Good areas to live in Greater London

[Flobby]

Hi,
My partner and I are looking to move from Reading closer to London. We'd like to have a nice neighborhood, with great high streets that offer shops, restaurants, pubs/bars etc. We need to have good connections to airport and central London due to our work and are looking for 3-bedroom houses.
Any idea what areas would be good to look at?
We have a budget of 500-600k.

Beckenham

Redbridge borough. Wansted is lovely. You might need the borders for your budget though. Look near Redbridge roundabout or Snaresbrook.

Possibly parts of Earlsfield or Raynes park for 570-600k

Ruislip, Ickenham, Eastcote?? Loads of stations and close to Heathrow

@peeblet I don't think you'd get more than a glorified 2 bed at most (aka 2 up/2 down terraced house with a bathroom tagged on downstairs and a loft conversion for the master bedroom) for 600k in those areas. We live marginally down the SW trains line from there and sold our 2 bed house last summer for just under 500k. All of the 3 bed properties as described above were on the market for around 650-700 (depending on school catchments etc) and going for 625-675 unless there was something drastically wrong with them.

OP which airport do you need to be near? As that will make a lot of difference, although when cross rail finally comes into play it'll make areas of East London more accessible for LHR. Although tbh it's likely that depending on where you are in reading that you won't have a much quicker commute into London than you do now, particularly again when cross rail comes. A lot of people are moving out of London to areas around reading for that reason due to more reasonable property prices. If you want Heathrow then areas along the Piccadilly line would probs fit the bill (Hounslow etc, or Whitton) although they're not as nice (aka affluent) as Raynes Park imo.

Which airport do you need to be closed to? I live a few minutes walk from Reading station and work in Kings Cross. Whether I'm going to Gatwick or Heathrow, I always find traveling from home is quicker than traveling from the office.

For your budget, you could get a nice 3 bed in the centre of Caversham or in the areas across the pedestrian bridge.

Thank you all for the great tips.
We are looking to move somewhere west of London and ideally a quick commute to Heathrow (by car and/or public transit)
The commute from Reading is really good, I agree and we also live just a few minutes away from the station, but we struggle when staying out late to get back as we need to catch the last train or Uber home for GBP150+. Hence we would want to be closer to London, so the Uber ride is not as expensive :D
We were thinking of Worcester Park and of course WImbleton area, but i find this difficult in our budget.
I wasn't to sure about Ruislip, Ickenham and Eastcote, as they are close to Harrow and Uxbridge and we've been told to be careful around these areas.

I’m selling my 3 bed house in Greenwich - zone 2! - if your budget can stretch to 650k!
Totally the opposite to south west, but worth a go

Thanks Tigerbear,

but Greenwich is not the area we were looking at

Ruislip/Eastcote and Ickenham are fine. Uxbridge and Harrow, towns a good 15 minute train journey away aren’t any reason to stay away.

Try Walton on Thames, Hersham, Molesey in Surrey You can get a 3 bed for your budget there. All close to Heathrow. Also good trains to London ( particularly Walton and Hersham). Weybridge (Brooklands area), Chertsey and Staines worth a look too. Very fast trains into London from Woking. Lots of people who work at Heathrow live in Weybridge. I would choose Molesey or Walton for proximity to cafes/ bars and shops, river Thames nearby, nice walks, Bushy Park, nearby Kingston for shopping, good schools and neighbourhoods.

Have you looked in Egham? You'd be able to get a 3 bed in your budget there. It's a 10 minute drive to Heathrow and 40 mins on the train into Waterloo. Lots of nice pubs and restaurants close by and Windsor Great Park is on the doorstep.

Ealing - Northfields and Hanwell. Piccadilly line to Heathrow or central London. Also district and central at Ealing Broadway. Crossrail coming one of these days. (Years,?) Also trains to Paddington or from brentfòrd to Waterloo. Nightbuses too and night tube.

Lots of chain and independent restaurants. Lots of pubs refurbished recently. London’s biggest free music festival! (Hanwell Hootie)

Crystal Palace. Lovely village-y feel, lots of indy restaurants and bars, excellent for transport into the centre of London, only an hour's drive from Heathrow, 50 mins to Gatwick.

I grew up in Ruislip and agree that Harrow and Uxbridge, while different (not necessarily in a bad way) are far enough away. Ickenham is nice as is Eastcote and Northwood.

New Malden/Epsom&Ewell/Tolworth should all be doable on 600K.

If you have a house close to Reading station then IMHO you’d be absolutely crackers to sell now and miss out on the price bump that Crossrail will bring when it opens in December. I would sit tight for twelve months, wait and see how Crossrail improves your existing commutes, and take it in turns to drive into London for your nights out in the meantime.

I wish we would own the place. No, we are renting :) Otherwise I agree!
What about Hackbridge? Any idea how this area is?

DS rents in Ruislip near the golf course. I'm not a big fan of London these day(ex Londoner) but I really like where he lives and would consider it myself if I could afford it.

Hackbridge slightly meh, you can do much better with that budget: Cheam, Carshalton, New Malden.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-58266867.html

Ashford Middlesex?

It really depends on the other things you want - do you want good primaries/secondaries or will you be moving then? old houses? new houses?

I grew up near Harrow (not in Harrow itself), in a very naice area. I'd love to know what's so dodgy about it?!

West Harrow is very nice.

I live in Hampton which has a couple of buses that go to Heathrow. It’s lovely with Hampton Court Palace, Bushy Park, the Thames and lots of greenery nearby. 10 mins to Teddington and Kingston and not far from Richmond either. We love it but will probably have to move due to house prices. I haven’t looked recently but think you could get something in budget here.