# Enfield - as a place to live? Yes/No



## RubyBlue (Jun 21, 2009)

I have absolutely no intentions of living there but a mate is moving there with his wife and soon to be child - is it a 'nice' area? Good for kids?  Anything positive about the place? bars / restaurants / nightlife / shopping? I've been there once and it looked like a shithole but any opinions?


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## Pickman's model (Jun 21, 2009)

it's a great void in the bastard middle of nowhere


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## Upchuck (Jun 21, 2009)

It's isolated.


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## Oswaldtwistle (Jun 21, 2009)

Pickman'sModel said:


> it's a great void in the bastard middle of nowhere





Upchuck said:


> It's isolated.




'Middle of nowhere'.... 'Isolated'....

It's a suburb of one of the largest cities in Europe!!

Londoners, you gotta love 'em


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## Upchuck (Jun 21, 2009)

Enfield is the Croydon of the north.


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## Ron Merlin (Jun 22, 2009)

I grew up in western Enfield (near Oakwood tube). It's lovely there - Trent Park is massive. Small parade of shops, curry house and a pub. North of Enfield - up Silver Street and Baker Street - is a bit down at heel but basically OK (unless you move into my old block - long story). East of the A10 is generally more affordable. I wouldn't recommend Ponders End/Brimsdown, though. Run down, crime ridden, depressing (IMO). It's where the football club http://www.etfc.co.uk is. That IS to be recommended, however .

Enfield Town itself is fine. Very suburban, shopping centre with a Waitrose, but the pubs aren't all that great, except the Old Wheatsheaf by Enfield Chase station. Good ale.

It's a sod of a commute to central London. That's why I moved.

Hope this helps.


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## skyscraper101 (Jun 22, 2009)

Ron Merlin said:


> It's a sod of a commute to central London. That's why I moved.



This.

I went for a job interview up near Ponders End once and it was a nightmare of a commute. The area was well shady too.


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## Cloo (Jun 22, 2009)

Depends what area of Enfield - I grew up in Winchmore Hill. Green, leafy suburb, good schools, boring, far away from the centre of town, but I'm not going be all cool and go 'Yeah, my suburban upbringing was soooo shit'. It would be a lie to say it wasn't a very fortunate place to grow up. Southgate, Oakwood, Cockfosters much of Palmers Green, Bush Hill Park and parts around Enfield Town or Forty hill are, I think, similar.

However, round Edmonton Green, Angel Edmonton, Ponders End, Freezywater - not nice places to live.


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## kabbes (Jun 22, 2009)

My brother-in-law lives there.  He likes it well enough.  It's a pleasant enough place -- green spaces, a nice canal.  And you might think that it's isolated but compared with my commute into London it's practically a stroll.


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## maomao (Jun 22, 2009)

Cloo said:


> However, round Edmonton Green, Angel Edmonton, Ponders End, Freezywater - not nice places to live.


Oi! I grew up in Croyland Rd about 5 minutes from Edmonton Green and it was (and still is) to my knowledge a decent neighbourhood. Maybe not as large houses as Winchmore Hill but not exactly Upper Edmonton either.

If you're thinking of living in Enfield stay away from the North Eastern part of it which stretches up the A10. We call it Deliverance Country. Might as well go the whole hog and move to Harlow.


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## bluestreak (Jun 22, 2009)

Hell no.


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## Pickman's model (Jun 22, 2009)

Oswaldtwistle said:


> 'Middle of nowhere'.... 'Isolated'....
> 
> It's a suburb of one of the largest cities in Europe!!
> 
> Londoners, you gotta love 'em


it's a bloody suburb of a suburb 

although you can get out of there by buses like the 349 or 125


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## FridgeMagnet (Jun 22, 2009)

It's better than Croydon. I think.


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## IC3D (Jun 22, 2009)

Pickman'sModel said:


> it's a bloody suburb of a suburb
> 
> although you can get out of there by buses like the 349 or 125



It feels more like a small town than London, to me at least with boy racers etc


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## Pickman's model (Jun 22, 2009)

FridgeMagnet said:


> It's better than Croydon. I think.


of course it's better  it's north of the bloody river


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## upsidedownwalrus (Jun 22, 2009)

The suburban bits of London can feel majorly isolated IMO - especially if you haven't got a car.

