Erith, Dartford, Belvedere... or nearby.

[sammydavis]

Will be looking to move to SE London/Bexley/ North kent in the new year. We really want a house but have a maximum buget of £170,000.
Have been all round Plumstead and Woolwich and don't like it too much. Been out as far as Gravesend and Rochester and not so keen on there either.
Now looking at Bexley borough especially Dartford, Erith and Belvedere.
Neither of us really know the areas very well and are looking for any tips on nice streets, shopping, crime - just general life experience and advice.
We're not looking for nightlife, 2/3 bed house(Victorian in good nick would be nice but not essential) just somewhere for a quiet life and a train station that will get us in to London in 45mins max ish.
Schools are not a consideration.
Any input would be appreciated.

I would rather live in a flat pretty much anywhere, than a house almost any of these places tbh can you tell I grew up there

West Thamesmead is hugely different to central Thamesmead. It's also nowhere near it. Quite why they named it that I have no idea when it is more like North Plumstead/East Woolwich! The stench, when it happens, which is a lot less often than it used to, is nowhere near as bad. There were some dodgy flats built a short while back on the banks of the river that got a reputation for fraud, but they have very little to do with the "heart" of the area which is mostly fairly modern suburban terraces set in landscaped reclaimed marshland, so canals and lakes. They're also building a nice big park up by the Thames too. It's unfair to tar it with the same brush as central Thamesmead - they share a name but could not be more different.

Plumstead Common area is very nice, along with the areas round Shooters Hill. Bit more of a walk to the station though. That whole area stretching across to Belvedere is not too bad at all, and there are a couple of very decent schools up there although I know you are not looking for schools! Similarly there's an excellent one in West Thamesmead (which incidentally contains lots of West Africans so is hardly a National Front stronghold, same goes for Woolwich and Plumstead!)

As somebody more used to the countryside I actually found the whole Plumstead/Woolwich area not that bad at all. You have the woods, the banks of the Thames, canal side walks and aside from some pretty obvious places at the wrong times (hello Woolwich Saturday night!) which would apply to any part of less-expensive London, I never felt unsafe either. Crossrail is going to be a huge boon to the area and I am sure will boost house prices - the DLR and the Olympics have already started the regeneration process and Woolwich already looks tons better than it did a few years back with lots more to come.

Plumstead High Street is not what I would deem "lovely" by any stretch of the imagination, but there is a nice bakery, quite a few unusual shops and during the day it's perfectly okay. I think you just had bad luck with the old man with the can.. yes, it happens, but it's pretty rare and I used to see more of it when I lived in a very rural area a million miles different to these areas. It is indeed a lot nicer slightly further up the hill away from the High Street.

When we moved to the area nearly 9 years ago, we did so because we wanted a house, not a flat too. Thought it would be grim but actually got quite attached to the area in the end, and most people were genuinely friendly no matter what their culture - the playgroup I attended at DD's school was a total multicultural mix and I made a lot of lovely friends there. We've since cleared out quite recently to somewhere more rural for a whole bunch of reasons (decent non-religious secondary schools, wanting to be Proper Rural etc) but none of them because we disliked the area itself and I actually quite miss it.

Have you considered places like Catford/Sydenham/Penge - I have no local knowledge so can't advise on prices/areas but got to be nicer than that corner of SE London.

I have lived in Carford / Sydenham and Penge and I must say that I would not recommend them, they are quite rough. Catford is slowly getting better and has some nicer bits, Penge is next to beckenham which is nice, but they both have not very nice high streets.

I know the area really well and would recommend Barnehurst and Bexleyheath over Erith or Dartford.

Catford is (or certainly was a few years ago) horribly rough compared with round here. One of the reasons we moved from very near there to Plumstead was because we couldn't imagine ever being able to let the DC out to play. Maybe it's improved a lot but a decade or so ago it was awash with drugs and guns.

Oh fair enough!!

