Considering relocating to Hastings / St Leonards on Sea

[mark_b]

My Wife, 6 year old daughter and I are considering relocating.

A few questions (any response would be appreciated)

School - (my daughter goes to a Catholic school in Newcastle, what is St Mary tar of sea school like and how hard is it to gain a place?

Will GBP170-200K buy a 3 bed house in a decent area (where are the main good / not so good areas?

What are the employement prosdpect like locally for office workers?

Cheers Mark (hope to get some advice soon 8)

[PG]

Can't help on Catholic schools, as I'm neither Catholic or a parent, but as far as your other questions go:

1) Yes, GBP170k-GBP200k should get you a 3-bed house in many parts of town. Silverhill property is mostly in that price bracket, and it's a 'decent' area - friendly and fairly trouble-free, with good local shops and friendly local pubs and central enough to have good transport links with most of the rest of the town.

Other areas:

Hollington used to have a bit of a rough reputation years ago, but it's fine now and most Hollington residents seem proud to live there, although many of the properties in that area still have that boxy ex-council-house look to them, but should be well within your price bracket.

Bohemia is mostly well-kept Victorian terrace housing, and within your price range, and it's a nice friendly area which is deliberately cultivating a 'Village' atmosphere, and has a very good community spirit.

Ore would also have property in your range.

Nicest area of town is definitely the historic and atmospheric Old Town, but you certainly won't get a 3-bed property in that area for GBP200K!

I would avoid the area around Warrior Square/ the southern end of London Road/ Kenilworth Road etc, as it can get a bit rough (well, as rough as Hastings gets, anyway!) ; Farley Bank area has a little bit of a reputation, but is improving; most of the rest of the town is fine.

2) You should be able to get an office job without too much trouble, although like eveywhere else, we still have a fair bit of unemployment. There are new office developments just completed in the Priory Quarter, which, when they start to fill up, should provide plenty of new vacancies for office staff. The local recruitment agencies (such as Sammons) are very good at finding office work.

If I didn't live here already, I would definitely relocate to Hastings. It's a nice place to live.

[mark_b]

Thanks for your comments we are coming down from Newcastle upon Tyne in the next couple of weeks for a look around and to get a feel for the area. I have been looking online at properties in Clive Vale, which seems to be in our price range and looks like a nice area. Can you give me a bit more info about what streets / area Bohemia is?

Mant thanks

[DuncanB]

We moved here from St Albans at Christmas after an 18 month search. We originally had our heart set on Clive Vale but ended up buying on the completely other side of town in Churchwood in St Leonards.

Clive Vale is a nice quiet family area. Don't be seduced by the internet photos some of the houses don't look as good when you get there. We were going to buy a house in Edmund Road but the survey was horrendous damp and insect infestation along with a list of 100 other things. Damp seems to be a big problem with victorian houses. The other problem with Clive Vale is parking if you are getting home in the evening you may have to park some distance from your house.

We were not that keen on Ore a bit rough around the edges and a bit far out.

Silverhill has good transport links and a good range of shops. Can be quite busy with traffic. Lots of building work with the new ASDA being built. Quite a lot of the roads have a mixture of residential and commercial units.

Bohemia I think is a bit of a dump. Drive down Bohemia road the main shopping area and most of the shops are empty and the area has a downtrodden feel. It suffers as it is half way between Silverhill and the town centre.

Hollington is the largest council estate in the town not terrible but not great. Most of the streets look alike.

We ended up buying a nearly new four bedroom detached house with garage and lots of off street parking for GBP185000. In Churchwood good transport links easy to get to Bexhill and Ravenside retail park. Massive Tesco 5mins drive away. Woods at the end of the road and countryside within walking distance. Great school Robsack wood in area OFSTED rated Outstanding.

We are very happy we moved to Hastings/St Leonards and would recommend it to anyone. Feel free to ask anymore questions.

[mark_b]

Seduced by the internet photo's is exactly what I have been thus far! But I think it is because I currently live in a modern 3 bed semi on an estate where every house is the same and I crave a bit of character. However, not at any cost! Could you supply me with an approximate post code for the churchwood area so that i can have a look at the houses / prices online? many thanks for the info. When I have looked at the other posts a lot of it has been quite negative about St Leonards, I will now attempt to look again with without pre judging. Also, if anyone has any other nice areas that they feel I should take a look at in either Hastings or St Leonards, (around GBP175 - 200 k) please let me know. Again many thanks Mark

[quoted]
DuncanB wrote:
We moved here from St Albans at Christmas after an 18 month search. We originally had our heart set on Clive Vale but ended up buying on the completely other side of town in Churchwood in St Leonards.

