# Nice places to live near Morden....



## Hellsbells (Aug 29, 2007)

erm - are there any?

My friend's looking to buy a house, can afford a maximum of 250K. He needs to be relatively close to Morden bcos that's where he'll be working, but can travel up to about 5 miles to get there. 

Neither he nor I have any idea whatsoever what areas around there are like. Just wondered if anyone on here did....
Looking on the internet, I see that nearby places are (for eg) Wimbledon, Norbury, Croydon, Mitcham, Thornton Heath. Etc. 
Anyone been to or actually live in any of these places...?


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## Dan U (Aug 29, 2007)

this should be a short thread, nice places to live near Morden  

being serious, how old is your friend. got a family? wanting night life?

Morden is on the Northern Line so central South London is his lobster

I've lived in Sutton, good schools, reasonable priced housing - bus links to Morden.

I like Tooting myself. 

Balham is a bit ra for my tastes, ditto Wimbledon (and expensive)

Mitcham, urgh.


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## Hellsbells (Aug 29, 2007)

Dan U said:
			
		

> this should be a short thread, nice places to live near Morden
> 
> being serious, how old is your friend. got a family? wanting night life?



He's 30. No family (well, not living with him anyway). I'll be living with him as a tenant. Not really interested in night life. Looking for somewhere quiet, safe and maybe a bit rural. 

Doesn't have to be specifically 'in' london as such. So any nice little village type places within 5 miles of morden... if they exist. 

Is Croydon really as bad as I imagine? I've been reading about places just outside croydon such as Purley, which is apparently nice.


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## trashpony (Aug 29, 2007)

Can you get a house in a nice place for 250k?


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## Hellsbells (Aug 29, 2007)

trashpony said:
			
		

> Can you get a house in a nice place for 250k?



of course you can. Where I rent at the moment in east london, the average house price is 250K and it's a nice area where i am. I've been here 6 years and have never had any problems whatsoever, near green open spaces, quiet, close to transport, decent sized houses....


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## spanglechick (Aug 29, 2007)

I'd avoid croydon and its environs (including purley) - I was living and working in that area, and it's a very particular kind of vile.

Umm, off the top of my head - what can you get for the money in Wimbledon Chase?


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## Irenick (Aug 30, 2007)

spanglechick said:
			
		

> I'd avoid croydon and its environs (including purley) - I was living and working in that area, and it's a very particular kind of vile.
> 
> Umm, off the top of my head - what can you get for the money in Wimbledon Chase?


Fleeced?


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## Irenick (Aug 30, 2007)

'Nice places to live near Morden....'

Reykjavik?


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## London_Calling (Aug 30, 2007)

Proper London going north - Wandsworth to Clapham, proper suburbia south and south west - Croydon to Kingston, and the largely grubby, twilight world in between. How about Streatham Vale, Mitcham, the Tooting/Streatham borders. Worcester Park and Motspur Park – the last two being veh pleasantly non-descript/numb.

To be honest, "within 5 miles" in a metropolitan area is big.


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## FabricLiveBaby! (Aug 30, 2007)

If you're going to live near morden live near the wimbldeon chase end or half way between morden station and wimbldeon chase along martin way.  There are a few good pubs in raynes park (within walking distance of there) and some VERY good restruants there.  I aprtriculatrly like Olive garden which do the most fantastic pizzas.

It is also withing walking distance to Wimbledon (about 1/2 an hour) and Wimbledon Common (about 1/2 hour where there are some lovely pubs!!!!

If you go beyond bushy road there are some houses very close to both raynes park and wimbledon chase station without the costs attached to the apostle roads or anywhere in raynes park / westwimbledon.  Try along cannon hill lane vicinity.

http://www.multimap.com/maps/#t=l&map=51.40427,-0.20681|15|4&loc=GB:51.4095:-0.21407:17|wimbledon%20chase|Wimbledon%20Chase,%20Rothesay%20Avenue,%20Merton


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## Belushi (Aug 30, 2007)

> I like Tooting myself.



The best place in London I've lived, its where Id buy if I won the lottery


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## Donna Ferentes (Aug 30, 2007)

What, all of it?


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## Andy the Don (Aug 30, 2007)

Nice place nearMorden...Hmmm

Cheam is very nice, I would not go near Rose Hill unless you have a white van & the accompanying dodgy right wing attitudes, parts of Mitcham are not too bad, the area up around Figgs Marsh/Sandy Lane & I hear they are openning a new train station within 18 months, South Wimbledon is good, much cheaper the Morden side of Kingston Road. You could try Merton Abbey/Colliers Wood (home of the ugliest building in London).


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## tarannau (Aug 30, 2007)

Mitcham's much changed to be fair. Once the heartland of the BNP/NF in the South, it's become much improved in recent years as the area's benefited from spillover from Streatham and beyond, growing more diverse and accepting

The town centre's still scrappy, but it's no high st strip like Morden thank gawd. And there's plenty of beautiful green space with the common, Cricket Green conservation area and surrounds nearby. With the railway coming to town it mat be worth a punt, at least in property investment terms.  It neighbours Streatham and Tooting for a start, which is better than you can say for Sutton.


