Crouch End? North London advice needed

[Hmm24]

Can anyone tell mw more about living in Crouch End or Finsbury Park. My husband and I would like to move to one of these areas. We like Crouch End but he needs to be able to get to a tube easily for Kings Cross. Finsbury Park is a good location but it all looks a but 'run down' and as we want to start a family, schools may soon be a concern. Any info/suggestions would be great. How do people who live in crouch end get to the tube?

I live in CE and walk to Finsbury Park - it takes 20 mins and is nothing but a nice leg stretch really. Depending on where you live, W3 or W7 buses are very reliable, as is Hornsey Rail. On the west of the Broadway, people walk to Highgate.

Are you buying? Worth thinking up front about school catchments if you are. I'd tend to go with your view that if you are particularly interested in a set of good, straightforward state primary schools, Crouch End itself is a good option.

I wouldn't say that Finsbury Park is run down, really, and Stroud Green is lovely, but you'll need to think harder about schools depending on where you are based.

Let me know if you want to know more.

Thanks for this reply. The most important thing really is that my husband can get to Kings Cross as he'll be commuting to Cambridge. We were thinking of renting first to make sure we've chosen a convenient spot but i'd prefer to buy if we were more sure of the distances involved. My brother used to live in CE and I really like it around there. What streets are west of the Broadway where it's a short walk to Highgate. Also I get the feeling Crouch End is quite a friendly area where particularly with a young baby one could get to know people quite easily? Thanks for replying.

Crazy head - can you suggest any nice streets in Finsbury Park or Stroud Green?

There are direct trains from Finsbury Park to Cambridge, one stops everywhere takes about 4 days but there is one that takes just under an hour which makes it about the same speed as the fast train by the time you factor in not having to go to kings cross. (You probably know this though)

There are some nice streets off Crouch Hill which are very walkable to both Finsbury park and crouch end. the ones on the left as you head towards crouch end are in N19 rather than N8 so include that in your searches.

I think you'll find it's pronounced "croosh on". Think French.

I lived there back in the day. Vair nice.

Croosh Onh. Is better.

I live just on the edge of Crouch End and it's very nice indeed. Local mums are friendly. Getting to Kings Cross is a breeze - we get either the W7 bus to Finsbury Park or the 91 bus to Caledonia Road and then the tube. Crouch End has all you ever need and is villagey - more so than Muswell Hill imho.

Crouch end is lovely but don't forget, east Barnet & whetstone (oakleigh park), potters bar, goffs oak (and more but i cant remember) are on the same train line. More for your money

Hello OP

Stroud Green - look at Stapleton Hall Road and the streets near there (Ossian Road etc) if you are thinking schools, people love St Aidan's but the catchment is tiny.

Finsbury Park itself - I think that round the lower part of Blackstock Road is nice and further up the road even nicer (where it becomes Highbury)

west part of Crouch End - look round Wolseley Road/Shepherd's Hill, or Hornsey Lane for Archway.

These are just bits I happen to know, there will be more!

The indelicate question is how rich you are really, and what you are looking for (flat? house? period?). The bits I've mentioned above are fairly 'prime'.

If you go to the east a bit (Harringay Ladder/Turnpike Lane) you can also be on good transport routes for King's Cross and they are cheaper. Less glam, but pretty decent.

Been in Crouch End since the mid-80's & believe me, it was pretty run down itself then. The primary schools are all pretty good, the secondary is hugely improved so is now also oversubscribed and there are masses of facilities for activities and socialising. The W3 and W7 take usually under 10 minutes to get to Finsbury Park and it takes me 20-25 mins to walk there so no big deal. My DH commutes out to Herts either driving or train from Finsbury Park.

School catchments there can be really tiny, so be very careful if this is important to you. Some friends have a great flat there but seem to be just out of catchment for all the nearby schools.

We live just north of Crouch End Broadway, and really the only thing we don't like is the commuting. The W7 and W3 are reliable and frequent, but I think 10 mins is a good day, quite honestly. They get very full and there's a lot of stopping and starting, and a lot of traffic on narrow streets. It's very fast once you get to Finsbury Park, though.

I agree with Mrs Lyman about checking out the Finsbury Park-Cambridge stopper trains, that's the way I would go. Kings Cross is a big sprawling station to change in and you will spend all the time you save on the Cambridge flyer hustling through endless white corridors. Fares are probably cheaper going from zone 2 as well.

