Can anyone advise me on moving to Forest Gate East London VS SE London?

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Hello,
My husband and I are thinking of moving to Forest Gate to start a family. We currently live in South West London, which is nice, leafy and safe but very expensive and we'd now like to buy. We can find a really nice detached house in Forest Gate near the station within a budget which would get us a (very) small 1 or2 bed where we are, but would love to know from other families how they find it for schools, safety, things to do and walking around with kids etc.

Our other option is to try moving to Sydenham or Catford in SE London as although it is more pricey than FG, it hasn't seen the same rises as Brockley, Honor Oak Park & Forest Hill.

SE London has the ELL & FG is getting Crossrail which might make it a good investment. Any advice from E & SE London parents?

Sorry if I'm rambling, this is my first forum. Thanks in advance!

I meant forum post, sorry!

We've just moved to Forest Gate as thought it would be a good investment, and are really quite liking it so far! We moved from Woolwich, which had become way out of our price range. We thought we'd miss being close to spaces like Greenwich but living close to Wanstead Flats and the shopping in Westfield means we haven't missed Woolwich at all. I don't know whether this would be a big consideration for you, but we've also found it a lot easier to get home late at night being North of the river- used to be a nightmare when we were SE!

I don't know about the difference between forest gate and SE London, but Sydenham is considerably nicer than Catford.

We moved to Forest Gate from Stoke Newington about 6 months ago with a young family and absolutely love it. Being next to so much green space is a huge plus for us but also there is a lovely community feel to the area. There are some amazing toddler groups, nice schools, more and more things to do popping up, and I have made more friends in 6 months in this area than I made in six years in Stoke Newington and we are very social, but people here are just so friendly and welcoming. My little boy loves having the park so close and despite me worrying I would struggle to find things for us to do it has been really easy filling up his days locally and having lots pf people to hang out with at the same time. Also being in a house with a garden (as opposed to a flat with a balcony like we had before) has just changed the way we live so much for the better. I can't comment on South London having always lived North and East, but it has been a really good move for us. I do feel really safe here, more so on our street than where we lived in Stoke Newington, mostly because we have already met all of our neighbours. I can't recommend Forest Gate enough, I'm fact lots of my friends now want to move here too!

Thank you so much for all your replies. Great to hear that Forest Gate has a great community and feels safe.

INeedABiggerBoat - thanks for the tip on getting back at night - husband works late sometimes and needs to get a cab home, and we both like a night out in the West End.

The house we liked in FG is on Hampton Road near the station, which I think is on what the locals call the 'Woodgrange estate'.

tobeabat - the house in Catford is on Winterstoke Road, and in Sydenham we are looking at Sydenham Avenue, Crystal Palace Park Road and also Kent House Road.

Thanks all for your help and for taking the time to reply.

Thanks so much for your advice! We got the feeling that Kent House Road wasn't perhaps as nice as some of the roads closer to the station, but it was also reflected in the prices. We'll stick to looking at either Upper Sydenham, which seems very nice and a nice place to start a family, & also Forest Gate as well. Winterstoke Road has really lovely terraced houses, so we'll visit that one now that I know it's decent :). Thanks again!