Highgate or Surbiton?

[CoolEagle9895]

Hi,

Hope Everyone is well.

Option to move to one of these Areas (From Crawley) & wondered if anyone could give insight as to which they prefer/better.

Work from Home so Commuting isn’t problem

Surbiton Property is Semi in nice Road towards Tolworth, Highgate is a on Main Road (Archway Road I think) only 5 min Walk to Station.

Did find Surbiton very nice, however a bit Boring/Depressing maybe. And some would always say more Central = Better

Thanks!

What’s the plan in two years once you’ve saved for a deposit? You presumably won’t want to move areas having spent two years living in one place, becoming part of a community, child settled at nursery/school etc.

I think it depends how much you mind traffic. I can’t bear being on a main road and Archway is really trafficky. But Highgate is a much better location.

Surbiton’s ok but it’s not on the tube and the Kingston line is really slow. Surbiton line is faster. So it depends which bit of Surbiton and how near you are the station.

Do you drive? I wouldn’t want to be there and not drive.

Highgate without a doubt. My partners’ parents live in that area and I visit often, I would grab the chance to live there with both hands!

If any of your interests mean you travel into central London or indeed if work does, then being near to a Underground line is a better option than a low frequency train service.

Do you call ten trains an hour a low frequency service?

In the evening the tube lines usually get 15 or 16. I doubt it is ten in the evening to Surbiton.

Also London is great with kids there is always stuff to do for free

🤖💬🙄

You’re right - it’s only 8 an hour between 7pm and midnight 😉

Thank you so much for all the Replies so far, really appreciate & didn’t expect so much!

Really is difficult & I’m still on the Fence. Tomorrow one got to decide. Would of course welcome more! 😁

Bump for more input, Decision form in 18 Hours

How old is your child?

11, so not too Young

Bump for more input; Monday is decision time!

So, starting Secondary in September? Have you looked into which schools have places in both areas? If you're the Highgate tube end of Archway Road then assume you'd be looking at Highgate Wood School as your nearest?

Have you actually been there?

OK so I think it would be best not to move your child's school once in secondary, if it can be helped.

So which place is more likely as a place for you to be able to afford a deposit in and stay local-ish?

Property is a lot cheaper in the Surbiton area.

I live v near to Highgate - would not choose it if it meant living on the Archway Road. Is the Surbiton house in a nicer location?

The pollution would be bad living on the A1. You don’t want to open your door to that every single day. I avoid Archway Rd on foot whenever I can! (Walk down the other side to get to the tube etc).

Kind of amazing that a 50-year-old sitcom had such an impact. And that so many people think the sitcom was a documentary.

They’re both great places to live — you could have had two much worse options! They’re just very different in feel. For what it’s worth I’d choose Highgate because the local shops and pubs all around that bit of North London are amazing. But I’m very fond of Kingston, and Surbiton is a nice place.

It basically comes down to whether you want busy and central (to the point where it’s quite noisy and chaotic whether you’re in the mood for that or not), or less busy and less central (to the point where you might sometimes feel a bit bored).