What's wrong with south of the river?

[Museumgirl]

Hello- our house purchase just fell through. We were buying a 3 bed in st leonards and there aren't many on the market.

I've seen loads in alphington/st Thomas area- and about 50k cheaper... Why?!?!
Thanks in advance x

It's less popular for several reasons. The posh schools are the other side of the river. Most of the state secondary schools are the other side of the river (and West Exe is over subscribed massively). The traffic can be hideous on the St Thomas side. Some of it is built on a flood plain (although the flood defences have held up well). Some bits are very skanky (though others are v posh). Many of the better shops are on the other side of the river, see also the cinemas, the mainline stations, the bus station, the new library, the museum, the cathedral, the football ground, the rugby ground, the hospital etc etc. There are some lovely bits on the south side though, some good primary schools and so on. St Thomas doesn't really compare, as an area, to St Leonards. There are some very nice bits of Alphington though. But there is usually a dearth of decent family sized homes in the city. Hence the price premium. People want to live in St Leonards. And a lot of the houses in St Leonards are 4 beds or bigger. So what 3 bed houses there are - go quickly and go expensively.

I have lived in both St Leonards and St Thomas and I have found both great places to live. There is a historic snobbery about living the St Thomas side (or "wrong") of the river and before I moved here I was slightly worried. However living here I have found that I have lots of friendly considerate neighbours on my street. (that being said there are areas to definitely be avoided especially the area around Newman road)
I would disagree that St Thomas is an inconvenient location, as from there you can still walk to the centre of town and the quay.

I wouldn't argue that St Leonards is a lovely area to live and has a more posh feel to it, but the other side of the river is definitely not a no go area. It has nice parks, convenient local facilities and is closer to the rest of town than you might think.

Great thanks Ladies x