Generally speaking the posh bits of Finsbury Park are on the north side of the station and the less posh bits to the south - but it's all relative. None of Fins Park is really run down by London standards, it's just a bit scruffy and noisy like lots of other bits of zone 2. Certainly pricey enough. I used to have friends living on Finsbury Park Road and Queens Drive, and they never had any problems.

Ooh, and while you can get to Kings X from Highgate the Northern Line is a bastard. Fins Park to Kings Cross is literally a 5 minute journey, Highgate to Kings X is more like 15.

This is all so helpful- thanks everyone!

I moved from the N19 end of CE to the North end of FP near to Stroud Green Rd. DD goes to a secondary school in CE. It is nice here where I am, and really is about 8 mins from CE on the bus.

I think I need to actually see some houses in Finsbury Park I agree that time spent on a slow train would only otherwise be spent on the tube getting to Kings Cross or in its white tunnels.

Basically I just really want to move back to London. My OH got a job here in Cambridge almost 2 years ago and I followed him. Whilst its very green with good schools etc I miss my family and friends and know that I don't want to settle down here. With the idea of trying to have a child soon in the air I just want to be nearish to friends and family.

I know it's just 50 mins to KC but they live on the other side of London so it actually takes 2. My parents are now in their 80s and I want to be in easy reach of them. It's hard to make new friends in your mid thirties and my husband is not the most sociable type. His family live overseas and I have support in terms of friends and family in London that would enrich our lives, particularly if we have a child. He is happy to commute but I still feel bad about asking him to even though I know that, whilst Cambridge may be a great place for some, it just won't ever be the right place for me to start a family.

I would be interested in why oenophilia decided to stay in London and not move to Herts?

Do people think Finsbury Park would be a more interesting area than say Palmers Green or Bounds Green which is a bit cheaper? Any advice on all the above is so much appreciated.

Oh and thanks again to everyone who has sent me replies :-)

i used to live in bounds green and absolutely loved it, was near wood green (for shops etc) and rail links (tube/ally pally mainline)

wouldn't really be drawn to crouch end anymore as i drive and it it virtually impossible to park ( i bet) and just doesn't seem as fun as it was, seems to have been taken over by the more middle class 'creatives' rather than the haphazard ones of the 90s

Yes I read something funny about couples with prams in matching trainers in CE. Wood Green is definately more affordable.

some houses around alexander palace are fantastic and ally pally is great

Does ally pally have a nice central hub with smaller shops and cafes etc?

I used to live off Stroud Green Road and I really loved it, there's a nice community feel and lots of nice little cafes and places to hang out, 5 minute walk to the tube, easy bus to Upper Street and everything there. There are a few rundown blocks but I never had any trouble, even coming home late at night.

If I understand your post right, you don't actually have kids yet? I'd think about renting for a year or so, schools won't be an issue for years yet and who knows what will happen with catchments by then, whether your DH will have the same job, etc. That way you can really explore the neighbourhood and find the nicest streets and such.

I don't think you should feel guilty, I'd be wanting to do the same.

Finsbury Park is definitely more interesting than Palmers Green or Bounds Green, to my mind, and the links to central London are much better too - that Victoria Line is really very fast! I know that the commute out is probably your main concern so that might not be so important but for a feeling of being in the thick of it, Finsbury Park is more 'London' while PG and BG are suburban. I would pick your street carefully though because as with all urban areas it can vary massively just by walking round the corner, but I'm sure you know that already. I would second the Stapleton Hall Rd area suggestion and also closer to the tube but on the other side off Seven Sisters Rd there are a few lovely little streets formed by a triangle between that and Isledon Rd and Hornsey Rd.

Thanks dreamingbohemian for what you said. I haven't been married long and it's easy to get the impression that you are expected to put your husband's job, needs over your own happiness but I am no good to anyone in a place I feel miserable. I have tried...I have studied, worked, joined gyms, tried to be friendly to neighbours, told myself I need to just try harder to bond with the place but I still can't think about settling here (despite the punting, green spaces and good schools) . I now just want to make the commute as easy as I can for my husband whilst finding somewhere with a nice atmosphere for us to live. I will look at Stroud Green again.

I would definitely take FP over the Greens, that's proper suburbia. The Piccadilly can take aaaaaages too sometimes.