where can i find a multicultural area on the outskirts of london, with a low crime rate, good schools, friendly people and reasonably priced houses and good transport links!

[sunshineakindat]

hi. i have 4 boys and would love to live in an area on the outskirts of london which is multicultural and green. I have moved so many times and want to find an area that i'm happy with before the boys reach secondary school age. I love art and would love access to some nice galleries. my husband works in central london so would need easy access to oxford street. We are black british and being in a multicultural area is important to us. I have white friends as well as black and would love an area that has a nice mix of everyone! we can stretch to 250000 for a 4 bed house which i know isnt much in london! good schools are a must! thankyou for your help. I hope someone can help me.

I'm surprised no-one's mentioned the London Borough of Sutton - schools are great (they still have a grammar system) property prices are among the lowest in London, transport links are excellent (BR and Thameslink) and lots of green spaces.

I was going to mention Sutton . But I don't think you can get a four bed for £250,000. If so, I would like to move into it as I live in a 3 bed in Wallington and ours cost a little under that when we bought it 8 years ago !

I live in Enfield, north London. Very family-friendly, lots of parks, close to the Lea Valley which has some lovely walking. Very multicultural, I have lots of black and Asian friends here. It is relatively cheap in terms of London.

There are some dodgy parts -- over towards Edmonton which has a high crime rate. Stick to the west side of the A10.

You would get a 3-bed for £250k but I can't think of anywhere in London (that you'd want to live) that you would get 4 beds for that price, sorry!

Re: Bexley/Welling/Eltham. It does have a racist reputation but the BNP HQ is no longer there (the council eventually kicked them out) so not sure how much of a problem it is these days.

Also, whoever said it wasn't multicultural -- I went to school in Sidcup and had loads of black/Asian classmates and this was back in the 80s/90s.

I know that Plumstead is supposed to be quite up-and-coming these days.

Having said all that... it is a bit of a shit area and I wouldn't swap Enfield to move back there for anything!

I currently live in waltham forest and i hate it! we just moved from southampton and i loved it but missed all our friends and family in london. i thought surrey would be nice. mayor boris has just dreamed up a crime map maps.met.police.uk/that shows that bexleyheath, merton,richmond and kingston have the lowest crime rates in london and are all outer london. i will have four teenage boys at the same time so unless london gets better i really need to move somewhere that would be great for them longterm.
id say no more than 25 miles out of london? is that reasonable?
thanks for all your help so far.
i had the same doubts about bexleyheath

I was going to say Barnet (where I am from) or Enfield.

4 bed houses from £300,000

I think this is within 25 miles... well, very near Heathrow

Slough again

I looked up sutton and this his.

I could go up to £275 (max) if they pay the stamp duty like this one.
does anyone know what this areas like.
im liking the idea of sutton I think, any thoughts?

BERESFORD AVENUE ladyofR you should not be recommending there! yuk! i wouldnt recommend slough or uxbridge, if you did go for thames valley burnham is passable, i dont really see windsor as london but if yoiu did....

slough just sounds so miserable . lovely looking house though
thanku

My friends have just moved to Carshalton after research, they like it there a lot!

How about E Sussex? It's loads cheaper than W Sussex because the transport links to London are not quite so fast, but I was at how cheap property is there.

Hang on...

this

this

this

all in your budget. And more if you look on rightmove

I wouldn't live in Hastings/St leonards 9esp not St leonards!). the town has some potential, but is, on the whole, rundown and depressed 9used to live there)

I love Hastings!

Live at the other end of the country myself, but I've always had a great time there visiting friends. I think it's on the up now isn't it, as people can't afford to live in Brighton any more. I know quite a few people who have moved out there from London after having kids.

If anyone finds a place like sunshineakindat is looking for- let me know!

We are so desperate to get out of shitty Kilburn, but so stung by house market crashing that are very stuck here...

May have to consider leaving London, or even UK...

The nice bits are lovely, and it is great as somewhere to visit, but imo living there with kids not an option.

And certainly not long term (ie with teenagers) - my brothers and I were lucky to come out alive (honestly!)

there has been a lot of recent redevelopment, but soem things you jsut can't change overnight - the town is mostly seasonal, so gets very depressed in winter months. there also was, until very recently a huge drugs problem (don't know about the last few years, as have moved away) and that doesn't change overnight either.

We are considering Cardiff if we decide we hate London (at the mo we v much like our location but in flat with no garden at moment)... it's not near London obv but easy enough to get back. Is multicultural, multilingual vibrant, artsy, city by the sea - but cheap! look at THESE houses, I believe this is a nice part of Cardiff - Roath Park

oh, didn't link. search 4 bed houses in Roath Park.

We can't sell our flat anyway!

Sunshineakindat if you narrow it down to a list of areas you like the sound of you can go the National Office of Statistics website:

www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/

And get lots of information about population. schools, crime rates, houseprices etc. You do need to find a full postcode for somewhere in the neightbourhood but it's fairly easy to find a random one on google.

Even if you're not planning on moving it's quite interesting!

Silverfrog Epsom & Ewell might be a bit expensive. Try around Chessington. I don't know it very well but have friends who are happy there. We live in Kingston I love it. Everyone has been lovely. We have neighbours from all over the places. Lots of Arabs and mixed families. But we live in a 2 & half bedroom house and DH brought it 20 years ago.

Hang on, Emmalina... do you live in Carshalton?

Indeed I do, Umlellalalalalala. Do you live in Stoke Newington?

Excuse me, can I just defend where I live? Bexley is not "racist" what a ridiculous thing to say. Nothing like a sweeping statement to stir it up on MN on a Friday night!

Just a little bit north from Enfield is Cheshunt. 20 minutes into London and lots of lovely open spaces to walk in.
you might just get a 4 bedroom for £250,000