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## Chairman Meow (Aug 30, 2007)

All I can say is you poor poor bastards.  I done four years in Morden guv, you'd do less for murder etc etc. Honestly, I'd rather live in Baghdad. I move countries to get away from it.

I'm not helping, am I?


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## Belushi (Aug 30, 2007)

Donna Ferentes said:
			
		

> What, all of it?



Aye, and the first thing I'd do is melt down the statue of Edward VII and recast it as a statue of Wolfie Smith.


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## BEARBOT (Aug 30, 2007)

i lived in colliers wood a short time, wasnt all that keen cos i like left field events/music..there was a GREAT boot fair on sunday in colliers wood but thats long gone..its quite dull/soul destroying   IMHO around there but it is a safe area which counts for something i guess..best thing i can say is that the city farm/river wandle are nice quiet parks/wooded area

morden and colliers wood dont have much shopping..(other than the big colliers wood sainsburys)to get any bargains/choice ya gotta go to tooting


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## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Aug 30, 2007)

Wimbledon?


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## Chairman Meow (Aug 30, 2007)

ATOMIC SUPLEX said:
			
		

> Wimbledon?



£250K? Wimbledon? Not unless they want to live ina shed.


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## Fuzzy (Aug 30, 2007)

what about hackbridge or carshalton. both of those have reasonable bus routes to morden albiet with maybe one change.


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## fat Andy (Aug 30, 2007)

Carshalton is OK as long as you try to stay away from the area around St Helier Hospital. It's pretty quiet and has lots of green space. 2 bed or a few 3 bed houses for 250K. Aim for near the High Street which had a few pubs and is on the 157 bus route to Morden (Good Service), trains from Carshalton through morden and wimbledon on the old Thameslink loop


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## timebomb (Aug 30, 2007)

I spent most of my life so far living in Lower Morden......I guess it wasn't the end of the world but I'd rather have not lived there. 

The house my parents sold there for 190k in 2003 is on the market again for 290k. If that price is an indication of what you can buy for that kind of money now in the Raynes Park, Merton, Morden area then I really despair.


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## Chz (Aug 31, 2007)

fat Andy said:
			
		

> Carshalton is OK as long as you try to stay away from the area around St Helier Hospital. It's pretty quiet and has lots of green space. 2 bed or a few 3 bed houses for 250K. Aim for near the High Street which had a few pubs and is on the 157 bus route to Morden (Good Service), trains from Carshalton through morden and wimbledon on the old Thameslink loop


I'm looking to move around there myself. I work at London Bridge and the missus in Epsom. Currently I live in Balham and she's already in Epsom, so we're looking for a sort of compromise that still has decent schools in the area. Though we may do the mail forwarding thing and keep the kid in an Epsom school. 

I'd never realised how many areas of London are suddenly off-limits when you need to find a decent (state) secondary school! 

But yeah, Carshalton looks pleasant enough. Sutton for shops, too.


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## 5t3IIa (Aug 31, 2007)

http://www.findaproperty.com/searchresults.aspx?edid=00&salerent=0&areaid=0054

Invoice in the post


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## Hellsbells (Aug 31, 2007)

Thanks for the advice. I'm gonna get the tube down to morden tomorow and have a look round the area and the other places mentioned on this thread. Can anyone who lives or works actually in Morden tell me specifically what is so terrible about it? It says on the internet that it is quiet, green, has one of the nicest parks in london....

We're not interested in pubs or clubs or even shopping really. I work in covent garden and get all of that there. Honestly, really don't care and would actually prefer it if it was quiet in the evenings.


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## Dan U (Sep 1, 2007)

Carshalton (village or round the station, not St Helier), Wallington (not Roundshaw), Carshalton Beeches, Cheam, South Sutton all nice green places to live - be able to find something in your price range.

Buses to Morden but no direct trains - although the Thameslink loop runs to a station a short bus ride away from Morden.
Carshalton/Hackbridge and Sutton have semi-fast trains to London Vic if you work in Covent Garden. 
Carshalton Beeches/Wallington - slower trains to Vic and London Bridge. interminably slow to Vic tbh.

Know those area's very well from my youth - much nicer placers to live than the Worcester/Motspur Park options imo.

Mitcham is just shit. Don't do it.


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## Hellsbells (Sep 1, 2007)

hmmm well. I've just come back from Morden. The traffic is absoultely insane round there. All the roads are like bloody motorways. I'd be terrified to cycle there.  

I got the bus to Carshalton and apart from the mental traffic again, thought it looked quite nice there, really villagey and green. I like the big duck pond  

I also got the bus to Cheam. Wasn't too impressed. The high street was grim, 4 lanes of constant zooming traffic. Maybe I didn't go far enough into Cheam to see the nice bits


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## Truepioneer (Sep 2, 2007)

I might have to move to the Morden/Wimbeldon Chase/Merton area because  for work reasons and I'm not really one for long commutes to work. 

