How is it like to live in Mitcham?

[Punter29]

Hi,
We are actively considering buying a 3bed property on Meopham road, Mitcham. We have a 2 year old and this property seems to be in the catchment of 3 outstanding rated schools. Both of us work in central London and Mitcham Eastfields which is 0.5Miles away seems to very well connected. Does anybody have any feedback on how it would be to live with a young child in Mitcham and in particular on Meopham road? Have ready some not so glorious feedback online from few years ago an was wondering if it still holds.

I know the areas well, I'm from SW London. In all honesty, a lot of SW London is kinda rubbish. Including Tooting, all the way to New Malden. It's gotten worse over time too, possibly due to Conservatives and austerity. South Wimbledon and central Wimbledon aren't great as they used to be (they're also boring and nothing to do there including the near-empty Centre Court shopping mall). Balham and Clapham have also taking a turn too (especially with increased violent crime in Clapham). Wimbledon Chase/Raynes Park are snooze fests. Tooting is kinda grotty and messy as ever, but a lot more livelier than a decade ago. I grew up in SW london until I left in my 30s. I know it very very very well.

One thing about Mitcham is it is slowly being gentrified. Morden is over-priced and quite rough. But one thing about mitcham is: more and more young families with good jobs who are priced out from the surrounding areas are moving into the area, especially on the Colliers Wood borders. There are good sized houses in the area, especially victorian or 1920s era. Personally, inner/central Mitcham is where I would avoid, but on the Tooting/Colliers Wood borders it's ok. Primary schools are fine, but there are no decent secondary schools - they're all over in Wimbledon. The main issue with all of these areas is the traffic. The God awful traffic especially at peak hours and school runs!

@freeedum This is exactly why I left the area. I moved into rural Surrey, now Hampshire, and the difference in quality of life is incomparable. I go back to SW London from time to time and I’m never sad when it’s time to leave!

I would also hesitate to add to definitely take the outstanding status of the schools in Wimbledon with a HUGE grain of salt. I attended one of them from Year 7 - 11 and despite it being Ofsted outstanding, there were huge problems with bullying and the behaviour of students. I would say at times it was out of control. Being a student in the one I went to was an awful, intimidating experience. The schools don’t attract students from the wealthy, middle-class Wimbledon (those mostly go to private schools), the majority of students are from Mitcham, Morden, Tooting, Streatham etc.

I will add that my personal experience was 10 years ago but I have heard from current students and parents that not much has changed!

I moved to Mitcham (the north part of the borough, close to Mitcham Eastfields station) 3 years ago. I would have preferred Wimbledon or Balham (or even Colliers Wood) but those areas were more expensive. I also wanted be in zone 3 on London so the travel into central London would be cheaper.
So for a zone 3 area I don’t think you can find better value.

Mitcham common is beautiful so that’s another plus.

I don’t find it unsafe. I often come home after midnight and I never felt unsafe (even when coming through the town centre which can have homeless people hanging around at night).

The town centre has a nice layout with large pavements and pedestrian areas, and a beautiful Victorian clock in the middle but the shops makes the area super ugly. It’s full of fast foods, charity shops, Poundland and similar shops. I often walk around imagining the town centre to be full of nice cafes like Angel in Islington, but that’s never going to happen.

Unfortunately, the area seems to be getting worse. The Morrisons in the town centre closed down, there used to be a Sainsburys here years ago which also closed down, one of the banks closed down… There are no nice pubs or bars to go out (other than a restaurant on mitcham common which has a bar area). But there is a cafe that opened by the pond and a nice polish cafe-restaurant in the town centre… And the Asda and Lidl are sufficient for food shopping. Overall, it’s not that great, but it’s good value for money comparing to other London areas so if I had to choose again I’d still move here.

I can’t comment on schools as I don’t have kids, but maybe it’s ok to be the best student in a mediocre school than a mediocre student in a good school?