Which parts of Croydon are safe?

[ILikeEggsAnd]

Hi
Which parts of Croydon are safe/ posh to buy a family home in? Thanks

West Croydon is hideous. Otherwise it's all fine and the outskirts are lovely.

The centre of Croydon is dreadful. There is lots of talk of regeneration but it never happens. The areas away from the centre that others have mentioned are lovely though. We viewed some houses in Kenley up by the aerodrome when we were moving out of London and they were great. I have a good friend in Riddlesdown. She has a lovely house with great views. Wilson's is the most highly performing state school in the country and there are plenty of other well-regarded state and indies in the borough. The south of the borough is pretty green too. Riddlesdown common and Happy Valley are lovely.

It's like a clarion call for the racist, ignorant and snobby.

I can't be bothered to read the shitty posts. Love to the Croydon Massive.

South Croydon / Purley

Well, some parts of South Croydon are not good.

My Aunt used to live there. There is a hostel down the road where there were always fights. She would find knives in her front garden. Also men used to visit the prostitutes next door by climbing onto my Aunt's garage and going through next door's window.

She lived near South Croydon station. I know every area has it 's shit places but you could not pay me to live there (anywhere in Croydon) . I lived nearby. I hope the schools have improved since I went to school there as they were shit.

Most of Croydon has nice suburban semis. Places like Coulsdon, Smitham seems pretty quiet. My cousin lives in the centre. She's quite enjoying being there, they moved from Acton as it was a bit cheaper.
She says west Croydon and Thornton heath are considered a little sketchy in places. But she grew up in a much more rough and ready area in NW London.

What do you want OP?

The vast majority of the borough is very safe. All the leafy bits as previously listed. Coulsdon, Caterham, loads!

Also, the vast majority of the more urban areas.

Norbury is scruffy but has good transport links, housing that is ‘affordable’ for London, lots of community activity and was on ‘Worst House in the Street’ last night (with neither house nor street looking especially bad)

Even the much maligned Thornton Heath is full of decent families living decent ordinary lives.

West Croydon: ok best avoid the area round the bus station on a Fri and Saturday night but I have a relative who lives a peaceful life in a lovely little street of family terraced houses in W Croydon.

I can’t bear it when smug MNers slag off cheaper areas than their own with silly generalisations.

This.

All the leafy, much whiter and very Tory suburbs all OK….

Norbury is much more diverse but as an urban area in London is safe and friendly. Just looks scruffy. But if you want to be closer in and relatively affordable housing: fine. It has outstanding and good primaries and access to some good secondaries.

@MrsTerryPratchett
Yes of course and everywhere has it's shit bits but I don't think I am being snobby or racist. I used to live in Peckham and loved it. I now live in Hammersmith and I like it (because of the transport links and living near a number of hospitals) which despite what anyone thinks is not posh. It is multicultural. The high street is not up to much (but there is IKEA and LIDL! We also have a mini Tesco Sainsbury's and Waitrose)) and Westfield is in nearby Shepherd's Bush. There is of course crime but I have never felt threatened though early morning at a bus stop I was asked if I wanted some business!!!

I did like bits of Croydon. The market was great. I miss Allders. The green area outside the Fairfield Halls where my criminal mum stole some water snails much to us kids' embarrassment!

I just hated the schools and the Shrublands estate at the top of my road! Some really nasty kids from there at both schools I attended.

But Hammersmith is vastly more expensive to live in, no? Might not meet the definition of ‘posh’ (well, Brackenbury village and the surrounding streets towards Ravenscourt Park are certainly affluent)

Cost/area wise you can’t compare Hammersmith to Croydon. It’s highly unlikely anyone who was vastly lucky enough to have the budget for Hammersmith would be casting their net as wide as Croydon.

I actually enjoy living in South Croydon but as I said upthread, there’s a lot of ignorance on the different areas and it all get lumped into one Croydon pot, without considering the fact that it’s a huge borough.

Moving to Addiscombe soon - I think it's technically East Croydon.

Bought a decent 5 bed house house that is quite pretty!
5 mins from Shirley Hills and Addington Village. 5 mins to Trinity private school which we are considering for secondary - lots of primary school options.

30 min walk to Boxpark and things to do.
15 minutes drive to south Croydon restaurants and bars.

Tons of green space in the immediate area.

55 mins door to door for work into central London with reliable transport out of east Croydon. Apparently South Norwood can be a hit or miss.

I've lived in all types of places in London - West Hampstead, Bow/Mile End, Woolwich (near to Kent side), and Peckham and I can say Croydon is surprisingly quite pretty!!

Yes, this.

We live in South Croydon (which is pretty nice imo) and our 2 teenagers have never chosen central Croydon to hang out in. I had been a bit worried about this, but they tend to head to Bromley instead with their mates. Which I can understand, because central Croydon does suck and I wouldn't choose to shop or hang out there myself, either.

