Advice on where to live for Hayes, Oxford, and City

[main789]

Hello to the lovely community!

We have a dilemma at home and I have no doubt you can shed some lights and clear our doubts :)

We are moving from SE London to Western London, and are trying to decide where. Both of us work, with one having to commute to Hayes and Harlington every day, and the other having to commute to the City (Cannon Street) 3 days of week, and to Oxford the other two (I know, not exactly simple).

The area around Ealing Broadway sounds like a good option: 10-minute train to Hayes, 32 minutes on the Central line to Bank, and (oh well) 1h30m to Oxford. Primaries seem to be good too - we have a daughter who is 2.5y. Hoping nurseries are good too?

Question is, we are not sure we've exhausted all options and coming from SE, we don't know enough about West London to know if there is a better option than Ealing Broadway?

And another question: If we were to live around Ealing Broadway, what is a reasonable budget for a 2-bed flat? Looking on rightmove I see that something like 1500-1750 should be reasonable, am I being realistic? Any areas in a 1 mile radius to avoid, or is Ealing generally nice?

Many thanks in advance!

Hi there, afraid I can't help with the logistics but just wanted to say that due to the pressure on school places you do want to make sure that you are seriously close to a primary you are happy with. Do not believe the school finder thingy on right move, it is often seriously out.

But also this board is very quiet so you might get more responses if you post in the main site on the property board.

Very helpful, thank you very much! If you don't trust the rightmove widget, what's the most reliable source of information on catchment areas? Would the schools give you accurate information, or do you need to ask around the community?

You need to find out the distance of the furthest place offered last September. Of course this is no guarantee just a good indication. The school may be able to tell you this and I think it's on the Ealing council web site, but I can't swear to that.

Do you attend church? Bear in mind that you probably will have to discount church schools if you don't.