To wonder why Croydon/Sutton get so much negativity

[Dobdebdop]

Me and dh are looking to move from our current house and our currently house hunting in these two boroughs. We are seeking to be able to go mortgage free so I can start a business.

When we brought this up to family and friends, many sounded absolutely horrified at the idea.

When viewing properties we found most of these areas to be pleasant and absolutely fine. The high streets in both are a bit shabby but Central London is less than 30 mins for shopping so we can just go there.

I dont understand why there is so much negativity to this part of South London, I don't know much about this area but my impression is that it was an absolutely fine place to live.

What happened to Croham Hurst School? Why did it close?
My mum and aunt used to go there. I remember being taken to an Old Cromians reunion tea when I was small.

I think there is a lot of snobbery about certain south London boroughs (and indeed living south of the river too). That house is lovely, Birthdaybluess, and there are lots in that ilk in Sutton (heading towards Cheam Village) too.

I'd forgotten that St Philomena's (probably the highest performing non-grammar Catholic state school in the country) is in Carshalton Beeches.

Sutton and Croydon are more 'surburban' than many London boroughs but have their own merits. Twickers and Richmond may be lovely but you get less for your money housing-wise, and the state schools aren't as good across the board.

Agree that there is a lot of pearl clutching about Sutton , and people referring to stab vests obviously haven’t lived anywhere properly ‘intimidating ‘.
Yes, the high street , particularly down around Asda end , is a bit bleak and depressing. Yes , I probably wouldn’t walk around Sutton on my own at night - but then again I doubt I would do that anywhere.
There is also a strong community in Sutton - there’s an organisation called street pastors that have volunteers out and about at weekend nights , there was a church based homeless shelter initiative this year , etc etc
That might make Sutton seem worse for needing those things , but I like to think of them as a positive.
Yes , there are lots of excellent grammar schools but there are also some good state schools - cheam high is outstanding now and in a Sutton borough (if you live more the cheam side )
It’s also a very green and leafy borough with many parks.
I don’t know , I always feel a bit defensive about Sutton , but I’d rather live around here than in the soulless Surrey village my ‘friend’ lives in where any ‘foreign’ names stand out like a sore thumb and are commented on

These areas are still very expensive though?

They are much less expensive than boroughs further in and you get a lot more for your bucks. That lovely 1920s/30s house that Birthdaybluess linked to would probably be worth £3million in somewhere like Crouch End (look at how big the garden is).

Yes Cheam High, Glenthorne and Greenshaw also have very very good reputations. The borough is (state) education gold in a way that few if any others across the whole of London can claim!

Agree on the education in sutton even the ones viewed as 'poor' locally have the uk average gcse results I think. Not sure there are any in sutton that are truly bad schools in the way there are in other areas.

My dd is at one of the comprehensive schools mentioned by a pp and its fantastic.

My DP is a police office in Sutton, I won't say where specifically but not the 'worst' areas.
The stories I hear are absolutely horrific. Genuinely very scary. But I guess if you know the crime going on anywhere it would shock you...

I think CH closed as with Royal Russell, Croydon High and Old Palace numbers fell. Old Palace must have been wanting to expand their Junior offering too as it's a big site.

Boobirdblue expensive compared to what? Much of London, no, areas in the North, yes.

@TapasForTwo I'm not sure why it closed. The site was sold to the Whitgift Foundation and, as a PP said, is now Old Palace junior school. We went to the farewell summer party. It was quite sad to say goodbye to it.

Sutton regularly features in top 3 council areas for GCSE performance in England.

Clearly those being 'sniffy' about it have no need for state education

Well said @NewModelArmyMayhem18

I grew up in Sutton... utter shithole! My high school has the same security fencing you find at army barracks; a group of boys from a rival high school once came and threatened our teachers with baseball bats and broken bottles.

My ex was from Croydon as it was grimmer there than Sutton!

This thread is hilarious. All large towns have good and bad. We are very close to Wimbledon, a great example of so many social classes in one area. Extreme wealth and extreme poverty.

Re: crime. Look at London. Look at the lady who was stabbed for her phone in broad daylight in a nice area.

Schools in Sutton borough are consistently top in the whole country

And I still think that house is amazing! Seriously if I won big bucks would love to that road and have money in the bank to enjoy everything else.

