Tell me about Rochester

[underthewater1]

It looks lovely. And commutable to London. But aware it's in the Medway which doesn't get the best reviews! Mad to consider moving there? What are the schools like? And any chance of getting across t'border to Kent grammars should we have a clever bean? Love that it's got character and near the sea. Is it rough at night? Or a great place to bring up a family?

Medway has grammar schools.

Being single, I can't really say what it's like to bring up a family here. But there is a lot of open space. Children play out a lot. There are several family-type restaurants in the High Street. There don't seem to be many primary schools - but I suppose that rather depends exactly where you live.

Parts of Rochester are in a public transport black hole, so if access to bus routes is important you'd need to check that out. Not great for doing a big shop, although there are a couple of small supermarkets and corner shops. The whole Medway area isn't great for shopping, although Bluewater isn't far, or Canterbury.

Not good if you don't like hills, either!

The High Street in the past has had a bit of a reputation late at night, but I frequently get off a train late in the evening and walk home and have never felt unsafe. There are usually plenty of other people around.

Rail links to London and the coast are one of the reasons I moved here, and they're even better now. Good access to M2 and M20 too.

i grew up there
cosmopolitan it ain't

secondary education is selective - this is big draw to most, but having been part of a family where two kids went to grammar and one didn't, I'm not keen myself. The non-grammar high schools aren't marvellous TBH.

Oh, and the local accent is estuary. I've got it and am unashamed, but plenty of incomers spend their lives correcting their teens' new-found glottal stops.

It's in Kent. It has Kent grammars, which are great if your DC pass the 11+. However, the non-selective Medway schools are notoriously poor, with a high proportion of disaffected pupils.

It is near Chatham. Chatham Average is where I gather we get the word 'chav'.

Rochester, Gillingham, et al the best thing in them is the road out of them.

I really don't get the reason for the bad reputation Medway has.

Yes, parts of it are dodgy, but that's true of most places, none more so than London where even the poshest places are very close to the rough ones.

It has excellent commuter links to London and is massively more affordable than many other areas in the SE.

It strikes me as a reputation built on hearsay which very few people can actually justify but it's sufficient to put off a lot of people, thus the cycle continues.