Good commuter towns north of London

Good commuter towns north of London

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Discussion

Chris71

21,535 posts

241 months

Friday 20th September 2013
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Zippee said:
I'm not a massive fan of Hoddesdon - theres always an 'atmosphere' there that I don't like though I can't give anything more tangible, just a feeling.
had ham said:
I'm not a fan of Hoddesdon.
Ah, seems I'm not the only one, then. smile

The bloke who was selling the house did keep saying "we never get any trouble" over and over again, which wasn't the most reassuring introduction to the area.

That said, my OH didn't have a problem with it. And you can't argue with it on value for money. The one we looked at was a three-bed end terrace with a huuuuge garden and a triple car garage for about £220,000 - literally five minutes from the station and the main road.

putonghua73

615 posts

127 months

Friday 20th September 2013
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Thank you for the advice and offers to post papers. Still too early in the process - we need to start making plans after Christmas - but always good to get feedback on potential areas. Also, appreciate the offer to post local papers.

Glad that Chris71 and the OP [Skibum] have found places that ticks their and their respective partners requirements. Although I suspect my thinking is a little like Chris71 in thinking about a property in pragmatic terms, I can understand that areas do not 'feel' right. In actual fact, I'm probably worse than my girlfriend!

Once I pass my practical (test end of October - unless I can find a cancellation), I'll use passing (presuming that I do pass) as the perfect excuse for us to drive up and take a look at a number of places in Hertfordshire. My girlfriend drives, but I'd rather drive her as she already drives a lot, and once we get past Tottenham (spit!), the roads should be a much more pleasant experience.

anonymous-user

53 months

Friday 20th September 2013
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Chris71 said:
Ah, seems I'm not the only one, then. smile

The bloke who was selling the house did keep saying "we never get any trouble" over and over again, which wasn't the most reassuring introduction to the area.
Rather bizarrely Hoddesdon has a very active underworld, and there are some proper old school 'gangsters' that put the more prominent residents of The Lanes quite firmly in the shade. I've no idea why, it's always been like that as long as I've lived down here. Drugs, firearms, 'muscle' all relatively easy to come by if you know where to ask.

That all sounds really melodramatic, but ask around.

skibum

Original Poster:

1,032 posts

236 months

Wednesday 25th September 2013
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My new place is on the SE corner of Love Farm - The Runnells. I was a little nervous about the development, but there seems to be a very active community group with nothing but positive vibes and comments coming from it. Given that the footbridge into the station is also due to be completed soon, it was just too convenient to pass up.

I've exchanged contracts and due to complete next Wednesday, moving in on Thursday. Very excited and cannot wait to get back into my own house again after 5 years of renting.


Actus Reus

4,229 posts

154 months

Wednesday 25th September 2013
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had ham said:
Rather bizarrely Hoddesdon has a very active underworld, and there are some proper old school 'gangsters' that put the more prominent residents of The Lanes quite firmly in the shade. I've no idea why, it's always been like that as long as I've lived down here. Drugs, firearms, 'muscle' all relatively easy to come by if you know where to ask.

That all sounds really melodramatic, but ask around.
Friend of mine is a solicitor from Hoddesdon - still hangs around with a few former clients. Don't ever piss him off as his friends are fking lunatics. Some sort of Italian influence way back when, and Mafia came with it. Sounds daft, but is absolutely true, or so I'm told!

anonymous-user

53 months

Thursday 26th September 2013
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Actus Reus said:
Friend of mine is a solicitor from Hoddesdon - still hangs around with a few former clients. Don't ever piss him off as his friends are fking lunatics. Some sort of Italian influence way back when, and Mafia came with it. Sounds daft, but is absolutely true, or so I'm told!
Common knowledge! Just take a look at how many 'Italian' owned businesses there are there.

dele

1,270 posts

193 months

Thursday 26th September 2013
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Actus Reus said:
had ham said:
Rather bizarrely Hoddesdon has a very active underworld, and there are some proper old school 'gangsters' that put the more prominent residents of The Lanes quite firmly in the shade. I've no idea why, it's always been like that as long as I've lived down here. Drugs, firearms, 'muscle' all relatively easy to come by if you know where to ask.

