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?

stitch we moved here because we needed a bigger place, and this was the area we could afford in London. Nearish to family.

I overlooked the general scuminess to stay in London

2mins

ESL is distinct from not speaking English at all, you realise?

thank you mrstawdry

I'd look around Ripon and Harrogate. Stunning scenery and they have grammar schools which is a big plus if your kids are likely to qualify. We nearly moved up there to be near family, and had work friends who did move to the Leeds office and got a much nicer house.

We moved. We had fabulous neighbours, a fantastic mixture of private property owners, housing association, council housing, private rental, sheltered accommodation. But then we go the gangs. They were beyond ugly. They came in from outside and it was horrible. And we had the clubs... It's all kind of tolerable when you don't have children. And then of course the riots on our road. Kind of inevitable.
It's s a bit different out in the sticks. Crap in a different way!

Tescos smarterthan meh who needs tescos. Booths all the way

To people questioning that there are schools with a high percentage of children from non english speaking homes. this school has 93.3% www.education.gov.uk/cgi-bin/schools/performance/school.pl?urn=102745&superview=pri
That means that out of the whole school only 17 children speak English at home.

I'm not saying if that is good or bad, but I am saying that there are figures to support what the OP is saying.

We've just moved out of the West Midlands - I think you'd struggle to get a nice 4 bed for that money there. One of the many reasons we moved.

We're now in a market town in South Yorkshire and the 4 bed we rent only cost £175k. We've only been here a month but it seems nice enough, if a bit snowy and we have 2 major cities and plenty of smaller ones all within 30mins.

here is one flora....as I said, smallish town not proper rural and modern but a decent enough place with excellent schools and beautiful area
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-48684458.html

We live just outside Newcastle, on the coast, nice area, good community, 20 mins on metro in to city centre.
We have 4 bed house with garden for less than your budget.
Might seem a bit far north but it is on east cost mainline.
I'd also second Yorkshire, very scenic but also connected.

This is the second London related thread that I have wanted to high five heartisaspade for her posts!

My parents were in a similar position to you 18years ago and it was the best decision they ever made although they certainly didn't have £300k to move.

£300k would buy you a big house 5+ bedroom by the seaside where I live (Norfolk), schools are pretty good not much mix in ethnicity though and even the poorest areas aren't 'rough' or really too run down. Downside of living in Norfolk is poor road connections I think this is equalised that Dd and I can get up at 8am and be sat on the beach having breakfast by 8:30! Much better than the 4+hour drives to Bournemouth I remember as a child.

Another high five for heartisaspade the irony of people calling someone else's hometown a shithole while complaining about their rudeness never escapes me.

As you're used to London, I'd go for Leeds rather than somewhere smaller. Horsforth is nice. Here is a 4 bed for your budget
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-49290533.html

I also second Harrogate or York. Durham also pretty good too, but they didn't name Yorkshire gods country for nothing.

Another thumbs up for Cardiff. Fab city. Love it! Love it
, love it. Sooo friendly also Dorset/ Somerset borders. Love Salisbury and surrounding area.

Parts of the lake district. Just beautiful.

We live in such a beautiful country it's a shame to live in an area you feel compromised in.

South Sheffield/ Derbyshire border. Scotland all good.

If you love tech house and big nights out on mdma then London or Bristol are fab. If you're fed up with gang activity, try Manchester or Liverpool, very friendly places.

[http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-45137497.html Not too shabby], and in the very naice part of town with good nurseries and schools. Cheaper than Durham, and with better schools. Not so great if you want ethnic diversity.

Yorkshire or Derbyshire definitely. Just check the work situation If you are public sector. Big cuts still going on up here in some areas.

Link fail, sorry.

Vote for south manchester. I think you might struggle to get a 4 bed for that money say in Didsbury, but you'd get a 3 bed semi which you could extend etc.

I've never understood why people talk of London as though it were a small village you could know back to front after a few weeks of living here. It's a massive world city made up of dozens of diverse towns. Some feel villagey, some urban, some suburban. When someone says London is 'great' or 'shit' they can only be talking about the tiny part of it they live in or have lived in.

South Kensington, Stamford Hill, Canary Wharf, Primrose Hill, Tottenham, Highgate, Westminster, Bethnal Green, Barnes, Golders Green etc are probably less similar than Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds and probably have more people than those cities combined yet they are all in one city.

I was born in London and still live here and at nearly 40 years old there are still parts I've never been to and probably never will. It's impossible to say London is this or that although I've had people try and make out they know everything about the city when they've only been here for two years and barely ventured out of Clapham. Its almost like going to Kansas and saying 'America' is this or that.

OP I'm sorry you don't like where you live and if it's that bad, move. There are some lovely places in other parts of the country, however, nowhere's perfect.

Sienna - I didn't mean to offend you up thread, I'm sorry if I did. Whenever anyone asks where in Greater Manchester they should live, the same few places are always top of the list and often from people who don't live there/have never lived there themselves. They never say 'I live in x and it's nice, we like it, etc.'

We used to live in a deprived area with similar problems as you, drug dealers over the road, anti social behaviour etc.
In our experience we found it just dragged us down, I ended up with really low self esteem as I classed myself to be like them, because after all we live alongside each other.
I was also really worried about my children forming friendships with some of the kids on the street, I was worried if we stayed living there our kids could end up hanging around with the wrong kids n get involved in crime.
We moved and it was the best decision we ever made. I feel like a massive weight was lifted from our shoulders.
We are renting out the old house and we are tenants in our current home. We couldn't afford the deposit to buy a new house so this made perfect sense.
Now when I drive on to my street I smile, I feel safe, I know my kids are safe.
I don't worry about what my kids will turn in to.
There's never police on the estate, there's no stolen cars being abandoned outside my house, I don't worry about any aggressive/drugged up neighbours giving me abuse.

This is going to sound so snobby but we're now living amongst other people just like us. People who work hard for a living, people who bring their children up with manners and respect, people who don't commit crimes.

I honestly feel like a different person.

Btw we live up north x

We lived and worked in a 'rough' part of London for 14 years.

We didn't like living there any more. So we moved.

It's not because was rough, or London, or whatever. It didn't suit us anymore so we changed where we lived and feel happier.

It was great while we liked it. Then we changed (we were lucky enough to be able to). We love London, love visiting. But it wasn't for us any more. We stopped overthinking whether we should move or shouldn't and just got on with it.