Bexley or Beckenham?

[Meadowdog]

Hello, DH and I are in our late 50s and intend to move to London in the lead-up to our retirement. I will be working from home but sometimes need to commute to the West End. DH will be a kept man 😅.

We've been looking into various areas from a distance and so far we like the look of Bexley Village and Beckenham near Clock House Station. We will be visiting next weekend to scope out these areas. Any ideas where else we should look please?

Our maximum budget is £650k and we're looking for a 2 bedroom freehold house (as we have a dog). We'd like to live in a low crime area with lots of decent places to walk the dog. We'd also like easy access into central London via an overground train line - not the tube as DH has a phobia of travelling underground! Hence why we thought Bexley and Clock House would be good.

I think we're priced out of Crystal Palace which we loved for the friendly neighbourhood feel, restaurants and cafés and green spaces. On our last trip we also visited Greenwich, Blackheath and Lee. None of these three felt right to us - Greenwich had lots of tourists and a busy main road. Blackheath seemed a bit too "naice" for us (sorry its a horrible word but I can't think of another way to say it) and Lee didn't seem to have a lot going on. We're probably just about priced out of those areas too anyway.

Any ideas welcome and thanks very much.

Other side of London, but Chingford might tick some boxes

I know Clock House very well as I live in Penge next door (Clock House is often referred to a Pengenham because it's the area between the two). It's a nice area. Great craft beer bar, coffee shop but also walking distance to the shops, restaurants, bars, etc of both Beckenham and Penge. It also has a large sports centre with swimming pools, gym, etc.

Train wise it's a decent service to London Bridge and Charing Cross, and you can also walk to Kent House or Beckenham Junction for trains to Victoria.

Wherever you live in Beckenham and Penge, you're never too far from a green space, with multiple parks, some small, some large.

Penge is a good option for trains as it also has the Overground which will take you to Canada Water, Shoreditch and east London.

I like Clockhouse and know it quite well. I don't really know Bexley village but would have thought that, if you like Crystal Palace, Bexley would have a very different vibe. Clockhouse is quite similar to Crystal Palace and also near enough to easily have evenings out there. I imagine Bexley would be much cheaper.

Bexley Village is an okay place to live. I left there three years ago. Some things to note: it gets absolutely rammed with drinkers in summer. It can be very, very loud. Try to avoid buying on the high street because of this.

Second thing is, the crime rate has doubled since I left, and I've no idea why. In national average terms, it's still very low (<150 per month), but worthy of a mention.

Third thing: they're digging underneath and around this area here:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/51%C2%B026'18.9%22N+0%C2%B009'19.9%22E/@51.4389835,0.1538652,17.34z/data=!4m13!1m8!3m7!1s0x47d8ae708f5a8e0f:0x6e1140de9692d39c!2sHuntington+Cl,+Bexley!3b1!8m2!3d51.4383269!4d0.1533602!16s%2Fg%2F1tqt8ydx!3m3!8m2!3d51.4385833!4d0.1555278?entry=ttu

to upgrade the power lines. The one in that field is called the Hurst site. I think they might've built a sub station there, I can't quite recall. I know the reverberation of them drilling with machines the size of lorries overnight kept the other half awake (they're not meant to, but when they're behind schedule, they just do it anyway and email the surrounding residents a little bit in advance).

When we left, there were going to be 150 lorries a day going through that field; they built a road through the middle of it specifically for it. The project was going to last six years.

You need to look into what it's done to traffic in the area, because there aren't many roads, they're narrow, and it's a tiny village, and it's just off the A2 which gets MAJOR rush hour traffic, plus people detouring via Bexley whenever there's an accident, which is pretty common, especially towards Blackfen, a little bit further down the A2. It's possible that it's living hell getting through there these days, but you need to speak to someone with some up to date local knowledge to confirm or deny.

https://www.nationalgrid.com/national-grids-london-power-tunnels-breakthrough-completes-ps1-billion-projects-tunnelling-activity

Honestly though, if I had a budget as good as yours, I'd chose Blackheath instead without a moment's hesitation. Yeah, parts of it are 'naice' BUT, there's far, far more to do, and you can choose between so many places to eat and drink that you can and almost will find places with more laid back people.

I mostly found the locals think the Village is 'naice' anyway, so if you're looking for a location to live where that sort of mentality isn't too rife, you need to look elsewhere. They don't live in Bexley or Bexley Village, it's 'The Village.'

The really big added advantage with Blackheath is that you have very easy access to Greenwich and all the wonders it provides, of which there are many.

Of the other places you mentioned, you missed Hither Green, which is just up the road from Lee (which has nothing notable). I really liked it when I lived there years ago, and although there wasn't a lot going on (20 + years ago), it was extremely easy to hop on a bus to Blackheath and Greenwich and access all that goes on there without having it on your doorstop. Some stunning Victorian conversion flats there <3

Plus Hither Green has two different train lines into London; so you may still stand a chance of getting in on time if there's a problem on one of them.

Personally I prefer Beckenham out of those two areas. It's more cosmopolitan imo. Feels a little more like London rather than Kent. Bexley village is quite nice but in all honesty I find the people in Bexley a little to the right for my liking and I'm not particularly left. Does that make sense?!

The BNP headquarters used to be up the road in Welling.