That all sounds really melodramatic, but ask around.
Friend of mine is a solicitor from Hoddesdon - still hangs around with a few former clients. Don't ever piss him off as his friends are fking lunatics. Some sort of Italian influence way back when, and Mafia came with it. Sounds daft, but is absolutely true, or so I'm told!
Doesnt Hoddesdon also get to boast being the first place in England a murder was comitted using an assault rifle?

Edit:

Yup! http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/aug/24/ukguns.d...

anonymous-user

53 months

Thursday 26th September 2013
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dele said:
Doesnt Hoddesdon also get to boast being the first place in England a murder was comitted using an assault rifle?

Edit:

Yup! http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/aug/24/ukguns.d...
The victim Dave King was a fearsome character - Google him. Mixed up with the whole 'Essex Boys' things too...

Many people murdered with semi-autos before that though - NI and Hungerford spring to mind. But that incident certainly put Hoddesdon on the map for the wrong reasons..

AudiWurst

4,544 posts

226 months

Friday 24th January 2014
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Resurrecting an old thread. Does anyone have any experience of Cuffley? Looking to move there later in the year as I work in the City and my missus (potentially) works in Cheshunt, so the commute would be good for both of us.

The housing stock seems reasonably priced given the distance from central London, and the area seems generally suburban and "nice".

I don't have a particularly PH-worthy fleet, but being a loser, I still checked the motor insurance risk rating for the postcode and Cuffley (EN6) is in category E on a scale of A-F, which seemed suprisingly high compared to Broxbourne (C) and Hertford (B).

Is Cuffley a notably high crime area, or is the insurance risk just dragged up by all the footballers and wide boys who live there? Or are those postcode ratings simply not specific enough to draw any meaningful conclusions from?

http://www.motorcarinsuranceuk.co.uk/post-code-rat...


anonymous-user

53 months

Friday 24th January 2014
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AudiWurst said:
Resurrecting an old thread. Does anyone have any experience of Cuffley? Looking to move there later in the year as I work in the City and my missus (potentially) works in Cheshunt, so the commute would be good for both of us.

The housing stock seems reasonably priced given the distance from central London, and the area seems generally suburban and "nice".

I don't have a particularly PH-worthy fleet, but being a loser, I still checked the motor insurance risk rating for the postcode and Cuffley (EN6) is in category E on a scale of A-F, which seemed suprisingly high compared to Broxbourne (C) and Hertford (B).

Is Cuffley a notably high crime area, or is the insurance risk just dragged up by all the footballers and wide boys who live there? Or are those postcode ratings simply not specific enough to draw any meaningful conclusions from?

http://www.motorcarinsuranceuk.co.uk/post-code-rat...
It's not too bad a place at all, some very nice parts, some not so nice parts, nothing too grim though. You're next to Goffs Oak, Brookmans Park, The Ridgeway, etc, which are all very expensive. It has a station, a few shops, active sports clubs, etc, but in terms of desirability, it's overshadowed by it's neighbours.

I've always thought though, that it lacks any real character - it's not really a town, nor a village, nor a superb, so what really is it?

I've no idea why the insurance rating is so bad - possibly the proximity to Potters Bar?

If your Mrs is soon to be Cheshunt (Tesco??) and you need to be in the City, you might be better off going a little further North to Hertford or Ware - A10 to Cheshunt in 15 mins, 40 mins into L'pool St on the train...

Chris71

21,535 posts

241 months

Friday 24th January 2014
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had ham said:
AudiWurst said:
Resurrecting an old thread. Does anyone have any experience of Cuffley? Looking to move there later in the year as I work in the City and my missus (potentially) works in Cheshunt, so the commute would be good for both of us.

The housing stock seems reasonably priced given the distance from central London, and the area seems generally suburban and "nice".

I don't have a particularly PH-worthy fleet, but being a loser, I still checked the motor insurance risk rating for the postcode and Cuffley (EN6) is in category E on a scale of A-F, which seemed suprisingly high compared to Broxbourne (C) and Hertford (B).

