brentwood or Billericay ????

mezebu1

So we bought a place last year but have put our house on the market, because we don't love the town, no support network and because we find ourselves travelling back to east of london/ essex almost every weekend to see friends/ family.


Brentwood is an area we are seriously considering moving to because of its proximity to the M25 and we've also got friends there (Warley and pilgrims hatch) who have really sold the area to us, they reported its quite nice and very good for schools, kids, things to do, upmarket and borderline 'posh'.

We have visited the high street and its quite okay (people seem happy and it appears family friendly) but the houses are VERY pricey, unless we want to consider Kelvedon hatch which is quite far to any train station - I drive to work but wife commutes by train to central london...We want a detached (3/ 4 bed preferably 4 bed)

Another area I've considered is Billericay. What do you think of Billericay? It appears slightly cheaper than brentwood and the train is faster to london albeit more expensive (70 odd pounds difference per month relative to brentwood) but houses come on the market more and u seem to get more for your money... The issue is my wife has it set in her mind that BRENTWOOD is way better than Billericay, no empirical reasons (other than more shops in brentwood) for this except for what our friends have said. For me, they are both same towns and you can easily use facilities in both towns...Online reviews have also shown a preference for Billericay?

Which is a better town for a young family? in your view?

Sorry for the lengthy post..

rickypatel89

I went to school in Brentwood, so I know quite a bit about the place. It's been on a downwards spiral for a while now, the schools are not the greatest and neither is the high street. Many of the shops are unoccupied and boarded out. I would look to avoid.

mezebu1

rickypatel89 wrote: »

I went to school in Brentwood, so I know quite a bit about the place. It's been on a downwards spiral for a while now, the schools are not the greatest and neither is the high street. Many of the shops are unoccupied and boarded out. I would look to avoid.

Thanks Rickpatel89, please do you mind being explicit, how do you mean re 'downward spiral'?

rickypatel89

The schools are becoming poor. You get a lot of youths from the nearby villages/towns coming to Brentwood. Most of them are just delinquents looking to cause trouble. It's not really somewhere you'd want to raise your children. When I started school there, the high street was the main attraction. At the moment there are quite a few boarded up shop and not much happening.

phoebe1989seb

mezebu1 wrote: »

Thanks Rickpatel89, please do you mind being explicit, how do you mean re 'downward spiral'?

Hopefully HazyJo will be along at some point - I believe she recently moved from Brentwood and from what I gather she wasn't overly impressed........

rickypatel89

I started school there in 2000 & spent 7 years there. When I started it was great but things have gradually tending to move in the wrong direction.

jungle_jane

Billericay is quite nice although like everywhere there are nice parts and not so nice parts. The houses around Norsey Road are well expensive for example and very nice. I like the shops in Billericay and was considering moving there for a while. I looked at about 20 houses to buy there.

Commuting is quicker from Billericay although by the time the train gets there usually there is only standing room. Greater Anglia is not the best train line in the world either.

I did look at Brentwood too but was put off mainly by the vibe of the place and secondly the commute. You can only get the 'slow' train to london and that put another half an hour on the journey.

Kynthia

Brentwood isn't great to commute by train from and TOWIE has brought the town down a little. Shenfield is much better for commuting and has a better vibe, but is very expensive.

I don't know it that well, but Billericay seems like a place on the up. The high street seem nice and it seems to be a place with lots of families. Upminster and Hornchurch are very good too and quick to drive to Brentwood. As they are in zone 6 the commute to London is cheaper and more reliable.

mezebu1

Kynthia wrote: »

Brentwood isn't great to commute by train from and TOWIE has brought the town down a little. Shenfield is much better for commuting and has a better vibe, but is very expensive.

I don't know it that well, but Billericay seems like a place on the up. The high street seem nice and it seems to be a place with lots of families. Upminster and Hornchurch are very good too and quick to drive to Brentwood. As they are in zone 6 the commute to London is cheaper and more reliable.

Thanks all, I will be showing my OH this thread...:j

SG27

My advice would be neither!

I used to live not far from Billericay and have friends in Brentwood. Neither of the high streets are very nice places after about 9pm. They are very popular with binge drinking idiots. (I used to be one in my younger days! Not an idiot though) since the rubbish that is known as TOWIE Brentwood has certainly gone down hill with coaches bringing in hen and stag parties etc from further afield. Prices in both towns are far too expensive. Billericay is popular with pub crawls due to its high street of many pubs.

Maybe look at the outlying areas of the towns but I wouldn't live near the town centres if you paid me!

GoldenShadow

What about Chelmsford? Or does price put you off?

I would edge Billericay over Brentwood, *but* both areas can be as bad as each other. I think for the money there are more *nice* properties in Billericay but that is just my opinion.

Halstead is quite nice, but is a bit more out there. I live in Chelmsford and you do pay through the nose here. Some areas of Braintree are OK but again a bit further out.