

Two/three bed cottage is about 250k with a garden. Low crime rate and Harpur Trust schools.

I don't want to say where I live as it would make me too identifiable along with all my other posts, suffice to say it is inner London and deprived.

I'm really interested to hear all the suggestions, PMs would be good if you would rather not post publicly.

I do feel safe in my area for the most part wondering

crazy we are still here due to family. The reality though is we get very little in terms of support from them, and if we moved out of London we could afford more paid for childcare help, so I don't know why we haven't moved sooner tbh.

Have you thought about the Midlands? We're in the south west but we have family in the Midlands (west of the west midlands) and are seriously considering a move to a village there.

There is more crime and violence in small market towns than in many parts of London. If you do this, make sure you're not jumping from the frying pan into the fire.

I live in the North West. A nice little market town in west Lancashire, easy commuting to Liverpool, Manchester or Preston. Not one of the cheaper parts of the area but you could get a decent house with your budget.

Definitely Derbyshire

Gorgeously diverse area scenery-wise, excellent position right in the middle of the country with great road/rail links to everywhere else (London in 90 mins), an enormous mix of towns/villages to choose from and very well priced housing

It was voted second most attractive county, beaten by Devon (which the locals reckon only pipped us because it has a coastline!!)

Where are all these 4 bed houses in nice areas for £300k in the Midlands?!
We're looking. You need £350k for an niceish area near mediocre schools?

Your friends dont want to visit you because of the area you live in?
You can walk in Mayfair and be killedby a car or be attacked and robbed.
I dont know about changing house but i would change friends for sure.

In your circumstances I would move

Ilovehamabeads is this small market town the one that now has loads of charity shops and will soon be losing Tesco? Plus a stinking burger van obscuring the clock tower on market days?

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-33106191.html

Under 270 lovely village

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-31063497.html

Smaller but cute as heck and under 200 grand. Also in the same lovely village with excellent primary school and great local secondary schools.

why did you move there in the first place? Think about those reasons before you decide to move out

I would move.

We did nine years ago. There were just no longer any pros to staying in London and we lived in a fairly affordable and nice pocket of zone two. Quite a few people I now work with did the same.

I reckon London stopped being worth the money back in the 90s; in fact, I will pinpoint it to the year the Blue Note in Hoxton closed.

Actually, that's not so much of a joke really. The closure of the Blue Note probably signifies the start of the hyper-gentrification of London and the social, cultural and financial consequences it brought in its wake.