Colindale and Edgware Road, good for family with young baby?

[Mia722]

Hey girls, hubby needs to relocate to London due to work and we are looking for the areas that suit for family with young baby(little boy is 7 month now). Hubby found a few seemingly nice 3 bedroom flats, brand new ones in the area of Colindale and Edgware Road NW9. Wondering if anyone is familiar with this area? It looks like it is under huge development and reconstruction, but I am still very concerned if it is safe to bring the small baby with us living in this area.

Any suggestions here in terms of family friendly area? thanks!

BTW my mum grew up in Colindale and couldn’t wait to leave to move South. From what I understand it hasn’t really improved.

Between 35-45 minutes from London Bridge you have lovely market towns of Oxted and Edenbridge , beautiful villages of Hever, Cowden & Ashurst. Where your budget (minus commute costs) will get you a wonderful home, idyllic for a young family with added fresh air ! (Not to mention real neighbours and community, especially handy with a small child).

Colindale is in Barnet not Brent. Some areas are urban as someone euphemistically put it but the rest is fine. Not the most exciting but there's no point comparing it to Highgate Crouch End etc! Rents are totally different.

I lived in Colindale for a year in a very similar flat to the one you are looking at. It was fine, close to Hendon police training ground so I felt pretty safe but there wasn’t really any sense of community there at all which is important if you have a young family. There was a Tesco built into the apartment development and a sort of pub/restaurant but it all was a bit soulless. Otherwise it was a bus into Edgware/Brent Cross which felt a bit, um, urban. Also, the tube took about 50 minutes to London Bridge and often didn’t run on the weekends for engineering work. We only moved there because my ex was working in a local hospital. I grew up in South London so am a little biased but I’d look at Crystal Palace/Gipsy Hill or further south into Kent like pp’s have suggested. If he needs to get into London Bridge there’s really no need for you to be looking North, especially not as far afield as Colindale.

Thanks so much for all the feedback girls! I really appreciate it. Considering my little baby, it now makes more sense to me to look into family-friendly areas maybe a bit further away. St Albans looks like a good choice, a few other colleagues of hubby also mentioned it. Anyone here has lived or currently living in St. Alban? Is it more like a area with diversified ethnic groups or mainly English?

Both barnet and brent aren't great. Yes they have some nice-ish bits but in general not great. Greenwich and parts around it are much better, but transport isn't great

We live in Harpenden ( next town over so to speak) St Albans is expensive but lovely, it's quite diverse and Fleetville (an area of the town) has a large Asian population, here in Harpenden our MP Bim Afolami Is of Nigerian English parents and I have not seen any racial tension in the area at all, my Aunt ( Ugandan ) fees perfectly at home here when she visits tho she does complain about the price of the independent Coffee shops lol
Will you have a car for you to use? If you do smaller villages in the area may also appeal
However AVOID Luton as it's awful, the prices are cheap for a reason, underplaying racial tensions and a crime hotspot

Hi I know these areas well and would echo that if you want to live in the North then you should consider Finchley. Woodside Park on the High Barnet Line is very nice, family friendly and I am currently renting a three bedroom flat that is gated with parking, separate utility room, master with ensuite, separate bathroom and a cloakroom for £1750. You have a direct train to London Bridge, very near tubes and is a nice place for kids. As you move further up the High Barnet Line closer to London, it gets more expensive.

For London Bridge I would recommend south rather than north London. Greenwich is fine and I second Folkestone and other parts of Kent as being good value and easy to get into London esp if your husband only has to come into town 2/3 days a week.

Greenwich is lovely, if you can afford it, I had both my babies while living in London bridge and used to go there often to the maritime museum and park etc.

We now live in Beckenham, which someone else mentioned. It’s absolutely great for bringing up children, there are great schools and loads of good parks close by. There are tons of baby groups and I really wish I’d been able to move while I was still on maternity rather than 3 months after I went back to work, because there is lots to do and it is very baby friendly down here.

OP, a previous poster mentioned maybe you were wanting to be north for airports, but I have to say where we are (southeast) is very easy to get to stansted as we are close to the M25 and it’s a 1-hour journey straight up the motorway, and in the other direction, it’s a 40 min drive to Gatwick. Plenty of flights to Dublin.

It’s also 30-35 mins into London bridge and 45 mins straight into the West End (charing cross) if you wanted to go do “proper London” things. Also much easier to get about with a pram on the trains rather than tube. I find it easy to take my two in to see Daddy when we have a free day, or go to the theatre or whatever.

Hi, MissCherryCakeBun, thanks so much for your suggestions, do you know below place in St Alban, is it a good area? It seems it is really close to train station.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-74139710.html

@Mia722 the link is for a property in south London ?

Hi, MissCherryCakeBun, wrong link in PP, below is the one I mentioned in St Albans.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-57599105.html

It’s not a great commute from St Albans to London Bridge.

Whetstone at the top end of the Northern line is ok so far as I know from driving through it - maybe a bit dull though. I have friends in Brockley with kids who are very happy there. Greenwich lovely but may be out of budget - Blackheath used to be a bit cheaper. But I’d definitely explore towns on the overground line outside of London with direct links to London Bridge as well.

Yes it's not a bad area at all, easy walk to the station and to the town for shopping and a great market , the park ( Clarence park) is nice too. If you're not driving all the buses stop at the station too if you want to go further afield.

You are on the same train line as Luton airport, London Bridge, Gatwick Airport and at the far end of the Line Brighton for a day at the seaside
Defiantly worth a look if you're coming over too.

My OH was commuting from Harpenden to London ( St Paul's so in the city) until recently and although it's a busy line the trains are reasonable ( not brilliant but nowhere round London is at the moment) it's doable especially as it's not everyday from what you said.
The chance to live out of London yet be able to visit when you want is a good one and StAlbans is beautiful

That’s Kidbrooke. Likes to pretend it’s gentrified, but I wouldn’t live there. These have just been done up near me. www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-74018156.html A fair bit cheaper and a much nicer area close to High Speed for London. DH commutes every day and it’s probably quicker door to door than when we lived in suburbs...

Thx very much! MissCherryCakyBun, will definitely look into it.

I would definitely head south - have a look at Crystal Palace and Forest Hill.

Hey thx for mentioning crystal palace, is below property in a family friendly area based on your opinion:)

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-74403599.html

My knowledge of Crystal Palace is a bit dated but I looked at flats around that bit so would say it was a safe area - maybe someone with better local knowledge will be along? CP has good transport links though.

Edgware is much nicer but i’d be wary of Colindale (chalk hill estate) and burnt oak. Not sure how improved they are now but used to be very dodgy.
Kingsbury and queensbury also North West London and much nicer and peaceful.
I second the poster who mentioned North London - i think it is better than NW. Take a good look around and also at school intake.

Yes that’s a good part of Crystal Palace - close to the triangle which is where all the trendy coffee shops bars etc are - good for wheeling the baby around!

Greenwich is as nice as Crystal Palace and it's quicker into LB. you also have the Jubilee Line tube at North Greenwich where lots of new flats are being developed. It's a lovely, family friendly area and you should be able to find a small house to rent within budget.