Moving from East to south London

[Deedee84]

Hi guys

We in the process of acquiring our first mortgage and and finding our first family home!! I'm so excited but also a bit apprehensive as we have to decided to move to south London from east where we have lived all our lives!
I always said i didnt want to move south because I dont like the Blackwall tunnel (my work is based in east london) and what a nightmare it is when is closed 🙈 However it has started to appeal to me ove the past few months on terms of house prices, green space and better quality of life altogether.
I am looking at these places In particular: Cuxton,Strood,Rochester,Maidstone and Sittingbourne.
Any advice on these areas would be great.
We are a black and mixed raced family of 4 our 2 boys are 10 and 13 so any advice on primary and secondary schools would be great too.
What are these areas like in terms of ethnicity? East London is very diverse and multicultural so racism/prejudice has never been an issue or concern.

Look forward to hearing back from anyone to help reassure us that we are making the right choice, I'm sure we are 😃
Thank you

I do not regard any of those as south London!

They are Kent not South London and you might end up using the Dartford Tunnel instead. How far do you want to be from work, will you get trains, what's the budget have you looked at Essex.

Those are all Medway. Spend a weekend in each area, take the decision slowly. Along the ThamesLink route it’s becoming more “like London” but that ends at Rainham. I wouldn’t recommend Sittingbourne.

My family live there, but I wouldn’t say it’s diverse the way we’re used to in London, it’s more communities are insular and keep to themselves e.g. the Asian Muslim community stick to each other, the Asian Sikh community stick to each other.

Have you looked at actual south London? Welling is diverse. What’s your budget?

Btw I’m making similar move with concerns about racism, and have been doing lots of research if you want to chat in PM. There are parts of south London to avoid if you are a non-white family. I’m going to visit Aylesford next week in Kent, that’s M20 adjacent and good schools, will report back :)

We moved east London to south-east London and indeed, the Blackwell Tunnel is a massive PITA but the green space makes up for it.

All the areas you mention are Kent & so I wouldn’t consider them ‘south London’ - but really I think you’d need to spend some time really checking them out. They’re not going to have the same feel as inner east London -where are you now e.g. Hackney or further towards Essex etc? That might make a big difference to what you’ll prefer.

None of those places are in south london so I wouldn't worry too much about the blackwell tunnel, depending on where you were to go in south you could also use the rotherhite tunnel.

I'm considering a move out of London with all the same feelings about race, which in itself is quite sad. I don't want my dc in london anymore, but I don't want them to be the only black in the village as i feel that would also harm them. It's a really hard choice to make.

Sorry, your right how do I change it to Kent lol thanks for the messages I'm reading through them now!

I meant Kent dont know why I wrote south London ! 🙄

Hiya, I dont know why I said south London (durr lol) luckily i work in the evenings and I will be driving so I shouldnt have a problem with commuting. Our budget is around the £300-325 mark
Essex was my top spot to move to for ages but I'm really not finding anything in the places I'm looking for.

OP,
here's a few demographics:
Kent: 96% white British
Medway (Cuxton, Strood, Rochester): 90% white
Maidstone: 97% white British.
Swale (Sittingbourne) 96% white British.

I moved into Kent from SE London a few years ago and the difference is very notable, in some ways it was like stepping back into the 70s with the attitude of some of the residents.

Hiya,

Yes that's what we plan to do (covid slowed us down!)
Thanks for the advice about sittingbourne no one who I have spoke to has mentioned that.

No I haven't looked at south London it has always been Essex to be honest! My budget is around £300-325k

This happened in 2014 which put me off, UKIP won a seat in by election

www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-politics-30140489

I remember at the time the high street shops and vibe changing.

I don’t know what the answer is though, outside of inner London it’s unavoidable I think.

Now I know your budget, the ones with thameslink stations are probably unaffordable now.

You will only find one bed flats in south London for that price, you might find something in the Medway area of Kent.

Wow, I wouldn't move to any of the places you mention. Not exactly known for their diversity...

Plus the drive to EL wold be horrific.

What do you want for your budget? You're going to have to come pretty far out to get a house.

£325k Welling www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/101870786#/

The in between bits where they’re just a bit too far from the station has houses in that price bracket.

Thamesmead (SE28) is mainly black community. Good schools. But it’s like little islands you have to drive between or take bus. Heronsgate primary is outstanding.

I’d really recommend Thamesmead for you.

I agree that you would be best advised not to move to any of those areas as they are not very diverse.
You could try Bexleyheath ( which is in the Kent/ London borders). However, I am not sure if your budget would suffice.
I would look at Chatham which is a bit more diverse than the areas you have mentioned and you may be able to find a decent sized three bed with that budget.

Hiya, I meant to to write south of the river not London lol.
Yes not far from hackney more mile end side.
I know it will be a major change for us, but I think we are ready for the change the area that we are in is getting worse in terms of anti social behaviour and they are building on every bit of corner they can find!!
My biggest worry is that we move into a community that is my accepting of us. I would feel so guilty on my kids for placing them in that kind of atmosphere.

*that is Not accepting of us

Hiya, thank you for them demographics!! Oh no that's not good, has it changed since??

@BakeOffRewatch-
I am shocked by the the presentation of the house that you posted.
No effort was made to make that house look presentable

Hiya
I was meant to write south of the river for the topic not south london! So we are looking at Kent. However I'm not so sure now after reading all the comments 😟

OP, the demographics will be based on 2011 census, so out of date, even so, London it ain't!
If you've never been to any of the places you mention, I strongly advise you do. Would be even better if your kids could come along, just to check out the vibe.

Yes the census was issued out this year so hopefully will be updated soon.
We are going to visit some of these areas on sunday like you said to see what vibe is like.
Why is it so hard to find a decent place to live 😭

They do that a lot nowadays!!!