how deprived are Woking and Guildford? Looking to buy...

[ilovecandyy]

hi all, i've come on to mumsnet because I really hoped people from Woking and Guildford could help me understand the area better.

After doing some research and meeting a few locals in coffee shops and chatting, I've been told both towns have quite a lot of deprived areas, but there is also a lot of wealth on one end. There isn't much in the middle. In other words, there's quite a huge wealth disparity.

I have also visited both towns quite a few times now. In terms of living there, I like the more popular areas in both towns for families (Woking - Horsell area; Guildford - Pewley Hill area). School seems very good in both towns. People seem nice, although a bit reserved and not friendly upfront like in the North. Guildford has a prettier town centre, but Woking is perfectly adequate with a few good pockets of prettiness.

When in Woking town centre, I did smell cannabis every now and then, and there were a couple of people who looked... how do I put it... like they were looking for a fight. But it was literally once or twice. But generally, people seemed nice and normal. I also noticed it is quite ethnically diverse in Woking which I prefer and more used to from my upbringing (I also have a very mixed extended family).

When in Guildford, I noticed some homelessness, and a few groups of teenagers (probably aged around 14-15) vaping and smoking, which I find off-putting. It was not very diverse at all, I'd say 99% of people are white there, which makes me wonder about racism too.

I'm hoping people can advise me about the culture of both towns so I know the areas better. Safety and living somewhere nice and pleasant is really important to me and my mixed family.

Thank you for your help!

But what has South Africa randomly got to do with this???
Honestly…

Even teens at super expensive boarding schools vape. It's an awful habit but not a marker of deprivation.

(Rich teens also take a lot more expensive drugs than a bit of cannabis...)

I don’t even live in the UK, and I’m WTF at this…

Guildford is most definitely not deprived. It’s prime commuter belt, with nice shops.

woking is more gritty, town centre a bit grim, high rise flats. But still not particularly deprived

Guildford and Woking have very low levels of deprivation. You can download the government index of deprivation at ward level - I don’t think either place has a single ward at level 1 and there are only a couple at level 2. Woking is more diverse, with a very long established Asian community.

Guildford is where Jeffrey the mumsnet hacker was at school.

Neither is deprived, especially Guildford! I grew up in Surrey and if you asked me to name a particularly posh bit, I'd say Guildford.

There are some deprived bits of both towns but nowhere near the bits you are looking at. The saddest bit is the social divide those from the"wrong" areas are very aware of that. Also there is a very high level of pressure in the school systems, and a lot of drugs as a lot of people with money (plenty of coccaine in secondary schools not just cannabis, especially the posh schools).

Virginia Water, Weybridge, Cobham, Oxshott, Esher, but you'd say Guildford was particularly posh?

I have t agree there are far smarter postcodes.

As always this usually comes down to budget. What is your budget OP?

Deprived?!

Neither of them could be described in this way IMO.

Guildford is a nice area with a lot going on. Various things for families, G Live, large shopping centre.

Woking is all right. Has the New Victoria Theatre, a decent shopping centre.

Neither are deprived, but have "deprived areas", you can find which areas in each town are listed as such and why.

Guildford has a reputable university within it and the public can access the sports park. It does, however, have one of the highest crime rates in Surrey.

Both have some good schools and very decent transport links into other towns or London.

Guildford is ugly town. Not deprived. Quite posh. But its ugly 🫣🫣.

I live in Scotland. I've never been to Woking or Guildford in my life. I probably couldn't even find them on a map. And yet even I know that they are not in any way deprived!

Been to both places, very white very middle class - as a person of colour I don't think I'd pick those places to live but tbh there are worse places to settle than those two.

These places are nice and posh but they are not in any way diverse. You can't have posh, middle class, noone smoking cannabis AND diverse, well definitely not in Surrey anyway. Pick one.

Deprived 😂😂

Born in Woking and definitely not posh. Bit of a Mish mash, poor planning from council. Very busy, lots of traffic. Guildford has good hospital, shopping and uni. I would prefer to live in Guildford if the only choice. Why have you settled for these 2 towns? Somewhere in between like Ripley or Clandon are nice villages, better than Horsell which isn't a village anymore. Normandy and Worplesdon also nice areas.

Guildford is extremely white middle class, not diverse at all apart from the university students who will come from all over the world. It will mainly attract rich students though, due to the high cost of accommodation to rent in Guildford.

The last word that springs to mind to describe it is deprived, though I think every city in the U.K probably has small pockets of deprivation.

It’s hard to think of areas that are diverse but also without deprivation … Hampstead in London is a rare example. I think realistically you may have to accept you can’t necessarily achieve both criteria and choose which is more important to you. In which case you may prefer Woking (I don’t know it).

Guildford was always posher and more expensive than working class Woking. Go and visit. The idiots at the council truly fudged up Woking in recent years thinking it is mini Manhattan. In my opinion it’s trying to be something it’s not.
They’re both good for commuting, Guildford has access to much better countryside/villages.
Being so close to London neither are particularly “white”. Having the first mosque in England, Woking has a huge Asian community, my school was 50% Asian.

If you're coming from the North I'd advise avoiding Surrey if you possibly can. IME people are pigeon holed by their financial standing (richer kids won't mix with poorer ones, poorer people are trying to get in with the rich ones). Keeping up with the Joneses is all important.

Friendly gestures are treated with suspicion and it's very difficult to be accepted if you don't have a similar mindset.

I moved as soon as I could.

Housing in the south east more expensive than th north and Midlands so poor people struggle more in Surrey.

That was very much my experience. Lots of bankers and people with multiple Range Rovers and very unfriendly and judgemental.

@Isthisreasonable I thought you were describing Cheshire there! It’s hardly just a south thing! York and Harrogate areas not much different.

As a point of correction: Guildford is a CITY. It has a cathedral. A town it is not.

Yes Guildford is a city because it has a Cathedral