Brighton, Hove or Lewes?

[tasselly]

We're considering a move from London and really like the vibe of these three areas.

We've got three DC - 1, 7 and 9.

Where's best re: schools, commuting to London, and property (£700k budget approx)?

Thanks!

Anyone?
Maybe I should move this to mumsnet local?

You posted mid way through Strictly on a Saturday night - be patient!

Oh ok - clearly a mumsnet amateur!

I'm Lewes and would highly recommend.

Kingston slightly outside is a lovely village with a good state primary. Excellent access to London (2 mins to A27).

Lewes also has good private schools.

Day to day, lovely local vibe and lots of local independent shops.

Thanks Cliffdiver. Do you know anything about local secondaries?

I would be wary of moving to Brighton and Hove with secondary school looming.
The council are consulting on changing admission areas for secondary schools at present which could mean some addresses see the catchment school change.
Maybe not a problem but I'd say pick your area wisely if you want a particular Brighton secondary school.

www.brightonandhovenews.org/2017/09/08/brighton-and-hove-school-catchment-area-changes-put-forward-to-cope-with-bulge-in-numbers/

The commute has been better lately but the strikes in recent months have been hellish so is bad wary of that.
Budget wise you should be fine as long as you aren't looking for a mansion!

Train wise, Lewes is a bit of a pain. The trains are much more limited than on the Brighton Mainline, so do bear this in mind. You could end up going via Brighton when there are cancellations.

None of them. Brighton and hove has more than enough Londoners moving down and pushing up house prices. Sorry.

Hi. I know all the areas pretty well as I've live near the area. Personally I prefer Lewes out of the three, but I would agree with LadyPenelope that the train service isn't as good as you get in Brighton.

My second choice would be Hove.

Brighton can be very patchy. There are some lovely parts but I'm not sure I would say it was particularly suited to bringing up a young family. It does suffer from areas of social deprivation and I'm afraid to say it does have a lot of issues with binge drinking, antisocial behaviour and drug use, so I'm not sure I'd pick it personally.

I also prefer Lewes, but I wouldn't commute from there unless you were only doing it a couple of times a week. It's just too far and too infrequent.

Another vote for Lewes. I used to live there but had to move out. Priory school is an excellent secondary school (can you tell I went there) personally i wouldnt want live in Brighton and Hove.

Just seen your children are younger. The primary schools are excellent too. Wallands, southover and Western Road schools

Thanks everyone.

I like that Lewes is more inland and the secondary school Priory looks good - and relatively straightforward to get into if you live in Lewes?

Is it possible to commute Lewes to London four days a week?!

They are all great.

Brighton - Preston Park/Fiveways Area has good schools and you can use the Preston Park station to commute.

Lewes - lots of people commute. Priory is a really good secondary (better than the Brighton schools imo)

Hove - Blatchington Mill is the secondary you want. I'm not sure of the exact catchment so call school admissions.

BUT Southern Rail is so so bad - ongoing strike for at least a year that shows no sign of being resolved.

Thanks for all your info a few weeks ago.

Does anyone know how the admissions work for Blatchington Mill - is it distance or a lottery-type thing?

Also - what's the vibe of Preston Park compared with Brighton and Hove?

Preston Park vibe? Similar to the Brighton it sits in? Thought about Hassocks or there about a..? decent high school, on the mainline and close to Brighton and lewes and all those other places with “vibes”...! Also on the Downs if you preferred lewes for being inland..

Preston Park and North towards Westdene and Patcham is nice, more families and less party people.
Patcham High School had great results this summer though I don’t think they are on the gov website yet, better than Varndean and similar to Blatchington Mill. It has been improving every year. It used to have a bad rep but is quietly overtaking the other schools which are very big. You can commute from Preston Park Station.
Lewes is lovely too. My mum always says it’s full of the old hippy crowd from Brighton and a few witches and wizards