Moving from SE London to Brighton? Help!

[DreamyRoseBeaker]

Hello 👋🏽 I’m looking for some friendly advice. I’ve been living in London my entire adult life and I turn 40 this year. I’ve got two DC aged 4 and 2 with one on the way now to complete our family. As much as people have their dislike for London and raising kids there, I have very much enjoyed it and still do. I personally have no problem in raising my kids here until adulthood as I feel very comfortable and in the know about how things work here in regards to what are good schools etc. DH is always concerned about the kids getting into trouble in their teens as there’s always something going off but hasn’t urgently expressed to get out of the city but he definitely doesn’t like it as much as me.

My eldest child tells me quite often that he doesn’t like London because it’s too noisy and whilst he is just 4, I do take on board that there’s a chance he doesn’t like the environment he’s in.

I’ve always said that Brighton would be on e of the only places I’d like to live outside of London as I personally feel that it’s like a little London by the sea, close to country side, artistic and over all a little more chill by London standards of course. We also both have friends here. The only thing that really put my husband off is the commute but the idea would be for him to become freelance again as that’s what he wants. He also said this is not a deal breaker.

We don’t have a huge budget to move but enough to get small house or maisonette. We’ve been looking mainly in Brighton to get that easy city life transition and be closer to the sea of course! We do need to get to London though so a station that’s not too much of an faff to get to would be nice too.
Also we are getting older and enjoying a bit more of a slower pace. We’ve been looking as central as 5 mins from the beach and places like Hanover, Aldrington, Elm Grove. hove doesn’t have much in our budget unfortunately.

I’d love to get advice on what it’s like if you’re a family with children currently living in the area, and how you find schooling etc? I just want the real tea before we make this life changing move. Everyone we know who lives there likes it but they’re biased to want us to move! I think coming from London we do not get as phased by the grit of Brighton. We may move further out eventually but for the initial move we’d like to not have a culture shock from our Zone two way of life.

Any advice at all would be so appreciated!

Yes there’s something about the London choice that feels like we are just settling for what’s available/can afford but the continuation of every day life is minimally disrupted which is a plus. The house we saw is decent but needs a glow up. The current owners never modernised. It is ex housing association so not the prettiest but has good space and whilst there have been some private sales no one’s really levelled up the property. We’d be the first to do that on the street.It’s near lots of big cast green parks though. It’s in the Honor Oak/Forest Hill area.
But the properties in a brighton have such a wow factor in comparison.

Would you be able to suggest your village or similar for us to scope out? You’ve made it sound pretty awesome!

Sorry but I would not want to raise a family in Brighton. It's nice to visit but I lived there for 35 years and the homelessness drug taking and poverty is awful. All the people I know have left when families have come around. Try Shoreham if you want a beach, we went to Haywards Heath.

Yes I lived in Bonchurch Rd until my kids were 11 and 9, they both went to Elm Grove primary. We moved out of Brighton to Shoreham just before my eldest started secondary (divorce! Not Brighton's fault 😂) but their old school friends mostly went to DS, with a few at Varndean and a couple at Cardinal Newman. They're mostly all back together at BHASVIC now for 6th Form anyway!

I'd love to move back eventually - my bf lives in Seven Dials which is just gorgeous.

I really do love living down here so much.

Haywards Heath is a bog standard commuter/dormer town, very pleasant if that's what you're after but not comparable to London/Brighton in any way.

I live in Shoreham and like it - great location, well connected, fab beach, nice artsy vibe, but again it's a small town and doesn't have that city buzz.

What about further into West Sussex? Chichester maybe.

Chichester and Haywards Heath do not have the London/Brighton vibe the OP is looking for. Lewes is full of young couples relocating from London but it's small (and not that ethnically diverse either). It's got a bit of the Brighton vibe but no sea although Brighton is only a short bus/drive away. Schools are good and there's a nice community. Gorgeous South Downs on the doorstep. Houses comparable in price and generally small gardens. Also hilly.

I think people should say if they live in Brighton or when they did when hating on it!

Easy to avoid the tourists and druggies. The seafront is so nice now and Maderida parade is being done. Volleyball and a sea pool.

