Best places for diverse, professional families near London?

[Paniconthestreetsof]

DH and I currently live (very happily) in Zone 1. We’re now thinking about moving as we want more space (a house and garden), good schools, and access to green space for our kids. Budget is around £1.5m.

We’re looking for:

• A genuinely diverse area, with a visible Black community (we’d prefer our children not to be the only ones in their class)
• A mix of middle-class professionals from different backgrounds
• Green spaces and a relaxed, family-friendly feel
• Good connections into central London for work a few days a week

We’re not from the UK originally and don’t have ties outside this bit of London, so wide open to ideas.

Worth saying upfront: well-meaning replies like “well I’m not Black and it’s not very diverse around here but we don’t see colour” or “there is a large (insert non-Black ethnic minority) community here” aren’t what we’re after.

If you’re Black or mixed race and living somewhere you love outside Zones 1–2 (especially if you moved from central), I’d love to know where you are and what you like about it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_groups_in_London#/media/File%3ABlack_Greater_London_2011_census.png
This map might be useful

We want access to green spaces/the countryside, so we’re thinking outside London. The things we love about London are pretty zone 1-2 specific. If we need to leave where we are now and commute to get to these things, it seemed like a slightly longer commute (with the added benefits of a larger house and more green spaces) made more sense than buying in an outer zone and still paying a London premium.

Happy to be wrong about that, though.

State or private. Depends on what’s available.

@Rumple55 St John’s Wood / Maida Vale

Oh yes Blackheath, Streatham and Camberwell, Crystal Palace, Norwood If you are looking for black/middle class south of the river is probably a better bet for bang for buck.

The "best" parts of Streatham are now very white. I think the issue with z3 outwards is the OP will find the majority of the 1.5m house roads not particularly diverse. I can only really think of places in Sutton eg Cheam which has a high proportion of Asians due to the grammars. There is a strong Korean community in New Malden which has also spread to Sutton again because of schools.

My dc are in a pretty diverse primary in London but there aren't a high % of black dc compared to my childhood.

I think the issue is housing. Most people now need generational wealth to buy and that tends to come from people who have been here generations. My parents are immigrants & our road was pretty much exclusively 1st gen immigrants from all over. Now the houses are close to 2m and it's 90% white english.

I’m not sure what’s being communicated in the first paragraph. Are the ‘Black/brown bits’ also wealthy/middle class?

It is also an absolute dump.
Can’t even imagine going from London zone 1 to Reading!

I didn’t say ‘only children of colour’. I said ‘Black’. And, no, I unfortunately would not have to travel back to the 1950’s to find that. Or very far outside London.

I would go to Tooting Bec/wandsworth area- large black community and some lovely houses too - my son lived there in a house share for a bit- I really liked it .

I posted, had lunch and came back. Took
about 50 minutes. I don’t think that’s particularly unreasonable.

@Paniconthestreetsof Kingston is quite a good option for green space & amenities as well as good state & private options. It's pretty diverse although I expect it depends on the road.

Reading is diverse but I think in general London will always be more diverse vs the surrounding areas & particularly in z1 & 2. My friend doesn't live that far from me (Surrey borders) & I went to a school fair with her & was a bit shocked by the lack of diversity.

But OP was very clear that she wants specifically a Black community, not just other people of colour. There are plenty of places that are near London and might be more ethnically diverse now but still have negligible numbers of Black people (I live in one). I do think OP's perfectly understandable desire for a Black community specifically does narrow her options.

I would go to Tooting Bec/wandsworth area- large black community and some lovely houses too

I would disagree with that. Closer to Tooting broadway would be more diverse.

Reading is good but Windsor and Maidenhead may be better. Smaller very good schools, nice housing, green area galore.

But, the test - when you pass another Black person in the street, you don’t feel the need to nod to them - because neither of you is rare now.

Ah, someone who gets it! I was pretty much sold before this point, but this clinched it. I really really don’t want to move (and raise my kids) somewhere where we do ‘the nod’.

Oxford sounds brilliant. We’ll check it out. Thank you.

I have friends who moved to Surrey and I know what you mean. Real shame, from our perspective, as the areas are otherwise really lovely.

I don’t know Kingston very well, but will check it out. Thank you.

You want somewhere diverse but where only middle class professionals live? Bit of an oxymoron. Not sure you understand the meaning of diverse.

By patchy I mean I lived on a MC road and two streets south had much higher levels or deprivation and two streets north was multi million pound mansions.

The poorer areas tended to have more black/brown people and the wealthier was whiter but for example you could live on my street and send your kid to a state school that had a range of backgrounds and ethnic groups. But if you went somewhere that was much more widely wealthy I don’t think you’ll get the racial diversity easily.

we’ve moved out the the very edge of London and this area doesn’t feel so varied in socio-economic status but it’s much much less diverse ethnically.

Wanstead. And if you go for state schools then it’s not just the pupils who are diverse, it is the teachers and head teachers too.

Good luck in your search OP

There's a huge swathe of South West London that is very ethnically diverse -think Streatham (not sure where the all-white bit is as mentioned above -Streatham Hill has excellent transport links and definitely has a lot of black people), Tooting, Wandsworth, Crystal Palace, Herne Hill - all full of parks and with cinemas, swimming pools etc

Presumably the OP will be visiting these areas to see for himherself

No, just a bit annoying for those trying to help you.

Not a big deal obviously, but a minute or two would've helped for clarification.

Are you really saying that State London Schools have only white people? There is absolutely no way that can be correct? Please name one school.

Great! Glad to be of help.

A few things to note:

Oxford is spoken of as a ‘small’ city - but in terms of population it’s vast, which means you won’t get a proper idea of the breadth or depth of residential options / areas on a brief visit. You can walk 45 minutes from Carfax in any direction and find yourself in places that seem on another planet to yesterday’s walk.

The press of population in the city centre can be … trying. Even for people from London or other cities. But as a resident you really don’t have to confront St Aldate’s or Cowley Road every day, and you find ways of navigating the city, on foot or bike, that avoid the worst of fifty million tourists in a relatively tiny area.

The universities provide endless entertainment even if you have no formal connection to them. There are a million ways to find yourself attending talks, seminars, conferences, exhibitions, with world famous presenters, for free, as a ‘member of the public’.

And there are probably enough theatres, galleries, museums, concert venues, churches, mosques, to satisfy most of one’s intellectual and spiritual needs.

Being so busy it also feels safe. Teens and young adults and anyone else can leave a cinema or cocktail bar late at night and walk or take the bus home without much worry beyond reasonable alertness.

So, assuming you find the right schools, it could be a superb place to bring up a family.

There's a huge swathe of South West London that is very ethnically diverse -think Streatham (not sure where the all-white bit is as mentioned above

The "best" roads have very few black families in them eg the roads near Balham/Tooting Common. I never said all white....

I would also be cautious of the state schools, Lambeth & Streatham is one of the areas particularly impacted by falling school rolls which is bad for all dc. Many parents think fewer dc in a class is a good thing, it isn't because funding is based on head counts.

I would avoid Kent, while it has great houses, the grammar school system and all the green open spaces you could you could want, there is little diversity.

I grew up in a very diverse town, moved to zones 1/2 in London before moving to the Bromley area. I was shocked at how white it was. Things have changed over the last 25 years but this change has been slow and mainly driven by families wanting access to the grammar schools.

you would be ‘doing the nod’ for sure