Moving to Newbury : places to avoid

[MrsYip]

Hi we are looking to move to Newbury. The town seems quite nice with some good comments. But the crime rate looks high. Do people feel safe living there? Any places to avoid? We are focusing on area close to the train station? Is that area ok? If I need to commute to London for work one to two days a week, is it feasible ? Any sharing or thoughts would be very helpful. Thank you!

I've been there loads of times & I didn't think crime was a problem at all! Has a nice maket town vibe. I'd certainly say it felt much more safe than nearby Reading or Basingstoke.

Around the racecourse is nice off Westwood road, avoid the nightingales and pigeons farm in the greenham area, up near Tesco is nice and not too far from the station. Wash common is lovely, and close to park house and at Barts which are very good schools. And within 20-30 min walk of train station. I never lived the other side of Newbury so don’t know as much detail.
Hope that helps

I was brought up in Newbury and my family still live there. My experience is that it's very safe - much more so than London. Lots of people commute into London a couple of times per week. Station area is ok but not the nicest bit of town - I'd aim to get a bit further up the hill towards Wash Common, perhaps? School wise, St Bart's and Park House are both good state schools. I think the station area would probably mean you'd be looking at St Bart's for your kids.

I'd say the only downside to Newbury is that it's a bit dull. I was desperate to get out and see a bit of the world, but I was apparently unusual as loads of my friends from school have moved back as adults.

I lived in Newbury for a few years - it was nice. We lived in Speen which was just outside the town centre - about 20 mins walk from the station. I would say that commuting to London is a bit of a drag as you have to change at Reading so it's not that quick - but if it's only a couple of days a week it may not be so bad.

Thank you very much for the sharing! It's very useful.

Hi, may I also ask if flooding in Newbury would be a great issue? It seems quite a lot of area is under flooding risk

By the way there are direct trains to London, you don’t need to change at Reading. I commute regularly and it’s fine.

I like Wash Common too. And Speen / Donnington.

Lived here 20 years, always felt safe. It can be a bit dull if you are used to a bustling city, I used to live in London, but it’s been a great place to bring up the kids.

Old thread but I can't stand the area around Newbury. My in laws live there and I think it is a middle England hellhole, no nice architecture, no proper countryside, nothing going on, not a nice pub lunch to be had anywhere. I've been going nearly 10 years now and it has not grown on me!

I regularly visit Newbury & surrounding areas & don't recognise that at all!
For starters, the countryside, particularly to the north, west up the Lambourn valley, or eastwards towards Combe, is fantastic.

Don't recognise it either lived here 25 years had a fabulous pub meal only last week. It may not be Yorkshire, but it has some pretty good countryside.
Architecture - depends what you like. Pretty normal market town with pretty villages.

I disagree completely.