Where's the best place to live in North London?

[msmagoo]

Need to move out of central London this year
DS1 is 18 mos. and we are currently renting in a pokey but very convenient flat.
Which areas of North London are best for:

1. transport to Kings Cross (train not tube)
2. local amenities (grocery, other shops, cafes, restaurants)
3. schools/nurseries
4. neighbourhood feel
5. reasonable value housing (price/quality ratio not totally out of whack)

What are areas to avoid?

Totally depends on your budget.

agree with mrs mattie, it completely depends on your budget. we're in kentish town/tufnell park and have been for the past 14 years and it's great:-

1. 2 stops on overland to kings cross
2. lots of grocery etc shops within walking distance, nice gastro pubs rather than nice restaurants.
3. don't use the nurseries but friends do and they are happy with them. some nice primary schools around, not so sure about secondary tbh
4. nice neighbourhood feel where we are, street parties etc
5. depends where you go but can be quite expensive but obviously a lot cheaper than e.g. highgate, hampstead etc. we're actually moving out (of a flat) bec there's no way we can afford a house here

also
6) hampstead heath right on your doorstep
7) quick to get into town either on tube or bus
8) LOADS of stuff for kids to do (I'm talking toddler groups, don't know about older kids)
9) personally I also like it because you have a nice mix of people, so it's not all middle class bec you have people who have lived here for years, and you have e.g. a very nice but stupidly expensive organic food shop and an Iceland on the high st.

As for areas to avoid in N. London, personally I wouldn't go Archway-way or Holloway really.

Islington is nice but very expensive and I have no idea about schools there

good luck

winchmore hill or oakleigh park.
Don't go near highgate, archway or crouch end

Whats your budget? We have lived in Hampstead,Belsize Park and Dartmouth park and loved it there, but moved because we couldn't afford a house.

I lived in Islington and thought it was a dump

i definitely wouldn't do archway, arsenal,stroud green, islington, holloway.
i would recommend muswell hill, crouch end,highgate, belsize park and hampstead.

I'm on the Archway/Highgate border, live on Highgate Hill and love the area! Dartmouth Park is great, Crouch End brill if you can afford it and like the 'yummy mummy' scene (though no tube). Highgate is another great area - good transport, good primary schools and very nice neighbourhood-feel, but prices are still very high.

Have you considered the Whitehall Park area of N19? There are some lovely family houses there and it's very close to Crouch End. Drawback is a lack of good schools.

I don't know Tufnell Park so well but there are some great schools there - Eleanor Palmer for example. Kentish Town is nice and improving steadily - it's good in terms of proximity to Hampstead Heath and has very good transport connections and some good schools dotted about.

I would avoid Holloway like the plague and most areas of Archway (with exception of the N19 5xx postcode which has some lovely bits to it).

We always said when we lived in central London that we had to live 'either right in' or 'right out' and not halfway in between.

My view is you should move well out of London and commute from a decent sized house e rather than get stuck in a London suburb that is neither convenient, cheap or nice.

Look much further out if you can is my advice.

Archway is a wonderful place to live. I know it doesn't look like much when you come out of the tube but it has dramatically improved over the last two years and living here is great. The transport is amazing with zone 2 tube and loads of buses to all over London as well as the overland at Upper Holloway. There are also great places to eat and drink, like the St Johns pub, 500 (Italians travel from around London to this restaurant), Spaghi, Harman, Del Parc and Bread and Bean cafe. Easy shopping too with Co-op, Sainsburys and Budgens - and a fab beauty salon called Beautiful! It's a 20 minute walk to Swains Lane and the Parliament Hill side of the Heath and a walk away from Highgate, or if you prefer 2 minutes on the bus. There is also Whittington Park just down the road which has a great kids playground and there is Waterlow Park about 10 minutes walk away which is beautiful. For the kiddies there is the Archway Childrens Centre on Vorley Road which is superb. Activities for babies and toddlers every day, most of which are free. We go to baby yoga and stay and play as often as we can. Not only do the babies love it but it's full of lovely mummies and there is a cafe there for a drink or lunch also. I grew up in Hampstead, and moved to Archway to live with my boyfriend now husband - I never thought we would stay here but we've been here 6 years now and love it. We never want to leave, and have just bought a house in Whitehall Park on the hill between Archway and Highgate. Islington Council has put a large pot of money aside to invest in Archway regeneration and there is a strong agenda to turn the roundabout into a two way system with pedestrian areas to improve public space so Archway is really on the up. There is a wonderful sense of community and people say hello to each other on the street. I couldn't recommend it more.

Friends of mine live Alexandra palace with their DCs and love it

Barnet - good schools; good links to Kings Cross using overground. Plenty of nurseries too.

Highbury is wonderful but rather expensive now.