Talk to me about Catford - Corbett Estate?

[LittlePickleHead]

Still on the merry go round of trying to buy in London! Priced out of forest hill, attempted to buy in Leytonstone but priced out of the nice bits and getting very disheartened as the houses we can afford are ages away from transport and the centre. Seeing as moving east involves changing primary schools etc, my DH said if we were to move the the shabby part of Leytonstone we may as well consider catford as it's closer to where we are now. All we know of catford is the centre which is a little bit rough around the edges (trying to be polite!).

It got me thinking so I had a little drive round the Corbett estate yesterday as was near by, and as never been there before was very pleasantly surprised as it's really nice! Quick search on Rightmove reveals we can get a 4 bed Victorian or 1930s property for the price of a 2 bed in forest hill. Plus close enough to drive dd to her primary school still so less upheaval for her.

So, can anyone local sell it to me? I know it's dry in the estate so no pubs, but what is there for families to do in the near area? What is Forster park like? How does the area seem generally? Getting rather too excited over the prospect of SPACE and affordable houses, and need to know if this is actually as good an idea as it is in my head?

Is the Hither Green forum still about? Used to be a thread on there about the Corbett Estate. From the thread it looked like many young families were moving in.

Don't know much about it though.

I live not too far from Catford and looked at a house on the Corbett estate when househunting. As you say really lovely houses. Don't know Forster park but can I suggest you maybe take a trip there one weekend and go to the park and spend the day in the area?

Catford has quite a bit going for it - great theatre, shops, some good places to eat, good schools, good transport links, but has yet to be "up and coming". There are plans for regeneration of the centre, no idea when they will come to fruition though.

We are moving to the Corbett estate this month. Trying to buy somewhere was proving impossible until we discovered the Corbett. Friends of ours moved there recently and very happy. There's a really good residents association website www.thecorbett.org - check it out!

Thanks, we've offered on a lovely Corbett house, wish us luck! Feel very positive about this move, DH was most impressed by all the friendly people saying hello as we had a walk around.

Houlihan, where do your friends go out for a drink etc or sunday lunch? I see antic have opened a pub in the catford conservative club which is probably worth checking out

Hi all, we are just moving to Catford (Culverley Green) after being priced out from all areas nearby.
Anyone local here who can recommend good places to go to with a two year old? Or any local FB groups? I looked online but there is very little activity around :(

Any info will be much appreciated!

For all those looking at buying here - GO for it! The area is changing, getting better amd house prices are still affordable. You can def buy much more here :) We used to live in ED then Brockley and now time for Catford. Very happy with oir choice :)

Yay Beesy, we just had our offer accepted (see other thread!) so will be joining you soon.

I'm still funding out this kind of thing myself, but I think there is a library and childrens centre on torridon road that sounds like it has things going on. Plus there is an active Nct group in the area so I'm planning to get myself along to some coffee mornings to start meeting people in the area.

Maybe see you around soon!

I was considering a move to Catford. Similar situation to you - getting priced out of Forest Hill/Sydenham (boy are we kicking ourselves for not moving a year ago when we could have done).

The main thing that was worrying me was things to do with kids. I'm sure there's tons, but it takes a bit of a leap of faith, especially when you're already setup elsewhere.

In the end we have managed to get somewhere in Sydenham, though I'm waiting for it to all fall apart. We may end up joining you in Catford if that happens.

I'd be interested to know how you find things after your move.

Out of interest, what's put you off the 'shabby' bit of Leytonstone? If it's the south bit of E11, round Cann Hall road that's the bit where I live, and I can heartily recommend it. (if it's the bit near Leyton tube... not so much)

Congratulations on having your offer accepted LittlePickleHead! Our friends like the pub in the conservative club but not getting out too much at the mo as they have a 4 month old. I've checked out the lovely library on Torringdon Rd and the Limelight centre is meant to have good activities for pre-school children too.

Well our offer actually wasn't accepted (the agent said she was almost 100% certain the vendor would go for us, but she accepted another offer)

Seeing more houses this weekend though.

TheCyclist, I hope I didn't come across as rude, as I genuinely think Leytonstone is a great area. We didn't really like the area round leyton tube at all, but the area round cann hall, whilst it does seem lovely and has nice houses, good schools etc, is really far from the tube and the centre of Leytonstone (it's such a long high road and as I had never actually been down that far before I didn't realise just how long and how quiet it is at the lower end). We are having to transfer my daughters school if we do move away and my dh's point of view was that we should only do that if we are gaining something more than what we can get in our current area. Unfortunately that hasn't really been the case in Leytonstone and I feel we have rather missed the boat :(

ha, fair enough (it isn't that far, I walk it twice a day, but I know what you mean)- and don't worry, you didn't come across as rude .

Good luck with your search.

Oh no, sorry to hear that pickle, hope you're not too disheartened. I really feel for you. I know there've been multiple threads along these lines, but the rate at which house prices have shot up has really shocked me - by at least 100k in the last year for 3 bed houses. I do wish I'd had a crystal ball this time last year.

If my family,friends and job weren't so very wedded to London I would seriously consider moving. My DH's family live about 100 miles from London and we could buy 5 bed detached house with huge gardens for 100k less than we've agreed to pay for a 3 bed semi with a courtyard garden in a slightly down-at-heel part of SE London.

Good luck with your search. At least there seems to be more coming on to the market now - hopefully something in your budget will appear.

I just picked up the keys to my lovely 2 bed Victorian flat yesterday and I have to say, despite all the pound shops Catford is quite nice. There are some lovely parks and great housing stock. My partner and I were priced out of Forest Hill/Sydenham etc. And bought at the height of the property buying mania (100 people viewing one pokey flat). I would love to see Catfords little town centre change and some nice cute cafés and boutique shops open. Regeneration to the area has already started and there are big plans to improve the central areas. I think this is a great area to invest.

@LittlePickleHead i know this thread is 10 years old. But did you make the move? What was it like bringing up your family? Pros cons?
We’re thinking of moving to the Corbett Estate. Currently in Crystal Palace, which we love! But I’ve heard great (and bad) things about Catford!

Blast from the past!

We ended up getting outbid on everything at that time and ended up pulling out of our sale and staying put in our flat in Forest Hill, extending it so we could stay a bit longer (we were lucky it was a garden flat so was possible).

Eventually moved to a house but stayed in Forest Hill and really happy. I would say I do think we would have also been happy in Catford and there does seem to be a lot more going on!

Thanks for replying :)
ah that’s great it all worked out, we only know what we know!
im finding this move particularly hard as I feel I’ve got my children’s childhood at stake! Lol! It’s like, where to go?! I don’t want to make a mistake.
I feel like the Corbett Estate sounds like some kind of family / community utopia… but is it really!
x