Alxandre

I'm returning to the UK after many years abroad with my wife and three children, who have never lived in Britain.

We are looking at several different communities to purchase a home in, across the London Boroughs of Richmond, Kingston, Croydon and Bromley, along with a few communities in Kent and Surrey as well.

I've looked up this question but I can't seem to find a straight answer, so I figured that I'd ask here. Aside from the obvious things like who our MP will be and where we'll pay our council tax, are there any differences between the different London Boroughs (assuming that the neighbourhoods within them are roughly equal when it comes to safety, demography etc) that should make us prefer to live in certain Boroughs over others? To extend that question further, is there any difference between living within the borders of London as opposed to living outside of them in Kent or Surrey, or vice versa?


My childhood in the UK was spent in a very small community in Berwickshire. I know next to nothing about life in England.

Pulaski

Hi Alxandre, welcome to BE. I asked the Mods to move your question over to the MBTTUK forum where it will get more relevant attention.
You assume wrong, very wrong!

I wouldn't touch most of Croydon with a barge pole, the are some nice parts of Bromley. But your ideas further west (Kingston, Richmond, and out into Surrey) are much better options. I would add the area between Wimbledon and Kingston - "West Wimbledon", and Coombe Lane.

Mostly it is going to depend on your budget, housing needs, and needs to travel into central London for work and/or entertainment. Wimbledon and Richmond both benefit from having both train AND tube service into London - in fact Wimbledon has two different train lines AND two different tube lines (one below ground) into London. Wimbledon, and one station west (Rayne Park) have so many rush hour trains to Waterloo that you don't need to know the timetable - trains literally leave every 3-4 minutes, and it's the same in the evening coming home. .... And there are trains every 10-15 minutes until at least 11pm, and the last train is well after midnight.

Alxandre

Perhaps I've been misunderstood. I wasn't saying that each borough is equal to one another in their entirety, no no no. I was saying assuming all else is equal, does it matter which side of the line between Croydon and Bromley - for instance - we live on?

To be more specific, an area that my wife and I are looking at with much interest is Crystal Palace. It seems safe, has a lot of families and it seems that we can get more for our money/stay under budget significantly which is always good. Crystal Palace as a neighbourhood is split between the Boroughs Bromley and Croydon, with parts of it reaching into Lewisham and Lambeth as well. What I was trying to ask, in a round-a-bout way, is whether or not it makes a difference if the house we purchase in on the Bromley side or the Croydon side of the neighbourhood, or if we should have a preference either way.


A similar question goes for Kingston/Surrey, should we have a preference to be in the Borough and thus, part of the political entity of London or out of the Borough, and in the political entity of Surrey County Council.


This question popped in my mind to begin with, because I was recently speaking with my brother who lives in Northern Ireland and he was telling me that I should be wary of which local authority I wound up in, because when moved from North Belfast into Newtownabbey the quality of his local services like libraries and rubbish collection etc was substantially worse. He said that he didn't even think of it because he essentially moved within his neighbourhood, but since he moved from one local authority to another, there was a large difference. I have no idea if that's something I should keep in mind with regards to London, or if it's a peculiarity of Northern Ireland.

BritInParis

In my experience each London borough can vary widely in terms of the quality and quantity of services they provide. If you buying a private house (i.e. not a flat within a local authority block) then the impact will be lessened but I would still investigate rubbish collections, school place and health provision, etc..

Alxandre

Thank you, this is exactly the sort of answer that I was looking for.


We are looking at detached and semi-detached homes, though we aren't opposed to a fully attached terrace if it's of ample size, has proper garden etc.


With regards to school placement, we will be using independent schools or doing at-home tutoring, depending on whether or not there are schools with a Muslim ethos (just as there are schools with a CoE, Catholic or Scots Kirk ethos) within a reasonable distance. As for things like rubbish collection and the NHS, do you know enough about the particular London Boroughs to make a recommendation of where we should prefer?

BritInParis

Between Bromley and Croydon? I'm afraid I can't as I've never lived in either of those boroughs. I would look at their websites for details regarding service provision and Council Tax rates and also Google both and see what the general consensus is like. Healthcare would depend on your local NHS trust and also your local GP which won't necessarily be affected by a borough council boundary.

mrken30

Some Boroughs will use black sacks for rubbish and others use wheelie bins. From past experience black sacks have issues where animals get into the bags , making a mess.

https://www.havering.gov.uk/info/200...ns_black_sacks

Editha

Personally, I wouldn't expect the differences between one borough and another to be significant enough to outweigh other factors, such as the right house, transport links etc.

mrken30

Schooling may be significant. I am not sure if some boroughs still have grammar schools. But on the whole, I agree they should be a minor part of making a decision.

DebzinUS

I was born in Croydon. Later I moved to Caterham, Surrey. My sister still lives in Caterham, which is Tandridge Council, about 6 miles south of Croydon. Its a safe area, with relatively good schools. There are Plenty of trains to London Bridge, or change at E. Croydon for Victoria. (as long as Southern Rail aren't on strike). I would stay away from South London. Crystal Palace, New Addington, S. Norwood, Brixton, Lewisham, Lambeth all terrible places. Go further south into Surrey, Kent or go West of London. Just my 0.02c worth.