Bracknell

[Bongolia89]

Hi I’m new here and just looking for some advice on areas to live if anyone could help? We’re currently living in west London but can’t afford the jump from our flat to a house so are looking at cheaper areas. One of our top choices so far is Bracknell. I’ve searched but can’t find any recent posts on the area. Can anyone help and give us an idea of what it’s like now as all the older posts aren’t too reassuring but from visiting it seems fairly nice to us! any help would be great!

The town centre has improved vastly in the last couple of years - it used to be a bit of a hole, but the recent regeneration has brought in a lot of new shops and restaurants. I don’t know a lot about residential areas (I live in Wokingham) and I know there are some that should be avoided, but I have a couple of friends who live in Jennett’s Park, which is a fairly new estate, and they seem to like it, and I think Martin’s Heron is supposed to be nice too. You might want to look at some of the places further out from the town centre, like Binfield and Winkfield, but they do tend to be more expensive.
When DD and her partner were looking for a house they said Earley and Arborfield were the cheapest reasonably nice areas, and they eventually bought a house in Arborfield, though one of the reasons it’s cheap is that it’s a long way from a station and shops. There’s a lot of new building going on round there, though and there is a good new secondary school, the Bohunt, and more facilities and shops are apparently planned.
I don’t know what your budget is, but DD’s 2 bed end terrace cost £285k about 3 years ago and prices seem to have been fairly stable since then.

Whatever you do, avoid Great Hollands. As @RustyBear has pointed out the town centre has greatly improved. I would look at areas like Warfield, Winkfield and Binfield if you can afford it. Forest Park & Martins Heron is nice too, but a bit below the other three.

There are lots of foot paths and cycle paths that get you around town, and to Swinley Forest.

I used to live in Wildridings as a child and my mother still lives there. Can walk to town, station, leisure Centre etc. I love Bracknell due to the way the housing is arranged in estates - there is usually a field with a play area in each estate. The new town Centre is fab. I actually think it's a great place to bring up kids

Bracknell Town centre is really nice now that it's been redone. It will take a while to shake off the reputation it's built up but I'm sure it will. I second the areas listed above however be aware of the amount of redevelopment going on in Binfield. There's a crazy amount of new homes being built when the traffic is already horrendous. We've just struck Binfield off our search for that reason.