Honest opinions of Grays, Essex

[hopefully2021]

Hi,
Just looking for some honest opinions please - me and my husband are currently buying our first home and will be moving from Hackney in East London - our chosen areas are Aveley, South Ockendon and Chafford Hundred (due to our budget - you seem to get the most for your money in those areas), however I've seen a few really nice houses in Grays. I was always under the impression that Grays was a bit rough but would value some advice from people who currently live there or have recently lived there (and why you decided to move)
Many thanks!

[quote hopefully2021]@ThePricklySheep outside of rush hour times, we can do the drive to lakeside in about 30 mins from Bethnal Green[/quote]
Ok, so rush hour will only add 5 min? That's very optimistic.

By soul destroying, I meant that it sucks the life out of you. There is no culture there at all. If you are used to the ethnic diversity of London, the acceptance of all different views, the ability to make connections with people who are like you, then forget moving there. I tried very hard. I even started a business there. In the end, I needed to move back to London to find all of the above to bring happiness back to my life.

Will your husband be driving in outside of rush hour or in rush hour?
Have you properly timed the drive to Lakeside? It’s easy to underestimate if you’re busy going shopping, seems like about half an hour, but if you’re doing it every day them you might want to know exactly.
Maybe there’s bad traffic right now I suppose, but it shows 40 minutes for lakeside to Bethnal Green.

‘It’ being googlemaps

I lived in Grays for 2 years and I agree that it's soul destroying. Nothing there at all apart from Lakeside, used to drive into East London everyday and the traffic on the A13 is awful, can take you 30 minutes at 1pm but in the morning up to an hour and a half and don't even get me started about getting home at rush hour! I would avoid anywhere around that area to be honest

@Toorapid my husband is flexible on what times he can work so would be trying his best to avoid rush hour - he would ideally starting quite early then trying to head back into essex by 3-3.30 before traffic starts to build otherwise he would leave it until after 7pm
We have done the drive on the a13 and a12 plenty of times, we have family and friends who live chingford, chigwell, romford, basildon and north stifford so we know what times to avoid already to miss the traffic

@dizzy25 what areas would you recommend?

I haven't done it for a while but used to commute to Stratford by car and it took over an hour leaving at 6am, much longer if I was running a few minutes late. Getting home was longer.

Cranham in Upminster is not far off and you can walk to Upminster station. There is an old council estate where the houses can be quite reasonably priced. It has a better reputation than grays. Worth a look. We bought our 3 bed house for 375 2 years ago. Good schools if you need schools.

@hopefully2021 I live in Gravesend now and my commute to East London now is around 40-45 minutes, even in the morning the only traffic really is sometimes at the Blackwall Tunnel but it's an easy commute. There's more character here and just generally a nicer place to live, I think areas around South East London moving into Dartford and Kent are nicer but I don't know what the house prices are like as I rent
The problem with Grays is that it's very industrial looking/ feeling especially around Lakeside and West Thurrock. Grays town centre is dire and I think the only reason Chafford Hundred seems nicer is because the houses are newer looking

OP have you thought about Sidcup / Bexley way? Fast train to London Bridge in 20 minutes and you're not far from the Blackwall Tunnel to get east.

Have you thought about Hornchurch/Elm Park/Harold Wood @hopefully2021? They’re not bad areas, lots of parks, decent high street in Hornchurch and Rainham marshes nearby. If you can stretch to Upminster it’s practically posh round there!

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?minBedrooms=2&propertyTypes=bungalow%2Cdetached%2Csemi-detached%2Cterraced&keywords=&dontShow=retirement%2CsharedOwnership&channel=BUY&index=0&retirement=false&partBuyPartRent=false&sortType=2&minPrice=270000&viewType=LIST&maxPrice=375000&radius=1.0&locationIdentifier=REGION%5E658

Great minds @dizzy25 😂

I have a friend who lives in Cranham (the only connection I still have from my days in CH!). From what she says, there is much more of a sense of community there. She raised children there, is involved in a church, and knows her neighbours well. Her children went to a good secondary school too. Personally, you couldn’t pay me to move back out that direction. However, if you are still sure you are going to do so, look at Cranham rather than Grays.

