Maidenhead... Does anyone know much about the area?

[velvetviolet]

Hey!

We are a young couple and have seen our first house we would love to purchase in Maidenhead! We aren't from the area and wondered if anyone knows much about Maidenhead itself (in particular living near the centre). Or are there nearby areas that are better (bearing in mind we don't have a huge budget!).

Most importantly - Is it a safe place to live / is there much crime? Is there a community feel? As a young couple would be great to know if it has other young couples / young families in the area so we feel like we fit in?

I also have to commute into London, is this an OK commute? Waiting on the crossrail long term which hopefully isn't too many years away now!

Would love to hear if anyone knows more about the area - thank you!

Bumping as also looking at Maidenhead or Taplow

I used to live in Maidenhead and still work there. The town is not very nice. Its a great place to commute to London though

Name changed for this! I moved to Taplow about 18 months ago and I love it! Beautiful countryside, sone great pubs and feels safer than the rough parts of Burnham and Maidenhead. Likewise we are waiting on cross rail but house prices are already on the up.

Many of the close surrounding areas are lovely - Marlow, Boune End, Cookham etc, but Maidenhead itself is pretty rough. It's an easy commute to Paddington though.

It's expensive to live there because of the proximity to London rather than the fact that it's a nice place to live.

@squiggy is Burnham rough? We are looting move there as it is so close to Burnham Beeches and Cliveden for country walks plus upcoming crossrail for commuting. Was hoping to move to one of the streets at the edge of the town close to Lambourne golf club

@hodgewell1 There are some lovely houses there and Burnham beeches is lovely but the town itself we find a bit rough e.g rundown pubs and shops although I haven’t seen any major antisocial behaviour. We are considering moving in a couple years and would prefer to keep Taplow as our nearest station to walk to although we can walk to both Taplow village and Burnham town from where we are.

Maidenhead town centre isn't great for shops but has recently been regenerated. The Riverside area is nice.
Some parts of Maidenhead are quite a long way from the station if that's an issue.
Taplow is nice as are other villages near Maidenhead.
Burnham is nice but bits of it are a bit too close to the less nice parts of Slough.

Maidenhead IMO doesn't live up to its 'gin and jag' reputation but it's ok.

Thanks @squiggy. This is helpful. We are going to focus on the outskirts of Burnham near the countryside so hopefully away from the parts of the town that are not as nice. We like Taplow but the housing stock is limited for the type and size of house we would like

@Squiggy thinking of taplow too. Do you just end up going to Maidenhead for groceries etc? Heard taplow is very rural.
Also the train form Maidenhead is quicker to London I've heard?

There is a big Tescos and Sainsburys very near me and we are getting a Waitrose soon. I go into Maidenhead for dentists and hairdressers but not really for anything else. For pubs/food there is the Oak and Saw, Taplow House Hotel, a long with the Pineapple when we just fancy sandwiches and a drink along with lots on Maidenhead riverside within walking distance.

With cross rail, Taplow will be quicker than Maidenhead on those trains but there are also some fast trains from Paddington to Maidenhead that don’t stop at the smaller stations like Taplow, Burnham, Langley etc.

Name changed for this as it's very outing!

I live very near Taplow. It's a lovely village, close to great amenities, supermarkets etc. I wouldn't consider it rural at all really - Maidenhead and Slough are ever encroaching.

Maidenhead is a bit grim, just how all towns seem to be now though rather than anything sinister. I think Burnham is seriously grim if I'm honest!

Commute to London is great from Maidenhead, Taplow and Burnham - and only getting better too.

@Squiggy where is the Waitrose going?! I currently hate sitting in all the traffic (temporary for those thinking of moving!) to get to Waitrose in Maidenhead!

@iliveclosetothis I’m not sure how big it’s going to be or whether just a mini one but there are (or were) signs for it by the petrol station opposite Miller and Carter where they are doing all the building works.

Ohhhh yes, of course! Thanks!

Maidenhead is pretty shit. I live there through circumstance not choice - I would never choose it. Town center is dire, though not as bad as Slough. Even if you live on a nice street you'll only be round the corner from a less desirable one. North Town is not particularly nice and around the Bomber Estate is also a questionable, with one particular crack alley road. There's plenty of petty crime and I worry about the kids falling in with the bad crowd but I don't feel particularly threatened in general.

Marlow and Bourne End are nicer. River area of MH is also nicer.

Commute from Maidenhead to central London is pricey.

If you can choose to go somewhere else then I would. Property is unjustifiably expensive. What is it that's appealing to you?

Agree with last post. I haven't been there in a while but I grew up near there. I wouldn't describe it as being dangerous, it's just a bit Chavtastic. An alarming number of people I went to school with ended up as drug addicts, which says it all really.

I used to work in Maidenhead. The town centre is very run down, mostly pound shops etc, but there are some decent residential areas in the Riverside part.

Don’t really know Taplow.

Burnham is very close to Slough, which is pretty grim, so I’d suggest going as far as poss from the Slough side.

Maidenhead is a bit underwhelming to be honest, although there’s lots of development in the centre of town at the moment. However, they’re mainly building hundreds and hundreds of starter homes rather than facilities and amenities, and as the town centre was never that great to begin with its all a little bit soulless. To be fair a couple of nice restaurants/cafes have popped up in the last couple of years, but not nearly as much as you’d expect for the number of new homes they’re building there. There’s some beautiful houses in the St Mark’s Road area but that’s a bit further out of town. The riverside area is probably the nicest part of Maidenhead, and there is a huge new residential development on the Taplow side of the river there, which looks really lovely but is ££££.
As others have mentioned, the surrounding villages are much nicer, Marlow, Cookham, Bourne End. All of these would require you to jump on the branch line 2-4 stops to get to Maidenhead to get the fast trains into London. I haven’t done the commute recently- but from pre Covid times my experience was that when the commute works it’s great, but GWRs service and reliability could be pretty patchy at times. Also bear in mind that like all towns this far out of London rail fares are very expensive.

If you can bear to be one stop further along the train line, I’d choose Twyford over Maidenhead. Lovely mix of rural outlying areas but with good facilities and lots of young couples and families. I’ve lived in the surrounding Twyford villages for 25 years and avoid Maidenhead if I can. As others have said, Maidenhead town centre has gone downhill for a decade now and whilst the new developments are more positive, I’m not sure it’s enough. Bracknell town centre is way better for shopping and eating so many people from Mhd head there now.

From visits to the area the northern end of Burnham as you drive towards Lambourne golf club and Burnham beeches golf club both have quite a semi rural feel with character. Only a short drive to Burnham and taplow stations and close to Cliveden for weekend visits too.

If you are thinking of starting a family than worth checking out the school catchment for where you are going to life to make sure you are happy with the school.
findmyschool.co.uk/
Marlow is great and amazing schools but more expensive than maidenhead and taplow.

Maidenhead town centre has had a recent facelift, but the shops are still pretty much the same - not great.

Burnham is ok but watch out for 'Burnham Borders', as it probably means the Britwell borders.

Which area of London do you need to commute to? Places like Berkhamsted in Herts or Wendover in Bucks are nicer.

Berkhamsted is lovely but you can’t get a spacious detached house with a big garden and character for our budget there and we are moving for those factors. My DH travels to Liverpool Street/Moorgate and I go into Kings Cross but may be moving to at Paul’s so faringdon on crossrail works well.

I was thinking about the op. Obviously Berko is expensive but you get what you pay for. East London is best served by being East of London for that commute.