Decissions decissions - Living in St. Albans, Bromley or Harrow

[fullonrocknroll]

Hi All,

My partner and I have been living in hammersmith for over 20 years and love it. However, our 2 bedroom flat has become a little bit small and with the birth of our youngest daughter, we are looking to move (as we can't afford a house in hammersmith unfortunately).

We are looking for a place with outstanding secondaries, good connexion links to London and culturally diverse with nice independent restaurants, cafe's and sport activities to buy our forever 3/4 bedroom home for not more than £800k if possible.

We are now looking at St. Albans (primarily for schools), Bromley (good connexion to London) and Harrow (culturally diverse).

I was wondering if anyone could give an opinion/views

800K wont go very far for a 3-4 bed in any of these areas.
I would suggest searching rightmove with this budget in all these areas and then see what falls in catchment of good schools.
Locrating is a good site for identifying catchment areas for outstanding schools.

Not sure Bromley or Beckenham could be described as multicultural, though I doubt you'd have problems in either area. Bromley is good for shopping for clothes, phones, etc as it has lots of chain shops and a shopping centre and its train links are very good. It also has plenty of bars, cafes, restaurants, etc. It's a major hub for the area. Schools - there are a couple of excellent grammars down the line in Orpington plus various decent state schools. West Wickham is a bit dull and its transport links aren't that great.

Beckenham is fine. Decent schools, sports stuff, a gym, places to go out, etc

South Harrow and Wealdstone are 5he worst parts of Harrow. North and West Harrow are so much better.

Your money would go a lot further in Bucks, eg High Wycombe. Grammar schools and other good schools are available. Lots to do and a railway into London. Obviously further out than other places but that’s why houses are a bit cheaper. It has villagy areas on the outskirts. You might also like Maidenhead with the Elizabeth Line opening soon.

If you’re looking at Bromley I would aim for either bullers wood catchment or Hayes. Langley girls is a good school but has been underfunded for years & is in a pretty sorry state - they don’t offer as many options for gcse/a level as other schools because teachers leave & are not replaced unless it’s for core subjects (facilities are also way behind Hayes)
Catchment areas for these s hooks haven’t changed much in the last 15 years - Hayes you need to be (well) within a mile.
i would avoid Harris - all of them.
If I’m honest Bromley/Beckenham/Hayes are all fine but pretty boring. Bromley High street has the usual generic shops, Beckenham has a lot of not very good restaurants & a few shops - it thinks it’s a lot nicer than it is! Transport links to C London best from Bromley South or Beckenham.
we live here because schools are good & houses are more reasonable than other parts of London, once DD finishes school we will move back in towards London to somewhere with a bit more life

Also debating between Surrey/ Guildford or St Albans
what is the surround areas to st albans like. Any nice places to take children or countryside

Oh there's loads! In St Albans itself you have Verulamium Park, which also has a splash park, and a leisure centre with three pools (main pool, baby pool and learner pool), and a Roman museum plus some actual Roman ruins.

There's Highfield Park and Jersey Farm Woodland Park (great for den building). The River Ver trail is great for walks, and the cathedral is beautiful and does lots of family events.

A short drive away you have the Dunstable Downs and Whipsnade zoo. Willows Farm is brilliant for little ones. There's Hatfield House, Knebworth House, Paradise Wildlife Park, Aldenham Country Park, the Ashridge Estate. Wheathampstead village is just outside St Albans and we've spent many a happy day messing about by the river there.

I could go on...

I agree, St Albans has lots for children.

Tring museum is a good wet weather option.

Plus London is only half an hour on the train.

The Roald Dahl museum isn't far either, and the Odyssey Cinema in St Albans itself is fab.

Thanks for this @Phineyj these are important points for our move too.
It's easy to find a good primary school, it's the secondary that tends to cause forced house moves. As we don't wish to move again we're having to project to figure out what location will work for a forever home as we move hopefully this year or early next yr.

@hlb246 I've lived in both- much prefer Guildford-far better shopping and facilities and nicer places in easy reach- I've actually lived in St Albans twice and think the second time it had gone radically down hill. We ended up going into London an awful lot too and it's not cheap as it's not in zones. It was 10 years ago though and my biggest dislike was it was totally dead in the day apart from weekends and not very lively in an evening either. This may have changed with more working from home. It's not I don't think it's attractive and see the attractions to a young family but it seemed an awful lot of money (as much as London) and if I was in that situation I would prefer Guildford or Kingston (which also is in zones) and I personally felt had more going on

Definitely St Albans from your 3 but I don’t think your budget is high enough for what you want. Also consider Bucks- High Wycombe or the villages around it, Maidenhead, Burnham, Taplow along the Lizzy line too.

With £800K you could move somewhere boring but with good leisure facilities schools and commuter links like Fleet in Hampshire. All the state schools there are good, and you also have Robert Mays in Odiham. Hampshire comprehensives perform better in the league tables than a lot of grammar schools.

If you want a more interesting or pretty town Guildford is definitely worth considering, although I am not sure about the state schools - there are several expensive private schools. Ditto Farnham but it is further out.

DH's has family in the Bromley area - parts of Beckenham are nice. I think if I had the ££££ I would live in St Albans. I don't know Harrow.

@fullonrocknroll Hi wondering what decision you ended up making between the three as we’re in the same boat right now