What are the commuting times from these areas to Brixton, Clapham and London Bridge?


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## Hellsbells (Sep 2, 2007)

Truepioneer said:
			
		

> I might have to move to the Morden/Wimbeldon Chase/Merton area because  for work reasons and I'm not really one for long commutes to work.
> 
> What are the commuting times from these areas to Brixton, Clapham and London Bridge?



well i got the tube to Morden on saturday. It's on the northern line and wasn't a huge distance from london bridge or clapham, maybe 20 mins max.


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## Truepioneer (Sep 3, 2007)

Wow that quick!

How well equiped is the high street and what's the bus service like?


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## Chairman Meow (Sep 3, 2007)

Truepioneer said:
			
		

> Wow that quick!
> 
> How well equiped is the high street and what's the bus service like?



The high street is well equipped with charity shops and pound shops.  As for buses, it all depends on where you are going. I used to get the 163 a lot (Morden -Raynes Pk-Wimbledon) which was ok, but crap at rush hour as the roads are really congested around there.


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## Monkeynuts (Sep 15, 2007)

Hellsbells said:
			
		

> well i got the tube to Morden on saturday. It's on the northern line and wasn't a huge distance from london bridge or clapham, maybe 20 mins max.



Were you asleep?

It's a good half hour to London Bridge (obviously quite a bit less to Cla'am). I guess you'll almost always get a seat, though.

Northern Line is pretty sluggish. Remember a time when I was heading out for a night with a mate from Balham; spoke to him just as he was about to duck into Clapham S tube; I'd just missed an overground train and had to wait 10 mins but I ended up on the same Tube at LB.


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## Pgd (May 22, 2011)

*Bumpity bump...*

Hi all,

The missus and I currently rent a one-and-a-half bed flat in CP/Gipsy Hill, but with an 18 month old toddler it's getting a bit cramped, and a garden would be nice.  We've been advised that Morden/St Helier/Carshalton/Wallington have 2-bed houses to rent within our budget.  Driving around, none of it looks *too* bad (apart from Morden high st which is pretty much irredeemable).

I get the impression that 4 or 5 years ago St Helier was pretty bad, but is it any better these days?  Where else in that area is cheap-ish and not dog-rough?

(PS most of our friends live in Streatham/Balham so that's where we'll end up going for nightlife, that's not a problem.  A decent pub or two would be good, though.)

Cheers all,
Pgd.


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## tufty79 (May 22, 2011)

i liked morden 
sorry, that deoesn't help you on your quest much


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## grit (May 23, 2011)

Another vote for Tooting, moved here 6 months ago and love the area.


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## Pgd (May 24, 2011)

tufty79 said:


> i liked morden
> sorry, that deoesn't help you on your quest much


 
Hehe!  Not really, aye, but it's nice to have a positive reply nonetheless, so cheers


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## davesgcr (May 24, 2011)

Lived there a while ago , but Haydons RD / Sth Wimbledon ? (ish)


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## Plumdaff (May 25, 2011)

I lived in South Wimbledon when I first moved to London. It's quiet, it's near Wimbledon proper and it's green spaces but it's no hub of excitement  That area down towards Morden/Mitcham would be fine. Personally I'd go for Tooting everytime. Got the Common and the Lido, but also all the pubs and excellent restaurants, good food shopping in the South Asian shops if (like me) that's your thing.

The Northern Line into town here is not 20 mins max! About 20 mins to Clapham Common, 30-40 mins into town. Depending whereabouts you are, rail may be a better option into town from Wimbledon/Tooting. 

Had family who lived in Rose Hill growing up. Very white but changing as ethnic minorities move there for affordable houses with gardens, working class, mostly people who moved into new council stock from Wandsworth/Lambeth in the 50s and 60s. If you wouldn't mind living in very similar areas of Essex or Kent, and you don't mind quite a jaunt to get to anywhere "cultured" or any decent pubs or restaurants, it's okay. It is Chelsea supporter central, and there are lots of white vans, but at least with my family, that didn't equate to being rabidly right wing  I'd say if you haven't got kids and you occasionally will want to go out/get into Central London easily, Tooting or S.Wimbledon would be far better.


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## krtek a houby (May 25, 2011)

grit said:


> Another vote for Tooting, moved here 6 months ago and love the area.


 
I would have preferred if it had a cinema or a bookshop or a music outlet, mind. Good markets and curry houses, though.


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## grit (May 25, 2011)

krtek a houby said:


> I would have preferred if it had a cinema or a bookshop or a music outlet, mind. Good markets and curry houses, though.


 
Cinema in streatham is a short bus journey away. Yeah I guess there isn't a music shop but I download everything anyway 

It feels like a very relaxed area, quiet at night and I've never seen any trouble.


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