As I wrote in my other thread, linked above, in my opinion Walthamstow is not a good place to live. We moved here in 2006. At the time, the choice was between a lower mortgage in the Home Counties but with higher commuting costs vs. a higher mortgage in London with lower commuting costs and faster journeys. We weren?t keen on moving out of London, so we went for option two. I wish we hadn?t. Walthamstow is dirty, rough and ugly. The ?public space?, houses, public building, streets, gardens etc. are uncared for and there is a general sense of shabbiness and low expectations wherever you go. Yes, there are a few nice areas, but as soon as you step out of them the grime, dreariness and neglect are visible and palpable. Major and long thoroughfares such as Forest Road, Hoe Street, and Markhouse Road are littered with shabby shops and run-down properties. The market area, the High Street, is a pathetic eyesore from beginning to end and it's a touch threatening after dark, where there are hardly any women around.
As for the sense of community, frequently quoted in this and in the previous thread, I couldn?t say that I have noticed anything different from other parts of London: we say ?good morning? and ?good evening? to the neighbours on the left, and, every six months or so, we have a chat about the weather with those on the right. We take in each other?s parcels: and that?s about it. Further down the road, on either side, properties are mostly rented and there is a continuous turnover of people from all corners of the world who stay a little while and then move on. Some of them are decent, other less so: about a year ago a number of Rumanian men rented the house two doors from ours and we were treaded to long summer nights of merry-making in the backyard, complete with accordion music and singing. I am not sure what they did for a living, but the front garden was always full of wood, metal and other material in various conditions of decay. They've gone now: replaced by a Polish family I believe.
The newly refurbished William Morris Gallery is a good place to spend an afternoon, but there is no other cultural life to speak of, or at least none that I would feel comfortable in joining in. There are few decent restaurants, up on the village, and they are oversubscribed. No cinema, no theatre, no decent bars or coffe shops. Nothing.
Seriously, think carefully before moving to Walthamstow!
We are planning to leave in the next three to five years, hopefully.