Opinions on places to live in LONDON

[lovefromhann]

Hi ladies,

We are thinking of getting a property in one of the places listed below and wanted to know opinions on the areas. Which one(s) do you think has the best transport links into London, best primary/ secondary schools, safest area, things to do etc. We are looking at these areas in London specifically due to budget.

1. Harrow - I know this is technically a large area
2. Dagenham
3. Romford
4. Enfield

Thanks :)

They are different sides of London. Where do you travel to to visit family or friends ? Where in London do you need to commute to?
Enfield has nice bits
harrow has nice bits.
I have only driven thru romford and Dagenham and have not been impressed.

Thank you for your opinion. Yeah, l don't really like the look of Romford or Dagenham but I haven't really been there. My family live close to Harrow hence why I thought about that area. Harrow does have nice bits as you say but also pretty awful areas.

I'd stick to Harrow. Travelling across London from Romford/Dagenham to see family will be a PITA.
Romford's okay (ish). I don't think there are any nice bits to Dagenham.

I'd go with either somewhere nice in Harrow or Enfield.

One of our kids’ foster carers (they’re adopted) lives in Dagenham and hates it. Says schools are bad and there’s nothing for kids to do. We visited a few times and it didn’t seem too bad, but she lives there and doesn’t enjoy the day to day.

One of our other kids’ foster carers lives in Romford. There’s much more going on - it’s like a small town. She didn’t have young kids (and didn’t do many nice things with her foster children ) so harder to say what’s on offer for kids.

Depends a lot on where you are working and availability of housing. I'm guessing the budget is tight so I would start thinking along the lines of minimum acceptable housing. There's good and bad schools everywhere and moving in you have to take what's available

We live in Enfield. But there’s huge variation depending on which ‘side’ of the A10 you’re on and even then, price differences are massive. We live in Winchmore Hill. It’s lovely, safe and has excellent schools and transport links. Gordon hill, Enfield chase and most of Enfield town is v nice too and good value for money. Depends on your budget...

We live in Romford (near Mawney Road primary school). Nice 3 bed period semis for £375-400k.
Our part of Romford is pretty good - nice primary school, cinema, bowling alley, parks nearby, new leisure centre including an ice rink, 10-15 minute walk to the station, 28 minutes to Liverpool Street.
The mixed secondary schools aren't so great although not terrible (there's a good girls school) but that's not a concern for us yet and a lot can change in a few years. Around the station is a bit grubby, but no worse than most London stations.
I grew up in Walthamstow and I feel safer here tbh.
Will you be commuting for work?

Thanks everyone. I really like a few properties in Romford but they are far from family. Got a few friends in the area e.g. Barking but not much else for me there. I think I'll stick to Harrow for now as it's closet although Enfield is also not far away too.

I won't be commuting as I'll be working from home.

Looked in West Harrow when we were house hunting and although we didn't end up there it seemed very nice. Travel links were great with the met line and the overground from Harrow on the Hill (which had okay shopping and gyms etc). I have family who've lived in the Greater area for two generations and they absolutely love it.
Worked in Enfield for a few years and totally agree with what 2016 yes.
Haven't ever been to Romford or Dagenham.

If you're looking at areas out in Zone 5, how about somewhere like Sidcup.

PITA for the travelling (but not much worse than a Romford/Dagenham whilst being a nicer area than both imo).

Has decent transport links into London (as little as 18 mins into London Bridge) and good for schools/safety.

Sidcup feels like a life time away from West London where family are unfortunately. I was looking at Romford because Crossrail is coming, Dagenham already connects to West London via District Line and Harrow and Enfield are not far in general. Sidcup feels impossible to get to unfortunately but I saw some lovely places there and nice schools too!

IrishMamaMia - West Harrow is definitely nice however we were looking around South Harrow/ Rayners Lane due to affordability. Like I said Harrow has some nice and not nice places and I wonder if the south of the borough is even worth looking at!

Good luck with the search :)

Like everywhere, you get better parts than others. Don't write the schools off - Rush Green Primary School is an excellent school, many of my friends' children have attended and done really well. They have open days coming up.

Dagenham is depressing. Avoid. Enfield used to be a bit posh and Greek but now a bit rough..I wouldn't live there... nothing to do..same goes for Dagenham... Romford used to be a bit white van man ...keep searching !!

Harrow has good transport links as quite a few tube stations and mainline from Harrow and Wealdstone, or harrow on the hill.

Harrow on the Hill area is massively being redeveloped at the moment - loads of flats going up, but you won't get change out of £250k for a 1-bed, with the really decent ones going for more than £300k.

I would prefer Rayners Lane over South Harrow but it would depend on the location of the property. West Harrow is lovely but the prices are pushed up because of its proximity to HotH.

Have a look at South Ruislip/Eastcote way too, or further out along the Met Line. All of the Ruislips are pretty good.

OP, out of interest would you be open to sharing your budget? You might be able to afford in other areas if you're open to it, and you can use rather great tools like SearchSmartly to pinpoint specific homes that best meet your criteria ( budget, commute time to your places of work, access to good schools, access to shops/supermarkets). It's quite clever, so it could be worth giving it a go!