Childfree Londoners! Tell me where you live...

[daisyrose777]

Hello childfree Londoners,
We, very sadly, cannot have children but would love more space and a garden. Do you live in London within vibrant, diverse community that isn't solely centred around kids? Or do you live a commutable distance, somewhere that you would recommend? Please tell me where, does this place exist? TIA

The place that most mumsnetters would consider a barren hellscape that lies between Forest Hill and Hither Green in zone 3! Begins with a C 😉

Honestly I love it. Our money went so much further, 12 minute trains to London Bridge and 20 mins to Blackfriars. We have nice parks for our dog, bougie delis and less bougie things too.

South East London, near @eigen's C place. There are people with young families (Nappy Valley) but I wouldn't say the area is 'centred' around kids. Apart from Horniman Museum - you have to time your visits wisely to avoid the screaming ankle biters.

Oooooo, thank you both. Have very much been narrowing down on C and surrounds!

Crystal palace, yes its more of a family area but I chose it for the commute being under 30 mins, I coukd afford to buy here and becuase of the high street plus beckenham high street is lovely too. So I feel like I don't live in London but I do if that makes sense.

I am on the border of Bethnal Green and Hackney. There is a lot for children here but equally a vibrant community for those without them, and I (no kids) find it easily to live one without stumbling over the other.

I don’t know Crystal Palace so well but from what I have seen it’s lovely, and also Beckenham is very nice. I drive down to the Waitrose there.

I think that corridor down the Bromley Road gives a really nice balance between good transport links, ‘green n’ leafy’, things to do, and is sufficiently NYG (not yet gentrified) so you can still get a bargain (by London Standards).

Peckham Rye on the East Dulwich side, luckily we bought 20years ago. Good transport links, nice community feel, mix of generations and all sorts of things happening from choirs to knitting groups, park friends groups and pretty much anything else you can think of.

SW London, zone 5. In MN terms positively rural because it takes all of 25 minutes to get to zone 1. Loads of restaurants and green space but the shops are rubbish. No idea about schools although I know they exist.

East Finchley.

I moved here as a first time buyer 5 years ago because its what I could afford which was near areas i wanted to live in such as Highgate and Muswell Hill (and there were good schools as well) . My flat is a very small 2 bed but perfect for us if we were child free. I love the area, well connected, green, safe, really good place to live without children and we have a tube station. It's also reasonably priced with many smaller properties so it's good for couples who want to stay in zone 3 near a tube station in a safe neighbourhood but don't want to spend a bomb! Many two bed flats here for 450k and below..conversions with gardens for 500k plus. Many properties have small second bedrooms so perfect for a couple really
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I wanted to move before we had a child to a bigger flat but am a bit more cautious now as I don't think I could justify the expense of moving if we were childfree. We could do so much more with the money. And we have a high chance of being childfree as we never used contraception for 9 years(I was 22 when we married) and been actively trying for 10 months...and nothing. Don't really want to do ivf either.

If children never materialised, I would 100% be content with where we are living.

South Croydon - lots of us in SE London! We should meet up!

I used to live in Penge and left several pubs because they became creches.