First house - St Margarets / Twickenham or Barnes/Putney?

[foodie1111]

The topic says it all. We are looking to buy our first house and very keen on the above locations. Husband works near London Bridge and I work near Piccadilly. From what we know the commute seems doable and these areas are both really nice with lots of green space and family-friendly. We have a 7months old boy so school is a factor to consider as we plan to stay longterm (ideally). Any thoughts on these two locations? I have been reading similar threads on MN and the general consensus seems favourable but just wanted to hear your opinions in terms of the demography. Husband and I are both from Asia and we would love to stay in a multi-cultural area where there is opportunity to make friends.

Barnes is lovely, great schools, international but largely white. Also expensive and transport isn't the greatest. Beware that hammersmith bridge is expected to be rebuilt so closed for 6 months and it is a flood zone.

Putney is more mixed financially and racially. It has cheaper areas away from the centre. But then primary schools are a problem, even religious ones. Better transport links. Lower council tax.

I suggest you think about the primary school options and demographic of those rather than the area.

For example. Putney's Catholic and c of e schools are massively oversubscribed and clustered with a state primary so The catchment areas are all centred there. The other outstanding state primary had a catchment of 250m or so! Further out (typical first house areas) have somewhat mixed intakes of people that didn't get into those outstanding schools, or parents go private. So social segregation based on income.

Barnes has great primaries, but where you live defines the school. If you want to get the tube from Hammersmith then Lowther school covers the North area. Probably the most mixed school economically and racially, possibly the least desirable in the area, but still a good school.

Long term secondary schools are a bit of a gap, due to the private school split. If you can afford private this may not be an issue. For the others Richmond park academy is improving, but who knows what the catchment will be in years to come?

Born and raised in Twickers, know the area very well, have settled other side of river. Personally, I'd say St Margarets, it's always been a great area, and there's so much going on. Barnes is a no-mans-land of nothingness, lovely houses, nice people but a complete monoculture, and always has been. Putney is quite good, but can be quite rough and lager-louty, plus pollution everywhere and no escape. St Margarets gives you Richmond, too, which is vibrant, good schools. I work in town too, and I love walking to the station in the morning along the river.

Thanks rollercoaster and arguable. Personally i'm leaning towards St Margarets just looking for reassurance! If we want to plan ahead for primary school and want to go the state school route that probably leaves us with Orlean Primary?

St Margaret's is lovely, great community atmosphere, Marble Hill Park and regular trains to London (although somewhat slow). Maybe Twickenham end of Amyand Park Road would be good for DH commute. Also StM avoids the Heathrow flight path that blights Kew & Richmond (also Barnes). Maybe also consider Teddington? Bit further out, but access to Bushy Park, also closer to Kingston, which is good for shopping at weekends, much bigger than Richmond. StM gives easy access to both, though. Excellent primary schools everywhere - look at Nappy Valley Richmond for tips.

Orleans primary is probably right, no personal experience although clever pals of mine went to the secondary back in the day. Do stay south of the A316 if you can, I know that the other side is also St Margarets, but it’s too close to Isleworth and the further away you get from Mogden sewage works the better. Amyand Park Road is very nice, Richmond may end up being the better to commute from once they close the Ealing district line and service to Richmond literally doubles overnight in a few years from 8 to 16tph. Good luck, and hope you make it to the hood.

Orleans catchment is quite small, the other options in St Margarets (depending on where you end up) are St Stephen's or St Mary's. Or perhaps Deer Park School, which will move to Richmond Rd (near the bridge) eventually.

I love Twickers, bit more down to earth than St Margs but still within easy reach.

House prices in Barnes are crazy!

Thank you all for the responses really appreciated. We are not religious so that rules out the coe schools for us. Will have to look at school catchment more carefully and start viewing some properties while the weather is still nice. We're hoping to move before end of the year so fingers crossed something suitable comes up. Any advice on nursery/childcare in St Margarets/Twickenham? I'm going back to work next January so have to sort that out for our boy as well although can't really do anything before we decide on the house. The dilemma....

St Mary's only allocates a relatively small proportion of places to churchgoers and I think St Stephen's might be similar? Obviously you would have to be comfortable with your children being educated in such an environment where that is a focus for assemblies and the occasional church trip etc

St Margs is a bit short on nurseries - there is Brook House but it's not close to stations, only really convenient if you end up living round that way. There are loads in Twickenham. DD1 went to Bright Beginnings near the station but this was 6 years ago - it was fine back then. There is a new Bright Horizons that is convenient for station and a Teddies, plus another Bright Beginnings and another new one (name escapes me - Beaumont House maybe?) down near the green.

All the primary schools around there are good and the church going places are a v small %
St Mags is lovely