Nicest roads BTC/Nightingale? Post Reply

[Lisa31]

Hi everyone, my husband and I have been based outside of London during the pandemic which has honestly been wonderful - but we miss the city so much, and can’t wait to move back when we are due back in the office (can’t wait to go back to normality soon!). We used to be based in Fulham but we are newlyweds and trying for a baby, and SW London just ticks all the boxes for us. We have tentatively started looking at houses to buy, but we don’t know the area very well and haven’t been able to visit for obvious (COVID) reasons. It’s totally overwhelming trying to narrow down our list between BTC, Nightingale Triangle, Bellevue Village. 

We’re planning on educating our children privately so don’t care about school catchments or how close to stations we are... The question I have for NVN is possibly going to rub some people the wrong way, and I apologise. But can anyone rank BTC, Nightingale Triangle and Bellevue Village on general ‘niceness’ of the area? I mean based on tidiness, traffic, types of people who live there, community feel, cute local shops (and I’m not talking about things like takeaway fast food, but rather sweet cafes, furniture stores, boutiques etc). Please don’t include house prices in the consideration at all, I really just want to know which areas/streets are the loveliest in SW11/SW12/SW17 and which you would most love to live in if price/commute/schools weren’t a consideration

Aside from general preference between the three areas, I would also really really appreciate if anyone can tell me if there’s any roads in particular that you really love, especially if talking about BTC or Nightingale as these are larger areas than Bellevue?


(PS: To give you an idea of what we like, in an ideal world we would buy in the toast rack, but the 4m+ price tag puts it totally out of reach for us!)

Thanks so much for any insight you can provide!

[Grapes17]

The toast rack has lovely houses and proximity to the common- but not much else really. You have to walk to Bellevue road or northcote road for restaurants, cafes and shops.
We were in a similar position a few years ago and started off by renting a house just off Clapham Common Westside. It was very close to the common, a lovely closed off road about 15 minutes walk to northcote road and we loved it. It was small though and we wanted something bigger. So we ended up moving just off Bellevue road by Wandsworth common as you can get a very decent sized house (3000sqm ish) in the £2m mark. It’s still walking distance to northcote, plus it has Bellevue road and all the practical things Balham has to offer (Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, boots, etc). It ticks all the boxes for us. Obviously it’s london so you get a mish mash of everything / everyone/ everywhere but by and large it’s all good. Good number of private schools around and the common is invaluable.

[Lisa31]

The toast rack has lovely houses and proximity to the common- but not much else really. You have to walk to Bellevue road or northcote road for restaurants, cafes and shops.
We were in a similar position a few years ago and started off by renting a house just off Clapham Common Westside. It was very close to the common, a lovely closed off road about 15 minutes walk to northcote road and we loved it. It was small though and we wanted something bigger. So we ended up moving just off Bellevue road by Wandsworth common as you can get a very decent sized house (3000sqm ish) in the £2m mark. It’s still walking distance to northcote, plus it has Bellevue road and all the practical things Balham has to offer (Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, boots, etc). It ticks all the boxes for us. Obviously it’s london so you get a mish mash of everything / everyone/ everywhere but by and large it’s all good. Good number of private schools around and the common is invaluable.

Thanks for sharing Grapes!! What is your opinion on streets like Brodrick & Wandle Road just on the other side of Trinity? Not officially Bellevue but very close? 

 

[schoolsearching]

I live BTC and love the proximity to Northcote Road. It feels like a friendly village. The restaurants are great and very child friendly. I don't have a firm view on the "best" roads BTC because most look rather the same to me but the south west corner closer to Wandsworth Common train station generally has larger houses - Dents Road, Gorst Road, Morella, Blenkairne etc. Thurleigh Road has some rather large houses (and some normal ones) and, therefore, is a bit prestigious. Old Park Road is beautiful and I sometimes walk down it just to admire the pretty houses. I think Salcott and Leithwaite are quite popular but this might be do to proximity to schools.

[Lisa31]

I live BTC and love the proximity to Northcote Road. It feels like a friendly village. The restaurants are great and very child friendly. I don't have a firm view on the "best" roads BTC because most look rather the same to me but the south west corner closer to Wandsworth Common train station generally has larger houses - Dents Road, Gorst Road, Morella, Blenkairne etc. Thurleigh Road has some rather large houses (and some normal ones) and, therefore, is a bit prestigious. Old Park Road is beautiful and I sometimes walk down it just to admire the pretty houses. I think Salcott and Leithwaite are quite popular but this might be do to proximity to schools.

This is the kind of insight I was hoping for!! Thanks so much schoolsearching! 

[Janet14]

Hi
We used to live in the Nightingale Triangle and LOVED it! We could walk to Northcote Rd, we were minutes from Clapham Common and could walk across to the High St and cinema but could also walk to Balham so loads and loads of options of restaurants, bars etc but also transport links fab as Clapham South a 5 min walk but could also walk to Balham and Clapham Junction. Personally I prefer to live close to the underground.
Tonnes of families in the area and in terms of roads Lysias rd is an amazing road, very friendly street with lots of street parties, neighbours all friendly and also not a through road so really quiet too!
Caroline at Savills knows the area like the back of her hand, highly recommend using her!

