Any info about St Marks area of Cheltenham?

[Triggles]

Looking at a property there. Good area? Bad? Any info would be appreciated! Thanks!

I used to live there aged 10-18 at the council flats on Edinburgh Place just around the corner. I used to sing in the choir of St Marks Church
It was thought of as quite a 'poor' area in those days compared to some of rather posh Cheltenham, but panic not, the getting-seedy council flats at EP have been mostly knocked down and replaced with good quality housing. Good range of shops at Edinburgh Place (Coronation Square) by the way and a decent library.

It's not by any means the best area of Cheltenham but certainly isn't truly horrible. The deputy headmaster of one of Chelt's extremely posh private schools used to live (probably still does) right opposite the Libertus Road shops in St Marks and there are some nice Victorian houses in Church Road opposite St Mark's Church which were bought up by yuppie types. Some decent houses in Arle Road too and lots of nursing homes. However, it's very close to Princess Elizabeth Way which is mostly council flats and very ugly, but again these are scheduled to be knocked down and rebuilt. The town's very prestigious state grammar school, Pate's, is on PEW, very handy should your DCs win a place Don't know much about the primary schools, I imagine it would be Monkscroft which you could look up via OFSTED.

I haven't lived there for nearly 30 years so my info is a bit out of date, however I do drive round thereabouts frequently to collect my daughter from Pate's, and I'd say it was on the up rather than a downwards trend. Big park/playing fields very close at hand by the way and good buses to the centre and Chelt's railway station is just about walkable.

Hope that helps until someone who knows it better or lives there can come along.

I went to st marks school! - but thats across the road in the benhall estate.

Could you give the name of the road or a name of the road next to it? as st marks is quite a big bit of area. Innafulls description is very good.

did you go to the school 'MC' innafull?

I lived in Rowanfield for a while which isn't far from St Marks, It isn't the best area to be honest although we never had any problems and it was quite a nice community. Furball - DH went to Bennies

I used to live just off Princess Elizabeth Way!

What age are your children Triggles? Have you looked into the schools?

It's on Shelley Rd, just off PEW and Gloucester Rd. Kids are 1 and 2, so yes, eventually schools would come into play.

I used to know someone who lived on Shelley Rd, it's not the best area but there are worse. Have you looked at any others, what budget have you got?

Schools will come in to play much quicker than you think, so I would definitely look around at schools before you make a final decision.

Don't know the area that well, but have heard that Monkscroft primary is closing next year:
www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/media/adobe_acrobat/b/5/monkscroft%20notice.pdf
You will probably be applying for schools when eldest is 3, for entry at 4.

I had seen that Monkscroft may be closing, but then I saw on another site that it wasn't. So I will have to contact them and find out what the latest news is regarding that, I suppose. I don't mind if the area is a little rough at present, as it sounds like it's slowly improving, with the flats being replaced. We're willing to stick around for the long haul. But I wanted to make sure I didn't get 90 messages saying "RUN! RUN FOR THE HILLS! DON'T GO THERE!" LOL

Hello Furball, no I didn't go to MC, we moved to PEW when I was already in the last year of another primary and my Mum didn't want to move me - so it was a long bus ride for me for a year!

I'm glad you haven't been put off by the sound of it, Triggles. As others have said, it's really quite a nice little community and many of the council houses are now privately owned and well cared for. Oh and I grew up round those parts and I survived and I'm very nice