Woking: What's it like?

[rosmerta]

Dh has decided that he would like to move to Woking! Have had a look at rightmove and we can much more for our money plus reduce our mortgage so it does make sense. But we don't really know the area.

Anyone live there or nearby who can give me an idea of good places to live, if the schools are good etc.

tia

There are some really minging areas, and the town centre isn't really up to much. Only good thing is the Leisure centre has a Wurlitzer.

I do have friends in Woking, but they are childfree so don't know much about schools.

pil live between woking and guildford. We avoid Woking, not very nice, according to them and DH

Bits of Woking are fine, other bits not. Am surprised that you think it is cheaper than where you live as I find it v-expensive considering it is not very nice. Are you moving from London? And if it's not too rude to ask, what kind of budget do you have? Knowing that, I can recommend areas as there is a huge range of prices (and corresponding desirability of area)! Woking is a commuter town so if you/dh is travelling into London that is a good reason to consider it.

There are lots of good schools, but again, need some idea of what ages your dc are and what kind of schools you are looking for (private, faith-based etc).

Shopping in Woking is pretty hopeless and the town centre is not pretty but it is close to Guildford which has pretty much every shop you could wish for. There's also a dearth of restaurants.

I think I might be painting a gloomy picture - it's not all that bad and if you can consider some of the areas around Woking like Pirbright, Mayford or West Byfleet there are some really nice, village-y bits with good schools.

The best thing in Woking, is the road out of it.

lol at Bree
my main memory of Woking is going for a 'quiet' drink after playing in a show and rounding the corner to discover scenes of CARNAGE. Fights, drunken youths, vomiting - all at 10pm on a Saturday night. Little old me, brought up in the supposed badlands of South East London, was proper alarmed

lots of nice villages around though

Ok, thanks for the replies, esp Bree . MrsJ, isn't that just towns everywhere now?!

We would probably look at villages around rather than Woking itself now, I think dh fixed on it as its where his favourite golf course is!

Annh, we are moving from London so yes the difference in price is quite large. Probably looking at houses around £350k

yes it probably is

there really are lovely villages round and about, I just remember being really disappointed in Woking itself

I live in one of the villages near Woking. The town itself, whilst not pretty, is pretty much the same as any other town. Shops are fine, especially in the Peacocks centre (3 story shopping centre with obligatory foodcourt at the bottom)
The nightlife - well we avoid any sort of nightlife. Two of my friends are in the police, both say Woking is identical to Guildford, Kingston etc in terms of fights and vomitting.
The town does have two theatres, the main one getting big productions, the small one for community theatre. So that is a big plus.
The town centre has monthly farmer's markets as well as french markets, craft markets etc. So another plus.
The leisure centre is great, big swimming pool with leisure lagoon adjacent to leisure centre, both set in a nice park.

All in all Woking has all you need and more. In fact I find Guildford shopping a drag as the shops are all along one long hilly street. Guildford is prettier though.
The other thing I like about Woking is the 23 minute train straight into Waterloo. It makes London 'local'
However, I would not live in Woking. The affordable bits are not so nice and the nice bits are not so affordable.
Also, whilst there is a good private school in the middle of Woking (Greenfields) state schools are less good, with the exception of Goldsworth Primary School.

Right, schools. I live in Knaphill. We have ofsted outstanding infant and ofsted very good junior school. I have one dc at each and rate them both very very highly.
Our nearest secondary is Winston Churchill which again is Ofsted very good. I work there (temporarily) and really like it, the staff and their ethos from what I have seen is brilliant. It apparently also has great SEN provision.
Horsell also has a brilliant village school and a very good junior school. Their secondary is Woking High which is as good as Winston. Some say better, on paper they are much for muchness so it comes down to personal preference.
Over the other side of Woking West Byfleet also has very good schools. Not sure about secondary though.

Where are you living at the moment? As I find it very expensive around here?

