please tell me about tunbridge wells...

[Plumpingthepillows]

I'm thinking of moving to Tunbridge Wells early next year but I'm keen to get the low down on what it's actually like to live there. People who don't know it seem to think it's a bit staid and stuffy, but it seems like a good place to bring up kids, with lots of things to do, and the schools seem decent. Any advice? One concern is meeting people - I'll be a single parent age 43 with a young DS age 4, and if it's all very young family-ish I'm worried I might feel a bit past it. I currently live in Brighton which is very relaxed, and very Guardian reading/liberal, which I like so if it's stuffy and Tory, I'm a bit unsure. I don't want any sniffiness for being a single mum! Sorry for the huge sweeping generalisations here but I'm just trying to get a feel for the place. Thanks!

I know friends who are keen to move there, and my SIL lives not far away.

I've only been a couple of times but it does seem v. affluent and (upper) middle-class. Don't know about the politics but it didn't strike me as very bohemien!

I think it might be a bit of a shock after Brighton?

There are lots of us your age with young children - and some of us aren't stuffy ;0)! It is a great place to live, the schools are excellent (although getting into your primary of choice is VERY difficult - catchments are tiny so be careful, and don't believe everything EAs tell you), there are two theatres, a great library and museum in town, fantastic parks, great sports clubs/centres etc, lots of free festivals (food festival on the Pantiles this weekend) and although the council is very Tory, I don't think it's stuffy. I guess after Brighton it may feel a bit less liberal though. The traffic is DIABOLICAL though, but we love living here - moved about 5 years ago from London and haven't looked back.

I lived there from the late 70s until the early 90s and loved it. Brighton is funkier and has the sea but Tunbridge Wells also has historic associations and some lovely 18th century architecture.

There is a lovely expanse of common very close to the centre of town. Travel to London is reasonable but T Wells is on a branch line and often passengers have to change at Tonbridge. Traffic through the town is nose to tail, though, and property is expensive.There is a prosperous, middle class air about the place but it has some deprived quarters for balance! The house I bought for £11,000 in 1978 recently sold for £239,000. There are quite a number of good, Victorian 2 and 3 bedroom houses.

I don't know about schools these days.

I have made my life elsewhere in the UK but would definitely go back.

I don't go into town that often but I like it.
Can't comment on schools but for shopping you have the main multiples plus Fenwicks department store and also Hoopers right opposite the rail station and that's an independent of a similar size.
There's also a Morrisons by the station and an Asda plus a M&S food on the retail park where there's a John Lewis home store and cinema too.

The town centre is up the hill, the modern bit and down the hill you have a traditional high street leading to the Pantiles area. They both have lots of independent shops.

There are lots of places to eat, I think the most recent opening is a branch of Bill's right in the town centre. I just learned that Jack, a finalist on Masterchef was born in Tunbridge Wells

It's not as bohemian as Brighton, no, but it's a good place to live.
The train line is a main line from London (C Cross, London Bridge) which goes down to Hastings. You can change at Tonbridge for trains West, including to Gatwick and East.

It's not far to the coast or to the Ashdown Forest and there are loads of National Trust places around with great outside spaces for children. The parks in the town centre are lovely, there are three I think? or more, plus the Common, there's a lot going on for sports and both the Trinity Arts Centre and The Assembly Hall for live performances.

Would you be working in the town centre? could you live in one of the outlying villages? there are some really lovely ones. Do you need to commute? What kind of budget are you thinking of?
Those factors will determine where would be best for you. If you wanted something a bit more like Brighton look at going towards Southborough which is walking distance to the town centre, but has a bus too.

I don't find it stuffy or up itself and there are lots of different types of area, something to suit everyone really. It is quite well to do I suppose but I think it suffers from the old Disgusted Of joke really.

Why don't you follow the local newspaper for a while and get a feel for the kind of things that're going on and the property pages
COURIER LINK
and there are lots of town accounts on Twitter. Check the hashtag variations.

Thanks everyone, that's all brilliantly helpful - and reassuring. Good to know the practical info, HenI5, like shops and cinema, and places to visit with kids. It's a bit of a distance from where I am at the moment so it would be like discovering a whole new area - quite exciting!

One question, houses in Southborough seem to be cheaper than elsewhere in TW - is it a nice area or not? I guess it's further from the station but is there any other reason? HenI5, can I ask you why you think it's more like Brighton?

Thanks again

Southborough has generally been seen as 'rougher' by TW dwellers. It's not. There are some lovely roads around there and, if my memory serves me correctly, the bits of it nearer Tonbridge are rather lovely.

I grew up round that area. I'd say it's become less stuffy and more flashy in the last 10 years. It's got a very different feel at the weekend to the week, like lots of places. The money from the villages comes in then and there are a lot of expensive people wandering around the High St. Top of town's very standard though. Not many floaty bohos so will be different from Brighton. Visiting family back there I've found it sociable.