Thanks again all. Those links are interesting VelvetSpoon - very rare to get a house in Sidcup on offer for that price. We did live in Sidcup years ago and it's probably not top of our list, along with Swanley, Dartford areas.
This thread has definitely made us really look again at the areas we want to live in.
Thanks MurderofProse for your considered post.
At the moment, we live down on the coast with Canterbury as our nearest city/big shopping area. It's peaceful and Canterbury is a very swish young and exciting city with reasonable house prices. But at the moment we have to do a regular drive of well over an hour to get to an elderly relative in the Bexley area along with regular work trips into London and it's just very tiring driving and expensive at 2 hours on the train.

So hence looking to move back to London where we'd lived in various places over the years.

We had thought of flats in the Sydenham/Crystal Palace/Penge/Anerley areas and to be honest they seem fine but it's always a trade-off - leasehold + service charges against a freehold house in a less desirable area. Small 1/2 bed flat with parking against 2 bed house on street. Shorter train journey from a flat but lack of outside space and so on, and so on.

Also, public transport connectivity from Sydenham and surrounds to Bexley is time consuming by train so we would need to keep a car probably.

It seems like we'll just have to keep all our options open - flats further in in SE London and hang on to car (which compromises amount of internal space to get a parking space) or house nearer to Bexley and no longer need car.

Confusing

Have PM'd you!

I live in Gravesend and have done all my life! I can see how to an outsider it might look rough round the edges but to be honest, is NEVER live in Dartford, Erith, Crayford or Thamesmead. Bexleyheath has some nice parts but its the same as anywhere, there are good and bad bits!

Have you looked at Northfleet? It's just on the outskirts of Gravesend but the Painters Ash/Mulberry Rd area is quite nice and within reach of some good schools (if that's an issue for you).

One thing to bear in mind if you commute into London is that you can commute by coach into Canary Wharf, Cannon Street and Embankment areas at over £1000 per annum saving on trains from Gravesend/Northfleet.

If you want more info on some "good" areas of Gravesend, drop me a PM.

Catford is (or certainly was a few years ago) horribly rough compared with round here. One of the reasons we moved from very near there to Plumstead was because we couldn't imagine ever being able to let the DC out to play. Maybe it's improved a lot but a decade or so ago it was awash with drugs and guns.

Slight exaggeration!

Im at Catford being horribly rough compared to Plumstead!

Megbusset your suggestion was a good one IMO.

I wouldn't recommend any of the areas the OP is asking about at all

I think the harsh truth is that 170k simply will not buy you a house in any part of London you would really want to live in.

I would really be reconsidering your attachment to a house - if you look at maisonettes with gardens you may well have more choice for no less living space. Or look at things like part ownership if available. Or rent!

For example this maisonette has its own garden and garage and is in a good location, near to Bexley village, woods, train station etc.

The real gnawing anxiety that makes us want a house over a flat is the precariousness of our occupations, the fear of not being able to meet service charges or sudden 'new roof' bills.

We both work in 'creative' meaning badly and erratically/irregularly paid self-employment.

We both suffer from extreme tramp dread - the fear of losing all money and being made homeless.

We have a lump sum which we can use to buy a house/flat but the thing we find really hard to cope with is other people dumping big bills out of the blue on us - like the downstairs flat saying the drain is blocked, or upstairs saying it's about time the block was re-pointed - all stuff which would be out of our control and which could potentially force us to have to sell up.

At least in a house, you own the ground all the way down to hell.

So, it's not us wanting a house to lounge in the garden sipping Pimms - it's more a case of feeling a house is the key to our psychological and financial well-being.

Saying that, a house in the south east's equivalent of Beirut is not the best way to boost the creative muse.

Hence that's why we live down the coast - cheaper houses and a quieter life - but if we're going to get on in career/life we need to be nearer London and we muct get nearer for elderly relative trips anyway.

We've mulled and mulled and mulled and still we go on - house or flat, house or flat, house or flat - stay or move, stay or move, Plumstead or Belvedere, Penge or Catford, house or flat,......

