Narrowing down the London commuter belt

[Alexahelp]

Hi,

We’re hoping to move house next year. Lucky enough to have two reasonable salaries, but want more space for a growing family and greater time spent WFH. So far, so standard.

We currently live in outer NE London but finding the choice of places we could move to completely overwhelming with few ties to narrow it down. No set family locations to move to nearby, friends are either very much in London or all over the country. We still need to be on a mainline to any of the stations south of the river. We don’t really want to leave London lifestyle at all but needs must. And we can’t afford to move to St Albans!

If you’ve been in a similar situation, how did you narrow it down other than spending endless weekends traipsing around commuter towns?

Thanks for any inspiration!

How many bedrooms do you want and how much money do you have to spend? Do you/will you need state secondary schools? Do you want a city, town, village or rural vibe? If urban, how much do you care about proximity to green space? How long a train journey into waterloo/London Bridge will you accept?

That should narrow things down a bit.

Commute time and cost. You’ve got the journey from home to the station, the season ticket costs (and maybe parking), potential extra tube costs and the time from whatever station you end up at to your actual place of work.
Work out both how long you’re each prepared to commute for and how much extra it’s going to cost you.

I used the train map to narrow it down. Printed off hard copy then used trainlone.com and highlighted any station with

Yes to all the practical stuff- there is a massive difference in what you can buy for your money in many places so you really need to be clear and realistic about your priorities. If it is walking to the station and a lively high street then the reality is that you’re going to be unlikely to get the massive garden and off street parking for 6 people! Be aware that in the most popular areas you may not get much more than in London but you will probably get the lifestyle benefits. Most of all once you’ve narrowed it down, go and spend as much time there as you can, not just looking at houses but also going to the local shops, cafes, pubs, parks etc. The most common things people seem to find that puts them off a new area and regret a move is the “feel” of the place and the people, which can’t be worked out on paper.

Definitely think about how long you are prepared in totalto commute and look at train lines and distances from the station both ends. If you need London Bridge/ Waterloo, then Kent, East Sussex and Surrey are your key areas. What's your budget and how long do you want to spend on a train? Kent has the 11+, would that be ok for you?

Eg Tunbridge Wells is a lovely town is under 45mins train journey to London Bridge, but housing stock is pricy and you might have a long walk to the station.

North is better connected and sometimes faster to get in kings Cross/Euston and tube down.

Anyway I have the same issue and have no idea where to move. Have studied train maps etc and looked into so many places and none the wiser. A big issue for me is (secondary) schools.

As others have said, it would be useful to know the ages of your DC. Are you looking at state or private schooling. And what kind of budget do you have to spend on a house. Plus which London train station(s) would be the most convenient for you to arrive at 😊

I don’t live in London any more — fucked it off and moved to Scotland — but in my previous experience, and that of many of my friends, an element of traipsing around commuter towns is unavoidable. One person’s Guildford is another’s Godawful.

Do you want Surbia? But good trains within London zones ( so cheaper travel?) it really depends there's are lots of towns south east which are very much not London but still commutable. I didn't really realise how well connected these places were until I moved much much further out for cheaper housing.

You could try Orpington / Petts wood very not a London.

If you want more London feel try Eltham, Lee

There are websites (totalLondon or others) that show all the commuter stations that go into different Londonnstations with times, price of season ticket, price of typical house.

Every year, usually in Jan there numerous articles about best value commuter place, cheapest, fastest journey, best ratio of house price to length of journey etc. Just google these to get an idea.

Key things to consider are if you want LOndon suburbs (ie Zone 5/6 within M25) which has a difffernt feel, to commuter towns outside M25. Sometimes price of season ticket can be quite different but not always, and likewise, journey time can differ a lot.

Popular pleases for commuting into Waterloo from within M25 seem to be Surbiton, Esther, Weybridge.

If you go outside M25 there are places like Redhill, Dorking, Oxted which all go into LOndon Bridge and/or Victoria, with fastest trains being just over 30 mins.

You can go a bit further out into the Home Counties such as Guildford, Winchester but journebtines and price of commute grows. House prices don’t necessarily fall.

If you’re a regular commuter, being near a station (walking distance) could be important, but will have a premium price.

Look at schools too….do careful research as often these places have some great schools …but tight catchment areas and often no catchment area, but a reducing area drawn from each year.

I’d start by thinking whether it’s suburbia and within M25, just outside it in the market towns which oerhaos gave 30-40 min commutes, or further into the depths of the Home Counties.

Thanks all! Lots to think about. I think we definitely need to use the commuting time map and pick out some yes and nos. Blackfriars and Waterloo are probably where we’ll start. We’re already in zone 5 and I think we want to be in a proper town rather than somewhere that’s still suburbia - which I imagine means fast train lines are key. DC are 18 months and on the way, so a way to go till the secondary stress, but we want to be settled by primary selection time.

@Heronwatcher you’re very right about the ‘feel’ - think this is what’s so intimidating! We want to put down roots, having been lucky to live in fantastic towns I’d happily recreate as a teen and paranoid about getting the choice wrong!

[quote Skysblue]I used the train map to narrow it down. Printed off hard copy then used trainlone.com and highlighted any station with

Not sure what your budget is op, but you could have a look at Sevenoaks, Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells, all of which are on the Hastings 1066 trainline which goes into London Bridge, Waterloo East and Charing Cross. Those towns would tick quite a few of your criteria especially Tunbridge Wells.