Moving area- Enfield chase

[Al12388]

Hello,
I am new to mumsnet so hopefully posting in the right section!
We are based in London manor house with my 2 year old, and considering a move to Enfield Chase.
We liked the look of the area, we wanted somewhere fairly green but with good cafes etc which is also good for our London commutes and close ish to my family. However, I’d love to hear from anyone who lives there esp regarding schools and any issues with crime.

Lived in Enfield Town/Chase area for 7 years, moved away a couple of years ago, still miss it! It would tick all your boxes in terms of green spaces, cafes, commute. Good for young families. My knowledge is a bit out of date though.

When we left Enfield we moved out of London. It was mostly to do with getting more space and a bit to do with schools. There are decent primary schools round there (although some of the best are church schools who prioritise church-going parents) but we weren't struck by the secondary schools, however if you were in Chase proper you might get into the Winchmore Hill schools, which I believe are pretty good.

Crime wise I wouldn't say it's any worse than anywhere else, particularly in London. Burglaries seemed pretty common but I didn't hear too much about violent crime.

I grew up close by, parents live in Enfield Chase. It's pretty pleasant, near decent shopping centre, lovely park, good primaries, should be in catchment of decent secondaries.

Not lots of mugging and violence... my parents did find some people doing drug deals in their driveway (because it was sort of secluded but just off a fairly busy road the police reckoned!) but my mum, being my mum, went told them she'd seen what they were doing and they'd be calling the police and they didn't come back, but that was partly just a feature of that driveway being a convenient spot rather than typical of the area.

@namechange35790 that’s good to know you liked it there :)
Schools were my main concern too, we are not church going types and don’t really want to pretend to be either and it seemed at a glance that there are more options for good secondary schools in other areas. It is in so long though maybe too soon to think about it!

@Echobelly that’s good to know thanks, doesn’t sound too bad if that’s the only thing, esp compared to my area now! I was more worried about constant groups of kids up to no good or any violent crimes. I know Enfield gets a bad rep but from what I can see it looks like Enfield Chase it quite seperate

Hi OP. I am based in Enfield Chase currently but we are moving out of London soon (the old equation of space and secondary schools again!)

My honest appraisal of the area... We've mostly been happy here, love the green spaces and the local shops along Chase Side, plus as PPs have mentioned the local primaries are reasonably decent (DD attends one of the church ones - we did the whole hypocritical church attendance thing as in all honesty I don't rate our nearest non-church primaries). There are some nice buildings around the New River/Gentleman's Row, although being in a conservation area, as we are, has become a bit of a bugbear as it's hard to make any kind of home improvements at all.

Where we are is super convenient for both Enfield Town and Enfield Chase station, although tbh we're no longer finding either of those things as useful as we did when we first moved here - Enfield Town has gone downhill massively over the past couple of years and now feels quite grim whenever I go in, and the trains from a Enfield Chase never resumed normal service after covid, plus it's a total nightmare getting into and out of London on that line at weekend (one train every half hour if you're lucky and the driver turns up).

We do feel like things have gone a bit downhill generally in recent years (we both grew up here so can see the contrast) - more litter, graffiti, drugs, anti-social behaviour and car crime, but on the plus side it still feels relatively safe in the sense of not too much violent crime. You would also need to think ahead to secondary school options if you have/want kids, as the area is a bit of a secondary black hole - not many great options nearby, which is what is motivating our planned move out to Hertfordshire.

Sorry, just saw that you already have a two year old - in that case definitely look at your secondary options. By far and away the 'best' local option within Enfield Chase on paper is Wren Academy, but it's super strict/zero tolerance/boot camp-style discipline, a church school and has quite a narrow curriculum, so very much a marmite choice! It's not for us, and we can't face hothousing DD for the local super-selective grammar so we feel we need to move now she is that bit older.