Isleworth- good place to live?

[Pottedpalm]

Currently in a flat in Twickenham/Richmond area and looking for somewhere not too far away but cheaper! Would hope to buy a family house for around £650,000. Isleworth looks promising. Would probably need to get into central London a couple of days a week max. Are there particular parts of Isleworth to avoid? Any observations on the area? Thanks.

I’m wondering if there is a better place to post this? It’s mostly practical stuff here 😄

I'm fairly local though haven't lived in Isleworth so I might be biased against it. I personally wouldn't live there because of Mogdon (the waste processing plant) the traffic is pretty bad and being right on the flight path.

If you're only into London a couple of days a week you could look at Lower Sunbury, the trains take about 50 mins into Waterloo but there's the river with some good pubs and nice parks. The schools are good.

Not sure exactly how many bedrooms you'd want etc but this is an example www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/104158268#/

Thank you. I wasn’t aware of the waste plant; does it smell? I suppose there has to be a reason for cheaper house prices!

I think it depends on the wind direction. I used to drive to work that way and some days it was definitely worse than others. There are probably parts of Isleworth that are better than others though. There are bits down by the river in Old Isleworth that are lovely. Alternatively have you had a look at Hampton? It's a bit further out but still zone 6 and very family orientated, nice parks etc again. Your budget won't go as far as Isleworth or Lower Sunbury but you'd get more for your money.

Have you had a drive around the area, I know it's been difficult with lockdown but you might feel differently about it to me? There's always a compromise isn't there!

I agree re Mogden, you'll definitely smell it. Hampton is much nicer IMO.

It does depend where you are for mogdon. It has some days where there’s no smell (like the day I looked around a potential house share years ago) and other days when it stinks (like the day I moved into the house share...).
Have you considered whitton? Hampton is also a bit cheaper but less well connected. We gave up trying to find something in the area and baled out to Woking / Guildford area. I still miss twickenham, though. But by the time we’d managed to buy something we could have afforded, we wouldn’t have been in any of the areas we wanted to be in, so figured it was better to start over.

Oh no! Please don't be put off my Mogden, it is absolutely not an issue. I've been here for 7 years and I promise you, I almost never smell it. Neither does my DH who has an extremely sensitive nose. It's maybe detectable a handful of days a year, after sustained heavy rain when the wind is blowing in a certain direction. Even then, it isn't terrible - just vaguely a very faint 'drains' smell that's gone in just a few hours. Most of the storm drains are now covered, so it's nowhere near the issue it once was. The roads immediately surrounding it are worse, but they are easily spotted on a map, the vast majority of Isleworth is totally fine - great in fact! We love it here - good schools, good transport links, (relatively) affordable properties, decent amenities, good sense of community, close to the river, it's a great place to raise a family.

I can help you with specific areas if you like? What is your criteria for a house, other than budget?

I lived in Isleworth and I'm going to be really honest, some of it does smell at times but not as bad as it was. One house right near Mogden was so bad we had to cancel the viewing as my hungover DH was retching. You can google Mogden Pong to see local press stories about it.

Old Isleworth is really nice, though quite far from the train station. The trains did get busy into London but probably not as much now. It has good schools, though, and is cheaper than, say, St Margaret's. Good for getting into central London, and nice to be near Kew Gardens, too.

@QuantumWeatherButterfly
Thanks for taking the time; I’m actually looking for my son, he has a flat in St Margarets and loves the area, but no way they could afford a family house there.
Is the aircraft noise worse than in St M/ Twickenham area? Living in rural Warwickshire it all sounds horrendous to me when I visit, but they seem used to it!

@Tinselandlights
Thank you; I will do some research on the Pong 🙂

Well, you’ll get aircraft noise anywhere in west/south west London. It does vary depending on exactly where you are. If you’re directly under a flight path (there are 3 different ones that they rotate) it will be bad, if you’re not then it’s not an issue. Even 1/4 mile makes a difference. So this one depends on exactly where you are any exactly where you’re considering buying. I doubt he’d notice much difference between Isleworth and St Margaret’s

Re: the smell - it really has improved in recent years. It definitely was an issue a while back, but covering most the storm basins has made a huge difference. Recent/current experience really matters here. Personally, I wouldn’t buy on the bottom end of Worton Road, Hillary Drive or Mogden Lane/Beaumont Place as these all border the plant, but other than that, it won’t be a problem.

With a £650k budget, you would get a 3 bed semi on the Woodlands Estate with a decent garden, a smallish 2/3 bed terrace in the Linkfield Road area, or a 2 bed terrace in the roads off South Street. All nice areas. You sometimes see townhouses on White Lodge Place and Academy Place for that sort of price, but normally they are a lot more than that so I always assume there’s some issue with them. I’ll post some links later when I have more time.

Many thanks!

I used to live in St Margarets. If I were looking at Isleworth I'd aim for Old Isleworth or the Isleworth/ St Margarets borders and commute from St Margarets (which is one stop from Richmond).

I was worried about Mogden when I moved to the area but have only noticed it once.

I could not live in Isleworth due to the airplane noise. It was the worst decision of my life to try and live in Isleworth.