Rochester

[dema]

Hi,
Can anyone from Rocheseter give me some info on what is it like to live there? I've heard that Strood and Chatham are not very nice, however, Rochester looked nice (the high St anyway)
Need to be near the M25 and easy commute to London by train.

Thanks

Edited by dema on Sunday 7th June 16:33

[Scousefella]

dema said:

Hi,
Can anyone from Rocheseter give me some info on what is it like to leave there?

Not from Rochester myself but I imagine that leaving can be quite as easy as driving out of the area and going somewhere else.









Sorry, couldn't resist jumping on your typo.

[dema]

LOL, shall I blame my fat fingers or the phone's predictive text,

[Gixer]

Keep out the town centres. Hempstead, lordswood, walderslade are ok

[dema]

Yes, I've heard that there are some nice villeges around the main towns but, although I'll be fine for the M25, the wife will need to drive 2/3 miles to the nearest station, not sure if she'll be sold on that.

I guess that all of the main towns in the area are effected by the not so nice people leaving in the nearby places (no offence to anyone)

[mdk1]

Or look slightly outside, Cliffe woods, Hoo, still only 15-20 mins from the M25

[dema]

Thank you for the info,
Unfortunaltey all of those places seesm to be 2/3 miles away form the closest train station, we would be looking for something with a station in town for the wife to commute to London.
Should I be looking more west kent? is that better?

[JJ55]

I lived in Rochester for a couple of years many years ago. Rochester itself is very nice & good for commuting to London. Had a flat round corner from the castle & then another on the river, rent prices were ok. It was a nice place & high street was good for food etc. everything easy to walk to inc station. Avoid Strood & Chatham

[dema]

Thank you, did the people from Chatham or Strood,"invaded" Rochester at all?
I live in a small town in Buckinghamshire, and, although there are couple of kids playing the bad boys in fornt of Tesco or in the station car park, they are no an annoyance to others.

[JJ55]

No people were great & both places I lived were really quiet no issues at all. The old part of town just north of the cathedral/castle or the esplanade on the river would prob suit you best. Nice upmarket areas. They were the two parts I lived in & were pretty much only professional people no kids running round in the street etc. the high street gets busy on weekend nights as there are a few pubs but I can't remember anything bad happening just avoid the weatherSpoons! Plenty of nice places to drink/ eat. Overflow from this doesn't spread into the housing sections I described earlier. They run some great festivals throughout the year & the place generally has a nice feel about it.

[JJ55]

Also some great driving roads around the area more importantly!

[Sticks.]

I left Medway many years ago, but it might be worth checking which stations serve which lines. It used to be that fast trains to Victoria went from Chatham, slow to Charing X via Rochester. It may well have changed, but best check if you haven't.

I can't think of any desirable places to live within a walk of a station, but I may be wrong

[Geoff Stilwell]

Depends what your budget is. Look at Maidstone as it has all the main lines into it and is an hour into London. PM me if u want.

[dema]

Thanks for the info guys,
Trains from Rochester seems ok, only 3 available options betwees 7.00 and 7.30, the wife might needs to wake up earleir....

Maidtone prices also seems ok, But I would prefer living in a smaller town near to a larger one for shopping etc.

Prices, to start with I'll be looking for around 1K a month for a large 2 bed or normal size 3 bed house, in the next few years I'm hoping to be in a position to buy, same size house for less than 300K.
House prices is thereason I'm lokking at the Kent area.

I do like the sound of Tunbridge as well, buy might be out of budget

[Hol]

Rochester is very lively with pubs and clubs in the evening. Lots of idiots who drink to much colliding with each other.



It's also the end of the line before the trains go fast to London, so she may not get a seat for 45mins every morning. Even first class isn't guranteed as the morning Cannon Street trains are usually declassified.

However, if she drives 15mins to Ebsfleet international, she will be 10mins from Stratford (jubilee/dlr/ central line and mainline to Liverpool street) or 15mins to Kings Cross (northern, Piccadilly, Victoria line)

[Hol]

Rochester is very lively with pubs and clubs in the evening. Lots of idiots who drink to much colliding with each other.



It's also the end of the line before the trains go fast to London, so she may not get a seat for 45mins every morning. Even first class isn't guranteed as the morning Cannon Street trains are usually declassified.

However, if she drives 15mins to Ebsfleet international, she will be 10mins from Stratford (jubilee/dlr/ central line and mainline to Liverpool street) or 15mins to Kings Cross (northern, Piccadilly, Victoria line)

[dema]

Thank you for the info,
I just seen that there is an 8am train into to London, takes less than 40 min, which is quicker than what it takes where we are now, good point in the seating availability!
I guess we will need to check it out on a week end day and night to see how we find it.
Had a look a tonbridge, although house prices are not too bad, renting will be out of reach

[neiljohnson]

I'm in lordswood & have been on & off for 20+ years it's a nice enough place to live & very close to the m2-m20 for commuting
Kings ferry run a coach service that many I know use & are perfectly happy with although Chatham train station is not far if it has to be train

[dema]

Thanks for the info, it does sound strange to commute by bus for some reason but, prices seems a lot cheaper, will need to check how long it takes and were the pick up points are.

We spent couple of hours in Rochester today and not a chav on site! The high street and surrounding areas do look nice and the roads we have driven to on the way in and out ( Maidstone road?) didn't look bad either.

Have I been lucky or because it is a Medway town people have reservations? There must be some truth on all the comments I've read so far..

[tr7v8]

neiljohnson said:

I'm in lordswood & have been on & off for 20+ years it's a nice enough place to live & very close to the m2-m20 for commuting
Kings ferry run a coach service that many I know use & are perfectly happy with although Chatham train station is not far if it has to be train

I'm in Lordswood too always been happy here, apart from issues with people from rented houses which could happen anywhere. The issue we have is getting to the station, too far to walk, it is around 4 miles & parking there is a nightmare. I've started using Ebbsfleet which has good parking. Although I only commute the odd day per week.