u/BaliOli

We are currently living in a 2 bed flat in Wandsworth and looking to upsize. I narrowed down our top areas to Clock House / Beckenham and Hayes Bromley.

We can get more for our money in Hayes. It has less on the doorstep but better chances of getting into a strong secondary like Hayes School or Langley even. We don’t want to have to move again for secondary school.

I know it will be very different to what we are used to but we need a bigger home with 2 kids.

But I’m curious to know what it is actually like living in Hayes Bromley. What streets are nice and which areas to avoid?

What are the people like? Is it safe? How are the parks? With two young kids we spend our weekends playground and coffee hopping.

I am also partial to a good oat milk flat white 😅

We are considering homes in Clock House, Elmer’s End, West Wickham and Chislehurst.

My husbands family is from Welling and we want to be close but arnt fans of the immediate area.

We are a young professional family of 4 with small children - boy and a girl. Looking for quality state primary and secondary schools and safety as a first priority. We are from south west London and enjoy independent coffee shops and restaurants as well as green spaces and playgrounds.

Our budget is around 650-700k for a 3 or 4 bedroom home.

So far we like the vibe of Beckenham best, but our budget gets us closer to clock house or Elmer’s end vs the park and high street.

Chislehurst was lovely but the train station is no where near the high street and the state secondary schools seem to have mixed reviews.

Any advice from similar families who made the move, or found another option?