Info on Woolwich

[martinalex]

May have to move to Woolwich (Woolwich Arsenal end) for work and was hoping someone could give me some background on the area - worth buying or stick to renting? Can't get much idea of shopping facilities from t'internet so anything on that front would be good.
What's it like at night - (other than dark with the odd star) - safe / unsafe?

[voicey]

Royal Arsenal is an OK place to live - I rented a penthouse there for 6 months as I'd always fancied living in one. The development is quiet and full of office workers.

The town is a bit rough around the edges - forget doing nay shopping there unless you like fried chicken and pound shops. We ended up driving over to Bluewater for our shopping (A2016 & A206 are pretty much clear all the way).

The reason we moved is becuase I wanted a garage for the F-car. The biggest ball ache for me when I was there was getting home after a drink in town. A cab was big $$$ and getting a train meant planning in advance (which doesn't really go well with booze).

Drinking at the pubs was interesting to say the least. A mate and I decided to do a pub crawl and some of the places were very "local". The others were just dives. If we wanted to go out locally we'd get a cab to Greenwich.

If you have any specific questions just ask.

PS: I wouldn't buy a place there but renting is cheap enough. The on site agency (London Stone) was one of the best rental agencies I've ever dealt with. Reasonable fees, prompt maintenance and all of our deposit back - we had no issues and can recommend them.

[martinalex]

Thanks for that - I had the feeling it was a bit on the rundown side. I'm attracted by the cheap prices though and the nights out in town aren't so much of an issue for me, now that I'm knocking on.
Food for thought!

[voicey]

It's doable but you need a car and need to be prepared to travel to Greenwich for a beer (but there are loads of buses).

Have you considered Greenwich Peninsular?

[martinalex]

I have - I used to live in east Greenwich years ago but moved away and prices have rocketed since then. I haven't been out to the Peninsula area - prices a bit steep for me for the space compare to Woolwich - you get a lot of square footage for you money. Ultimately, I spend a lot of time indoors, so the internal environment is very important. It's weighing up whether that's too severely compromised by the brief periods outdoors. I'd probably only use Woolwich for 'local' shopping but drive to the Sainsburys in Greenwich. I'm attracted by the current low prices and the DLR link. Would it be worth a punt for 2/3 years? I can't see the prices falling much more there but I accept they may not rise by much - if at all.