To ask London MNers for advice on where to move within London

[Wantstomove]

DH and I are considering moving next year as we want to expand our family and can't afford to stay in Camden.

We both love North London but can't decide where to move to. In a ideal world, we'd spend time visiting different areas to research and get a feel for them, but given the pandemic and the fact that we have a baby and no car, most of this research is being done online.

Looking for ideally a 4-bed house + garden, in an area with lots of parks and green spaces and decent schools, and reasonably good public transport links. DH also wants to be able to cycle into the city (charing cross/Liverpool street) for work... feel free to tell me this criteria is a bit limiting and we'd need £1 million +...!

I'm leaning towards Enfield or Barnet, DH has mentioned Walthamstow, but to be honest, we have no idea what these areas are really like or if there are other parts of London we are overlooking. We have a reasonably good budget for London.

Does anyone have any pearls of wisdom of where would be good to check out, where to avoid, where's affordable, where you need to be a millionaire to afford?!
Thanks in advance!

Enfield is an absolute hole now. How about Cuffley/Goffs Oak or Epping and Loughton - if you don’t mind being a bit east. Both are on the Central Line

Umm, my bit certainly isn’t thank you! Enfield borough is huge, and while the areas to the east of the A10 are definitely grittier and more deprived, other parts are lovely.

Would much rather live here than the gin and golf club belt of Cuffley and Goffs Oak (which is where some of my more racist neighbours moved out to when they noticed too many ‘ethnics’ moving in).

If you’re open to going back to SW London then the Sutton area would suit you. Areas such as Cheam Village, South Sutton, Carshalton Beeches and Carshalton Village should be doable on the budget. It’s a very leafy area, you can walk to the coutryside (woods, fields etc) but it also has tons of family amenities and top schools. The trains go to Victoria, London Bridge and there’s the Thameslink too. DH cycles to work some days and it takes 1h to Kings Cross.

You are on the right track.

Barnet (generally High barnet) in particular (found totteridge housing stock was very crummy £1m semi with a kitchen kitted before i was born type thing) and enfield east of the A10.

If you can stomach the central line (&the heat!) Looking out into essex also represents "value" in london

Would much rather live here than the gin and golf club belt of Cuffley and Goffs Oak (which is where some of my more racist neighbours moved out to when they noticed too many ‘ethnics’ moving in).
Oh fuck off with that shit. I’m sick of posters on Mumsnet accusing everyone of being a racist because they have a different opinion. It’s getting really fucking boring now, not to mention making a mockery of real racism.
Anyway I’m guessing you live around the Ridgeway so you’re really a fine one to talk about the gin and gold club set.

@TempsPerdu @SillyUnMurphy

You're all fighting over the crumbs of the London suburbs anyway...it's really weird.

And why do people identify so much with the reputation of their area and see the need to use a neigbouring district as a comparator?

I couldn't give a shit what people thought about my area if it served my needs and my families.

*needs of my family

Raynes Park? (Not sure if it's been suggested already) I know it's SW, but one stop to Wimbledon, the Common and Richmond Park very close, schools getting better. Still a few 4 beds around 700k... And the cycle would make him very fit :-)

South East London has excellent transport links to Charing Cross and London Bridge. I would think it's quite different to Camden though.

My friend's daughter lives in Walthamstow and absolutely loves it!

We've been to visit and she lives in a really nice road which is a mix of large terraced houses and flat conversions. The local area has nice shops, cafes, pubs and her toddler goes to a great nursery. She's made loads of friends and seems to have a great social life.

She says the only downside for them is that they doubt if they'll be able to afford to upscale from their large, 2-bed flat with garden to a house without leaving the area, unless the GPs shuffle off soon! I couldn't say anything, but the GPs are considering gifting them a big chunk of money to help them get a house locally.

@SillyUnMurphy

Well you sound like an absolute delight. I wasn’t implying that you personally were racist; I don’t know you from Adam and have no idea whether you’ve ever lived in Enfield and chose to move out for racial reasons or whatever. But I’ve lived and worked in the borough for most of my life, have seen it change, and it is certainly fair to say that there is a well-trodden path from here to Cuffley/Cheshunt/Broxbourne and so on for those who don’t like the fact that Enfield is no longer as ‘white’ as it used to be. This isn’t speculation; some of the people I know who moved out to these areas were very forthright about their reasons.