Is Cuffley a notably high crime area, or is the insurance risk just dragged up by all the footballers and wide boys who live there? Or are those postcode ratings simply not specific enough to draw any meaningful conclusions from?

http://www.motorcarinsuranceuk.co.uk/post-code-rat...
It's not too bad a place at all, some very nice parts, some not so nice parts, nothing too grim though. You're next to Goffs Oak, Brookmans Park, The Ridgeway, etc, which are all very expensive. It has a station, a few shops, active sports clubs, etc, but in terms of desirability, it's overshadowed by it's neighbours.

I've always thought though, that it lacks any real character - it's not really a town, nor a village, nor a superb, so what really is it?

I've no idea why the insurance rating is so bad - possibly the proximity to Potters Bar?

If your Mrs is soon to be Cheshunt (Tesco??) and you need to be in the City, you might be better off going a little further North to Hertford or Ware - A10 to Cheshunt in 15 mins, 40 mins into L'pool St on the train...
My other half works in Cuffley. It's a nice enough place, but I'd echo the comments above on the lack of character - there's no real focal point, there's not a lot going on, and it's not as if it's secluded enough to make up for those deficiencies IMHO.

Its main strength is the proximity of a good train station and reasonable links to the motorway, but for a few extra minutes by road or rail you could live somewhere both nicer and significantly cheaper.

If you have a decent budget and you don't mind being further away from the train station, Northaw (immediately nextdoor) is infinitely preferable to Cuffley itself. We rented there briefly while house hunting in the area and it's got far more charm and a very similar location. It's not cheap, though.

In the end we found a place in Hertford and absolutely love it. Two train stations (Liverpoool St and Kings Cross lines), plenty of pubs and restaurants, characterful town centre, reasonable number of shops/amenities and still a genuinely rural location outside of the town itself.

Commuting into London by road is always going to be a bit frought - Hertford to Whetstone takes me nearly an hour usually and I wouldn't imagine it's much better on the A1 corridor towns like Letchworth, Hitchin, Baldock etc. However those towns all have excellent rail links into London and your money goes a lot further. My best mate now lives in Baldock and he commutes into the city in under an hour door-to-door, I believe, using the train.

It's also worth looking further east into Essex (Bishops Stortford, Sawbridgeworth etc.) where you have M11 links and a line into Liverpool St.

Edited by Chris71 on Friday 24th January 12:56

TheAngryDog

12,394 posts

208 months

Friday 24th January 2014
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I'll be doing similar in September. Moving to Aylesbury though and then driving to Tring to catch the train from there to London Euston. Short walk to Kings Cross, Bus to Moorgate / Finsbury Square then walk to work. I'd take the tube but I cannot for health reasons.

AudiWurst

4,544 posts

226 months

Friday 24th January 2014
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Chris71 said:
If you have a decent budget and you don't mind being further away from the train station, Northaw (immediately nextdoor) is infinitely preferable to Cuffley itself. We rented there briefly while house hunting in the area and it's got far more charm and a very similar location. It's not cheap, though.
Thanks for the tip.

Chris71 said:
It's also worth looking further east into Essex (Bishops Stortford, Sawbridgeworth etc.) where you have M11 links and a line into Liverpool St.
And have my two kids grow up talking like Shane Richie? :shudder:

Joking aside, we don't want to go any further east, as most of our friends and relatives are on the north/west of London.

anonymous-user

53 months

Friday 24th January 2014
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Chris71 said:
It's also worth looking further east into Essex (Bishops Stortford, Sawbridgeworth etc.) where you have M11 links and a line into Liverpool St.

Edited by Chris71 on Friday 24th January 12:56
teacher How very dare you - both in Herts!

We'll let you off, since you're kinda new round these parts... wink

anonymous-user

53 months

Friday 24th January 2014
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And a good shout on Northaw too, Chris.

Evo9lution

637 posts

139 months

Friday 24th January 2014
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Cuffley used to be a lovely place but it isn't the place it was in the 80's & 90's frown Back in the day, it was a preferential place to Goffs Oak and Northaw but that has probably changed now (I'm not sure that it's infinitely worse though smile). It did have one of the best (non-private) primary schools you could wish for as well but I don't know if that's true any longer either. It's hardly a cheap place though but does have (slight) proximity advantages to both the Brookfield Centre and a good train route into Finsbury Park, Kings Cross or Moorgate.

