To consider moving to Epsom: how is it like?

[IncyWincySpy]

Posting here too for traffic:
DH and I are considering relocating to Epsom in order to be able to buy our first property. We currently live in London and have 1 DD who is 3yo. We don’t have a massive budget but should be enough to get us either a small house or a nice maisonette there.
I have done a bit of research but keen to hear from those who know the area well. How is it living there? Main things for us are:

commute (for school pick ups etc): I saw there are 2 trains from Wloo after 4pm that would take me there on time to collect DD from nursery/school clubs before 6pm closing time. Are these reliable?
safety: I was reading that it is one of the most “dangerous” towns in Surrey but it doesn’t seem that way based on people comments. Is it just because of size? I know Guildford is one of the most “dangerous” towns too but I’d happily live there for example
schools: good primaries and secondaries and a wide array of childcare arrangements as we work ft
community/diversity: we are european and currently live in London, would love to be in a place with a variety of nationalities and backgrounds; is it one of those 90% white middle class British?

Any other info on best areas etc is well accepted; will need to be walkable distance from station. Budget is around half a million max.

Have you considered somewhere like Crystal Palace? We're here and it's brill!

What about Kingston upon Thames? Lots of lovely large parks and good schools - not cheap but could prob get a 2 bed flat in your budget. I lived there in my 20s and loved it

It's not ethnically diverse at all - pretty much 99% white. But a fair few from other countries.

I lived in Epsom for several years. It was pretty grey and boring in the town centre. Predominantly white. I wouldn’t live there now, I would die of boredom and I am late fifties.

Surrounding places like Ashtead are nicer, but still a far cry from London life.

What put you off Guildford?

There are a lot of Polish/Filipino/Italian, South African families in Epsom. Our particular primary school is very diverse.

I wouldn't live in Sutton.

@cartagenagina where do you live now? How long ago was that?

@SundayChilling yes we love Kingston, have friends living there. But sadly can only get a small 2 bed flat with our budget and as we have a DC we’d rather get a house ideally. Houses there are too pricey even to consider an upgrade in a few years sadly

Thanks all for coming up with suggestions but the post is about Epsom, not other towns. We have already considered many options and Epsom seems the one that ticks most boxes so I am not really looking for alternatives at this stage.

@Panicmode1 that doesn’t sound great… the drug stuff in parks is also quite worrying. I know exactly what you mean in terms of money mindset, I also hate it. It’s just so tricky to find a place that ticks all the boxes in terms of housing, schools and reasonable commute and most of our friends are in Surrey or South West London so keen to stay in that area.
Someone here suggested Kingston which we love and I guess you get a more diverse vibe there but we can only afford a small flat in places like that in zone 6 and I am not sure it’d be the best choice with a DD

Okay:

It's pretty bleak, it's lacking in diversity unless you consider other white people diverse. It's got that small town mentality to it, and is lacking in interesting things to do. It's far enough away from London to be annoying and to take you out of regular zones. It's high Street has declined and derby and race events bring in a weird and rowdy element that are best avoided.

If you're out of town there's some lovely properties but they aren't that cheap.

If you're in town it'll be very much like any Surrey town or any other slightly beige London satellite.

That's how it describe the majority of places of a similar size that are just outside zone 6, but not rural enough to have their own distinct character. I don't particularly dislike Epsom having said all that. And people don't live to these places because they're interesting.

Used to have a great line in derelict mental hospitals but they'll l they've all been developed now

@OneTC doesn’t sound great… the small town mentality is something that worries me but that’s always the case as you leave London I guess. If we didn’t have a DC we’d settle on a nice flat in the London suburbs (like zone 5 or 6) but given we have a child I feel it might be better for her to be in a house with garden etc (all stuff society wants you to have with DC).
it seems you can’t win unless super rich

If Epsom is the only place you're considering what the point in posting?

If you are open to more diverse areas New Malden/Motspur Park works.

