Brixton or South Croydon for young family

[Brixtonvssouthcroydon]

We are thinking of moving to South London and found two properties we like but we are unsure about location.
There is dh, DD (baby) and myself. We both work central but only a couple of days a week.
Property 1: in Brixton very central but small garden
Property 2: South Croydon (Lloyds park area), larger garden

Both similar size, South Croydon one is 20% cheaper but it's a complete different lifestyle over there.

Family friend tells us South Croydon would be better for a young family; we are also a bit concerned that Brixton might more a young professional neighbourhood rather than young family so maybe less baby friendly.

I know you can't decide for us! But any opinions on both areas?

Agree. Having just got back from a (regular) trip through Croydon yesterday, you can feel the tension rise and attitude of drivers change the moment you enter the place. Not pleasant. Good luck OP, its hard when most of us have a budget and compromises to make.

🤣🤣

Because it's really possible to sense 'tension' from within a moving vehicle whilst driving through a location.
You have a very good imagination.

If you cannot detect tension from other drivers by their gesturing, manoeuvrers, and driving style you are clearly lacking in self awareness when you're on the road.

I was laughing as well:)))) It sounds like as soon as motorists cross the border with Croydon ( and it sounds as Croydon is separated from other areas by posts and barbed wire) there is no law and everyone do what the want. Or probably only Croydon residents allowed on Croydon's roads with checks on the border. Have not heard anything more ridiculous for a long time😂

Streatham - near enough central to both but very family friendly while still being proper London

Not Streatham - transport is awful.

Look at Caterham and beyond, Reigate, Redhill, and the surrounding villages will offer a much nicer environment. Lived in South Croydon for 20 years, it was great but has rapidly declined over the last 10 years. Some points to note.. huge increase in the development of flats, not enough surgerys for healthcare, schools are decent at primary level but not so great beyond, crime increasing, council is one of the worst in the UK, very low quality public houses, drug dealers in most of them, even the restaurant quarter has taken a nose dive. Parking can be a nightmare and quote a few roads are restricted at school times with big fines. The town centre is as grim as they come. One great thing is its so well connected.

It's not reasonably priced anymore I'm afraid

Look at Caterham and beyond, Reigate, Redhill, and the surrounding villages will offer a much nicer environment.

Try & avoid Southern rail though, awful.

From a current resident of South Croydon. With a new Mayor the development of flats is almost not exists, everything is blocked by planning committee. GP surgeries do have places, just moved my family from one to another, yes, you have to be a resident of certain area and certain distance from the surgery. Secondary schools such as Riddlesdown, Coombe Wood, Warlingham (another borough but admits kids from South Croydon areas) are very goood, others are improving. Parking is nightmare everywhere, including Caterham. Never had problems with drugs on the restaurant quater, but had a great experience with different cuisines for reasonable price. Just a note. Caterham and Tandridge council is starting to have problems with increased flat developments.

Lived in Croydon most of my life and am (as usual on these threads) utterly baffled by many of the comments. South Croydon / Lloyd Park area is not the same as eg: west Croydon! The houses around Lloyd Park / Croham Hurst etc are some of the loveliest in the borough and it's a very green and safe area. The idea that South Croydon is a bad or dangerous place to bring up kids is just laughable - as a pp said I do wonder how some of you make it out of your front doors in the morning...

Yes, the shopping centre is sadly in terrible decline and west Croydon is not a pretty place, but I've never once had an issue anywhere in town. East Croydon around the station; again not beautiful but really just a transport hub and Boxpark is still quite a good place to grab a bite. But in all honesty I never did anything more than pass through these areas on the way to London anyway.

As a pp said, this is really an urban/suburban choice. Areas like Lloyd Park / Sanderstead / Kenley etc are green, leafy, safe (possibly even a bit dull) and packed with young families, and will be perfectly decent places to bring up yours.

Hinting at my age perhaps but I lived in Croydon when I first came to the London area and it was perfectly OK then good shopping and never felt unsafe....haven't been back for years but aware of reputation now nor would choose Brixton which seems very overpriced. Purley used to be nice, spacious houses in very quiet roads though the centre wasn't up to much.

The 'driving style' is the same as the rest of London - I've lived in London all my life, and LB Croydon for the last 27 years. In the main, the only gestures I see are smiles and waves of thanks if you let someone in, or through a gap etc. Yes there are some idiots, but I have driven in many places, and met that type everywhere.

Agreed. I reckon most people commenting about "Croydon" live in the home counties and have no idea. Or have just driven through...

South Croydon and near Lloyd Park there are some lovely areas with very expensive houses and leafy areas. Try Bishops Walk in Shirley aka "Croydon".

Brixton is one of the most gentrified areas of London over last 20 years. It will always be a mixed inner London area but it's clearly not a warzone as others would make you think.

Agree with this - Brixton is lovely on the Herne Hill/Clapham or Stockwell borders. Lots of things to do with children in the area and easy to get into town for even more. DC went to school in Croydon and it was such a dump by comparison.

Brixton has a lot of positives and as someone who was born and raised in the area way before it was cool, I know all parts of it and my grandparents were part of the Windrush community who settled in the area in the 50s. So interesting hearing people speak of places like myatts field and others when I know of shootings and murders in these areas. I think being from the black community, Brixton and surrounding areas can be a very different place. However, it has great culture, connections and houses in places. The OP asked about Brixton or South Croydon and I would say Brixton would have a timespan in terms of schools especially. Secondary schools aren't great, all of my family have had to travel out of the borough for secondary schools and being a Christian allowed me to go to Grey Coat in Westminster and for my cousins to go to Wandsworth and Westminster schools.

@BiancaBB I agree with you.

To be fair, I tense up when I'm driving in Central Croydon, Purley and Coulsdon. So many new restrictions on roads (time restrictions near schools, new no entry to normal vehicles, all on roads I used to be so familiar with) I'm terrified of getting it wrong!

South Croydon around Lloyds Park is lovely, a world away from places like West Croydon and Brixton. Great area for families. Not sure if it’s changed now, but years ago, some taxis would not drive from central London to Croydon/Streatham through Brixton late at night for fear of being robbed at traffic lights in Brixton. Driving through that area used to bloody terrify me, let alone walking, and I certainly wouldn’t want to live there.

@fuckityfuckityfuckfuck I know what you mean, but I don't think that was the sort of tension the previous poster was imagining talking about 😁

🤔yes, it has changed, @NutellaNut . Brixton has been hipster AF for several years now. It's still Brixton, and rightly so, because we wouldn't exactly want a historical Afro-Carribbean area to be overrun with white wankers, but (for instance) all the old businesses e.g. Carribbean bakeries have now effectively been priced out of Brixton market, which is trendy restaurants and faux vintage shops.

I thought there was quite a lot of upset about the gentrification of Brixton & locals getting priced out.

Transport shouldn’t be awful in Streatham though? It has 3 train stations, Streatham vale, Streatham and Streatham hill and a lot of buses on the main roads go to connecting tubes like Tooting and Brixton and into central London.

Streatham along with much of south London should’ve had a tube station but didn’t.

Well when I house-shared years ago near Streatham Hill I think there were only trains in and out of Victoria every half an hour which wasn’t always ideal, and obviously the ones at peak times were often near impossible to squeeze on. Might have improved now, I don’t know. The night bus to and from central London that stopped at the end of my road was good, though. No need to worry about catching the last train which was something ridiculous like 10:35pm.