Crawley and around

ilovecheese

I used in live in Crawley (Broadfield) and agree there are nicer places to live - depending on what type of property you are looking for. East Grinstead has a direct train line to Victoria (takes just under an hour - 58 minutes) and East Grinstead is much nicer than Crawley, but you get less house for your money.

Poundhill and Three bridges are the better areas of Crawley, but I have never been a fan of Maindenbower (sorry to the poster who likes it!) all the roads look the same, the houses look the same, and I have just never been a fan - having said that, I could never afford the prices in Maindenbower anyway - but this is not the green eyed monster talking!!! Hee Hee

abankerbutnotafatcat

propertyman wrote: »

But living in Redhill you spend most of your life on a hill, or having to go via a hill or sloping road, with little or no street parking- which makes for great fun on snow days or carrying shopping.

Horley town does have a Waitrose but on an autumn or winter day you do feel that Zombies are lurking around the next corner.... especially in the cut through by the Halifax...

Ha ha!! So Redhill is the Peak District and Horley the set of Dawn of the Dead:)

Strapped

I think I must have the wrong impression of Redhill then. I know there are some nicer parts but I used to have a boyfriend who lived in a block of flats in Redhill known locally as "Beirut" and I always feared for the wheels on my car when visiting! And he always walked me to the car after dark!

Strapped

propertyman wrote: »

What you get in facilities you trade off in some of the people.
The trick is to park up in the neighbourhood on an evening and drive around it to see if the neighbours are likely to be a bother.


Oh BTW if you go to Worth and say "you're part of Crawley" you might not get out in one piece....:eek:

Even better if you say, "you don't exist any more, this is Pound Hill, isn't it?"

Dan:_4

I have lived in Crawley for 32 years, and in most Neighbourhoods. If Iwere to buy it will defo be in the nicer areas of Three Bridges or Pound Hill. Maidenbower is sh!te, has a crap pub, a long walk away from Three Bridges train station, and the community prefer to think they are not part of Crawley - which they blatantly are.

I have recently moved to Horley, a few minutes walk from the town centre and love it. Great people, great pubs, great transport links to London and nice schools.

abankerbutnotafatcat

Strapped wrote: »

I think I must have the wrong impression of Redhill then. I know there are some nicer parts but I used to have a boyfriend who lived in a block of flats in Redhill known locally as "Beirut" and I always feared for the wheels on my car when visiting! And he always walked me to the car after dark!

Redhill has a slightly undeserved reputation - the worst you could say about the town centre is that it's chavvy. There probably are some slightly dodgy areas in amongst the high rises and council estates but then I don't suppose even the council estates of Chelsea are the nicest places and they are not the sort of places you ever need to visit, unless you know someone who lives there of course!!

I think the history is that as the newest, and therefore least developed town, Redhill took the brunt of East Surrey's post war housing requirement - town planners would probably try to mix things a bit more these days but it didn't occur to them in those heady, utopian days that they might be causing a bit of class segregation. So, in effect, Redhill-Reigate is one connurbation with Reigate being the middle class bit and its high street attracting the Laura Ashleys et al with the reverse being true of Redhill (that said Redhill has an excellent fruit and veggie market Thurs and Sats).

But of course it isn't that clear cut. Redhill (and its suburbs of Merstham and Earlswood) are on the main line whereas Reigate is a branch line that has to go via Redhill so that gives a plus point to Redhill. Plus there is stacks of lovely Victorian and Edwardian housing especially in Earlswood and in between Redhill and Reigate that is cheaper because it has a Redhill (RH1) postcode rather than a Reigate (RH2) postcode.

We're in Earlswood and think we have the best of both worlds - 6 minute walk to Earlswood train station Monday to Friday to work (and it's before Redhill so you've got a good chance of a seat!!) and then a 25 minute walk (up a steep hill, propertyman!!!) on the weekends to the coffee bars etc of Reigate.

As someone else said, unless you're extremely rich everything in property purchase is a compromise - it's all about choosing which things you want to compromise and which things you don't!!!

stugib

Lived in Ifield/Ifield West from 1999-2004 and the scumminess from Broadfield/Bewbush was spreading outwards into Ifield during that time and by the looks of it from my brief returns has kept extending, so may have taken over the whole of Crawley by now!

propertyman

abankerbutnotafatcat wrote: »

and then a 25 minute walk (up a steep hill, propertyman!!!) on the weekends to the coffee bars etc of Reigate.

I know every inch of Cockshot Hill very well, I cycled up and down it twice a day to work for a number of years.

And on snow/ice days I took a train on that branch line from Redhill- it was rather "Dr Zhivago" in those old diesel electrics down through the cuttings.

And later when I learnt to drive I often went home via the villages or Ironsbottom and not the A217 - on a spring to early Autumn it is beautiful - God's green and pleasant Land.

propertyman

Strapped wrote: »

Even better if you say, "you don't exist any more, this is Pound Hill, isn't it?"

:mad: That's when we normally reach for our Shotguns or the Horsewhip......

bloomin town planners and their communistical ways.

schoolrunmum

Another vote for East Grinstead here....why not think of Copthorne/Crawleydown/Turners Hill/Felbridge areas?