Have teenage DC here and very happy. The dc don’t seem bothered by drugs or drinking - the good things about Brighton is there are many ways to ‘be’ a teenager. Football kids, gender bender kids, road men, arty kids, lots of spectrum kids and lots of D and D kids. Lots of focus on Oxbridge at Bhasvic.

but the housing is £££ so maybe shoreham or even Worthing. They have a labour MP now.

but I love love Brighton. Thanks to the Unis it is more diverse now. So much to do, tho I mainly CBA but it’s nice it’s there.

Commute 2 a week, it’s fine, depending on where in London you go into.

Also when it’s sunny, walking through the north Laine, looking at the shops then heading to the beach for a nice pint of local cold carry beer, with yummy food - it is like being on a mini break.

We’re in Ditchling. It’s quite pricey because it’s small and pretty; there are limited numbers of properties coming on the market. So look at Hassocks too, which is the neighbouring village (which has the train station and outstanding secondary) - larger so more availability. Same advantages in terms of commute, schools, South Downs, easy access to London and Brighton.

Obviously it’s not a city vibe, but it’s a friendly community and a great place for kids to grow up.

Strongly agree with this - although when I was walking through the North Laine last week feeling all chilled, a seagull came out of nowhere and nicked my croissant as I took a bite. Bastard. 😆

Its not easy to avoid the druggies if you actually lived here in the last few years and not just for the weekend
There are many outside the big tesco in Hove (and any small supermarket) up George Street, on the seafront at the bottom of Grand Avenue (Hove).
Brighton now has gangs, knife crime, barber shop wars, county lines all out in the open in day time.

Hanover has become a student ghetto, not the family place it once was.
Fine if you don’t mind 24/7 parties and trash everywhere.

Brighton is not extremely white. (I am not white!)
Not since the 80s.
It’s multicultural but not by area like london.

Aldrington IS Hove btw.

I can comment well having lived all over London and Brighton too. Can confirm Worthing is a great place if you want:
-A lovely quiet beach-
Beautiful countryside and walking nearby-
Friendly community, quite diverse and queer friendly
-Very good cafes restaurants pubs and bars (both traditional and also natural wines bars and small plates etc, craft breweries for a bit of pizazz)
-Two great cinemas and theatres
-Good schools
-Leafy parks
-Decent town centre with walkable shops
-Three train stations(!) and an easy enough commute straight to Victoria/East Croydon/Clapham
-Decent parking (especially compared to Brighton)
-And affordable homes! I bought my three bedroom house in a good area for only 30k more than my one bedroom flat in Brighton-For us it's been a no brainer and we love it, we're in our 30s and lots of our friends are following suit.
-Best areas: Check it out in person. Personally we're near the station on a leafy nice street, Tarring (West) is also desirable. But the best way to ascertain is to go and walk around

Saltdean is lovely OP. Family friendly, quiet and very close to Brighton

I can comment well having lived all over London and Brighton too. Can confirm Worthing is a great place if you want:
-A lovely quiet beach
-Beautiful countryside and walking nearby
-Friendly safe community, quite diverse and queer friendly
Very good cafes restaurants pubs and bars (both traditional and also natural wines bars and small plates etc, craft breweries for Brighton vibes)
-Good schools
-Leafy parks
-Decent town centre with walkable shops
Three train stations(!) and an easy enough commute straight to Victoria/East Croydon/Clapham, and Brighton of course
-Decent parking (especially compared to Brighton)
And affordable homes! I bought my three bedroom house in a good area for only 30k more than my one bedroom flat in Brighton- and for the price of a one bedroom flat in Zone 3 London.
For us it's been a no brainer and we love it, we're in our 30s and lots of our friends are following suit.
-Best areas: Check it out in person. Personally we're near the station on a leafy nice street, Tarring (West) is also desirable. But the best way to ascertain is to go and walk around.

The roads close to Preston Park station, on the London main line, work well of families. If you choose Reigate Road, Compton Road, Inwood Crescent, Hampstead Road & Tivoli Crescent you should be in the catchment for stanford infant and junior schools as well as in the Dorothy Stringer and Varndean Secondary Schools.

