Can anyone tell me about Clapham/Balham/Between the Commons?

[Househuntinghenrietta]

I’ve namechanged for this but I’m currently looking for a house in the above areas for myself and DH. We are planning on ttc early next year. We currently live in a peripheral area nearby, so I don’t have real insight into particular roads, but I like the area generally (green space on the commons, shopping on Northcote, Battersea Park, driving into town easily).

We have a healthy budget to get a 4-bed house with garden. Only thing putting me off a bit is that I’d really like a nice road with lots of friendly families who will be around for a while. I know from experience the area can tend towards young graduates who stay for a year and can be a bit noisy. I’d like to join a church and find baby groups etc and feel part of a community.

Any thoughts appreciated on areas to choose or avoid? We like between the commons and Nightingale triangle, less familiar with the Heaver Estate and towards Balham but could consider it if it means larger house/garden. I’ve seen a lovely house off Webb’s Road towards the north end of BTC but the street lacks the nice family vibe I’m hoping for.

Does it have to be those areas? Would the budget you have stretch to somewhere like Southfields/ Wimbledon park? There are some beautiful houses, with lots of friendly families that seem to stay put for years. There are some wonderful schools locally and good transport links.
I can name three good churches within the area that are very welcoming and can bring the community together. Only thing I can't comment on is the baby groups.

I know the area well. It tends to uniformly attract people who are working either as lawyers, financiers, or other very well paid jobs (hedge funds etc). It’s got many lovely things about it but it depends whether that’s the type of vibe you want, you won’t find many people who work independently in the media or the arts for example. Some people who live there for a long time might do but these won’t be the people you meet on the school run. Like many areas of London people tend to move out for secondary schools, in particular if you don’t want to go through the stress of applying for private schools and if you don’t necessarily want to pay private school fees (for two or three children it is absolutely punishing even for very high earners). If you’re happy to go down the private school route then I think you’d keep some friends throughout. If you do decide to go for this area then I would research state primary school admission areas very carefully, as you’re not guaranteed to get into one of the sought after schools from everywhere, the catchment areas can be very small. The other thing to bear in mind is that the houses have very small gardens. For many people (particularly those who may have had two or more kids) this can become very difficult. That said I think for many teenagers it’s a lovely place to be where you can socialise with friends and you don’t have to be ferried around by your parents. Like the poster above you might want to go out a little bit further, to Southfields Wimbledon Park or even part of tooting to get a more long-term community feel and perhaps a bigger house or a bigger garden. I also have friends in Southfields and Wimbledon Park and it’s a lovely area for families, with slightly better state school options for secondary.

@SocialPhobia21 we looked at Southfields and thought it looked lovely but that transport wasn’t brilliant as there’s no national rail, so you have to go via Wimbledon. We also liked Wimbledon but questioned moving a bit further out for a similar type of property (budget is 1.75). I think my anxiety was also a bit of a hinderance to moving to an area I don’t know as well as Clapham/Balham.

I’m pretty sure I know the house you’re referring to, is it a Victorian double fronted? If yes, firstly it’s gorgeous and secondly it’s a great location for families, my 4YO has lots of friends from her school nursery that live around there. I’m not sure about baby groups but there are great state and private schools in the area so it’s very popular with young families.

Ah maybe it’s not the house I was thinking of if budget is 1.75. I know someone who viewed a gorgeous house off the north end of Webb’s Rd but it was 2 million! Still, I maintain it’s a great area for families and there’s some great housing stock

@Heronwatcher thank you. Small gardens are definitely a compromise. We’ve thought about moving for 5 years then going a bit further out - we both feel we’re not quite ready for a bigger move yet. I know what you mean about the vibe - I was glad that the area went Labour in the last couple of general elections. I have a few friends nearby through an exercise class who are not hedge fund types which helps! And hopefully finding a church will also help meet new people. There are just so many things that I do like about the area

@LakeShoreD I know the one you mean. Very close by. The roads aren’t quite as nice there as some of the roads further down between the commons IMO but it is a nice house. It feels a little more rental heavy though

How about this one in Wimbledon? Great location as it's equidistant between Wimbledon and South Wimbledon, as well as pretty close to the tram stop at Merton Park too. Just over £1.5m so within your budget.

Very much a family area with good schools and local parks.

Heaver Estate is lovely and full of young families with Tooting Common at the southern end. £1.75 should get you a good-sized house there, no problem.

With that budget I'd second the Heaver estate, plenty of great properties and a family feel. Quite a few churches/church schools too.

@BIWI that’s lovely! Could be worth us having a look down that way.

I think we need to have a wander round the Heaver estate. Is it well served for cafes/shops or do you walk over to Northcote Road? Are there any roads to avoid?

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/111195233#/?channel=RES_BUY

From this one you would likely get a place at St Michael’s school in southfields (especially if you go to church)

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/107517782#/?channel=RES_BUY

From this one you’d probably get into Wimbledon Park primary which is very sought after and it’s much closer to the little high street and park.

Loads of people commute in so I would definitely consider where you need to go and different routes, plus how often you would need to do them.

The houses in the Heaver estate are indeed lovely, but parking around those streets is shocking. My ex-business partner used to live in Tooting Bec and there were times she had to park in the next street - and very rarely able to park outside her own house - a nightmare if you have small children you're trying to ferry around, or bring in your weekly shop.

Oh and st Michael’s church Southfields is very active with a young vibe, coffee shop, baby groups etc, I would definitely check it out.

