St Mary Cray

[Anitai]

I’m hoping someone familiar with the Sidcup/Orpington/ Bexley area could advise if St Mary Cray is a safe, pleasant area for an interracial couple to buy their first home? We’re both in our early 30s and have rather low budget of £310k.

We both commute into Central London on a daily basis and would need a journey that’s under an hour. We’ve come across a 2 bed in St Mary Cray but aren’t familiar with the area. Is it a safe bet? or are there any other areas we should consider on our budget. I’m really hoping someone can help!

Hello, sorry to resurrect this post again, but I too am looking at the Petts Wood area (also Bickley and Chislehurst). I've noticed a property that is between Petts Wood and St Marys Cray (around Sefton Road). I have heard negative things about St Marys Cray and Sefton Road seems closer to St Marys Cray than Petts Wood so a but hesitant - also not as close to the schools I'm particularly interested in, but still wanted to investigate further. Does anyone have knowledge of that area or the local schools that they would be happy to share? Thank you

I also can get your advise about bromley?

@milenayum

What would you like to know about Bromley - I know the area extremely well.

I would agree with all the previous comments (except one) about St Mary's Cray and St Paul's Cray.

Wouldn't touch either of the Cray's with a barge pole.

Chislehurst / Bickley are beautiful if you have the money.

I used to live in Penge and loved it but moved to Sidcup because it's the only place we could afford in a London borough (clinging on with my fingernails!). Love it here though, always something to do and easy to get in and out of town.

Sefton Road is the posh end and the border with Petts Wood ends part way down Sherborne. It is a schelp to the shops and stations and a bit cut off. It doesn’t seem to suffer much from anti social behaviour as those carrying it out tend to head further south rather than up towards Sefton but it isn’t immune and is in a totally dead area for non-selective secondaries. But a small house in Petts Wood proper would be my advice or if need more space Crofton is good option if you don’t mind the 1960s architecture and the longer journey to the station and shops.

@PettsWoodParadise thank you so much. Very helpful!

Hello All,

Sorry I am posting very often and asking very different areas but your advise is very valuable and I really don’t know anything about these areas. If you don’t mind may I get your advise about Welling especially on Bruce close? And other area that I am looking for is Bexleyheath Franklin Road. Thank you so much

I had a friend move out of Welling about 15 years ago due to the anti-social behaviour. She had a gorgeous house, Victorian terrace, but she just no longer felt safe and she had small children and didn't want them getting mixed up with the gangs that were there at the time. It could of course have changed since. Hopefully someone with better and more current information will be able to update you about current-day Welling or start a new thread with Welling as the subject line.

I lived in Bexleyheath for a while and didn't enjoy it, mainly because of the ASB in the area. Believe welling is the same.

Moved to Sidcup and finding it much better.

Welling is fine for the most part, especially south of the railway. Not much to look at but safe enough and a lot of the better state primaries in Bexley seem to be in Welling.

Amusing to see someone on the first page say Sidcup should be avoided as its not the nicest area. Its the epitome of safe semi detatched suburbia with loads of green. space. Even Blackfen gets an unjustified bad rep. Blackfen Road is not a nice shopping area, but down towards the Oval is nice.

how about near Albany park station , off Penhill road ?

does anyone knows the area.
thanks

@mumsy27 yes very well, drop me a PM

Hi,
Could you advise me on Lullingstone Crescent please. What is your thoughts about it

Resurrecting an old thread, but reading some of the posts makes me so angry!

My SO and I are young professionals. We chose to live in St Mary Cray because it was one of the only places we could afford to get a foot on the ladder that gave us everything we wanted:

Decent sized houses.
Good commuter links (we both work in central London)
Short walk to shops, pubs and restaurants, in Orpington and Nugent.
Lots of green space nearby (Derry Downs, Kevington, Petts Wood, etc.)

Sure, there are some less savoury areas, but you find that everywhere. We have found the people around us are either young professionals, or working class and have lived here for years. We know our neighbours and everyone is friendly and supportive.

We’ve never had any trouble, Amazon parcels have never gone missing from our doorstep, and I have always felt safe walking alone day or night.

Sure, it’s no gated community in Bickley or Chislehurst, but it’s not nearly as bad as this thread would have you believe!

We like it here!

Thank you for posting this. We recently got our offer accepted for an end of terrace 2-bed house on Amherst drive and were worried about the area from posts online. We decided to go for St Mary Cray for the same reasons as you've stated and hope we won't have any issues living in the area. The road is close to Petts Wood and has a couple social housing flats. But it doesn't seem like there has been crime reported on that stretch of road. We just want to get our foot on the ladder and hope to spend 5 years there before reevaluating to possibly move elsewhere. Your post has helped ease my anxiety and is much appreciated.