Slightly OTT but I have bought a house 3 years ago in a so-so area in South London, and it bugs me a lot every day that I should have chosen a flat for equivalent money in a nicer area. In fact it bugs me so much that I am putting my house on the market and will be slightly downsizing in order to move to a nicer area.
I would not recommend making this mistake as it very costly!

How old are you?

Anywhere in/commutable to London on a 170k budget is going to be dicey. If you have the luxury of being young and can put up with the downsides of living in the capital (crime, little space, undesirables passing out on the street) in order to reap the benefits (career opportunities, convenience of lots of shops & entertainment venues etc near your home) then the trade off may be worth it, but you need to look for a location that is on the up and is central enough to offer the benefits of capital living. Belvedere, Erith etc are not only deprived but also feel like the ends of the Earth. The only place on your list that could possibly be described as up and coming are woolwhich & plumbstead....these are probably what East Dulwich was like 20 years ago.

If you're older, want to live somewhere more gentrified and can't afford to wait, then you'll have to sacrifice space & freehold. Something like this?

I'm I Eltham BTW... And no, I don't vote BNP and my l next door neighbours are Asian.

ha ha - NotAnotherNewNappy - that's a lovely flat. You must be Vulcan mind melding with us!

Eltham's on our list of locations with good flats. Too expensive for a house but good flats, good high street and so on.

We know Moira Road quite well - I can see why the vendor has priced that particular flat at that price but my initial feeling would be that it's probably too steep for the road/area - I think there's a cheaper one on the same road too. But it's definitely on our list.

We're probably too old to put up with too much urban decay but as you say, it's a trade-off. If you get convenience despite the decay, then it would be worth it and the area would probably rise eventually.

I think we'll definitely be looking at Eltham when there's a bit more on the market there.

I live in Plumstead, well Plumstead common, and it's lovely. I'm just off the Slade, 2 bed house with garden for £175k. My neighbours have all lived there for 20-30 years. Most of the houses round me are owner occupied, which is quite rare in some parts of London. I wouldn't live in Woolwich, but I'm quite fond of it. The new huge Tesco, and the revamped square make a difference, there's always something on in the square. Even late at night Woolwich is fine. The new extension to the DLR means you can go direct to Westfield Stratford, at the right time of the day!, and the train service is good.

Plumstead is still free for parking, unlike other parts of the borough. You do get people drinking in Woolwich, but then I work in Westminster and you see that everyday on Victoria Street, and you'd pay £1m plus for a flat round there.

I live in a village just North (ish) of Sevenoaks. I have family links in Swanley and Dartford - and lived in Dartford for years when younger. I would not live there now - not for all the tea in China. Erith and Belvedere are even worse I'm afraid. Really run down, chavvy, high crime, racist/nasty attitudes are rife.

Half of Dartford town centre is boarded up due to Tesco buying out the shops and then not getting planning permission for their new store (I think). Gives it a lovely ghost-town feel - but this might improve if the stalemate with the council ends. Then half of Dartford will become a Tesco Metro - and the Waitrose/Sainsbury will probably shut down as a result.

Parts of Swanley aren't too bad - but it is jokingly called 'Asdaville' due to practically everyone in the locality working there. Apparently.

Honestly, op, if I was you I would happily take a 2hr journey and stay in Canterbury. Really.

Some opinions of my neck of the woods as being racist are very Daily Mail I'm afraid. It's a multicultural area, all races living side by side with no problems at all. I'm in Belvedere, the top bit, but started at the bottom bit. Some roads are not all that, some are lovely. PM if you want the lowdown on specific roads. Good luck with your search.

Just to stick my opinion into the mix; Erith is in two parts, one of which used to be known as Barnehurst (they moved the border) and is not too bad at all. Northumberland Heath has some lovely Victorian houses at your budget OP and if I was in a position to sell up and move, would be looking at them myself.
There is a large cultural mix but I have not seen or heard much in the racism side of things, though I'm sure it exists almost everywhere.

Sorry - nothing to add except I thought it was a baby name thread when I first saw it.