What's your budget? Aveley when I was a child was a village is just London housing spread surrounded by giant roads now with no station and a dubious bus service. The secondary school is shocking. I'd still rather live there than Grays. Xhafford hundred has some write serious county lines issues as Newham council post thick council wire a lot of money to rehouse people at risk and people who pose risk which means the whole issue ends up the same but in Essex. Pre Covid there were issues with gangs of youths with knives around the station and walk way into Lakeside. Also the traffic when Lakeside is busy is horrendous if you live in Chafford hundred, South ockendon is pretty rough for the most part

To be honest as well meaning as other posters may be if you're looking at Thurrock it's unlikely your budget will stretch to Cranham/Upminster , similar for Bulphan, Horndon and Orsett.

*XChafford hundred has some quite serious county lines issues as Newham council pay Thurrock council quite a lot of money to rehouse people

To be fair having read your update, Aveley will seem very quiet compared to Hackney! Still avoid Grays though

My DStepdaughter and her Mother have lived In Aveley and South Ockendon so while I’ve not lived there it’s somewhere we had to drive to every weekend when she was younger and do visit now. She and her now husband have also lived in Grays. They had a flat which they quit after 6 months as my Stepdaughter didn’t feel safe walking around in the evening.

I appreciate the following is harsh - what I like in an area is not going to be what everyone likes either so it’s just personal opinion. Aveley (or Daveley as an Essex friend of mine calls it) is a once nice village that has just been extended with unsympathetic and eclectic housing to become a character free nowhereville. South Ockendon has kept a few of its old houses but in the main is just ugly mid twentieth century cheaply constructed housing estates populated by people who look like they’ve had the life sucked out of them. It looks like the kind of place people who’ve given up on life offering them anything worth living for.

My Stepdaughter and husband are Primary school staff and have worked in a number of local Primaries - all relatively decent but with very large in-takes. Both my Stepdaughter and DSIL want to move out of the area to bring up the children they don’t have yet but have stayed as they have a rent free house (courtesy of his Mother) and low income.

Again - apologies to anyone living there, you might hate what I like! Have you considered swapping Kent for Essex? You should be able to get something in a better part of Thanet for £350K and the commute to East London is do-able.

If you have family and friends in outer London (Chingford, Chigwell etc), have you seen what you might get for your budget? It might be mostly big flats, but the odd house may also slip in there - eg this house in Chingford looks like good value for money:
www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/55548248?utm_source=v1:5bWFDybfWx7C7AGpeagt7mP3PgcqjuqJ&utm_medium=api

And after the stamp duty cutoff there might be more bargains.

Sorry just saw that’s an auction property, which can be tricky to buy if you’re using a mortgage. But there are others (which mostly need some modernisation). But something to consider, particularly if you include 2 bed houses with potential to extend into the roof later on.

Agree with pp. All of those areas are soul destroying, nothing apart from houses, council estates, a few shops and empty pubs. Chafford hundred has a few good primary schools as does Purfleet.

It has gone up in price recently and is also known as a bit rough but Harold Hill would be a better alternative. The area has been regenerated in the last 10 years, millions has been invested by the council so there's a lot for kids plus shops, good transport links, parks. If you could get a 3-bed terrace somewhere around 'the manor' forest it's not bad around there.

For pp who suggested Loughton, that would be ideal but you'd never get anything in your price bracket there!

Agree completely with all the other posters, those areas are really not worth looking at, regardless of what time your husband commutes, something happens on the Dartford crossing so regularly and has such an awful knock on effect on roads surrounding those areas it needs to be taken into account.

With the greatest respect your budget won't get you much in Cranham and definitely not Loughton, could you stretch a little more? Cranham is a much nicer area than what you are looking at, Upminster high street, although a lot has closed recently, still has plenty going on and the schools are outstanding as well as having a lovely park. Also look at Elm Park/South Hornchurch you may get something if you are prepared to do work. Also agree with a PP, look around Chingford, I lived in Woodford before moving to this area and you can still pick up a few things at the lower end.

If you could push your budget slightly, then maybe the cheaper bits of Loughton/Debden? That's a pretty nice area. I have friends in Loughton and Buckhurst Hill. My parents lived in Waltham Abbey for a few years.

Also, just to give an update - the long term goal (prob in 10 years or so) is to move to Chelmsford but at the moment we need to be close to London for work commitments so I wouldn't be looking for my lifetime home just somewhere that fits the bill in terms of commute for now
I'm honestly so shocked at how negative everyone is towards those areas but do value your opinions, unfortunately our budget can't really stretch any further we come from poor families so don't have the luxury of being gifted cash like so many others I know - we have worked hard to come up with the 15% deposit we need to get on the property ladder which for us is a massive achievement in itself and I really don't want to buy a flat - I have my hopes set on a house with a garden but I would take a big 2 bed over a smaller 3 bed