Lived there when I was younger, it’s fine and would never say it’s dangerous (certainly nothing compared to a city centre on a Saturday night) but it is boring and a bit… soulless? There’s just nothing to it really. Wouldn’t say it’s particularly diverse either

I have close friends who live there. They like it and are happy with the schools.
He commutes into town (but on fewer days than pre-covid).

They don't eat out much, go to the cinema or theatre. There is lots of walking/ sporty stuff available which suits them.

I find it easy to go there and visit them (it's quicker and easier than going to see my friend in Crouch End and I live in Zone 1!)

Epsom was my home town, I thought it was ok then although friends and I were always on the bus to Kingston when I was growing up we all thought it was boring. I've been living very near Kingston, Hampton Wick, for the past 35 years, children now grown up and moved away. We moved out to Horsham which I love, albeit further out, but a much nicer town for shops, restaurants and pretty much everything, apart from commuting to London than Epsom, but we no longer do that. Epsom high street had the guts sucked out of it when the shopping mall went in and that's not up to much anymore either.

Epsom is nice enough. Lots of different nationalities but mostly white. Town centre is useful but not exciting - chores, coffee, drink with friends all fine but fancy night out, shopping for a perfect wedding outfit etc provably not. Decent amount of green spaces. Schools generally v good.

I spend a lot of time in parks and playgrounds and have never seen drug paraphernalia! Occassional groups of obnoxious teenagers but I think that's par for the course everywhere.

It is friendly enough but as a non English person i have not made a LOT of local friends and the ones I have are often not English. But we are happy enough here, kids have friends and we have a nice life.

Salty. 😁

I live here, and have done for 20 years, lived in a variety of places in/around London and outside and it's the safest place I've lived. I'm not part of the monied Surrey set, far from it...but have made some good friends here who are nice and friendly and most of us moved here from elsewhere. For me, living in Bournemouth while at Uni was worse, I got punched and mugged living there! And Poole in the winter was more dead and soul-less. Yes, there are drug issues in Epsom, mostly bored teens or students smoking stuff near/in the parks, but they are everywhere sadly. I've lived in Ilford, Sutton, Carshalton and South Croydon previously and Epsom is the nicest of the lot.

My kids went to local outstanding Infant/Junior schools and are now at Glyn/Rosebery (single-sex state secondaries). Very happy with all the schools. Rosebery just got a repeated Outstanding Ofsted report.

Epsom is getting more diverse, there's an established Portuguese community and also a Chinese community already here and growing. Certainly lots of different ethnicities attending and languages spoken in my kids' schools.

Shopping isn't great but you are close to Kingston/Guildford for a bigger range of shops. The worst bit for me now is that the town centre is full of scooters doing Deliveroo pick-ups and they are a pain to avoid driving/walking into.

Areas to avoid buying, for me are around the Longmead Estate but if you are in Epsom and close to the station you have a good choice of trains to Victoria, Waterloo and London Bridge or 15 mins drive to M25. I am very happy here and wouldn't move.

About 8 years back.

I live in Hove now and would never live anywhere else.

Do you actually want to leave London? I don't know where you've been looking but you can easily buy quite centrally for the budget you've mentioned while saving time and ££ on commute.

I completely get that - I moved out of Kingston from a 2 bed flat to Kent as it was the only way I could afford a house with more space. However it does have such lovely parks I didn’t mind not having a garden as I loved everything else about the area. Having said that, Epsom is still a nice place and it does have good schools. Unfortunately I don’t think you can tick all the boxes with your budget so I guess it depends what your biggest priorities are

I have a friend in Ewell & a colleague in Worcester Park. They seem to really like it & Ive never heard them as dangerous places! Good schools I've heard particularly Worcester Park & trains to Waterloo. Some nice open spaces as we often meet in the park. Epsom will be less diverse than inner London in some ways but mixed in others.

Move to Wallington, carshalton or a nicer bit of Sutton

I never thought Wallington was nice!

I have hear that Sutton is quite rough.

I'm pretty sure Sutton is one of the safest boroughs. Richmond is the safest I think.