Purley (South London), good area to raise a family?

meadow408

hello All
I'm wondering whether anyone could give me first hand information on Purley?
After much research into good areas to buy a family home, me and my partner are serioulsy considering Purley because of good and fast transport connections into London, proximity to Gatwick airport (I travel for work quite a bit), spacious properties with large gardens etc.
This is probably not going to be our forever home but definitely a home where we want to have and raise our kids for a good ten years at least; so I'm wondering : is Purley family/kids friendly? are there palygroups/nurseries/childcare support etc?
Any good feedback, or any negative feedback?
thank you very much for any insight you might have!

PuppyLove_2

Purley is not a bad area, depends where about you are talking about though.

I would prefer somewhere a bit further out to raise a family. Somewhere like Reigate or Lingfield etc

JodyBPM

I'm in that general area (although a bit further South, nearer to Gatwick).

Purley is basically a suburb of Croydon. It's one of the nicer parts of Croydon IMO, but it is still Londonised, and feels like an outer London suburb. I can't comment specifically on baby groups, nurseries etc as I'm too far out to know that local stuff, but I would say in general it would be OK. Its very much a commuter area, so childcare etc will be geared up for that.

It's worth looking a bit further south too, Redhill or Reigate or Horley (and the villages in between) are much less "Londonised" but still with good transport links. Of those, Redhill has the easiest commute into central London, but Reigate is the nicest place to live, with a charming town centre and lots of green spaces, but its much more pricey. It really depends on your budget and your requirements.

All in all, I would say that Purley is a reasonably pleasant commuter suburb, but you won't be escaping the London feel, with all the issues that brings. You will def get more of a community feel going a few miles further south.

FatVonD

I know that area really well as I lived close by until 4 years ago!

Purley Nursery (state nursery) was lovely and yes, there are lots of playgroups. I prefer Sanderstead/Riddlesdown areas to Purley itself and they are on another fast train line (the East Grinstead one.)

The only downside is the close proximity to Croydon town centre once they grow up and want to start clubbing (it's changed totally from when I was a teenager there) but you may well, like me, have moved away by the time they're teenagers.

PuppyLove_2

I can vouch that Sanderstead is nice as i live there haha also work in London and the train from sanderstead only takes 30 minutes!

As FatVonD says, the only problem with these areas is being close to Croydon, i definitely wouldnt want my children hanging around there.

Also can advise to steer clear of Redhill, *shudder* not a nice area, Reigate is much nicer.

LandyAndy

Purley, squire?

Famous for it, nudge, nudge, know what I mean?;)

With apologies to those too young to remember this.

duchy

I grew up in Purley and returned there to raise my son.

Another vote for the state Purley Nursery -and there's a heap of good toddler groups. Lots of stay at home Mums working as childminders so provision is really good too. Two really good primary schools that I personally can comment on Roke (just over the border in Kenley) and Christchurch (CoE) which I thought was excellent .

Looking to the long term transport links to Purley are good and if running a fulltime cab of Mum when the kids are older isn't in your future plans Purley's better served than say Sanderstead for buses and trains. Croydon doesn't have grammer schools but the nearby Sutton and Kingston do and about half of my son's primary school (we moved away in year six) went on to to grammer schools or got scholarships.

I think it's a good choice -not perfect but nowhere is. The rail and road links for Gatwick for you definitely makes it a serious consideration and in your shoes that's where I'd be looking -I wouldn't consider proximity to Croydon a disadvantage-great shopping, theatre , concerts etc and if your kids turn out to be teen clubbers they'll find a way to get there no matter where you live

Not sure I'd call the East Grinstead rail service a fast one though !!!!

dizsiebubba

PuppyLove wrote: »

I can vouch that Sanderstead is nice as i live there haha also work in London and the train from sanderstead only takes 30 minutes!

As FatVonD says, the only problem with these areas is being close to Croydon, i definitely wouldnt want my children hanging around there.

Also can advise to steer clear of Redhill, *shudder* not a nice area, Reigate is much nicer.

Agree with most of this - whyteleafe is also good as you are on top of Whytleafe & upper Warlingham stations which are both lines into London (one of them via Purley)

Redhill is not nice really - you couldn't pay me to liev there... would take South Croydon over Redhill, South Godstone, Nutfield and Biggin Hill any day...

duchy

I'd add Old Coulsdon and parts of Coulsdon to the list of possibles too

PuppyLove_2

dizsiebubba wrote: »

Agree with most of this - whyteleafe is also good as you are on top of Whytleafe & upper Warlingham stations which are both lines into London (one of them via Purley)

Redhill is not nice really - you couldn't pay me to liev there... would take South Croydon over Redhill, South Godstone, Nutfield and Biggin Hill any day...

Haha i moved from Whyteleafe to Sanderstead, I agree Whyteleafe and Warlingham are both nice areas. Whyteleafe has a lovely Tapas restaurant as well

Also another area i looked at when moving which i really liked was Oxted.

dizsiebubba

PuppyLove wrote: »

Haha i moved from Whyteleafe to Sanderstead, I agree Whyteleafe and Warlingham are both nice areas. Whyteleafe has a lovely Tapas restaurant as well

Also another area i looked at when moving which i really liked was Oxted.

Oxted is nice, but expensive and a little too middle class for me. Hurst Green is lovely and cheaper