Where to live outside London - Bromley and beyond

[CreamLampshade]

Hi there, currently live in SE London but would like to move further out for more space and a nicer area (place I live is quite rough).

looking for:

• 3 bedrooms
• easy commute to London bridge
• buzzing town centre - we don’t want to feel cut off or like it’s too suburban
• lovely green spaces
• budget £550k

so far Bromley ticks all the boxes, but am I missing anywhere else? We could also move north but it seems to be more expensive and oftne feels like a bigger commute into London.

any thoughts on Bromley, nice areas and areas to avoid? We like the idea of being close to the town centre but near green spaces, shortlands looks nice.

any other tips gratefully received - including further into Kent!

I agree Bromley is nice and the high street is getting better. Sidcup also nice as is Chislehurst but that's more pricey.

Lee and Hither Green also good options and good train services.

I'd avoid Catford. I have never been so worried about being stabbed (and I grew up in Woolwich). Open drug dealing on the street and sirens screaming past every 10 minutes.

If you live in Lee you are really rarely going to need a car. Buses are brilliant, you'll be up in Blackheath at baby yoga/baby sing in about 5 minutes on the bus

What's your experience then? Grim? How?

Bromley is changing. We’re only conservative by 300 votes.

The schools are good and it’s relatively safe for children.

The Conservative council are appalling but slowly more labour councillors are being voted in. There are no real restrictions on motorists. Very few speed bumps so some roads can be tricky to cross. There are very good transport links and if you live near Beckenham then Beckenham Place Park is lovely - thanks so Lewisham Council.

Grim in that it is an architectural wasteland. The main advantage is that you are just a train away from London and it has a Waitrose. It's a posh Croydon.

Most of SE London is! It had the crap bombed out of it during the war.

That said someone on the council wants sacking for the architectural monstrosities given permission in the last decade. Hideous, particularly near Bromley South.

I'm not from Bromley but have been quite a few times in recent years for work stuff- it's not pretty or particularly artisan but I wouldn't say it's grim- quite practical for family life !! Mind you I like Kingston too lots of which isn't pretty- ( admittedly the river and park help make it nicer) but plenty don't like that too- whereas I just see it as very practical for a family

Chistlehurst.
Spent years in Sidcup as a child, was dull as dishwater, nothing to do. That was a long time ago though so may well have changed.

Can’t believe the house prices there for pokey little houses.

Not true - East Dulwich, Camberwell and exciting new architecture projects coming out of Peckham.

Had you seen this one OP in chislehurst ( which is very nice and leafy) very easy into London and Bromley- not the prettiest as its70s but really good layout and I think a very nice interior for the money - 4 beds too and a decent garden

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/149383040#/?channel=RES_BUY

LOL, Forest Hill, Sydenham and Crystal Palace are considered highly desirable places to live by many, many others!

I am sorry you were attacked @bombastix , but the reports about central Bromley on a weekend evening aren’t always reassuring!

In the end we are mostly safe anywhere. And bad luck can happen in the leafiest environment. But of course it is scary if it happens to you.

(from my pov from having lived in the areas across S London that cause the most MN shuddering, in a job that meant I travelled home on public transport after 11pm at least 3 nights a week for 30 years)

Seriously it wasn’t the only time. Watching a man pull a knife and fight in front of shoppers of the Westow Road. Seeing a group of teenagers with knives outside the job centre in Forest Hill, goading each other. That was enough. There was no sense of inhibition.

All of these places had nice stuff in them, and nice people. That wasn’t the point. But I wasn’t going to raise teenagers there given the residual poverty and drug problems. Bromley is very boring, and very safe by comparison.

Are we talking about the same Sydenham?:

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14071741/Sydenham-shooting-gangs.html

Wells Park Road is very dodgy and always has been. I used to live further up the hill in a very naice middle class enclave. Okay when the kids were little. Not okay once they were going to be teenagers, no way.

This kind of violence mostly affects the young, not middle aged women like me. But it is just easier not to take the risk.

I mean to be honest if you live in any city or even mid sized town shitty stuff is happening- even the desirable ones have dodgy areas or a dodgy community within it- we had several high profile murders here in Bath last year- but they were kind of within a 'particular drug scene' - not great at all, but sadly it really isn't just London-

Yes I’ve lived in London for 30 years. What is new to me is the use of knives in public without much fear, and in broad daylight (so I was attacked in a children’s playground surrounded by little kids and the others were on a Sunday afternoon and after schools got out). Not everywhere is like that…

Bromley is fine. I've lived there previously and DS lives there now. Good for shopping and nights out. It's still generally conservative though, despite a general shift overall in outer London, though not as much as West Wickham, which is really suburban and not that diverse.

This sounds like an awful experience so I can understand your views. I have lived in London central and SE London for longer than that and have never seen any knife violence or been the victim of crime. Neither had my dh (life long Londoner) or anyone I know apart from one friend who had her bag snatched but she left it on a table and went to the loo!

There have been a couple of reported incidents of youths 'storming' the Glades shopping centre in the last few years, usually on school end of term days.

These incidents were all with 18 months of each other. Previously I would have been just of your view @Turmerictolly but what I can say is that they were sadly young people and deprived looking. The fact I had a nice house in the area was not enough. The police response was dire.

I'm left-leaning too - there are a few of us in Bromley we need to increase in numbers :)

The area suits us for a range of reasons - as you say needs tend to change. I feel much safer here than I did in SE23 where I lived for over a decade which is a priority now with my teens out and about.

For an easy commute to London Bridge, draw a ring around Beckenham Junction (whatever you consider a reasonable walking distance to be) and then you can access the Southern service directly into London Bridge. Beckenham has got a bit more nightlife/restaurants etc. Shortlands has the Tavern and a chip shop. That's it!

Bromley Town centre is on the grotty side although the Glades is ok.

And let's not forget the ski slope flats they built that are so ugly someone has tried to burn them down twice already!
I've lived in Bromley for about 15 years, it's definitely not a bad place to live, 550k will get you around a 1000 square foot terrace. Culturally it's a bit of a wasteland (if you want somewhere arty and creative you will have to travel out of town) and the shops are nothing too special, but there are plenty of them and you can be in London in 20 minutes on the fast train.
I don't rate the areas north particularly, sidcup, grove park, mortingham, Bellingham,etc.

That's more on the borders of mottingham than chistlehurst though, it's a bit of a wasteland for anything, relatively close to elmstead road though, although no fast trains. For roughly the same price you could get this within walking distance of Bromley and old growth woodland. Although the downside is the neighbours (me🤣) https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/155188820

Beckenham has a lot going for it but I wouldn't rely on that line for London Bridge. Only every half hour even at peak time and it's the first to shut down if there are issues. You're better off drawing a ring around New Beckenham.

Have you thought about bromley north area? Or maybe near bromlry court hotel part . Possibly the bromley end of downham?