Moving to Hatfield

[EagerStork]

hello
We are considering moving to Hatfield from North London. Our jobs are in central London and we have a baby. Is the area safe for a family with good nurseries/schools?
Is commuting easy?
What is your opinion about the area please?

There are nicer areas of Hertfordshire but it’s not an awful place. Would avoid living near the town centre if you can. Where are you commuting to specifically?

There are much nicer areas of Hertfordshire. I would hate to live there. Would your budget stretch to Welwyn?

This is purely anecdotal and will sound very snobbish, but I live in a lovely small town about 20 minutes from Hatfield. We don’t have a cinema so always used to go to the one at the Galleria in Hatfield. But since the pandemic, the standard of behaviour there has declined to a shocking extent - screenings are filled with gangs of practically feral kids who talk and shout out rude things throughout the film, and if anyone asks them to stop they become abusive and threatening. The staff have given up trying to deal with them. Plus the streets of Hatfield are always covered in litter.

We’ve started going to the cinema at Campus West in Welwyn instead and despite being a couple of kilometres away it’s like another planet - everyone is completely civilised. Teens and tweens are in smaller groups, and are respectful of everyone around them. People are better dressed, and even seem healthier - you see far fewer morbidly obese adults and kids... I’d far rather my dc grew up as Welwyn children than Hatfield ones.

I would also hate to live in Hatfield.. I’m sorry. I couldn’t think of a place with less character. It’s just there!

We lived in Hatfield for 15 years (about 10 years ago now).

The garden village area is lovely and the local primary is great but secondary schools are not brilliant.

We moved to Stevenage which has a bad rep but is far nicer imo, before relocating North because of high property prices.

Hatfield is quite grim! Personally I'd be looking for another area near-by! (You might want to take a day trip to Hatfield town centre before you choose to live there!)

We moved from Hatfield just before Xmas. We lived there for 20 years in the Garden Village area. The area deteriorated drastically over those 20 years. Hatfield has basically become an extension of London. The crime rate has increased horrendously. We saw drug deals taking place daily in the underpasses as well as on the street where we lived. Many of the houses in the garden village are rented out for multiple occupancy, either as Care Homes, Students or asylum seekers. On one of the multiple occasions that the police were called to our road, they actually told us that Welwyn Hatfield is now classed as the worst part of Hertfordshire. It was only last week that there was a murder opposite the Galleria.

Probably should add, we had a small baby when we lived in Hatfield. I don't recommend! I remember taking him to the GP and the building was all boarded up with bars on the windows and was in a horrible area!

We moved to harpenden when son was still a baby and that was great for little ones! Loads of baby classes, felt very safe, lots to do and really pretty! very pricey though! (And not really my kind of place so we no longer live there, but I would choose it over Hatfield as somewhere to live with a small baby any day).

Commuting to London was quick and easy from Hatfield, but pretty doable from harpenden

Personally I don't really like Hertfordshire. Never quite found the right place there. But definitely don't recommend Hatfield for a family (maybe ok for students and couples if you can stand the aesthetics and general dodginess of the place!)

There really are much, much nicer bits of Hertfordshire than Hatfield.

We live in St Albans near to Hatfield but dd works for the police at welwyn station. The things she tells me about her shifts mean I wouldn't recommend Hatfield for a family either.

Try a tiny bit more north, Welwyn garden city, Woolmer green, Knebworth, Bragbury End, Old Town Stevenage or Letchworth. Hatfield is….not good.

It's a bit soulless in my opinion. Probably ok for primary schools but very limited for secondary. You'd have to be prepared to possibly have to move before then.

If your budget is tight and I totally get that I would rather live in Stevenage or Watford - at least both have a relatively proper town attached- we used to go to Hatfield galleria when my in laws lived in Welwyn - blooming unpleasant place in my opinion and I’m from a midlands mining town originally so am used to grim places.

I lived there mid-80s and it was a dump then. Always the poorer cousin of the local towns it now has a much larger student population than it used to which means it's an attractive area for buy-to-let landlords to set up HMOs.

I think it's probably an ok place to live in some ways but it always struck me as soulless. And dull. And because of its good transport links, ludicrously expensive whilst offering relatively little.

Welwyn is definitely nicer.

I was born in Welwyn Garden City. Hatfield has always been the poor & rough part of Welwyn Hatfield. I did live in Hatfield briefly, some years ago. It would be the last place in Herts I would choose to live. The really are so many better places in Herts to raise a family with much lower crime rates.

I would absolutely not move to Hatfield. I went back for the first time in years and it was not a pleasant experience which made me feel sad! I agree try WGC or Stevenage - a thousand times better.

I wouldn't move to Hatfield. Everywhere else in Hertfordshire is much nicer. If budget is important, there are much nicer places in Stevenage but I would give Hatfield a swerve unfortunately.