[Kirstie’s Mom]

I live on Wandle which is a beautiful road and very friendly . Broderick has become a cut through sadly but Hendham is also nice . Dalebury and Crockerton Rds have fabulous houses but look less well maintained .
I know all the areas you are looking at having lived here for 30 odd years . They are all great . I wouldn’t chose to live in Bellevue Village since parking is a nightmare but if that’s not a concern .... I think you will like any of these areas so find the house that speaks to you .

[Claphamdaddio]

It might be worth speaking to Henry Pryor (https://henrypryor.com) who was immensely helpful when it came to our housing search. We knew even less than you about the area (we’d recently moved from NYC) and he was able to consider our wants/needs, show us around and talk us through considerations of each house we looked at. We checked out a few of the places already mentioned (Morella, Salcott, Toast Rack, Spencer Park) but ended up closer to Clapham Old Town. At the moment he’s offering free 30-minute “Corona Clinics”, so you don’t have to worry about his fee just to have a chat, but found his insights, access to off-market properties and ability to help us navigate a tricky bidding process invaluable.

Hope this helps!

[Expatacular]

I live BTC and I think it offers the best of all worlds in this area. Proximity to all the shops, cafes, and restaurants of Northcote Road and both Clapham and Wandsworth Common is fantastic. If you are planning to have kids, the area is super family friendly, with playgrounds in all directions. The houses on the roads that cut directly off of Northcote Road in both directions are fairly homogeneous, which is to say that you are mostly going to find 2000 sq foot-ish 4-5 bedroom terraces with smaller gardens. If you want/need a bigger house, I agree with above that the houses in the Dents Rd area, or over in the toast rack, are larger, but proximity to Northcote Road is not as good. If you don't need to be in school catchment for Belleville or Honeywell, then the roads off of Northcote Road are all fairly similar to each other, with the exception of the houses on the north side of Honeywell, west of Northcote Road, which are definitely larger and lovelier than the others in this area. There's also the question of if you want a Victorian house or an Edwardian one. There's a good pocket of Edwardian houses over towards Clapham Common (Culmstock, Grandison, Muncaster, Alfriston), so if you prefer that floorplan and style of house, you could focus on those streets. 

[dudette]

If you were thinking of the Toast Rack, if you cross over Trinity Road to the Magdalen Estate there are lots of lovely houses. You get more bang for your buck on that side of the common compared to BTC as the houses are wider and the gardens bigger. You're within a short walk of the common but Earlsfield is just down the road with more shops, cafes and restaurants, you're nearer the A3 for escape to the countryside and it's quieter and leafier with easy parking. I have lived both sides of the common and prefer this side for all those reasons (and you can still walk to Northcote and Bellevue Roads - a pleasant stroll across the common).

[haggis68]

We’re on Hendham and love it. Close to Bellevue for the shops but also easy to access the bigger / variety of shops in Balham and Earlsfield (particularly useful for Spencer Cricket/ Hockey / Netball clubs and Battersea Ironsides rugby as the kids get older). We moved from Nightingale Triangle for a bigger house, off street parking and bigger garden. Our children go to Finton at the end of our road so all very easy and rarely leave the house without bumping into someone we know so feels quite villagey I guess. Really lovely sense of community on Wandle & Broderick as well!

[TickTack]

The roads between Broomwood and Thurleigh are lovely.
You get the best of both worlds of being a short walk to Northcote Road, Bellevue Road and Balham, without the schools noise and traffic of some of the roads immediately off Northcote. Even being that little bit closer to the tube makes a big difference for when you do need to use the tube, or have visitors.

These roads also tend to have slightly bigger gardens BUT, check which way the gardens face because some of them never get sun. I think the houses on one side Montholme have absolutely huge gardens, if that's important to you but I'm not sure how often they come up on the market.

In terms of which streets are cleanest etc, make sure you are in Wandsworth and not Lambeth. Wandsworth has weekly bin collections plus weekly street cleaning. Leaves are swept, trees are pollarded etc, which makes the streets look tidy.

The council tax, parking permits, planning permission etc is all so easy to deal with.

In terms of friendliness, I think you would have to be very unlucky to live in a street and find it anything other than welcoming and friendly.

I've lived in the area for nearly 15 years, on 4 different roads, and while some were more sociable than others, all have been very friendly

[Kirstie’s Mom]

It is a lovely area but the councillor for Earlsfield is batshit crazy . Dont be a car owner .

[Alanine]

Old Park Avenue and Thurleigh Road/Avenue are my fav, you can find large semi and detached there.

Kyrle Road offers pretty double fronted terrace house, Broxash Road (recently resurfaced)and Manchuria road to its immediate south are both really nice for the Victorian red brick houses