brentwood or Billericay ????

sammyjammy

Move to Billericay Gavin lives there

pimento

If you move to Leigh-on-Sea be prepared to have trouble parking.

moromir

Another Chelmsfordian weighing in to suggest here

Ps at least you'd have a few insta-buddies to show you round if you move here :P

Trains are regular (about every 6min in rush hour I think?)

Plenty to do (sports teams - have a decent football team and a good ice hockey team, farmers market in Waltham, Council do organised walks, Hylands House etc, V festival).

Plenty of nice areas, Old Moulsham, Chignals/Mashbury/High Easter/Pleshey if you want a village feel, the old parts of Springfield and Chelmer Village if you want something a bit more modern.

mezebu1

hazyjo wrote: »

Blimey, keep yer hair on

(Will reply to PM too.)

Okay, will be blunt.

I hated Brentwood mainly cos of the pubs and people in Warley. If you're someone who sits indoors and doesn't go out, or isn't bothered by what others do, great. If you're offended by drugs, there are definitely pubs to avoid! Cocaine seems to be a MASSIVE problem. Never lived anywhere like it in my life. Would say at least 80% of the locals in one pub in Warley take it (some regularly, some occasionally - male and female, all ages, but the most common being 40s, I'd guess).

Some of the rougher pubs further up Warley Road are even worse. Avoided those!

Take a look at the recycling bins outside houses on bin collection day. Never seen so many bottles in my life. Place seems to be full of alchies too. In fact, the pubs are full of them too.

Seems to be a lot of money there, but the some of the people who have it don't know what to do with it!

Also lots of people who had money. The City in the '80s poured money, coke and alcohol down some people's throats. There seems to be a lot of people in that sort of boat there - ex-City workers from the '80s. Stories of rehab and burn-out, and you see them spending job-seekers allowance in there, or living like they're still earning that sort of money. Bloke I know spends hundreds in the pub every week (coke and booze), but has payday loans, a £60+ salary, wife and kids (I think the kids are borderline feral and into all sorts of trouble - and he wonders why!). Most in my old local have ended up divorced or on the brink (I left my husband while in Brentwood).

I HATED the train journey. Never had a problem with the apparent 40 mins on a train, but it often took longer and I have never lived on a line with so many problems. I was constantly crawling into work late, and constantly moaning on FB about train problems. Became a bit of a standing joke about me only commenting when the trains were on time. I was often delayed going home. The bottleneck around Stratford made it even worse. If there were delays on any other line, the Brentwood one (Shenfield last stop) seemed to be affected for some reason. It was stop-start all the way most days. The only times I didn't mind the journey was during the daytime if I'd left work early. I finish at 6pm, and the trains were still a nightmare.

For the first year, I paid for the 'fast option' to go straight to Shenfield, then come back a stop to Brentwood. Seemed like a good idea - and the train was LOVELY! So much nicer and relaxing, and fairly empty. But I ended up getting so many cabs from Shenfield cos the train back just didn't come, or was delayed by over 15 mins/indefinitely.

I was stuck on the platform in the snow once for over an hour at Brentwood! They sent us to the wrong platform twice, and kept saying the train was coming. I gave up and went home, then went back after around 45 mins. Got into work around 2.5 hours late in the end!

Trains were packed by the time you reached London, and usually everyone just seemed to be VERY annoying. People would tend to talk VERY loudly on mobiles or to each other all the way. I always listened to music to drown it out. It made me a huge grouch! I don't know why everyone was so annoying, but I've never noticed it on other lines.

I am now in North Chingford. I feel like I'm on holiday every day. I usually forget to put my headphones in, people aren't annoying any more, they're NORMAL. I can't explain why, I just feel relieved, and I look around me and see NORMAL human beings. I feel like I've come home.

I have told a few people (cab driver, tyre replacement bod, shop/restaurant staff, etc), that I moved to North Chingford from Brentwood and they look at me like I'm mad as Brentwood's considered the nicer of the two and people tend to move out rather than in, but I don't see it.

Brentwood's full of chains, and the newer shops that have opened up are by TOWIE 'stars'. When I get off at North Chingford, I walk the length of Station Road. You see people sitting outside in cafes and bars, and I have just found they're nice in a non-fake sort of way. I find it more community-ish, four sets of neighbours have been very chatty and friendly and have made me feel VERY welcome. Didn't get that in Brentwood!

Saying all that... yes, Brentwood is generally considered a nice/posh area. I did have a nice feeling about the place when I first moved there in 2011. Spent well over £400k on a house on Clements Park estate.

Never knew neighbours, everyone kept themselves to themselves. Would say hello over a fence to next door out of politeness, that's it.

People were friendly in a 'TOWIE' way. I find it quite false. Anyone can do that. Walk into a shop and start that fake sort of chat. It's like sitting in a hairdresser's (no offence to hairdressers lol).

If I had to make suggestions, I would say Shenfield would be a better option, even if only for the trains!

Billericay has always had a bit more of a chavvy sort of reputation than Brentwood. Compared to other places, it's 'posh'! But go down the High Street at 10pm on a Friday night. It's very much a youngster's sort of town. Have been for dinner there several times and seen a couple of fights on the street. I don't understand why the train fares are so expensive from there either. I would personally rather move out to Leigh on Sea (south of London Road) and commute. Cheaper trains, and I don't think the journey's any longer, despite appearing to be much further out!)

If you can bear tubes, consider Epping too.

I would have bought in Hertford if I hadn't got my house in Chingford.

What sort of budget are you looking at?

Jx

Whao...thanks for your down to earth response Hazyjo.