Clive Vale is a nice quiet family area. Don't be seduced by the internet photos some of the houses don't look as good when you get there. We were going to buy a house in Edmund Road but the survey was horrendous damp and insect infestation along with a list of 100 other things. Damp seems to be a big problem with victorian houses. The other problem with Clive Vale is parking if you are getting home in the evening you may have to park some distance from your house.

We were not that keen on Ore a bit rough around the edges and a bit far out.

Silverhill has good transport links and a good range of shops. Can be quite busy with traffic. Lots of building work with the new ASDA being built. Quite a lot of the roads have a mixture of residential and commercial units.

Bohemia I think is a bit of a dump. Drive down Bohemia road the main shopping area and most of the shops are empty and the area has a downtrodden feel. It suffers as it is half way between Silverhill and the town centre.

Hollington is the largest council estate in the town not terrible but not great. Most of the streets look alike.

We ended up buying a nearly new four bedroom detached house with garage and lots of off street parking for GBP185000. In Churchwood good transport links easy to get to Bexhill and Ravenside retail park. Massive Tesco 5mins drive away. Woods at the end of the road and countryside within walking distance. Great school Robsack wood in area OFSTED rated Outstanding.

We are very happy we moved to Hastings/St Leonards and would recommend it to anyone. Feel free to ask anymore questions.
[/quoted]

[DuncanB]

Try TN38 9TL as a postcode. Three houses on Icklesham Drive for sale on rightmove at the moment within price range specified. We felt the same about the character but feel our house has enough details to make it special and is cheaper to heat and strangely insure, a modern detached was much cheaper than a victorian terrace.
Most of the negative comments tend to be about Central St Leonards eg Warrior Square. I personally find the area absolutely fine a few street drinkers but never any trouble. Best thing is to spend some time checking areas out everyone perceives things differently. :laugh:

[jo_peacock]

I would say that Clive Vale is a nice area. I think Edmund Road must have been just unfortunate. Don't forget a lot of the houses in Clive Vale are late 1800s early 1900s so will have their 'problems'. We can always park outside our house_ _ _depends on how many cars the neighbours have!! lol Do not confuse Clive Vale with Ore, as said,_ _ _Ore can be a bit rough around the edges. Post coe for Clive Vale is TN35. I agree about Bohemia ..unpleasant to look at and often no parking with the houses.
Good luck!

[Sharon]

We too relocated to St Leonards two years ago from Eastleigh in Hampshire. I am more than happy here and I have to say I have never seen any trouble since I have been here. I know Warrior Square has a so called bad reputation but the area facinates me, the houses/flats around the gardens look amazing.

Houses in my road are in your price bracket. I am in Coventry Road which is apparently on the outskirts of Hollington (or so I'm told). Our road is friendly, quiet and is all private houses. No council houses along this road. The postcode is TN38 9ET. At the moment I know there are four houses up for sale.

The mock tudor style of these houses is so unusual if you are not local to Hastings. We had never seen this style of house anywhere in Hants. I think they are lovely houses. They have big back gardens too :w00t:

[DoctorW]

Ignore what people are saying about St Leonards and Warrior Sq it's absolutely fine. I bought a beautiful 5 bed geogian terrace just up from Warrior Sq with direct sea views, architectually, the housing stock here is the best in the area, by miles. I think actually as the area regenerates St Leonards will become much more desirable than Hastings.

You will get a great house for GBP200k.

[another_me]

Damp is only a problem in Victorian houses because the gap between the ground floor and the earth below has been in-filled with modern unbreathable concrete.

Once concreted, the moisture (which prior to concrete) evaporated through the fireplace and the sliding sash windows_ _ _ Oooh no wait a minute the fireplaces have now been removed and the gaps blocked up oh and the wooden windows (which will last for 200 years with maintenance) were replaced with plastic ones that will fail in 10-20.
Thus
Surprise surprise, the moisture travels up the walls and hey presto, you have a damp problem. Wait for it it does not end there_ _ _ the builders will then try and sell you damp coursing saying that it needs injecting.

So, when looking for a house do you want one that has been modernised by a builder who thinks covering the walls with pink gysum is the right way to go? One with a concrete ground floor and plastic windows?