Hitchin - Advice on areas to live

[savvysquirrel]

Hi,

My husband and I are considering moving to Hitchin from SE London and would like some advice on what areas are the nicest parts to live in. I read on a previous post that the nicer parts are on the south side and areas to avoid include Westmill, Wallsworth, and Sunnyside.

We have seen some properties we like on RightMove on these streets, can anyone tell us whether these are nice areas or not?

Girons Close and Bowmans Avenue - Both in the Wymondly Park area
Conquest Close - Looks quite close to Sunnyside
Symonds Road - Looks quite close to Westmill

Thanks x

Pretty much everywhere in Hitchin is lovely. There are two council estates: Sunnyside and Westmill, but they aren't very large and while I don't know Westmill, Sunnyside is a pretty community minded area. I have friends who live there and love it. Never heard that Walsworth is a bad area. Wymondley Park is a new one on me - but those roads are popular due to proximity to William Ransom School. You'll probably pay a premium for that location. However, most of the primary schools are really great and they all tend to end up going to HBS or HGS which are fantastic secondary schools.

Conquest close is off the very busy Stevenage road and not really close to Sunnyside because of that. Again Symonds road isn't really close to Westmill. But you should come and see the locations to get an idea of area. Even though my parents and brother lived here I ended up on the other side of Hitchin to them. I preferred it. (They lived north, north east of the town centre, I live just south of the town centre).

Hitchin is a great place to live - very arty, lots of independent shops. Great community spirit. But it isn't St Albans (which is a bonus for me) - it's quirkier, more unusual. Very green - there's a great big hill in the middle of the town which is fabulous and you're only ever about ten or fifteen minutes away from a lovely walk in the country. Plus a lido, a proper market, great schools, tons of fab pubs and restaurants. I love it here. And my kids love it here - that makes me very happy.

I live in a village outside Hitchin which I love, but if I lived in the town again I would look in Brampton Park Road/Bearton Road/Lancaster Road. I prefer the Victorian house style and would happily send my boy to the Priory School rather than HBS.

It depends on budget though, houses with off-road parking are expensive in that area.

Thanks DailyMaui and AnnPerkins this is really useful! I think we're going to come to Hitchin again not this weekend but next and have a look at some of the properties we've seen online and have a drive around the different areas to get a feel for the different places.

We've been to see the town before which we loved and Hitchin itself ticks a lot of our boxes but we haven't really looked at the more residential areas yet, so this information will come in really useful.

Hi OP,
I'm not familiar with Conquest Close but am with the other two areas. One of the key differences is proximity to the station, Girons/Bowmans are about 15 mins where as Symonds road is about 30. I think both areas fall into outstanding primary catchments. At a push, in my view, I'd say Girons is a nicer part of town. Both areas are probably equal walking distance to town (Symonds road is very close to Waitrose!). Good luck with your search, do PM me if you have any questions after your wkend recce!

Do report back, savvy. It’s fascinating reading people’s first impressions of the town

AnnPerkins - Will do, we’re going down next weekend to view a few properties in a few different areas so I’ll let you know what we think. We’ve been to Hitchin town centre before and really liked it lots of nice restaurants and boutique shops as well as some classic high street ones. Reminded me a bit of a small Cambridge with the cobbled square.

NervousDeiver - Thank you for your advice, proximity to the station is important to us as we both work in London. I’ve also heard that Hitchin has been impacted quite a bit by the train timetable changes that happened in May and that there’s an intermin timetable in place at the moment which isn’t as good as what there was before. Does anyone know if there’s plans to bring more of the fast trains back?

Hi Savvy
I think the missing trains are mostly off peak ones, there"s a lot of fast ones to/from london at peak times. I dont think a date for new timetable has been announced. You may not get a seat when commuting though! The newer trains have fewer seats but more standing room.

Actually the train chaos has made me seriously reconsider my work in London. The trains are slower than pre May and prone to sudden delays and cancellations. Train problems used to be rare, now they are regular. My problem is that some days I HAVE to be on location at a certain time and I cannot trust that will happen so I need to leave much earlier than usual. I have been turfed off the train at an earlier station on several occasions recently because the train was running late so they just cancel several stops to make up time.
And travel in off peak is miserable. My poor brother works shifts in London and gets very angry with the service. My train in today was late and train home was also late. It can be anything from 5 minutes to hideous but it all adds up over the week. And yes, the new trains mean more standing. The seats are also uncomfortable and with crap legroom. I'd love to meet the person who decided the spec for the new trains...

DailyMaui - Oh no that doesn't sound good! I heard that the timetable that is in place at the moment is only temporary until they can bring in the new "improved" timetable that was suppose to happen in May. It seems ridiculous though that an initiative that was suppose to improve people's commute has actually made it worse. I had written down the train times from before the change and there was a 7:51, 7:55, and an 8:02 train that would all get me into work on time but now it appears there's only the 7:55 and the 08:02 has now become the 08:04 which now takes 46 mins when it use to be 34 mins! I hope they sort it out or at least revert back to what it use to be. I don't mind not having a seat as I don't always get a seat where I am now but I'd like to at least have more than just 1 train option in the morning.

Me and my husband are coming to Hitchin tomorrow to view some properties and have another look around the town so will update you all on how it all goes.

It was a lovely day for a wander round the town today. There was a French market in the market square and a beer festival in the Half Moon too.

Not sure any of that can make up for the trains though. I’m so glad I work locally.

The new train timetable has really stuffed up Hitchin. However, it has been much better from Stevenage. We live in a village between Hitchin and Stevenage, we are closer to Stevenage train station but still in catchment of Hitchin secondary schools. Could this be an option for you?

Sorry I just realised I didn’t come back to give an update after our trip to Hitchin on the weekend. It was a lovely day to go as it was nice and sunny, we saw the French market in the square and had a little wander around and got a coffee in Nero.

We viewed 4 properties on the south side of town and also had a drive around some of the other areas. It feels like we’re on the right track but didn’t find a property that ticked all our boxes on the weekend. Although I am a little concerned about the trains so will be keeping an eye on any updates to the train timetable.

Hello,

Did you make the move to Hitchin in the end? I would be interested to hear how you have found things.
X.