Potters Bar is also EN6 so this may affect the insurance listing somewhat. However, I think that Northaw is also EN6 ...

Just to add, I now live near Baldock and it is a very nice place with character and good road & rail links to London & up north - plus some very, very good driving roads nearby (good as in, used by car magazines) smile

Edited by Evo9lution on Friday 24th January 18:21

Chris71

21,535 posts

241 months

Saturday 25th January 2014
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had ham said:
Chris71 said:
It's also worth looking further east into Essex (Bishops Stortford, Sawbridgeworth etc.) where you have M11 links and a line into Liverpool St.

Edited by Chris71 on Friday 24th January 12:56
teacher How very dare you - both in Herts!

We'll let you off, since you're kinda new round these parts... wink
hehe

I can never remember where the border lies. Point still stands on East Herts, though, I guess. And as someone who used to live in Essex (proper Essicks ... Chelmsford) I'd have to say it's a much underrated part of the country.

Evo9lution said:
Cuffley did have one of the best (non-private) primary schools you could wish for as well but I don't know if that's true any longer either.
For what it's worth, it's still very good (although I'm slightly biased as that's where Mrs Chris 71 works). Think they were one off the top mark for Ofsted this year and apparently it's nicer than the other schools in the area she's worked with.

Evo9lution

637 posts

139 months

Sunday 26th January 2014
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Chris71 said:
For what it's worth, it's still very good (although I'm slightly biased as that's where Mrs Chris 71 works). Think they were one off the top mark for Ofsted this year and apparently it's nicer than the other schools in the area she's worked with.
That's really good to hear, cheers mate thumbup

putonghua73

615 posts

127 months

Saturday 30th January 2016
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Resurrecting and updating an old, but extremely useful, thread. My fiancee and I are now in a position to buy [2 bed house] in the next couple of months with a budget of £250-260k, 10% deposit, looking at 2.99% fixed for 5 years in and around Hertfordshire.

A number of pertinent facts to note:
1. In the last 2 years, London's house-pricing bubble continues unabated (no houses under £300k) - net result, house prices in London commuter towns have spiralled
2. £250k-£260k (or thereabouts) gets you: Harlow (inc. Old Harlow), Stevenage, Luton, Arlesey, Biggleswade and Royston (mixture of Essex, Herts and Bedfordshire)
3. Commuting time, Price, Area - pick two

I know Harlow and Harlow is Harlow is Harlow i.e. a hole. However, what I don't know (yet) is how suitable are Church's Langley and Old Harlow. From illustreets, both areas look good. The downside is on the outskirts of Harlow.

Realism is starting to creep in on my fiancee, but she is still insisting on an arbitrary number of miles from London, whereas I'm looking at commuting time (around an hour train / driving to Liverpool Street). Her business in based near Liverpool Street, whilst my work is deepest darkest NW London. Hence, whilst other areas meet requirements (seemingly big ticks) e.g. Aylesbury, they fall foul of commuting time and distance.

We will be arranging a Decision in Principal, then begin to visit properties. In the interim, we'll visit areas to get a feel for them, as well as some much needed realism for my fiancee. I can almost guarantee that when we visit Harlow, her desire for a good area and schooling will see her extend her commuting circle. An important factor is that she will not be travelling in rush-hour on the way in e.g. she will probably leave around 09:00.

That said, it's a series of trade-offs: if Church's Langley and Old Harlow are ok, and generally safe, there is no need for us to ever visit Harlow. We are but a short trip up the M11 from Bishops Stortford.

Edited by putonghua73 on Sunday 31st January 11:13

magooagain

9,909 posts

169 months

Sunday 31st January 2016
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I would maybe take a look around Stansted and the surrounding villages. The stations of Stansted,Newport etc are an easy way to get into town.

Watton at stone has a station and the villages near there are very nice and rural. Stevenage is just 10 mins away from Watton. Ware and Hertford are close by also.All with stations.
The A1 and A 10 also not far.