I have a feeling the primary schooling might be a bit of a minefield though and I would do some extensive research on this if I were you. The neighbours of our relatives didn't get into their primary of choice and were doing all the appealing and measuring distance to front door stuff. They ended up going private because the school they were allocated was apparently 'not an option' (their words, not mine). And of course there's the Kent Test - I know your DS is only 4 but it will creep round… !

Overall a nice place to live. A good lot going on and very pleasant.

If you can afford to I would try to buy in the 'village' - it's actually at the bottom end of town and is lovely with a big park but with a smaller one right in the centre of the area. Pricier of course. If you can get within spitting distance of Claremont School as well you'll be in with a chance of the best school in the area.

I'd say it's Daily Mail territory, OP, not guardian. But people are not unfriendly (some would stop and chat) apart from maybe some older stuffy residents. All is comparative - Winchester is MUCH more snobby.

The way people dress is classic/Boden or traditional, nothing like Brighton where you can never see anyone in a suit and there is a casual boho vibe.

The Village and the Pantiles area is charming, some beautiful houses with character. I thought of going there, but it does feel a bit 'limited' and a bit boring. Great for parks and NT/history which was an attraction to me.

The Village area is really pricey and also will be a nightmare for parking if you have a car. Unless you buy somewhere with off road parking then you have to purchase a resident's permit, which of course doesn't guarantee you a convenient space, or indeed any space at all.
Certain areas are also fairly noisy like any town centre built up area, but bear in mind that so many properties built for one family occupation are now multi occupation.

The village area does have a nice feel to it though and is also extremely convenient for everywhere, including the train station.

OP Estate Agents often refer to 'the favoured south side' (of town) whereas Southborough is the north side. It's effectively the long, straight road from the town centre right the way up to the A21 junction going towards Tonbridge and then Sevenoaks and yes, is further from a rail station. There is High Brooms, which is the first stop north of Tunbridge Wells, but property there is still Tunbridge Wells.
Like anywhere else you need to know the location nuances to guide you on price.
For me Southborough has little parades of different kinds of shops. They are both sides of the main road in blocks. I haven't lived there, but I feel as though roads off each of these blocks then get a more Brighton feel, no, not like Brighton, not floaty boho or studenty, but not quite like T Wells, perhaps a bit more relaxed? High Brooms area is also different from T Wells.

I agree about schooling though, I would imagine you have to investigate very carefully.

You would have had to be within 0.1494 of a mile of Claremont to have got in this year, Bishops Down turned down 7 siblings and the Free School had 2x as many first choice applications as places.....schools are a nightmare. I was on the founding committee for the Free School so PM me if you want to chat further about schools.

Parts of Southborough are lovely; the Village is very nice but is v expensive and I think quite like like living in Wandsworth - mostly ex Londoners and not that diverse . We are in St Johns and I love it - easy for town, the station, lovely parks, really lovely community - never leave the house without saying hello to half a dozen people...

Yes that's another thing to mention. Areas of town are split into the names of the church parishes.

TW has a very strong Conservative voting population. There are quite a few families there, but as a teenager growing up it felt like there was nothing to do - you need a car to drive to the cinema etc.

My parents have lived in the same house in Southborough since I was 2 (I'm 45) and I went to school in TW and Tonbridge.

Secondary schools in either place are great. TW is more expensive, you have to change trains to get to London (this is commuter belt so everyone knows this), and there are more shops.

Tonbridge is cheaper, although nearer London. There is a huge park running behind the high street with tones of families who use it. Trains to London are more often with no change, but the shopping isn't as good.

Southborough is in the middle in all respects. TW trains stop at High Brooms - a 15 min walk down the hill - so still good transport.

All over the area there is a huge amount of congestion and parking is difficult/expensive.

Um...you don't have to change trains to get to London from TW or High Brooms; they go to Charing X, or Canon St direct, most (all?) stopping at London Bridge......

If you park on the road by the Common you get 2 hours free and it's 5 mins max to the centre. Closer in you can have an hour free. I never have a problem getting a space.

No idea where this no trains to London without changing thing is coming from

Prob from the fear instilled in me that if I got on the wrong train at Charing X I could end up in Ashford not High Brooms. Easy to get wrong after a night out in town.

Yes, if you get in a London train in TW you are likely to go straight through. Some trains come up from Hastings and stop at Tonbridge. But going down from Lindon there are quite a few that split at Tonbridge, particularly in the later evening.

There used to be a milk train that unofficially went to Tonbridge if you missed the last train out of Charing. You had to know where the back exit if the station was as the front was all locked up.

Perhaps best to ignore anything I say about trains as my knowledge seems to be entirely based on late night drunken escapades.