Opinions on Stevenage old town?

[LittleKitty1985]

DH, DS(6mo) and I are thinking about moving from East London to Stevenage Old Town and would love to hear from anyone who lives there about what it's really like..?

We're attracted by the crazy cheap house prices (compared to other commuter towns) and good transport links. I also think it would be a good investment given the renovations that are due to take place in the city centre soon. However the high crime rates and amount of social housing put us off a bit.

Our max budget is £450k so we could move to other commuter towns, but buying a house in Stevenage for £300k would give us a lot more disposable income for holidays etc. In an ideal world we'd move to St Albans but £450k doesn't go far there (we'd want to be near the station).

I don't live in Stevenage, but live near by and spent a lot of time there when I was younger.

The old town high street is quite nice - there are some nice bars/pubs, restaurants, and cafes. There are also playing fields and a big tesco further 'up' towards the new town centre. It's normally quite busy in a nice way, which is good as lots of town centres are dying. It's a short walk to the train station and really close to the A1 if you drive so you're right about transport links. We did consider moving to the old town ourselves for these reasons (plus price reasons as you mentioned).

The downsides for me were that Stevenage doesn't have a great reputation - the main town centre is really dead and in desperate need of the refurb they are promising. The housing area behind the Old Town feels quite cramped to me, but DH says there are more spacious areas if you explore.

I think if you currently live in East London the crime rates and social housing won't be an issue. I have never felt unsafe in Stevenage personally.

I don’t know Stevenage at all but couldn’t help myself and a look at police crime stats. Don’t know where you’re moving from, but Stevenage has higher crime rate than eg Wanstead but lower than Leyton or Leytonstone.

We moved to Stevenage this year and totally love it. We're not even in the 'naice' old town part and so far we've felt safe and happy.

Dh commutes and finds it brilliant and there are cycle paths all over the town which we love.

There are some fantastic bargains here. St Albans is totally overrated imo, packed to the rafters with people, no parking and roads clogged with cars.