And, you're not wrong.

There's an area called the Alexandra Conservation Area in Penge, which is five roads of pretty Victorian cottages. It is near to Penge East (for Victoria), Penge West (for Overground) and not too far from New Beckenham (for London Bridge and Charing Cross). Its not far from Penge High Street and walkable to Crystal Palace Park. There's also a lovely pub (the Alex) and a very popular vintage shop, nursery and cafe called Alexandra Nurseries in the heart of it.

This is the only house I can find listed at the moment https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/141313922#/?channel=RES_BUY

Neither of those areas are as good as Blackheath, Greenwich, Westcombe Park, Blackheath Standard

All of which you can afford

I AM going to try to untether you from a 'house' as I've got a huge maisonette in one of the above areas and I have 3 dogs

The reason the above areas are so perfect is because of the dogs - 260 acres of Greenwich Park plus the massive, lovely Blackheath

(I also moved here when my children went to uni)

If you're wedded to a house here's a small one 5 minutes walk from Greenwich Park (but for context my maisonette was the same price and is twice the size)

I've no ground rent, no service charges and 1600 square feet - the 'garden' is a 30 foot terrace but really I walk in the park every day down to the river with them - the garden is just for the last minute wee/poop at 10

I've lived in one and worked in the other. I found Beckenham better in terms of green spaces, traffic, things to do etc.

And here's a marvellous house in Hither Green (you can walk up to Blackheath or get a bus)

I lived in Hither Green for 6 months before buying up at the Park - it's a great area

I've lived in Beckenham and Clock House and have family in Bexley. I really dislike Bexley and Clock House is more Penge in vibe than Beckenham.

Beckenham is nice, you have Beckenham Place Park (which is actually under Lewisham) and Kelsey Park. Both are rammed at the weekends.

Nice looking place and Hither Green is quite cute. Only thing I would say is it's not as good for transport as Penge and Clock House/Beckenham and parkwise Crystal Palace Park and Beckenham Place Park are both absolutely huge. At least one of those would be within a short walk depending on where you live (along with countless other smaller parks).

Wow, thank you all so much - I'm blown away by the responses so far and all the valuable information you've given me. I'll go back and re-read everything in detail. I'm so glad I asked the question!

@KievLoverTwo and @LaurieFairyCake sounds like I need to go back and explore Blackheath again. And I had no idea about the construction in Bexley and could have easily made a big mistake. Thank you!

I absolutely love that house, @BovineJuice ! The neighbourhood looks great too from what I can see on street view.

@Meadowdog bear in mind the actual works are taking place underground. It's just traffic gridlock possibilities I wanted to flag to you.

Definitely clock house, really great connections and a relatively nice area overall.

I loved living in Blackheath. I spent some time living at the back of the village, then two very happy years on the other side of the heath at Blackheath Standard. Loads to do, lots of arty types living there — including some famous actors, who it was always fun to bump into!

@Meadowdog agrre with pp the Alexandra conservation area is lovely within easy reach of Crystal Palace & Beckenham, plus useful shops in Penge high street combined with a few really nice pubs & couple of excellent restaurants.
Beckenham has some fabulous restaurants/ bars/ coffee shops, clockhouse has the fantastic tapas restaurant & craft beer taprooms plus lots of green spaces & leisure centre “The Spa” Croydon Road Recreation Ground has lots of events on as does Beckenham Place Park.
Clockhouse is at most a ten minute walk into Beckenham high street.
Hither Green I’ve always found to be a of odd place, no real centre as such & transport not as good as Penge/Clockhouse/Kenthouse & Beckenham junction links.
Blackheath I find the traffic can be overwhelming, some good restaurants but don’t know it well.
Bexley I wouldn’t consider, agree with pp far to much right wing mentality.

I live just up the road from Beckenham and often travel to Blackheath for a hobby I do. If you happen to love classical music and the arts then I'd go for Blackheath. For everything else I'd go with Beckenham. Blackheath is clogged with traffic and is quite polluted (of course the Heath and Greenwich Park are beautiful though). Your visitors won't thank you when they get a parking ticket!

From Beckenham it is only a shortish distance to countryside and Kent, yet you can be in the West End very quickly.

You are also on two different rail lines and the tram in Beckenham, which gives you options if the rail strikes continue.

I like Blackheath and Greenwich and they both tick the park box. However, the house you've linked to is not very attractive and those areas (Blackheath, Greenwich, Westcombe Park, Blackheath Standard) are nowhere near as good for transport as Beckenham/Clock House/Penge

@LaurieFairyCake please could I ask you how you found a maisonette like this? I have just been steering clear of leasehold completely because of the issues with service charges, ground rent, and being allowed to have dogs. It's particularly frustrating that the relevant information about these things is never listed on Rightmove! But your maisonette sounds pretty amazing.

@Phineyj and @BovineJuice thank you, I'm pretty convinced now that Beckenham is right for us. DH does love classical music though.

Bexley sounds dire - I didn't realise there was a BNP connection 😳.

I'm not saying Beckenham's a bad choice for a classical music lover - there's lots of local orchestras and choirs and you can get to Central London venues easily.

Just thinking that Blackheath Halls and Conservatoire are not something we can match round here.

@Meadowdog they do have classical music/choral events very regularly at St George’s church at the top of the high street.