High Brooms TW - anyone lives/moved into the area?

LWP

Hi All

We live on the outskirts of south London and are looking at houses around Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge area hoping to buy 2-3 bed. Nicest houses for our budget are in High Brooms but it doesn’t have a great reputation... Having said that all the comments I could find online are quite old. Is it still a rough area? Are there nicer parts that we could consider?

Thank you in advance.
Lukasz

Dark_Star

Avoid Tonbridge it’s just grotty. Look at Southborough which is a suburb of T Wells with decent housing. High Brooms is probably ok but I do not know anyone there. Have friends in Southborough & they have a large house & garden with plenty of off road parking on a quiet road. Depends what your budget is & do you need schools or a train station if commuting to London. Does it have to be T Wells area? What about Eridge or Frant? 

SaintJudy

I went to see a couple of flats in High Brooms but I didn't get a very good feeling from the area if I'm honest, parking was very difficult and some of the roads seemed pretty tired, but this was totally just first impressions as I don't know the area at all. I've just moved to Paddock Wood and am really liking it, it has a station with good trains into London, it's got quite a villagey feel. Not sure if that falls under Dark_Star's catchment area of grotty Tonbridge but as with my impression of High Brooms it's all subjective, I've moved from Wembley so this is countryside paradise in comparison to that!

Dark_Star

I can’t possibly comment on paddock wood as I don’t know it that well! Really depends what people need  .  I would avoid Tonbridge like the plague though....
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/101855897#/
how about that?
Remember that rural places are often not on mains gas though ...& many don’t have all the cable services either. Or street lights.

SaintJudy

Dark_Star said:

...Really depends what people need 

^ absolutely this! Budget, need to be near to schools, train stations, main roads, motorways, work, family, friends etc all make a massive difference to what's good for someone and what's not good for someone else. As the saying goes, YMMV..

LWP

Thank you for your replies

I was under impression Tonbridge was ok... Anything wrong with it in particular Dark_Star?

Thing is we may need to commute to London couple of times a week (hopefully not more than that) so I don't want to live too far from the train station. I can see Southborough has slightly cheaper houses but driving to the station in the morning could potentially be a nightmare. That's why HB seemed convenient until I have read all the opinions...

We really liked Tunbridge Wells when visited recently and it does have good selection of schools as far as I can see (we have 4yo son). Tricky with our budget though (£400k).

I will have a look at Paddock Wood as commuting time seems reasonable.

hazyjo

I love TW. Nearly bought there, albeit a number of years ago. I was totally avoiding High Brooms and Queens Road and Woodbury Park Road on the right, but would've bought to the left of St John's Road (John Street etc) and I would've bought off Camden Road. Those small looking cottages are bigger than they look! I seem to remember the south/west side of Camden Road being better and didn't want Goods Station Road side.

Trouble is, things are just selling quick there. If you include sold properties, there are loads more. So I guess you've just gotta be quick!

Good luck!

Dark_Star

Tonbridge is just....downmarket. With that budget look at Eridge. Best to find yourself a railway map & work backwards from there. https://www.southeasternrailway.co.uk/travel-information/more-travel-help/explore-our-network   Look at Eastbourne too. Dirt cheap for what you need. https://www.southernrailway.com/destinations-and-offers/where-we-travel-to/our-routes   Or Haywards Heath. Better than Tonbridge.....& reasonably fast direct trains to London. Or the stations either side of there... Burgess Hill etc . £400k will go a fair way round there...Mid Sussex has good schools.

Samiire

I love Tonbridge. Yes, the high street has fallen victim to the closure of many well known shops, but the area is still lovely and safe. 

History can be found right in the centre of town - the castle and parish church are beautiful. In the summer, the castle holds outdoor concerts, cinemas and festivals (I.e. international food) on the lawn. There are also other community events in the centre of town each year - carnival, remembrance parades, Christmas light switch on, fireworks etc). 

There are loads of good schools - Tonbridge School is the public (I.e. posh) school, lots of boys and girls grammars and then lots of other secondary and primary options too. 

There’s a indoor and outdoor swimming pool, leisure centre, miniature railway, and crazy golf course. The station has recently been refurbished.

For proper shopping you’ll need to go to Tunbridge Wells. All that’s really left on the high street is estate agents, charity shops, banks, coffee shops and restaurants. There are a few big supermarkets (Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Lidl) to choose from.

High Brooms isn’t as nice as Tonbridge but I’ve never had any problems visiting family and friends there. There is a newish development out by the Odeon cinema which is quite nice. Tunbridge Wells itself is really nice. Similar to Tonbridge but with better shops in lieu of a castle.