If there is anything else you need to know, let me know and I will try to find out

thanks hippi . We're in West London atm so we can get a bit more for our money by moving a little further out. However, I'm guessing that all the slightly larger houses we've seen in our budget are probably not in the nicer areas?

We would be looking at the villages, not the town itself. Just handy to have things like shops/swimming pools etc nearby. Thanks as well for info re schools. Ds will be starting nursery school next year so not as important atm but worth knowing the areas we can look at.

However, it all depends on the valuation for our current house. Fingers crossed on Tuesday!

I live nearer Weybridge than woking (so not far out) Pyrford is a village worth considering, or West byfleet, Weybridge is very nice but pricey for houses.

Yes, Pyrford is nice too and from what I hear the school is good.

Yes I believe it is, presumably you can technically live in the correct areas of West Byfleet and be near enough to get a school place. However Byfleet & West Byfleet have a shortage of reception places for September!!!! Of course if you are catholic there is a fab catholic school in WB.

It would be a catholic school we'd be looking for.

Am off to search for houses in those places!

In that case it opens up Chertsey, Addlestone (there are some nice parts - Rowtown & the like) and west byfleet up to you as they all of great catholic schools, but your dc must be baptised and may well have to attend mass to be secured a place as they have really tightened up on these things recently around here.

Weybridge being the nearest mainline station to all of these, they all have local stations but you have to change at Weybridge which is a bit of a pain possibly better to drive to Weybridge.

rosmerta, it depends on your budget. What I would class affordable may well be miles away from what you class affordable.
My budget is limited, hence why I cannot afford what I think are the nice areas. But they may well be within your budget

Let me know the areas you are thinking of and I'll let you know my take on them

There is a nice catholic school in Woking called St Dunstans. It is very good. Then there is The Marist (I believe) in West Byfleet and St Hugh of Lincoln in Knaphill. Both very good too

£350k can buy you really "nice" 3 bed detached with parking/garage and decent garden in a "nice" area IYSWIM also from the areas I've managed you are half way between Woking & Staines so more shopping & entertain options avaiable there.

Woking is awful, i was brought up in westend in surrey just outside Woking, lived there for 24 years of my life, the place is horrible now thats why we moved out, there is no way i wanted to bring my children up there!

Ask me anything you like i will try to help you.

We live fairly close to Woking. It's a fairly attractive and comfortable place - pure Surrey.

The nice places to live are Horsell, Woodham and St John's.

I think the town centre is pretty good. There is a modern, four-storey shopping mall, complete with cinema and theatre. There is also a traditional high street. Debenhams is as good as it get for department stores, though. I'd say that it is on the good side of 'ordinary'.

The state schools are among the best for this part of Surrey, which is otherwise dire. I think Woking High and Sir Winston Churchill have good reputations. They are meddling with the idea of having the whole Woking area as a single school system where theoretically children could have classes over a 10 sq mi area.

There are lots of Woking children at DSs' independent school.

Scooby, you had bad experiences with council houses and what not?
So your experiences are bound to be different from those who live in different circumstances.

Sorry you had a crap time, but I think you are being unfair to Woking.

Woodham is fab, some great residential areas. And I believe you are close to the catholic school in West Byfleet there too.

It's not that bad, Scooby!

Yes Woodham is close to the Marist in West Byfleet so you should get a place there easily, however do check before buying a house as it can be a bit of a no-mans land there as many Woodham folk are private education all the way incomes

Er it has sod all to do with the council housing, why bring that up? i don't like Woking, i used to like living there when i was little & i actually had a very priveleged life.

It is now just built up & crime is quite high there these days as well as drugs.

I like places on the outskirts like Pyrford & weybridge but Woking itself i don't like at all.

It's my opinion just because you don't agree with me does not mean i am wrong!

Oh & i am sooo sorry i don't live in the great circumstances you do, my circumstances are not that bad you know & just for your information i don't live & never have lived on a council estate!