I lived in Gants Hill without a car, might as well have lived in fucking Timbuktu.


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## Pickman's model (Jun 22, 2009)

upsidedownwalrus said:


> The suburban bits of London can feel majorly isolated IMO - especially if you haven't got a car.
> 
> I lived in Gants Hill without a car, might as well have lived in fucking Timbuktu.


don't the 296 go to gants hill?


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## upsidedownwalrus (Jun 22, 2009)

The 123, which ran about every fortnight...


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## Pickman's model (Jun 22, 2009)

& the 296


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## Oswaldtwistle (Jun 22, 2009)

It does seem to have pretty good overground links, although I don't know what the frequency is like.

And 'Turkey Street' has to be the one of the coolest names for a station ever, after Church & you know who of course


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## upsidedownwalrus (Jun 22, 2009)

Yeah the line which goes from Liverpool St - Hackney Downs goes out there, I remember as one of my primary school friends moved from Hackney to Ponders End for some reason.  Seems like serious demotion to me. 

Never understood why Hackney gets the worst rep in London.  Some of those suburban-but-crap areas are far far worse


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## T.H.R (Jun 23, 2009)

Pickman'sModel said:


> of course it's better  it's north of the bloody river



It really isn't anywhere near as good as Croydon. Croydon is the largest urban shopping centre in S.East England outside of Central London, and has lots of big business based there. Enfield has bugger all really.

Croydon has it's own tram system, too.


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## Oswaldtwistle (Jun 23, 2009)

T.H.R said:


> Croydon is the largest urban shopping centre in S.East England outside of Central London, and has lots of big business based there.



I'm not entirely sure those are reasons to recommend anywhere


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## Pickman's model (Jun 23, 2009)

does croydon have a big running track or a 'university'?


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## Upchuck (Jun 23, 2009)

Edmonton is a tip


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## 100% masahiko (Jun 23, 2009)

Nope. I hate to live there. In fact, if I was to remain in London, I'd choose to stay within' the Zone 2/possibly 3, otherwise what's the point of living out in the sticks?


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## PacificOcean (Jun 23, 2009)

maomao said:


> If you're thinking of living in Enfield stay away from the North Eastern part of it which stretches up the A10. We call it Deliverance Country. Might as well go the whole hog and move to Harlow.


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## Cloo (Jun 23, 2009)

Enfield Town, having once had a shit shopping centre designed and built just before people twigged how to really design and build the things, now has a much better one, IMHO. When visiting my folks I drop in there if I need to buy something as it actually has decent shops now.


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## PacificOcean (Jun 23, 2009)

100% masahiko said:


> Nope. I hate to live there. In fact, if I was to remain in London, I'd choose to stay within' the Zone 2/possibly 3, otherwise what's the point of living out in the sticks?



Cost?


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## Upchuck (Jun 30, 2009)

Just got back from Enfield on the vespa.  It did seem all there was was a big main road cutting through the middle of town as I remembered.  There is a shopping district and mall from what I could see, and the surrounds seem failry sedate.  It just seemed that if you lived in Enfield you'd never _leave_ Enfield.  Also rode past Chase Farm hospital (there's a secure funny farm in there) and had a lemonade at the pub.  All in all a nice journey, though you wouldn't catch me dead dropping roots in Enfield


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## PacificOcean (Jun 30, 2009)

Upchuck said:


> Just got back from Enfield on the vespa.  It did seem all there was was a big main road cutting through the middle of town as I remembered.  There is a shopping district and mall from what I could see, and the surrounds seem failry sedate.  It just seemed that if you lived in Enfield you'd never _leave_ Enfield.  Also rode past Chase Farm hospital (there's a secure funny farm in there) and had a lemonade at the pub.  All in all a nice journey, though you wouldn't catch me dead dropping roots in Enfield



Fuck off then.

We don't need your sort round these parts.


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## Dan-Himself (Jul 15, 2009)

Upchuck said:


> Edmonton is a tip



Haha it's true i live there. Epping forest is cool though and isn't far at all.


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