Moving near Maze Hill (Greenwich) vs Penge East (Crystal Palace)

[romanholiday88]

Wondering if I could get opinions on where to move next for my young family. DH and I have a 6 week old and planning nursery for when I head back to work next year.

We are considering either a house by Penge East or a new build condo by Maze Hill. But we’ve never lived near either area. We would love a house - but also find Greenwich closer to the city and a lovely option.

I can't comment on Penge.
Greenwich is lovely. Lots of families, world heritage site park and museums. Near the river. 12 mins to London Bridge on train from Maze Hill.
Nurseries competitive to get a place. Schools even more so. Maze Hill local primary Meridian is good. Secondaries not great but you are many years from that.
Trafalgar Rd is improving with some nicer shops but not a big high street. Traffic challenging but easy to live without a car. Nice restaurants and pubs locally and in Greenwich and Blackheath or lots of chains in the dome.

There are also some very deprived parts of Greenwich. It’s not all the Curry Sark and the pretty touristy bit by the river.

Like pp says Greenwich covers a wide area. Are you looking at the Penge East or Crystal Palace area? Whats the budget and what station to you need to get to.

Maze Hill is better than Penge IMO. It's closer to London Bridge as well .

Maze Hill is my local station.
I love it here... Near the park, really family friendly (I moved to this area with a 6 week old and quickly made great friends), I can run or cycle along the river to my city-based job, or leave my desk at 3pm to jump on the train and be at the school gates at 3.30. The Vanbrugh is a great local. Easy to walk to Blackheath or central Greenwich for more pubs and restaurants.
Never lived in Penge though so tricky to compare

I'd definitely choose Maze Hill over Penge East.

Can’t comment on Greenwich or Maze Hill but we moved to Penge a few months ago with our 1 year old.

We moved from zone 2 and found we could get a lot more house for our money. It’s it Bromley borough and the schools are generally good. There are lots of nurseries about but we left it a little late when we were looking and most didn’t have space.

We were actually looking in Beckenham but fell
I’m love with the house and we’re very happy here.

It’s a really great community (Check out Penge Tourist Board on Facebook), great for commuting with four stations, Crystal Palace Park (which is actually in Penge) is great and there are lots of little parks around. The high street is not the fanciest or prettiest but it’s very useful and has everything you need. You’re not very far from Crystal Palace or Beckenham if you want somewhere fancy to eat.

Bump! In a similar situation and would love to hear more feedback around living near Penge.

Maze Hill is much nicer than Penge East.

Posted most of this before but :

I've lived in Penge for a couple of years and really like it, I think it depends what you're after and where you're coming from. Lots of people seem to move here from Brixton/Herne Hill, Peckham, Camberwell, some bits of North/east London. Don't really know Greenwich but the few people I know there moved from Borough/Vauxhall/Shoreditch so might depend a bit on what you prefer. I'd personally always choose a house if I could though!

Best location I think is within about 1/2-3/4 of a mile of Penge East, that way you get easy acess to Victoria (and Brixton in less than 10 mins) and Blackfriars at Penge East, but you're still walking distance to Penge West and Sydenham for fast trains to London Bridge and the overground (the overground is more frequent to Sydendeham, so being a 10-15 minute walk from there is handy). More towards Anerley is nice as well but think you have to pick streets more carefully and the transport isn't as good (that's reflected in house prices though).

There's a few decent pubs and restaurants (good japanese cafe and some nice brunch spots, nice Italian), great local garden cente and cafe, newish yoga studio and a tap room/bottle shop and a zero waste deli due to open soon as well. Plus short walk to Crystal Palace for bars, etc. Green space is good too, apart from Crystal Palace park there's Alexandra Rec and Cator Park, plus a 10 minute journey to Beckenham Place Park where there's a swimmimg lake, and the house with bar/cafe/market etc is run by the same people who run Bussey building in Peckham.

Just reiterating Toyas pp I live very near Penge East, the high street isn’t the prettiest but its useful, The roads around Kenthouse station are lovely & clockhouse station handy for getting to London Bridge etc again some lovely houses/roads in that part as well, the spa leisure centre is good & Beckenham has a cinema & more restaurants/coffee shops/bars than you can shake a stick at, also Kelsey park is beautiful & croydon road recreation ground is another good green space & has lots going on in the summer, both areas are very family friendly with good schools/nurseries.

Both areas have their advantages but I think Maze Hill pups it for family friendliness - lots going on for young kids and the primary schools are all good. However I'd go for a house over a flat so would pick Penge for that reason. If you go for the flat, check the lease, ESW1 certificates etc.