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.

Even so it’s still crazy money. A single day travelcard from Oxford is around £95 per day on GWR before any parking fees. It’s fractionally cheaper (£5 ish) from Oxford Parkway on a slower and less reliable route.

@Paniconthestreetsof you get a lot of house for your money & it's very green, definitely worth a look.

I honestly don’t know. I could guess, however.

It's embarrassing

I wouldn’t go for Kent op. It’s reform county. As it Essex.

Streatham a bit rough around the edges. Out toward Bromley is better - upwardly mobile and professional Black families there.

Cannot imagine any school in London where Black children are few and far between.

We are the global majority now - a fact that is becoming more obvious by the day in London and I am here for it.

OP check out Winchmore Hill. Very diverse and leafy. If that’s not far out enough, how about Brighton?

Essex is actually one of the few places that is already a hard ‘no’ for us.

Chislehurst gets another vote from me. Excellent schools, lovely village feel but close to London (commute not too long) and near Bromley/Orpington etc.

No big chainsin high street but hundreds of coffee shops!

I honestly don’t think Oxford will be the right place for your kids.

Reading?

Love Brighton, love Hove. Just looked up Winchmore Hill and it looks nice.

Why is that?

If you want green space, good commutes but still diverse; I’d suggest Hither Green/Lee, or West Dulwich and/or Sydenham. Zone 3, good commutes and genuinely very diverse. Great parks and schools. Northern parts of Bromley like Beckenham, Sundridge Park and Shortlands are more diverse, but the southern/outer parts (Chislehurst, Petts Wood, Elmstead Woods etc) are probably too homogeneous for what you’re after. They are diverse, but it’s mostly Chinese and Indian/Asian families, with not as many Black families as you might find closer to inner London. Wishing you luck in your search! ✨

Must say I’m both surprised and not surprised that despite your asking for places near London, most people are suggesting areas in London or directly adjacent to it. I know on the Black MN board there’s a preponderance of people who have never lived anywhere else in England - so I guess it’s hard to recommend what you don’t know.

(As someone who’s lived in town and country all over England, and in Scotland, Wales, ROI, London is only a part of my history, mostly professional. In all honesty I haven’t encountered a place where I have been made unhappy specifically because of my ethnicity, whether as a single person or as part of a couple or seeing a child through school. But I have seen a lot of change, and evolution in behaviour and thought - and I can see that there are times when not being ‘the only one’ might have made life … easier.)

Oxford is genuinely international, but a significant percentage of its diversity is itinerant. They come for 1, 3 or 5 years, then leave. Very erudite people from all over the world. Your friends will make friends with children who move internationally, which can be sad, but also give them a global perspective. If you want a settled predominantly black community then South London is the best place. There are a lot of middle class black professionals and have been for at least the last 25 years. Plenty of them also pay for private education. It has parks and good road and train connections beyond the M25 to the countryside and seaside.

@MissPrismsMistake

The OP didn't say she was only interested in places outside London, she said If you’re Black or mixed race and living somewhere you love outside Zones 1–2

I have lived places where I was the only black person (I am mixed race fwiw) and places where there is a big black community. They are very different. It's absolutely fine to have a preference

Most of Sutton area

Why d’you think that, @Turmerictolly? I’ve found it an outstanding place for a Black or mixed race child.

Highly educated International population, so constant interaction with Black people from countries where they aren’t a minority and so aren’t accustomed to seeing themselves as second class citizens. (This is epic.)

That also means the majority populace are accustomed to treating Black colleagues with respect (not just because of some policy but because the Black Person may well be much cleverer and a greater expert and better paid than they are). Children at school in Oxford are used to a highly diverse city population - and those at the ‘better’ schools will have highly ambitious parents, which is good for the entire school population.

There’s masses to do, space to do it, and a generally safe atmosphere.

Has your experience been different?

Most of Sutton area

There are loads of asian dc in Sutton due to the grammars

Another vote for Ealing - you could get a house in your budget and have lots of options for commuting. About a quarter of DD's primary school class were Black, about a fifth of her secondary school year are. I'm mixed race and she looks very like me and we're completely unremarkable.

It also has a lot going for it in other ways - if your DC are musical there's the brilliant Ealing Junior Music School, and there are lots of sports teams, dance, Cubs and Scouts, and easy access to central London theatre and so on. And it's an area where people tend to stay for the long term - some of DD's classmates now, going into Y11, are people she was at primary school with from age 4.

Brighton & Hove. Huge range of ethnicity’s/cultures at my kids school. Loads of outdoor green space, extremely liberal. Central Hove especially is full of diverse professionals. Good luck!

Forest Gate is a hole!

Liphook. Bohunt School

Why??

Brighton is love but it is very white. Very liberal blah blah but white and sometimes paternalistic