London areas for 2 bed, 200k budget

Ellie007

hazyjo wrote: »

Good luck

Lots of shops on Chingford Mount, but it's not as nice. If you're looking at Chingford, definitely look at North Chingford - which is where Chingford station is - shops on Station Road. A lovely restaurant at the end of Station Road - cross over to The Green (near new Prezzo). It's called Table 7. Not cheap, but very good (in case you want to squeeze a lunch/dinner in!).

Jx

I live in Chingford, and would agree that the Mount is not great, but some of the roads at the top of the Mount- branching off from Old Church Road, are quite pleasant. There are quite nice flats along some of those roads (purpose built rather than converted houses). I lived in Highams Park for many years, and it has gone a bit downhill IMHO (far too many take-aways and shops that exist for 6 months and then disappear compared to a few years ago), but still much nicer than Walthamstow and very good value for money. Transport links are fab .

Good luck!

hazyjo

Cheers Ellie. The ones that come up on the top of the Mount (agree, much nicer!) do tend to be quite a way from the station. I'm looking there myself - might PM for a 'local' opinion on a road I'm considering!

Agree HP isn't as nice as it was. Drove down a road in Woodford at the weekend (seemed affordable) and thought it was the biggest dive I'd seen in ages. Made HP look like Primrose Hill lol! There have been a couple of more 'upmarket' additions to HP over the last few years which have stayed - hairdressers, traditional style sweet shop, the ice cream shop near the level crossing (hope that's still there, not sure if I saw it last time I was there a week or so ago). I do think it has a lot of potential if/when the recession starts lifting.

Thanks,

Jx

Ellie007

Hi Jo,

Yes, please PM me. I know the area pretty well and I live up one of those roads. It takes me 20 minutes to walk to Chingford Station, which isn't ideal, but I can drive to HP station and park there for just over £2 per day if I feel lazy.

Woodford is a dump. We viewed a house there once and couldn't get out quick enough. I always assumed it was nice, but it isn't.

And yes, the ice-cream parlour is still in HP! Never been in there, and predicted it wouldn't last, but thankfully am wrong! Definitely the area should be on the up soon, it is sad to see places closed, like the restaurant that was Lances, then Shelz, now been boarded up for a couple of years (and great location too).

OP, sorry for hijacking!

hazyjo

I think it's all important for the OP, so wouldn't worry too much about the hijacking Also good for anyone searching in the future to find out how a place has changed.

Ta for info. Have sent PM. Shelz was a great restaurant - never knew Lances, but heard good things. No idea how the Italian near the new Tesco keeps going, but hope it's there forever.

Looking forward to hearing the views of the OP.

Jx

AlexMac

Look at South East London. You get lot for your money and the environment is great in parts- excellent open space, local shops, decent bars and restaurants in many places. We used to commute from Blackheath and Charlton as they have good rail links to London Bridge then on to the Northern Line in your journey-to-work time-scale. There are lots of other other places in the same Zone 3 (close enough and affordable) - look at anywhere with SE Train stations or on the new DLR or 'overground' extensions via New Cross to Brockley.

Look at prices on Zooopla in SE4 Brockley, , SE7 Charlton, SE8 Deptford, SE6 Catford and maybe, in selected bits of SE13 Lewisham and SE14 New Cross. You'll even find 2-bedders under £200k in posher SE10 Greenwich and SE3 Blackheath/Kidbrooke, also in zone 3.

Ignore SE9 Eltham, SE18 Woolwich and SE2 Abbey Wood -much less interesting areas and a bit too far out for you; probably Zone 4 or worse!

Soundgirlrocks

I'm in SE25 (Not far from East Croydon) Transport into central is really good and lots of green spaces in and around Croydon. Croydon is great for shopping (House of Fraiser, Central and Whitgift centres as well as the Purley Way). £200K will get you a two up two down with garden in need of a bit of TLC, or a very decent flat with a garden, probably with some change.

Don't be put of by Croydon rep, I would suggest having a look round it and surrounding areas

sarah3585

Thanks again for all the posts.
Differencing of opinions on Walthamstow. I'll see what I think of it on Saturday.
Chingford, especially the North seems to be generally well spoken off.
Highams Park has ok feedback, might be worth the trade off if we can get more for our money there.

Interesting feedback on Croydon, I thought it was considered a rough area, but I'll look into the East as an option. Looks like we can get a 2 up, 2 down with generous garden.

hazyjo

This looks okay: http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-39749618.html?backListLink=%2Fproperty-for-sale%2Fmap.html%3FlocationIdentifier%3DREGION%255E85336%26insId%3D2%26maxPrice%3D220000%26minBedrooms%3D2%23_includeSSTC%3Don%26auction%3Dfalse%26locationIdentifier%3DREGION%255E70396%26maxPrice%3D220000%26minBedrooms%3D2%26previousSearchLocation%3DChingford%26radius%3D0.0%26searchLocation%3DHighams%2520Park%252C%2520East%2520London%26searchType%3DSALE%26useLocationIdentifier%3Dtrue%26box%3D-0.01808%2C0.01093%2C51.59899%2C51.62004%26popupPropertyId%3D39749618&fromMap=true

Would add South Woodford to list too, but can't see much there in your price range.

Jx

abankerbutnotafatcat

Croydon is ok in general, it's a borough as well as a town and therefore includes a very large area with East and South Croydon tending to be the best parts of Croydon town. The only reason I didn't suggest it was that OP mentioned travelling to Angel but if OP is considering S of the river then East Croydon has fantastic rail links to Victoria and London Bridge plus there are through trains that stop at Kings Cross. The service from EC to central London is fast with an almost tube like frequency plus there's the London Overground which may be useful to OP but I don't know much about.

As long as you visit an area at different times of day and feel safe walking from there to the station then I think Croydon could be a good bet. I believe it is the biggest 'town centre' in the SE of England after the West End of London and has had a very visibly high level of business and infrastructure investment in the last few years. Personally, I think it's too key an area to be allowed to fail (decline).

sarah3585

Due to the weather I'm unable to ge to London this weekend, delaying my visit for another two weeks. Which is frustrating. I'll keep researching until then.

Croydon has sparked my interest but then I google it and it fills with terrifying comments.
Between Walthamstrow and Croydon, which is considered 'nicer'?
Walthamstrow just edges it on the commute time.

I had a look a the SE25 area suggested by SoundRockGirl. Looks like we can do alright with our budget. The nearest station being Norwood Junction, 40mins to Angel.