AlwaysonBA663

My wife and I have decided to move to London. We have lived in Reading, Berkshire for a number of years, however my wife now works in the City and we are finding the commute combined with the hours in her banking role to be quite a strain on our day to day life.

We are looking for an area which has good transport links to Bank (ideally a 25 minute journey by public transport). The area must be safe, feeling safe as a
slightly built woman walking home from the tube / train station is essential. Ideally there would be a good mixture of ages (ie not just people in 20s-30s), and some character in the area - by character and safe can be difficult to reconcile together.

To give an example we looked at Canada Water, and while the area felt safe it was incredibly sterile and didn’t appeal to us.

We would be selling our house in Reading and would have a budget of up to 600k to buy somewhere in London, as a minimum it would need to be a 2 bed flat, and we would strongly favour a new build. As people we would value good access to public transport, parks, the main touristy bits of London. No kids at present, and probably not likely to have any. I have a bias for South (East) London as I have friends who live in the Lewisham / Catford / Hither Green / East Dulwich areas.

Can the brains trust that is flyertalk recommend some areas? We plan to spend the next few months exploring London to see where we like, so any recommendations would be gratefully received. Thanks!

WorldLux

25 minutes door to door (including walking to/from the station) or 25 minutes tube + time to walk to walk from the flat to the station and from the station to the office and vice versa? 25 minutes all-in would be pretty restrictive.

AlwaysonBA663

25-30 minutes Station to station is the aim

JFSV

I was going to suggest NW. Hampstead and Highgate are excellent, but budget-wise impossible to find something for that price. Have you looked at the area around North Greenwich? there are a lot of new builds. It does not have a lot of charm but if you can find something closer to Greenwich (DLR station) that could work (plus park nearby)

MoreMilesPlease

Elephant and Castle is a huge growth area with lots of new builds. Most likely you could buy something in that price range (but not 100% sure about that). It would be less than a 15-20 minutes door to door. It is in transition. I lived in the area for a year near the University and the new Leisure Center. Never felt unsafe as a woman walking.

VivoPerLei

Do you have 600K available for down payment or is that the maximum purchase price? If the latter, you might have to go further out unless you can really do with a smaller flat. I live in NW London in a respectable area close to a couple of underground stations and 1m seems to be norm for a decent new build with several bedrooms.

:D!

Not sure what house prices are like but try Blackheath/Kidbrooke

If you change your mind about kids or want a bit more space then Orpington/Chelsfield may be an idea, I'm thinking the trains will be better now that London Bridge reconstruction is more or less done

wendyg

Kew is a straight shot on the District Line to Monument, which is connected to Bank by a long tunnel. About 35 minutes. A friend always says Kew reminds him of London in the 1950s - friendly, safe, yet still home to some non-wealthy people (though property prices here have definitely escalated). Richmond, the last stop on this line, is more like a small town; Kew is more like a village - but a village with two tennis clubs, an amateur dramatics group, the botanical gardens (which presents many lectures and other activities), an independent bookstore, and a Michelin-starred restaurant. There are two-bedroom flats in Kew in the mid-500ks; I know less about Richmond prices. (From Richmond to get to Bank you'd take the train to Waterloo and the Underground from there. It's 20 minutes on the fast trains to Waterloo.)

You could also consider Chiswick - from Turnham Green to Bank is a couple of stops shorter than Kew (same line) and Turnham Green gets more than twice as many trains into town; Chiswick has a lot more shops and crowds, and is rather more expensive. Ealing might also be worth considering - Ealing Broadway is about the same distance as Richmond, bit cheaper, lots of stuff going on there (local theater, lots of shops, etc.).

If you fly a lot, as I imagine you do since you're posting here, all these locations are a reasonably easy ride (tube, bus) to Heathrow. They're on the west/southwest side of London.

wg
ETA: If you decide to take a look at Kew, PM me and we can go for tea at one of the local places.

HIDDY

Used to visit my sister a lot in Virginia Water - the Wentworth Estate when her and my brother in law both commuted to work in central London. Lovely area considering its proximity to the capital although the aircraft noise from LHR might be a nuisance to some.

rcspeirs

You mention Lewisham. Loads of trains to Cannon St (effectively the same location as Bank), very quick. Also the DLR, though mainline to Cannon St will usually be quicker. A slug of new build flats right by the station. Sadly, with a budget of Ł600, you'll need to comprise somewhere. I don't think you can achieve all the bits of your specification for that price point.

WorldLux

And possibly terminus for the Bakerloo line extension but that's currently still in an early planning phase...

AlwaysonBA663

Thanks all, we will do some exploring in London next weekend I think. Compromise is probably quite likely, it just depends what we have to compromise on. We will have a better idea when our house is valued in a few months.

DYKWIA

That's closer to Reading than London

dddc

I would look for something on the DLR route. The Tube and Trains seem to be getting more packed than ever(I have to back track just to get on most mornings now!) Westferry is only 3 stops in and you have the charm of the Narrow Street conservation area one side and the modernity and cleanliness of Canary Wharf the other. Depending on where you find something you'll also have the Jubilee and Elizabeth lines near by or a walk to Limehouse C2C rail line.

FlyerTalker39574

If it is a long term move, look at the Bakerloo line extension https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/about-t...line-extension

Btw Finance companies seem to move between the City and Canary Wharf.