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I'm moving to London in about 3 years time, but planning to buy a property in Willesden Green this year, but don't know much about the area. What do you think about this area? I've read somewhere it is up and coming?! tnx
I'm moving to London in about 3 years time, but planning to buy a property in Willesden Green this year, but don't know much about the area. What do you think about this area? I've read somewhere it is up and coming?! tnx
Personally I'd be very wary of anywhere in the centre of London that is still being described as up-and-coming this far into the property boom.
Most areas worth living in would have up and comed a long time ago.
Lots of Willesden Green is a dump and some areas are downright dangerous.You really need to spend some time there before planning to buy.
Nowhere in Willesden Green is a dump. The area surrounding the Jubilee Line station has been an expensive place to live for some time.
You'd had to have lived a seriously sheltered existence to find Willesden Green rough in the slightest. It's actually a nicer area than Kilburn and the only area that could really be descibed as "up and coming" would be the bottom end as you turn right from the bridge by the tube station and walk 20-25 minutes down the long and winding road until you reach the part that borders Harlesden and is close to the Magistrates Court.
The bottom end borders Harlesden and areas which are considered less salubrious but believe me as rough areas in London go Willesden isn't even on the radar. Access into London is so convenient and simple from there too.
The bottom end over the bridge has tons of Irish pubs too which is a plus as far as I'm concerned. Always liked the place to be honest.
Personally I'd be very wary of anywhere in the centre of London that is still being described as up-and-coming this far into the property boom.
Most areas worth living in would have up and comed a long time ago.
Lots of Willesden Green is a dump and some areas are downright dangerous.You really need to spend some time there before planning to buy.
Willlesden is not in the centre of London for a start. There are various places in London, from King's Cross to Crystal Palace, that are still very much in the process of 'coming up', or, to put it a different way, gentrification. This can be due to new transport links, or 'regeneration' projects, or the combined effect of the growing population and growing popularity of London property as an investment for the global super-rich pushing middle-class house-buyers into areas they might have previously considered down-market.
OP, there is obviously nothing wrong per se with asking here for information, but I hope you are planning on actually visiting the area as well.
Willlesden is not in the centre of London for a start. There are various places in London, from King's Cross to Crystal Palace, that are still very much in the process of 'coming up', or, to put it a different way, gentrification. This can be due to new transport links, or 'regeneration' projects, or the combined effect of the growing population and growing popularity of London property as an investment for the global super-rich pushing middle-class house-buyers into areas they might have previously considered down-market.
OP, there is obviously nothing wrong per se with asking here for information, but I hope you are planning on actually visiting the area as well.
Kings Cross was "coming up" in the 1990's. Today it is a very expensive location where lavish condos have long since displaced most of the once less visually appealing areas resplendent with cider swigging street drinkers stuck like glue in a once defiant urban sprawl of drug dealers, beggars and prostitutes.
Given the proximity to the train station some of this persists but most of Kings Cross reputation has moved on as property prices have gone up. Kings Cross has long been established as a gentrified area and all that remains of the area's seedy past are the odd straggler from one of the nearby hostels.
Even Bermondsey is a pretty desirable area these days. And people are still talking about Kings Cross adn Willesden Greeen as "up and coming". This isn't 1993. These areas have very much arrived as far as financially exhorbitant house prices and rents are concerned.
They may be lower than some more salubrious neighbourhoods of North West London but I'd much rather live in Kilburn or Willesden than an 'up and coming' area that's considered more trendy like Dalston.
London is a very expensive city to live in. Some people eve describe Brixton as fairly Yuppified these days, especially in the streets and roads approaching the train station. Camden was actually quite a rough place too about 10-15 years ago.
Brixton is certainly more intimidating in parts than Willesden Green and Kings Cross has long been established in the upper echelons of London's property ladder.
As fro Willesden Green I could in all confidence walk from one Willesden to Cricklewood with a thousand pounds stretched out across my palms and a deranged 'I'm an idiot:' grin across my puss and still be safe in the knowledge that my thousand pounds would remain secure and untouched by the time I reached the Broadway.
Willesden and Cricklewood are brilliant places to live. Just ask Clash legend Joe Strummer. Only way to experience the famous old neighbourhood is to go down there and take a stroll. You'll be perfectly safe. All the Aussie lagers are on me
Personally I'd be very wary of anywhere in the centre of London that is still being described as up-and-coming this far into the property boom.
Most areas worth living in would have up and comed a long time ago.
Lots of Willesden Green is a dump and some areas are downright dangerous.You really need to spend some time there before planning to buy.
Kings Cross was "coming up" in the 1990's. Today it is a very expensive location where lavish condos have long since displaced most of the once less visually appealing areas resplendent with cider swigging street drinkers stuck like glue in a once defiant urban sprawl of drug dealers, beggars and prostitutes.
Given the proximity to the train station some of this persists but most of Kings Cross reputation has moved on as property prices have gone up. Kings Cross has long been established as a gentrified area and all that remains of the area's seedy past are the odd straggler from one of the nearby hostels.
Even Bermondsey is a pretty desirable area these days. And people are still talking about Kings Cross adn Willesden Greeen as "up and coming". This isn't 1993. These areas have very much arrived as far as financially exhorbitant house prices and rents are concerned.
Umm, King's Cross has changed vastly since the 90s, but it's still worlds away from Mayfair, Belgravia, Chelsea, Knightsbridge, Kensington, etc etc. Stand in front of the station and you will see two McDonalds, a Burger King, two bookmakers, a backpacker hostel, a cheap Chinese restaurant, a tatty convenience store - but not much in the way of anything up-market. The whole block around the 'lighthouse' is still derelict and is only now beginning renovation. Of course there is more and more fancy stuff popping up, but a good amount of this has only appeared in the last 10 years - the renovation of St Pancras, opening of King's Place, relocation of St Martin's College, and ongoing renovation of King's Cross Station itself - all of which have happened since 2007, are both examples of, and catalysts for, gentrification that may have started ages ago, but is still very much ongoing. House prices reflect what the area is likely to become, as much as what it is now.
Kings Cross may not be Belgravia or Mayfair but it is one of the main routes in and out of London and as such is bound to have fast food restaurants, bookmakers and probably even a cafe or two that look like they might even serve black cab drivers and builders donning steel toe cap boots.
Given such criteria Camden would still be "up and coming" and yet music venues are relocating east as high rents make way for bistros and more mainstream venues.
Even parts of West Kensington are quite rough in parts so in my opinion there's a big difference between what you'd expect in a location in the heart of the city and an area that is "up and coming".
Kings Cross may not be Belgravia or Mayfair but it is one of the main routes in and out of London and as such is bound to have fast food restaurants, bookmakers and probably even a cafe or two that look like they might even serve black cab drivers and builders donning steel toe cap boots.
Given such criteria Camden would still be "up and coming" and yet music venues are relocating east as high rents make way for bistros and more mainstream venues.
Even parts of West Kensington are quite rough in parts so in my opinion there's a big difference between what you'd expect in a location in the heart of the city and an area that is "up and coming".
In my opinion anyhow.
Yes indeed, Camden is also an area in which a process of gentrification is still ongoing. But the change is King's Cross is currently happening in a much faster and more visible way. The reason I think it's so clear that King's Cross is still a gentrifying area is that by 2015 or 2016 it will be dramatically different to how it was in 2005 or 2006.
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tnx
:' grin across my puss and still be safe in the knowledge that my thousand pounds would remain secure and untouched by the time I reached the Broadway.
even serve black cab drivers and builders donning steel toe cap boots.