And, for the record, no I don’t live on The Ridgeway. I’m closer to the Town, and I’d rather scratch my own eyeballs out than ever set foot on a golf course.

@JuniperFather

I’m not fighting, just responding to a comment that I found false and objectionable. I’m the first to admit that Enfield isn’t perfect and have already said that we’ll probably be moving out at some point for schooling. But I think it’s perfectly reasonable to be a little defensive when someone describes the place where you live - a borough of more than 300,000 people - as a ‘hole’ when that objectively isn’t true.

And this isn’t somewhere I’ve just moved to because it ‘suits my needs’ presently; I grew up here and have roots in the area. It’s a weird phenomenon but people think it’s fine to slag off areas of London as though everyone’s transient and no one actually comes from there, but many of those people wouldn’t dream of saying the same of the equivalents in Manchester, Liverpool etc because they understand that people have great affection for those cities. Your ‘crumbs of the suburbs’ are my roots.

Anyway, OP apologies for derailing your thread; bet you weren’t expecting a property thread to get so political!

Ha, I lived in the 'gin & golf belt' of Cuffley and Goffs Oak in the 1990s, and highly recommend it, likewise Cheshunt.

Prior to that I loved Southgate, it seemed the best of both worlds.

Another vote for SE I’m from Greenwich and couldn’t fault it. It is pricey but good reasonably priced houses do come up from time to time. If you’re not overly fixed on London then just outside of the boarders along m25 will be much much cheaper and you’ll still have quick links into London but generally nicer areas and better schools.

It’s a weird phenomenon but people think it’s fine to slag off areas of London as though everyone’s transient and no one actually comes from there, but many of those people wouldn’t dream of saying the same of the equivalents in Manchester, Liverpool etc because they understand that people have great affection for those cities. Your ‘crumbs of the suburbs’ are my roots.

Completely agree. My hometown is "stabby" according to one MNs. See also the outrage at locals been pushed out of Cornwall etc due to higher high prices never see the same sympathy for born & bred Londoners.

We've lived in Wood Green for the last 17 years and can't deny it's grisly in places but transport links are good and the spaces around us are great - especially towards Ali Pally. Over the recent years it's really started to pick up but not got the full on gentrification experience yet so on terms of house prices you can get a lot of house for your money. Nice family vibe too

LOL @SillyUnMurphy , you started off the slagging off of areas by describing Enfield as an ‘absolute hole.

The OP’s budget for 4 beds and a garden in London is not massive if you want to be near transport. London is a patchwork of conservation areas interlocked with high density estates. Chi chi shops in one road, house clearance shops in the next. I too get sick of the Shocking snobbery on MN. Most ordinary people In London live side by side with communities totally different from their own, in terms of wealth, language, heritage, etc. And areas of high diversity get written off as ‘rough’.

Haha at West Norwood having no facilities. A leisure centre and pool, a 4 screen Picturehouse cinema, an amateur theatre, a library, independent shops and a B&Q, An arts venue that hosts classes, music gigs, ceilidhs and exhibitions, The West Norwood Feast, a good, market and crafts festival every month, AND Thameslink and an Express bus service to the City. So... 4 beds with garden perhaps difficult for £700k

I take it you didn't read the bit where I said the lack of facilities in West Norwood (as was the case when I lived there) had definitely changed?

According to The Times in March, the best places in London to move to are: Victoria Park (Hackney), Bermondsey, Ealing, Notting Hill, Walthamstow, Peckham, Muswell Hill,Winchmore Hill, Highbury and Wimbledon.

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/best-places-to-live-london-england-sunday-times-wrjwxxq2j

SE London-especially SE12 or SE13

Hither Green station is 11 mins to London Bridge, or Lee station gets you there in 13

Lots of nice parks, stones throw from Blackheath, Greenwich just another few minutes on from that. Schools are good and within 20 minutes by car you can be in Kent countryside