Moving from NYC....in desperate need of neighborhood recs!

[MauraMC]

My husband and I, and our two daughters (7.5 and 2) are moving from Brooklyn to London in the coming months (April/May). My husband will be working in fitzrovia and, despite having lots of cousins in London to offer advice, we are having quite a time narrowing down the neighborhood search. We are ideally looking for a commute that’s under 50 mins for my husband, great state schools for my daughter who will be starting year 3 in September, and a small house with 2-3 beds. We want all the things everyone wants I suppose - leafy, access to parks, bustling high street, safe. Trying to keep the rent under 2750. Any ideas? We’ve been all over the map, literally and figuratively, and I’m going to have to rely on my husband - who is moving over first - to ultimately make the decision.

Thanks for all of this amazing info. So much to think about (and stress about). What's the word on Ealing?? That's a place that keeps coming up for us...

Try this link for working out journey times-

tfl.gov.uk/plan-a-journey/

I never quite understand why people worry that the London schools are so bad. Historically they where generally poor, then the government pumped a ton of money in to them and sorted them out. Now they are quite the opposite and are amongst the best schools in the country. With still the biggest budgets. You would be hard pushed to find a truly bad London school. Especially in the types of areas your looking in. So I wouldn't get taken in with the general hysteria with that one.

I agree that your best bets would be Greenwich, black heath, Dulwich, Peckham Rye xx

I agree - London schools overall outperform most of the country. Don't over obsess over getting into one specific school. It may or may not happen but highly likely your child will be fine regardless.

Ealing town centre/high street/Broadway is pretty dire. It really struggles because the big shopping centre at White city is just a couple of stops away. Not much in the way of a more independent stores/cafes, lots of empty shops now.
Can be surprisingly lairy on a Saturday night with some big cheap chain pubs pulling in crowds of big drinkers/local teens

Ealing covers a large area - mix of big Victorian houses plus quite a bit of 1930s semi detached.
Not sure the parks are much cop - Lammas is ok I guess? But the common is just empty space. Gunnersbury park is quite nice although not really in Ealing.

Good transport if you are near Ealing Broadway - fast trains into town.

If you wanted to move further out of london you could look at berkhamsted in herts, trains go into euston which is the closest main line station to the area your dh is working. Lovely town on the edge of the chiltern hills.

Yep, I'm definitely not the type to obsess too much about the schooling - my daughter goes to a rather grimy NYC public school now and is doing great, so I'm not too fussed about it. Good info re Ealing above - being that I'm not going to actually even see the towns myself before I relocate myself and my girls (oh, and my crotchety 14 year old cat), this info is so super helpful. So Dulwich, Blackheath, Greenwich....all of these have walkable and distinct towns/high streets? I spend lots of time out walking with my little one, and I like a place where I can mosey haha.

As for Berkhamsted, which looks great to me, my husband says it's "too remote." His words, not mine!

The only negative for blackheath, is the actual ‘ village’ is quite small & the traffic is horrendous, it’s a long walk to lewisham & it’s not a particularly pleasant shopping experience.

My husband was also trying to convince me to look at the northern parts that would be On his tube line - such as muswell hill, crouch end, golders green, finchley - but when i plug those areas into rightmove with our budget, I’m not seeing anything but flats, which leads me to believe that these areas are either more urban than what I’m seeking or just too expensive for us.

If suburban is ok with you, then have a look at Pinner. It's 25 mins into Baker Street, has nice parks and a high street with a good range of independent shops, restaurants, cafes and supermarkets, lots of mums with young children, schools are good and rent should be within your budget.

@idea888 would pinner be comparably suburban to, for example, dulwich, Greenwich, Ealing?

Would St. Albans be much more suburban feeling than dulwich for example?

St Albans is a very lovely (and hence pricy) small cathedral city, with cobbled streets, a market and plenty of boutique shops and restaurants. the schools there are generally excellent. It's well outside the city, though, so if you are looking to get a taste of London living, St Albans won't give you that.

Pinner is further out of London (around 15 miles) but, because of that, it has plenty of open spaces & less traffic, and you'll get more for your money - an extra bedroom, a garden, closer to shops & amenities. I guess it's really about weighing up what you want - all of the places mentioned have pros and cons.

One thing I'd look for is a commute with no changes. Changing between busy tubes can be a bit grim. Look at which stations are closest to your husband's workplace and which lines they are on - that might help narrow down your search.

I was going to say what about Muswell Hill or Finchley...

what about High Barnet? Your DH could get the Northern line straight to Goodge Street, he'd be at the start of the line so could get a seat.

Would the aforementioned places - St. Albans, pinner, high Barnet - be walkable places or would most residents be reliant on cars? That’s really at the fore of my priorities, that i could traipse about with my younger daughter during the day while my older gal is at school.

OP I’m biased as I live nearby but Lordship Lane is the high street in east Dulwich and full of little independent shops, cafes, restaurants. Also bellenden road in peckham rye has similar, and lots of cool bars and excellent restaurants too in peckham and thriving arts scene. peckham levels which is this giant Car park now with street food and bars . Personally I prefer Lordship lane to blackheath and Greenwich as the traffic can be bad on Greenwich high road and though blackheath village, although Greenwich Park and maritime museum are fantastic. (They’re great for a day out from Dulwich )

St Albans is a small, cathedral city outside London. Dulwich is definitely part of London. Is St Albans suburban? Depends where you live. If you're close to the city centre then no, it's not suburban, but there are areas around it that definitely are! HTH.

St Albans is not in London (it's Hertfordshire) so the cost of commuting will be a lot more.

another vote for Wanstead. Gorgeous high street with lots of independent shops. Very family friendly. Loads of good schools and green space. Easy commute on the Central Line.
You can get a lovely 3 bedroom house with garden close to the station well under your budget.

I’m so annoying 😬 with this ridiculously random and sprawling list of names but - what about balham? My husband is very into the idea of it....

Balham is ok, forms part off the ‘nappy valley’ area of SW London if you were going that way though, I think battersea is much nicer.

also from Wanstead you can walk up to South Woodford which also has a really nice high street (although Wanstead is better for commuting as you have both branches of the Central line, one at either end of the High Street).

Loads of nice places to walk and no need for a car.

Agree Wanstead is pretty and leafy.

I'd never heard of this "Nappy Valley" term - my husband just enlightened me. I guess it would be similar to an area here called "Park Slope" - lots of moms toting around their precious bubs in luxury strollers?? Wanstead looks like it has great housing stock within our budget - my husband's concern is getting to the airports on public transport from there, as we have lots of family in Ireland that we will hopefully be visiting regularly....