Honestly most places that aren't West Croydon I feel are absolutely fine. Addiscombe has a great community feeling, and I have lived here for 15 years without anything bad happening. The neighbours really talk and care about each other- I know a lot of the houses on my street kind of thing. I don't feel bad walking around up until about midnight as there are always plenty of traffic and people around. South Croydon is really lovely, as is up towards Purley. If you can live anywhere near the south downs or Lloyd park you'd be really happy.

You'll have to deal with small minded people who think it's funny to make jokes though. 'Haha Croydon haha' kind of knuckle draggers. It's sad really. People have this impression that the crime here is the worst in London but it's some kind of mandela effect because it's something like 9th of the London boroughs for knife crime, North London is much more dangerous statistically. I do wonder if it's some kind of a racist impression because it's known for being quite a diverse community.

We have had a wonderful life here and wouldn't want to leave, my only sadness about us living in Croydon is my kids have to deal with this stupid stigma. Even though they are attending one of the top grammar schools in the country which is practically on our doorstep.

Exactly. Surely no one chooses to live in Croydon. So many better places to live & it’s not even that cheap.

As of July 2024, the population of Croydon, London is 390,718, making it the largest borough in London. So quite a few people choose to live here - I don't think nearly 400,000 people can be held hostage!

Most of us quite like where we live too....

I like living in Croydon!

There is brilliant arts stuff happening as part of the Croydonites Festival, a fantastic long running exhibition, Come As You Really Are has just closed before going on National tour, Stanley Arts is great, the M&S in the town centre is better than the Oxford St branch, and apparently, the contract with Westfield has been signed.

And hahaha like Hammersmith we have IKEA.

If I had more money I would probably move elsewhere in London just for shorter journey time. But I haven’t, and am managing to live a safe, community orientated life in Croydon while enjoying everything I love about London.

I've seen that advertised, I definitely want to check out a few events.

Lols some small minded people in this thread. I'm from Canada and I think it's hilarious(ly disgusting) how there's such a blatant hierarchy in "types of" people here. Being referred to as posh, ordinary, etc. is subhuman. This is differentiated by scumbags though! There are a ton of those everywhere (in London).

Also quite a few people in those "posh" areas are right fucking crazy pricks, and shitty neighbours too.

Sanderstead is nice.

It’s easier to avoid central Croydon which is an absolute shit tip. If I was an adult I wouldn’t be bothered. But if you have kids then no way.

We chose to! Lots of our neighbours have too actually (obviously)- plenty of young professionals on our road with young families. We came here because the transport links were cheap (still london zones) and our budget could get a large victorian family home with garden here. We have beautiful green spaces around to visit and some surprisingly good non private school options. I was living in Kensington before here (ex had a house) and there was no community, people only spoke to each other if they were feeling slighted. I feel a sense of community in croydon though. it’s a bit eastenders like sometimes, but they really do look out for each other.

FanofLeaves

Yes of course you are right. Hammersmith would be a lot more expensive. My Aunt lived in South Croydon which I thought was better than East Croydon but it got worse where she was. There was a hotel/hostel down the road for 'Asylum seekers' and there were always fights there. She would regularly find knives in her front garden.

As I said above there were places I liked.

We were relieved when she followed mum to Hampshire!

None. Have a few friends that purchased there and word of warning if you are trying to have children the maternity services are awful.

No home health visitors, you have to go back to the hospital, crap local hospital, no community options like Home Start etc. My friends (whose homes are in the supposedly ‘nice’ areas) have all been trying to sell their homes for years and even selling at a loss can’t get rid of it them. I’ve seen the stress it’s caused my friends, I’d avoid.

Croydon council has been declared bankrupt three times in two years.

Well I’ll counter that by saying I took my three year old trick or treating on Thursday evening and it was absolutely perfectly safe as it was anywhere, lovely decorations up and community spirit and everyone just generally having a nice time. The street we went to has a big street party with live music, a bbq and a bouncy castle every summer. Bet some ignorant people on this thread can’t imagine anything like that happening in Croydon.

To be fair, the hospital is incredibly tired looking and really needs a significant cash injection on the estates side, but the actual care is not bad - I've been there a number of times over the past year and have been very happy with the treatment I've received. I believe it also has some of the lowest waiting lists in the country and cleared its post-Covid backlog very quickly.

We chose to live in Croydon. There aren't many places you can buy property within catchment for two Outstanding primary schools and one Outstanding secondary, less than 25 minutes into four central London stations, plenty of green space and urban development, and the ability to get a non-urgent GP appointment in under a week for less than £1m. We have all of that and more.

And I echo the PP's comment about community. Our road was heaving with young children trick or treating on Thursday. My DC knew 70% of them from school and local activities, and there were no gangs of roaming teenagers.

It's a big borough. We're massively advantaged by the terrible reputation it has - keeps closed minded people out. Long may it last!

Not sure, they're advertising for volunteers at the local Homestart. I'd love to one day if I can work less hours. This is South Croydon.

Sanderstead, Gravel Hill, Riddlesdown are all lovely.