They're going up-market then-it used to be chips!
Hoolihan I'm Brighton born, bred and lived here all my life. As kids, we lived in Whippingham Road from 1961. I went to Varndean (Girls, as it was then)

My friends who left Lewisham to raise their family in Brighton moved back to SE London at the first opportunity they could. There's nowhere like London and I certainly wouldn't move house on the say-so of a 4 year old!!

I would look at Poets corner in Hove. West Hove is a great primary school and Blatchington Mill, Hove Park and Kings are all good secondary schools. Cardinal Newman is outstanding if you happen to be Catholic. Very hard to get in otherwise. Poets corner is very family orientated, walking distance to the beach, Rockwater (lovely seafront bar) Hove lagoon, skate park and a new volleyball cafe. Hove station is right there or easy to train / bus / walk to Brighton. Not as hilly as Hanover. Houses a bit less claustrophobic. Nice middle class vibe.

Last time I was in Brighton a few months back, I found it to be filthy and rife with societal problems. I loved Brighton for the gigs but not much else.

I'd check out Southwick and Shoreham. Much sleepier but easy to get into Brighton/London.

Worthing is heading on the same trajectory as Brighton.

@XVGN it hasn't changed since I went to Sussex in 1978 then. I thought it was a dreadful place and hahd never seen such poverty. I dropped out after a term.

I am from Brighton originally, left in 2007 ish, for a career. I consider myself incredibly lucky to have done most of my teenage years there, I loved it. Lots of gigs as was always on the tour map for bands big and small, lots of happy vibes and one of the few places I could go into a pub on my own and chat to people without being hit on or smarmy. Brighton was back then at least full of characters and was a very forgiving place to live, ie, didn't matter what you looked like, what your sexuality is or anything really. I can remember taking my partner on a few occasions and he remarked how lovely it was to see gay people openly hold hands, cuddle and nobody around blink an eye. It is a fairly white area but cannot recall any issues regarding aggro for those who were not.

I had a bright red and black mohawk for a few years back then and never once had any trouble, the only people who said anything were a bunch of Japanese tourists who asked if could take my photo while out on the beach one day!

It does however have a drug and homeless problem, back in the 80/90's it had a high proportion of people with aids, all these problems have been around for as long as I can remember, Brighton was known to be a little seedy before they did it up and it became little London. There are areas not to buy a house in, such as Moulsecoomb which is as true today as it ever was, it would occasionally kick off with riots there and it's really rough and tatty - even street signs got stolen, weirdly. It's a shame as lovely big houses.

Brighton some 30 years ago spent a fortune doing it up, the seafront was improved massively and I know around the train station area all the wastelands have been built on now, looks rather posh, but I do not know if much has been invested in it since or how run down it may be now.

Even tho I have been away for some years, two of my brothers still live there and still love it. Plenty of pubs, restaurants, transport (neither of them use cars locally), shopping, things to do and the people around them are good - both of them get on really well with their neighbours, meeting for lunches now and then and popping cakes around on b'days, feeding cats while away, basically a nice community feel. However, another old friend tho said it has changed, it isn't so friendly as once was, she funnily enough blames Londoners, ha.. She has 4 children, from 12-22 years old and the eldest was in a little trouble at one stage, hanging around with the wrong people but to be fair, that happens up and down the country.

Personally speaking, if I could afford to go back I would live out in the Rottingdean area instead of main Brighton. Busses along the seafront are easy to catch and it's just a more peaceful area. BUT, I would move back in a heartbeat, I loved it there and there are plenty of worse places to live.

Edit: Forgot the hospital. It's terrible.

Lol, made me laugh! My partner, twice has had his hot donut stolen while on the pier - the 2nd time the seagull whacked him right over the head! Hope you managed to get another croissant and eat it all.

Ditchling is absolutely lovely and driving over the beacon to Brighton is a lovely route, stop and get an ice cream. Hassocks is nice but is it still a retirement place? Burgess Hill used to be affordable too, not far on the train but going into small town mentality there. I'd kill for a Uncle Sams veggie burger tho, one more time.

Ha, just saw the date.. wonder if OP made the plunge?!

What village do you live in? Lewes perhaps?