Petts wood area

[Hooletthedogsout]

After a lot of back and forth we’re focussed on moving to Petts Wood for its green spaces and schools.We’re considering a property near Southborough primary in Petts Wood which also has been in catchment for Crofton in the recent years as per the catchment tracker site. As DS will be in year the catchment will not matter but have to consider for younger DC. I’ll be grateful if someone could comment on the general area in terms of desirability, safety and also about the school.

we have an expert here with regard to pettswood.
@PettsWoodParadise their advice and love to the area is very valuable.

hang on in there.

In recent years Crofton has only come out 0.8 so do be careful. Southborough is really considered Bickley / Bromley borders and not Petts Wood unless you are in Frankswood Avenue which is the last road that side in official Petts Wood or the roads like Oxhawth.

Near Southborough primary you also have the Bromley Yourh Music Trust which is a fabulous facility but also makes it quite busy (not during lockdowns!). Southborough primary I believe has an arrangement with nearby independent Bromley High school to be able to use its swimming pool which is a bonus. My neighbours when they moved in were 0.2 from Crofton school but got allocated Southborough and waited two terms to get a space at Crofton and were very pleased to move as they said they were ‘underwhelmed’ by Southborough but that was five years ago now so that could have changed.

If you are looking at the roads like Oxhawth etc most areas are lovely. Some have ex-LA housing at one end e.g Almond Way or Farringdon Ave and can suffer from a few problem families so do poke around a bit further up the street at different times of the day. If you want to pm me the road then I will try and give more information.

@PettsWoodParadise
Thank you for your inputs, which I have found very useful on multiple threads. Could I ask how safe is Petts Wood closer to the station if considering to buy a property there (just off Queensway)?

Thank you in advance.

The roads off Queensway like Crescent Drive etc are all generally lovely and safe. You do have the Sovereign of the Seas pub on Queensway so you may get some noise and minor disturbance from there but nothing significant. Lakeswood Road is treated by drivers as a cut through to Bromley to avoid the lights and buses on the high street so can suffer high traffic volumes. There are parking bays on roads off Queensway like Nightingale and Woodhurst to deter the all day parking commuter.

I have been happy for my DD to walk home from the station on her own after dark and I have always felt safe.

OP might I ask why Petts Wood? Apart from schools?
Do you and\or dp commute?

Be careful about secondary schools, most primary schools in Bromley are fine. I have a friend who lives in Petts Wood and is currently very stressed about secondary schools. There are grammars locally but aimed at very bright children and then grammars in Bexley/Kent but parts of Petts Wood are a headache for comprehensives. Southborough primary way you would get Bishop Justus (check you would be happy with it) and might get the new Bullers Boys (single sex). All I am saying really is that the people I know in Petts Wood seem to go into a grammar tutoring craze if they are not in the Darrick Wood catchment.

Thank you so much for all these details, very helpful!

@pettswoodparadise
@sunnyfreezesushi
Thank you so much for all the details, very helpful.

@monty27

Not sure if that question is for me (new to posting on Mumsnet :) ), nonetheless, we are thinking of Petts Wood because of primary schools (Crofton / Southborough) and commute as my husband works in Central London and I work in Canary Wharf. There are very few places from where commute to both these places works. Also, I believe the area is rather safe and offers more for the money as opposed to areas in West.

The area is safe, green, still great value and I visit my friends there often. Lovely woods, great activities like tennis/sports camps for kids/riding and the music school on Southborough Lane. Lots of dance/gymnastics/ballet for kids locally too. Easy and quick to get to London. It is still relatively good value and there are various stations nearby with different options and the buses are reliable too.
It does have more of a suburban feel but there is a strong community and people do not move as much as in London so kids will make friends who stay in the area.
People’s feelings on sought after state primary schools can change quite quickly so I would not worry about that. For example, Southborough has a huge playing field, is right next to the music school, it seems to be quite sought after at the moment/went through a worse patch about 10 years ago.

If your child is bright and you are prepared to tutor and push them in Year 5 then grammar o a good option too (also there are private schools like Bromley High, Eltham College, Trinity that are still accessible).
Actually, what I like about the whole area is that it is quite mixed now, lots of Asians/Africans, Europeans as well as white British. It keeps the London feel and children can make lots of friends with different backgrounds which opens their horizon. Also, easy to get to eg South Bank or a London museum with the kids on a weekend or out to Kent beaches etc./National Trust.

Thank you @sunnyfreezesushi. This is very insightful. Very reassuring for us as it's a completely new area for us and we are constantly comparing it with areas in West, in all these aspects like school, commute and most importantly community feel/safety.
Thanks again!

Any idea about Hollingworth road in pettswood

Hollingworth is fine, it is near the Coppice and the woods / park behind the road can attract some low level anti-social behaviour such as trail bikes but otherwise perfectly fine.