Northolt/Wembley/Greenford/Perivale area

[Mycareer20222]

Hi,

I am looking for a small house in west london area - budget is £600k and I have seen houses in the above areas in that price range. I don’t know the areas well so would be grateful for some help. It would need to be a property I do up but I just need a decent area. Please can anyone tell me where to avoid and where is ok?

Thanks

We lived in Perivale for a few years and it was fine. At the time we also considered Greenford and Northolt but dismissed the latter as we didn't like the feel of the area. Wembley we didn't like. Perivale is suburban, 1930s houses, decent transport links (Central line and buses to Ealing Broadway), good primary schools. There is a huge Tesco (Hoover building by the A40). We moved away mainly due to the lack of secondary schools.

You can get a small house for that in a good area if you move a bit further out. What drives that area of London? If you are looking out as far as Northolt you might want to look at Ruislip a stop further down the line. There are still small houses at that price in some parts.

Of that list I'd avoid Northolt.

Wembley is hugely varied - depends a lot on which part of Wembley - there are cheap and expensive parts.

Greenford/Perfivale, as pp says - metroland suburban with the associated links.

Yes personally none of those areas would be top of my list. If you're looking as far as Northolt then look at all the next surrounding areas - ruislip etc which is SO much nicer than any of those you mentioned.

Thank you so much for the reply. The main drive is to be close to family in Ealing. I will look at Perivale and Ruislip.

The areas you give are not really that nice (sorry). Ruislip (not S Ruislip or Ruislip Gardens), Eastcote and especially Ickenham are much much nicer.

Your budget will get you a 2 bed/2 bed & box in a nicer part of this area … what do you NEED/what do you want in your future home?

also, Ruislip has trains as well as tubes - they go to Marylebone

Hello, please can you give me a steer on the Ruislip vs S Ruislip or Ruislip Gardens? Is it just places that are close to Ruislip station. They all seem to be within . Xx m of each other which makes it confusing. Thanks.

The area around ruislip high street is typically seen as the 'best' part of ruislip (essentially north above the tube line). Property in this part tends to be the priciest, right through to Northwood and then over to Ickenham too. Ruislip Manor decent too. Eastcote a little cheaper and South Ruislip/ruislip gardens tend to be less desirable again (but I'd still pick them over Northolt/Greenford you originally mentioned.

Hi @Mycareer20222 , I agree with @Charmer7 . Most desirable areas are close to High St & up towards Northwood

And then Ickenham (and the parts of W Ruislip close to that eg Wood Lane)

Eastcote nice & cheaper

S Ruislip to be avoided, I disagree with PP I don’t really like Ruislip Manor either

About the tube - no wonder you are confused there are billions of them :)

Ickenham is on the Met Line

West Ruislip is on Central Line AND Chiltern Line train line which goes to Marylebone (and in the other direction High Wycombe - but usually only a couple of trains an hour)

Ruislip Station is on Met line (& poss Piccadilly?)

S Ruislip C Line & Chiltern trains

Ruislip Manor is on C Line

Ruislip Gardens is on Met & Piccadilly

all these places are a mile or 2 from each other, so about 10 min drive if Ruislip station is your start point

Ruislip has a decent high st too - all the banks, the supermarkets, independent butchers/greengrocers etc & a small dept store, bookshops etc

I was originally looking in another area ( W Harrow) but saw a house I like in this area and am glad I did :)

I think your best bet would be to look online at some houses in your budget/you like the look of and then have a drive by so you can see the areas for yourself : you will get a feel for things by checking out the small high streets near each tube station and the streets around

Can I ask why you chose Ruislip over West Harrow (currently offered on a house in WH 🙈)

Hi @bananaskinny : I thought Ruislip was nicer (having looked for & offered on houses for 2 years).

The things I didn’t like about W Harrow are the over parked streets (I mean the double parking/having to stop to let other cars go past), small gardens (I was looking in the grid of streets around St Peter’s Church), proximity to not so nice areas.

My best friend lives in W Harrow so I’m often there : the traffic thing bothers me the most (& rush hour is v v congested/slow if driving to work). Lots of my neighbours grew up in Harrow or Wembley so I’m not the only one who feels this way

OTOH: Met Line Harrow on the Hill is faster into London vs transport here, it’s still a v decent area (eg re crime, schools etc)

Stations are not quite right.

West Ruislip is the end of the line for the Central line Next inward is Ruislip Gardens and then South Ruislip. West and South also have the Chiltern line.

Ickenham, Ruislip, Ruislip Manor and Eastcote (zone 5) are all on the Met and Piccadilly lines.

So depending in which are of Ealing you need to reach this may make a difference.

Ruislip/North Ruislip (around the High St and the woods) is the most expensive but this is largely because the houses tend to be larger - detached and the big semis. The Pinner End of Eastcote has semis close in price.

Ruislip Manor is generally small semis and terraces of difference sizes - classic metroland so comes up cheaper but its still a very popular area. Small semis/terraces in Eastcote come out similarly.

Ruislip Gardens/South Ruislip come in silghtly cheaper than Ruislip Manor. However all three do have big metroland extended terraces as well.

In general South/Gardens and Manor get the first time buyers, sometimes with young families. People often move northward as they move up the housing ladder to the big family houses or larger semis.

The whole area is popular though as it has good schools, parks, houses have gardens and there are a lot of amenities such as playing fields, woods, the lido etc.

OP: which part or Ealing do you need to get to easily and do you need to consider eg schools/other services?

Yes, good question by @C8H10N4O2 - whereabouts in Ealing do you want to reach OP?

Also, how far away are you happy moving to, and are you relying on public transport? There are some really nice areas not far away but you'd need a car.