Nice dull places with bad transport links in London

Cliveclive

Hi All,

My partner and I are renting in London at the moment and looking to buy a place somewhere. We work in South Kensington and Chancery Lane area respectively.

What I hope makes this slightly different to a standard 'where to live in London' question is that since we are both happy to cycle up to an hour to get into work, I was wondering if we could get more value for money by deliberately looking at areas with bad transport links that we can still cycle in from. Similar for the dull idea - we're past the exciting bars part of our lives and more into the starting a family part.

Mitcham is an area that seems like this is true for, but it's hard to tell if this is mainly tied up with it's bad reputation. Maybe somewhere like Dulwich? (outside of the uber-expensive village part)

Any suggestions?

cloo

Some bits of Enfield maybe? Bush Hill Park is pleasant, but not well connected. Quite a cycle for South Ken, but it is very nice for the money. South London's more likely for worse travel connections but I don't know south or the river as well.

benjus

Most of SE London falls into this category due to the lack of tube coverage (although the Overground has improved transport links for a number of areas and Crossrail will do the same in a couple of years). Many people did exactly what you are talking about and bought in SE London over the last couple of years, so I think the big bargains have disappeared - even places like Catford were starting to get pricey.

Also, SE London isn't exactly ideal for commuting to Kensington. How fast do you and your partner cycle? How far can you get in an hour? Will you be prepared to cycle every day throughout all seasons or will you want a reasonable public transport commute as backup? What about when you fancy some after-work drinks? Or when your partner is pregnant?

Dulwich is nice, but even the less expensive parts are not cheap these days. What sort of property are you looking for and what's your budget?

Cliveclive

Hi, Thanks for the replies.

In the past I've gone about 11 miles in an hour when I was commuting by bike, so I've got experience of the realities of cycle commuting, as has my partner. Where we rent at the moment we walk about 50mins to work.

Hence looking a places like Mitcham, which is around that distance away from chancery lane for me, and closer for my partner.

Budget is £550,000-600,000. There's flexibility in what we want from that, but a garden would be nice.

bouicca21

The Feakes and Richard estate in bexleyheath. Solid well built houses. Solid well boring area. If the long bike ride gets too much, you could cycle down to abbey wood and get the train (cross rail on its way).

Jhoney_2

Honor Oak, Nunhead, Forest Hill or Brockley will get you to Victoria for the tube in under 30mins in bad cycling weather. 40-mins to 1hr cycling. Good investment growth atm, but may not get a decent house for that budget, if even applicable. Best travel option definitely Nunhead.

benjus

bouicca21 wrote: »

The Feakes and Richard estate in bexleyheath. Solid well built houses. Solid well boring area. If the long bike ride gets too much, you could cycle down to abbey wood and get the train (cross rail on its way).

I wouldn't want to cycle from Bexleyheath to South Kensington and back every day... unless you're Bradley Wiggins you won't do that in an hour. Same applies to where I live, so I won't bother suggesting that (although it ticks the other boxes and you can get a 3 bed detached house for £550k).

hohum

Agree SE - West norwood is another nice but dull, on borders of dulwich/ streatham hill. 35 mins to London Bridge. It's a while since I've lived in London. But last time i looked prices seemed pretty silly to me for super ordinary. What you could look at is bike/ rail eg train stops on that route at Waterloo East, and cycle from there?

Finst

Most of Mitcham probably fails the "nice" part of your criteria, but London is amazingly patchwork - one street can be lovely and the next will be awful.

The northern end of Mitcham, Colliers Wood, or some parts of Streatham (near the common) might work. The A24 is extremely popular with cyclists, having cycle lanes or bus lanes most of the way into central London

BlaEm

Have a look at Hither Green - probably the definition of SE London 'dull', but I really like it it's on the National Rail rather than tube / overground, but walkable to Lewisham for the DLR as back up, trains run til c.1am.
I cycle in to SE1 in about 30 minutes, you should be good to get to South Ken in an hour. Prices still not too bad, I own a flat with a garden and plenty of parks and good schools if you're thinking family friendly. Hardly the life and soul but a few good restaurants, cafes and pubs in walking distance.

Lunchbox

Park Royal/Alperton/Sudbury? Not the best area but regenerating (better than Mitcham!). You'll easily get a house with garden with your budget. Good access to Grand Union canal with the towpath - 40 min cycle to Camden Lock for Chancery Lane, and about a 40 minute cycle to South Kensington. On the Piccadilly line which serves South Ken and Holborn, and Central line which also serves Holborn.