*move

For those mentioning Sutton schools being amazing and top of the country - do these lists include schools such as Wallington, Nonsuch and Wilson’s? St Philomena’s is great if you are catholic! I wonder, if you excluded the grammar schools, would Carshalton Girls and Boys, Overton Grange etc. Still make Sutton in the top 10?

I also went to a school in Sutton less than a decade ago, so unless there has been a massive change in the demographic of the students and teaching staff, I very much doubt it’s vastly different. And my children rely on state education, I moved partly to escape the horrible Sutton secondary schools. Unless you have a child that can get in to a grammar or is catholic, the rest are not desirable at all.

Thanks for the CH update. I used to walk past it on my way to school. Isn't there another school on the site of what used to be St Margaret's Special school – The Cedars? I used to go to their summer fete every year. One year they had the actors from the TV series of The Railway Children to open it and sign autographs.

It seems to me that a lot of people on here think that all of Croydon is like the town centre and rough areas only. Once you leave South Croydon station and go up Croham Road the houses get bigger and more affluent, and bear little resemblance to the "ghetto" areas described on here.

I have just done a quick google, and it seems that most of the independent schools are in or near South Croydon - Royal Russell, The Cedars, Old Palace. Just up the road in Selsdon you have Croydon High, Whitgift in Haling Park, Trinity in Shirley. It is a very affluent area.

Of course every town has a mix of demographics, but I feel that my home town (even though I left over 30 years ago) is getting a bit too much of a pasting.

I have added some images of the typical housing you can find in many parts of South Croydon.

Those houses are lovely and akin to many in Sutton too, TapasForTwo. I would rather live in a characterful detached property than many of the 'terraces' (however large they are) of Wandsworth, for example.

Yes, the wealth of private schools in Croydon would suggest that there lots of well-off people in the area.

Reading this thread comes as a bit of a shock

DH and I live in Sutton completely out of choice and we had no budget constraints.

Reasons we chose to live in Sutton (over anywhere in London or the commuter belt):
Very, very low crime rate (2nd safest borough in London)
Number 1 attaining LA for GCSEs and always top 3 for primary attainment in the country (and that does say a lot about the local residents)
We'll be going independent all through and there's a very good choice of preps + easy access to countless senior schools in and out of London
Sutton is amazing for getting into and out of London and it's very green - I can walk to fields with sheep from my house. It has a great community feel and people are friendly.

One area to improve: the high street. It's very useful and I go there regularly but it'd be nice to have some more upmarket shops. The new designer department store is definitely a light at the end of the tunnel.

@Dobdebdop Your friends are being weird. While Richmond has a very lovely town centre, personally we didn't think it was worth the extra 2M to be there + endure the plane noise all the time.

Oh, forgot the lack of pollution. Even if you've a few minutes walk south of Sutton station, the air quality is on par with being out of London.

Tbf are the any London Boroughs that don’t have nice leafy areas?

Tapas think that's now the Rutherford school, the Cedars it's kind on if Lloyd Park (opposite Beefeater). Rutherford is an amazing school for kids with severe disabilities

The new designer department store is definitely a light at the end of the tunnel. Tell me more JoJoSM2 please.

@Notinterested1 Yes, things have changed school-wise. The reputation and quality of schools like Overton, Greenshaw, Stanley Park has improved. My sister has just been through the application process for her son and I was (pleasantly) surprised by the changes.

@NewModelArmyMayhem18 I haven't shopped in Sutton in years, I didn't even like it much as a teen. Always London or Guildford.

Also @Notinterested1is correct- when we all mention good schools, I think everyone likely does mean the grammars.

Banstead transport is a mixed bag though, to answer a pp. We all just got the bus to Sutton or Epsom and got the train from there . It's well served for busses, but the station is miles from anywhere and on rubbish train routes. Barely needs any police either, so it's obviously up there with Wally as nice & quiet . Epsom definitely has rougher bits, but also some lovely properties. Roehampton, from when I briefly lived there, was nice up by the Barnes end but once you got past the uni, the estate up by Danebury Ave (I think?) was very different. So as pp have said- big spectrum of people.

Also whoever said you do as well propertywise in Guildford is correct ime, I found more decent properties in my bracket in Guildford than in Epsom but I socialise up in town and work out Kingston/Surbiton way so my travel would have become a lot more expensive. The fast service to Waterloo from Guildford is good though.

Loads of parks and green spaces in Croydon here

Here's a picture of The Chateau restaurant from Coombe Woods, and one of Coombe Woods