Should I buy in Cippenham Slough

dantelo

Hey all,

So the mrs and I are looking to buy a small house within an hours commute of White City (London). We have seen a few in several areas, but none have really impressed for our budget.

We have found some really nice houses that are 20years old, in Cippenham (gervaise close, lilley way, earls lane). Just wondering if this would be a good area to buy in (potential of growth?) and if the area is safe and nice for growing a family.

Have read some comments about sewage smells, and i can see Thames Water Management Works is near by... I can also see there's loads of properties for sale in that area.

What do you all think about the area?

claz83

My sister in law lives about three minutes from where you're looking and I personally wouldn't choose to bring up a family there but it depends what floats your boat. Check out crime rates at https://www.police.uk - you can search the area and then get a good idea where any crime is happening as it gives you a list of road names...visit the roads you're interested in at different times of day too, to build up a bit of a picture. What's your budget dantelo?

TadleyBaggie

I once lived in Cippenham Lane, not an area I would go back to.

devildolly5

I live very near here, have a couple of friends who live in the estate and I drive through Cippenham daily. There are lots of old houses, but the ones you refer to are on a newish estate. Houses are typical starter homes. Very close to an Asda if that is useful, but schools are not great in the area if you will be needing one. Parking is also a problem.

Being practically on the trading state means traffic is horrible pretty much all the time. If you'll be commuting from Slough station, there are new bus lanes running down the bath road (A4) which will mean you can get to the station pretty easily.

You can smell the sewage works from this whole area. Its not all the time, but if you ever drive the M4 regularly, you get the idea.

Prices will be high due to proximity to airport, cross rail, trading estate, motorways, and demand will always be there (god knows why). They do rent out quite well.

Personally, I would (and I am) be looking at nearer Maidenhead (still on same train line), or go out as far as Reading where there are direct fast trains directly into Paddington, or go a bit nearer and look at Langley/Iver.

Slough is a strange town, very busy, lots and lots of work, but pretty poor areas for housing (lots of run down estates), big anti-social problems, massive traffic problems caused by poor planning and a very lack lustre high street (M&S and Next left this year).

El_Torro

Slough is cheaper than many of the surrounding areas, including Maidenhead. The Crossrail is also on its way which will make getting into London quicker, as well as increasing demand for housing there.


I agree that the high street is lacklustre, though there is a £900 million redevelopment coming which should improve things. This also explains why some of the big chains (e.g. M&S) have not renewed their leases, as they are waiting to set up shop in the new development.


There are certainly nicer places to live in than Slough, though in my opinion you do currently get what you pay for, with the likelihood of the town improving in the not too distant future.


From what I hear Cippenham is one of the rougher parts of Slough, though I haven't spent much time there.

ReadingTim

Suspect that if you visited the place, you'd discover the reason why these places [STRIKE]are cheap[/STRIKE] seem to offer a lot for your money.

You can't do all of your house hunting online you know - there comes a time when you actually have to hit the streets and see the place for yourself. This is one of those times.

kerri_gt

There is a massive difference in the prices between Maidenhead and Cippenham. Personally Cippenham wouldn't be my ideal choice but it's a little like everywhere, good / bad areas. Have you considered Burnham or Taplow? They both have stations on the GWR mainline (Cippenham doesn't have its own station - neatest is Burnham). Although I wouldn't recommend the Britwell estate in Burnham.

Both Slough and Maidenhead are undergoing massive redevelopments in the town centre, though Slough seems to be rather ahead of Maidenhead at the moment.

What's your budget and it might help give us an idea of areas to suggest.

dantelo

Budget is 450ish. We did go down to see a couple of houses in the area, and the roads seemed nice and quiet, the houses seemed new and well looked after. We didn’t get a chance to explore much as we also had viewings in other areas. been looking at uxbridge, northolt and around heathrow, but for that budget all the houses are old and need lots of work. Currently live in Acton, which has a far higher crime rate. The sewegae smells do worry me tho, couldn’t smell anything when we were there tho.

claz83

I live in Maidenhead and can really recommend it. I'm just in the process of moving, had a similar budget to yours and there's plenty to choose from. I'm from Uxbridge originally and wouldn't go back there as it's jam packed with traffic all the time now, just an extension of London. Maidenhead has the best of both worlds and with Crossrail coming soon, it's a good time to buy. Fairly safe too - and although the town centre isn't much to write home about (yet), you're very near to Bracknell, Windsor and Reading.

chelseablue

I'm from Slough, if you need good schools then no I definitely wouldn't move there.

We moved to Bracknell

sitesafe

Slough gets knocked a lot but it's a good location for acess to a lot of other places. Lovely terraced houses in a road called The Myrke which border onto beautiful Eton College playing fields where you can walk into Datchet IN 20, Eton in 10 mins Windsor in 20, same as what it would take you to walk to Slough station. You can get the train to Waterloo from Eton/Windsor - 45 mins or to Paddington from Slough (15 mins if you get the fast train). Lots of lovely riverside walks on the doorstep as well as athletics centre. There's a lovely park not far away with ornamental ponds called Herschel Park. However I'm very aware not all parts of Slough are as nice. Just it's so close to Eton and Windsor which are both lovely but very expensive.
As others said Taplow and Burnham are nice, and Maidenhead. Anywhere in the crossrail is already very expensive. As regards crime rate I guess it would be high in Slough but you'd have to think about whether it would it be any higher than where you currently live in London.