Moving from London to Lewes?

[Lewesq4]

Did anyone do it? How did you find it? Was it a culture shock after being in London? Was it easy to make friends and find things to do locally?

My big fear is leaving London and regretting it

(I’ve started a few threads today about moving schools and moving to Lewes - I think today is my overthinking day!)

I went to Lewes once on a Sunday afternoon. It was eerily quiet and had the feel of being somewhere where they might burn a wicker man occasionally, for larks.

It was a nice place otherwise, though. Decent high street, some nice pubs. I have a couple of colleagues who live out that way, so I imagine that like a lot of places within a 50 mile radius of London, it’s a mix of locals and ex-London dwelling commuters.

I looked into it a while back, and as a test I went there on a tuesday in November. It was dead. There were no useful shops within the centre, and not a lot to do, once I'd walked round the centre a couple of times, I realised just how small it is. There are some supermarkets slightly out-of-town but it's all clearly set up to be accessed by car.

It struck me as the sort of place to move to if you are prepared to drive a lot more than in town, and probably come back to for evening entertainment.

I live not far from lewes and really rate it. It’s a desirable place to live with high house prices. There’s lots of families and it has a very middle class vibe with a nice traditional high street. Nice cafes ,independent shops etc easy enough to waste an afternoon.

I’ve never lived in London , but there’s a direct train link to London and Brighton so you’ve got loads of options. Nightlife is limited to the pubs but again you could jump on the train to Brighton and get the last (or first ) train back.

New independent cinema too . I’m not sure I agree about needing to drive out of town there is a Tesco and Waitrose centrally.

There is a nice sense of community in leees especially around bonfire

I know people who live in lewes and adore it. They don't drive so not sure those comments make sense. You walk round the small town. You get a train to Brighton to buy proper things. Easy.

It'll suit you if you are a hippy-ish liberal type. Not everyone's cup of tea. But great pubs, cafes and events if that's what you want.

Do you need to travel to London regularly because if so, Southern Rail might put you off going?

This is very useful, thank you!

I don’t need to travel to london every day, but do need twice a week for commuting. I figured I could stomach twice a week but probably not more?!

Its like a lot of naice places outside London isnt it? Very attractive, one secondary school towns with no useful shops and a glaring lack of diversity.

I think you would make friends easily if you were white and middle class.

We're in the area and rented in Lewes for a year to begin with. It is a lovely town, great community and, hills aside, very walkable (we didn't have a car for the first few years so we walked A LOT!). I've not lived in London, but did grow up in a big city and for the most part I don't miss living in a city.

As others have said, the population isn't exactly diverse, and apart from the supermarkets there's a lack of useful shops (lots of naice ones and some amazing independents) but we often have go to Uckfield or Eastbourne when we need something specific and Brighton for non-pub nightlife. House prices/rent is high (hence why we're in the area but not in the town anymore - we just couldn't afford it!). We knew no one locally when we moved but haven't struggled to meet people.

Oh, and we don't burn wicker men, but we do like to burn stuff and things that go bang

Lewes is ideal if you need to travel to London a couple of times a week. I live fairly close to Lewes, it’s a great town. Has most things that you need and not far from Brighton/Eastbourne etc. Good luck with your move OP.

I actually quite like pointless but pretty shops

It will be odd going from diversity to lack of, I hadn’t thought of that. We are a mixed race family, so not entirely white. Hippy-ish and liberal does describe us though!

my comments about driving were looking through the lenses of living in London where you can get to a supermarket and back via a bus that goes past every 10 minutes.
Lewes is very small, very white & very middle-class. Coming from SE London that's all a bit of a shock.

We have links with Lewes and adore it. However, after the best part of a decade of navel-gazing and soul-searching, we have finally given up on the idea of moving there from South London. Some of our reasons:

1. House prices. We would be selling a nice three-bed house with a generous garden and would only be able to afford a two-bed and for that price range we would be looking at the pretty-on-the-outside-but-tiny-and-dark-on-the-inside terraced housing stock which is so ubiquitous there. We might get a small courtyard garden. If we're going to downsize, we'd want to release some capital which wouldn't happen.

1. Parking. Or lack thereof.

Fortunately we have friends who have an amazing house there with enough room for us stay whenever we like, especially for Bonfire (they still only have one parking space though!).

We moved from London to a village twenty minutes drive away from Lewes. We considered Lewes itself, but at the time the trains to London were awful, and Dh had a daily commute, so we chose a village close to a station on the London to Brighton mainline instead.

I don’t know what the commute’s like now - I’ve heard that it’s improved since then. But if you only have to do it a couple of times a week, I wouldn’t let it put me off.

Personally I really like Lewes. Yes, it’s quite middle class, but it also has quite an arty, alternative vibe which is appealing. It’s a nice place to wander around interesting independent shops and there are some great little cafes. There’s a fab independent cinema there too.

It’s also right on the edge of the South Downs, so if you’re into long walks and mountain biking it’s brilliant.

We’ve certainly never regretted our move from London - quite the opposite.

Jusy to echo others - Lewes is very white and very middle class and super expensive (and people.from Lewes have a smudge of superiority complex because they live in Lewes, although polite with it ). However, it is close to Brighton which is very diverse. Will be very quiet compared to London. Personally it isn't somewhere I would choose to live, as I find it a bit boring. But it is pretty if that's what you are looking for.

Lewes is great! Lots of good bookshops, small independents, period houses, good pubs & lots of places to eat out.

We don’t regret moving out of London (we went to East Sussex first for 5 years and are now in Kent). The first year is odd and we did spend quite a lot of time mourning London after the initial euphoria. That passes. When we visit old friends in London now I can’t imagine living there.

I know people who did this and they love it and don't miss London at all. They fitted in very easily - they are white middle class, intelligent, guardian reading types.

Love a load of good bookshops! And I am a bit of a guardian-reading-type, I must admit!

The only thing I’d have a ? is if a property was near the river and was surprisingly cheap would be the flooding history. They had a big flood 20 years ago. I think though since then they’ve put in some major flood defences so probably not an issue in terms of flood likelihood but some insurers might potentially have concerns

That’s a good tip, SJaneS49, thank you!

No problem. We had this problem in our last East Sussex property - some insurers didn’t take into account the new flood defences and wouldn’t insure us based on the history and ended up paying more on our household insurance than we’d anticipated. It’s not a biggie though - they seem to have spent a lot of money on the flood defences in Lewes so I’d imagine a repeat scenario wouldn’t be likely!

Just reviving this a little as I’m wondering how quickly those who moved here made friends?

Am starting to feel very nervous as I know absolutely no one in Lewes!

Get down there ASAP and spend a day wandering about in a veil. You'll soon get to find how welcoming the locals are.

Christ don’t do it. Having in the past lived nearby Lewes this just about sums it up.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/sep/27/police-investigate-pro-brexit-hate-crimes-in-lewes

I'm jealous OP - I have friends who live in Lewes and have visited them a few times. It's a beautiful town with some lovely shops - I love a mooch around the antiques places and the second hand bookshops.

The link the poster above shared is awful but I think that sort of behaviour could happen in almost any town. The vibe I get from Lewes is much more like the other poster said - middle class, Guardian reading types.

One thing I would say though is that house prices in Lewes are extremely expensive (but I'm sure you know that already!)