Is Grove Park a good place to live?

[estebancolberto]

We found some good sized ex council properties (with spacious rooms and gardens) in Grove Park closer to the Downham Fields and Leisure Center. Is that area of Grove Park good and safe to live? We are planning for a kid soon and plan to stay for 4-5 years before moving to a 3 bed house somewhere else.

Honestly there are problems in Downham with fly tipping and some anti social behaviour.

The area around Grove Park station is grubby. It needs bombing to improve it.

But... the people are nice. Grove Park station is a very orderly place. You still have functioning bus queues there.

As a place it has been very neglected which is a shame. But having been going through it for twenty years it never seems to improve in terms of appearance

Completely agree with this.

The flytipping has grown out of control in the last few years but I guess other estates suffer much the same. Coldharbour Estate , Grove Park Estate, Horn Park Estate probably all suffer the same.

Hope OP is ok as not been back to post..

I am saying though, as many others have, to look toward the Lee part of the main through road OP. I would choose that over the Station end at this point in Time. Hopefully they will re open the pub that they are restoring and they will get rid of the 60s or 70s scruffy parade opposite the Station.

Yep honestly there are lots of salubrious professional types round here, I promise! I know people working in academia, science, law (but not big corporate law), fintech, broadcast journalism, middle-office banking jobs, engineering, civil service etc who live in Grove Park. Basically people with good jobs who earn well and need to physically be in London for work (and so can't do the whole moving-out-of-London thing) but who don't earn massive stonking great salaries and are priced out of other areas.
I grew up in London in an area that is now considered "naice" but was really pretty rough around the edges back in the 80s, so the fact that parts of Grove Park are a bit scruffy and could do with being bulldozered doesn't really bother me. I appreciate it's not for everyone though and the things that I'm prepared to take with a pinch of salt would really bother others. But I just wanted to give my view of the demographic that lives here. OP, I'm here if you want to discuss the area!

We live in GP, although at the other side of the station, close to Chinbrook. A professional couple both in law.

Flytipping is an issue. But the area is ok. Commute is good, Chinbrook park is great for the kids and we are v happy with the School (Catholic).

The shops are indeed mostly quite grotty, but the £ per sqm you can get here is much (much) better than in nicer areas like Hither Green or Chislehurst.

We live on the Bromley side of Grove Park and we love it here - it's got a great mix of professionals and families and whilst it may not be the sexiest place in the world to live it's convenient and still fairly reasonably priced. Obviously Lee is much nicer but that's why the houses are so much more expensive.

I genuinely think that GP is a hidden gem and you can see how many houses across the Downham Estate are being bought up and renovated so hopefully this will bring some investment to the area 🤞