That’s interesting about parking - is it people going to Tooting Common or just volume of people? I drove over to the Common the other week and parked around Terrapin Road and thought it looked quite nice around there

@BIWI thanks for the links. I think that if we are moving further afield, ie towards Southfields then I would definitely want a semi or detached with driveway to justify it, if that makes sense.

No, it's the sheer amount of cars owned by people who live there.

I’ve just sold in Balham after twenty years there (5 in a flat in the Nightingale Triangle and fifteen on the other side of Balham High Road near Clapham South), and bought in the area on a budget of up to £2m. We ended up buying something well below budget in Streatham Hill to fix up as my children go to school in Dulwich so easier to get to from that side, and we were able to find a semi-detached house with a huge garden by leaving Balham. Heaver is great but parking is very difficult (my sister lives in the Heaver and it’s a constant nightmare). There are good cafes - fewer (if any) good shops compared to Northcote Road. Heaver is great if either of you are commuting into the city given proximity to the tube.

We have found you get less for your money over on Nightingale triangle/ Northcote Road side. Even at £1.75m the houses on the market when we were looking were often mid terrace with small gardens - though beautifully renovated etc.

The biggest problem at that price point was houses haven’t been coming up much and when they do there’s a lot of interest. £1.75-£2m is a fortune but apparently is a very common price point in the area. Lots of houses go in private sales or before hitting the market so worth asking around if anyone knows of people thinking of selling. This year we were gazumped on one house (£1.75m) mark, and the one we bought went to ‘best and final’ with eight parties bidding and we’ve ended up £250k above asking as despite best and final one party kept the offers coming right up to a few days before we exchanged.

Good luck! I hope you find the perfect home. For us it’s been a long and tricky search but hopefully the market will calm down now!

Cheriton Square in Balham always had a good community feel

The trouble is that people are always moving in and out of London's, so you can expect new neighbiutprs frequentky.

I think your 'anchors' are more likely to be the church and school communities, on the general basis that everyone will be within walking distance even if nor next door. So for between the Commons, look at St Marks Church (I think it's an offshoot if HTB - is that your sort of thing?) Or do you want a denomination other than Cof E?

Schools would be Belleville or Honeywell (for state sector) or Dolphin (private, Christian) or a range of other preps.

Thank you @RenovatingRita. It’s been our experience too that there just isn’t much coming up in our budget. We’ve registered with quite a few agents but I was hoping they might have a more coming up privately that don’t make it onto the big websites. Then the ones that do and don’t get snapped up look suspicious! The house that @LakeShoreD mentioned is a good example as it’s been on the market a while! We wouldn’t want to go any further east than Heaver due to getting out of London to see family, but agree that there are some lovely roads around Streatham.

@SquirmOfEels I’m not too tied to a denomination as I’ve attended both c of e and Baptist before - it’s more about finding the right church with good leadership and a friendly community minded congregation. I’ll look into St Marks.

Perhaps I’m being a bit too idealistic in wanting nice neighbours, but some of the roads we’ve seen have nice little street gardens and bunting and have a friendly vibe with nicely kept front gardens

Be mindful that these areas are pretty quiet (for london) at the moment due to summer holidays. As the area is now so wealthy it tends to empty out during summer. So if you're driving round things like congestion, parking & background street level noise won't be a true representation.

We’ve recently bought in the Clapham/Balham area. We shortlisted all the outstanding schools in the area and searched only in the catchment areas. It made it a very difficult search but we’ve managed to find somewhere to live in for the duration of Primary schooling. Although our child isn’t school age yet! The deeper you go into Balham and Tooting you will get the family and neighbourly vibe. We’ve heard our street has a street party and neighbours introduced themselves to us!!! Of all my years living in between Clapham Common and Balham, I never knew my neighbours! The other similar areas are Clapham Common Northside, Clapham Common West on the other side of the tennis courts etc. Old Town has great nurseries but your neighbours are more likely to be professional couples and not families.

@Bumbledee that’s lovely to hear about your neighbours - having a street party would be lovely!
There are some lovely roads off the West side of the common down towards Clapham South station. We would definitely rule out Old Town though as it gets so rowdy around there on a Friday night! It is nice to have it there for a weekend walk and coffee though

I have friends living that side (off Chestnut Grove) and 'their' church was on Ramsden Road (CofE), which they found friendly (albeit a bit Anya-Hindmarsh-my-dear, but I suspect that's Balham/Clapham generally). THeir children went to Honeywell infant and primary, which was very sought after at that point (I am talking 20 years back) and their assiduous attendance at the church enabled their children to get into good church secondary schools, albeit quite a way out of area (public transport, not walking distance I mean). Driving is hard work around there, but you have good transport links and lots going on locally. London kids can jump on buses and trains from 11 for school and activities and this builds independence and good sense. Gardens will be small, you are likely to live in a terrace with minimal frontage for that money (bikes in the hallway/cellar, bins always out the front of the house). But it's a good place to start a family for urban couples. My friends did spend 15 years trying to move for more space and less congestion, but in the end, just gave up the unequal struggle of trying to balance change with everyone's work, school, friendship groups and extended the house.

Good luck with the hunt!

@Tightwad2020 I know just the church you mean and have to say that was my impression from research, though it does seem a friendly place.

I can very much relate to the dilemma of space vs friendship groups and having lots of nice things going on in the area. From talking to DH, we see this as a fairly short term - 5-10yr move before heading out for a bit more space (detached house, garage, proximity to ageing parents etc). We’re just not quite ready to make the leap further out yet, especially with home working and having lots on our doorstep, especially when a baby comes along

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