So talk to me about Tooting Bec Post Reply

[txmum]

We're looking to buy a family home in the area, and quite a few properties seem to be popping up nearer Tooting (we're looking to pay 6 figures not 7 for our house). I must admit I don't know the area well, but my perception isnt great.

Can anyone tell me what it's like for families? Shops? Cafes? Schools?

we're near CC north side at the moment and love the neighbourhood, but are having difficulties finding much under the million mark that wouldn't need completely gutting.

[Mrs Contractor Mum]

I'm a big fan of Tooting Bec and it seems to be becoming more family orientated all the time. You have a huge common with a great playground and if summer ever makes an appearance, the Lido is great fun. In terms of cafe culture, Ritherdon Road has Dee Lite bakery, the French Cafe, Locale and round the corner there is the big Bertie Boo cafe and soft play area.
Maintained schools seem to be a bit hit and miss but my son isn't school age yet and things may improve over the next few years. If you are catholic and don't mind attending church every sunday over the next three years, you may get into St Anselms which is a brilliant school. We are almost across the road from it but not being catholic, we won't bother applying. For private schools you have Eveline day school, Bertrum and Finton house all in easy walking distance and for primary maintained schools, depending where you move there is Fircroft, Hillbrook, and Ravenstone (nearer to Balham I think). Apparently, the old youth court may become an academy primary school too. Apart from Graveney School, I wouldn't rate the secondary schools in the near vicinity.
Transport is good and in rush hour you can still get on to the tube at Tooting Bec plus Wandsworth Common and Balham overground are in easy walking distance. Buses take you to Sloane Square, Elephant and Castle, Brixton and Wimbledon. The thing about most of these areas is in reality, you are never far from anywhere else so Northcote Road, Clapham etc are fairly easy to get to. Have a look at the properties and have a walk/ coffee in the area to get a feel.

[mrs_pavlova]

We bought a family home in Tooting Bec three years ago and haven't regretted it for a moment. In fact the longer I'm here, the more I think it was a great idea and excellent value for money. I'm so glad that I was open minded enough to see the sense in saving several hundred thousand pounds on the same house!

We bought in a quiet, no through road (pm me if you want to know more detail on good roads) and paid £650k for a fantastically spacious 1,500 sq ft Edwardian home. For this price it already had the roof conversion and side return done. Unmodernised similar homes in our road sell for £500k (two in our road in the last 3 months).

Basically you will get more for your money here than just half a mile up the road towards Balham or Wandsworth Common. I also own a flat overlooking Wandsworth Common and we looked for houses around there, but I was hoping for a grassy garden for children and that is what you will get here. More for your money!! Our neighbours are incredibly friendly (many are now friends we have for dinner). I walk to Bellevue Road (Sainsburys local just opening), Ritherdon Road and Balham on a regular basis. Parking outside your own house (at any time of day) is also never a problem and important if you have children. I think the previous poster covered it on school options.

I hope this helps. Good luck!

[txmum]

Thank you so much for your thoughtful responses. We're looking at some properties in the next two days and I'm becoming more open-minded.
Must admit the ofsted reports are slightly worrying, but all else being equal, you pay it either in the price of the house local to a popular school or you pay it in tuition. Really no way around it.
The house prices you quoted are more in line with what was happening in other parts of the borough 3 or 4 years ago so who knows what could happen.
Feeling optimistic!

[Mrs Contractor Mum]

Glad you are giving it a go. Totally agree with the MrsP that the neighbours are lovely. I live on a really small road but there are four families with children of similar ages and we've had playdates and celebrated birthday's together. We are also having a jubilee street party and the olympic torch will be making a celebratory appearance through the high street with a party on the common after.
If you haven't decided on the private/ state dilemma that so many parents are caught up in, have a look at the Gravney School website as they are looking at opening a primary school on Furzedown road. Although it will be nearer the Tooting Broadway end if the reputation of the secondary school filters downwards, it will be extremely popular.
On a general note about schools, I am working on a project in the education sector at the moment and have been meeting schools with rankings from outstanding to satisfactory as well as Ofsted directly and the Ofsted reports never tell the true picture. Outstanding schools are oversubscribed so the classes will always be at full capacity (30+) and filled with children whose parents all want the very best for their children so competition is fierce. From what I have observed of the satisfactory and good schools is they have small classes generally not more than 20 children because parents do not want their children to go there due to the Ofsted report. The classes have the main teacher plus at least one assistant to deal with children with additional needs/ behaviour issues. Next thing to consider is the gifted and talented programmes run by schools. Most parents who have invested their time and energy into their children believe their children fit into this category. In an outstanding school or even in a private school the competition for your child to get on such a programme is extremelly tight. In a good/ satisfactory school which still run the same programme, the competition isn't so strong so a child that may not have cut it in an outstanding school but is still considered gifted or talented will be encouraged and given the resources to do well. That child's ratings alone will not skew the ofsted figures enough to bring the overall ratings up but all ofsted tells you is what the average is doing, not the individuals. I would highly recommend talking with the school directly especially the head and parents to see what their vision is of the school. Apologies for going off a tangent there but the project has really opened up my eyes to the issues on education. I still haven't decided whether to go state or private - its a complete minefield.

[movingmummy]

We were in exactly the same situation a year ago when number two was on the way. We had a two bed flat on CLapham Common but were totally priced out of the area in terms of buying a house. For less than we sold our flat in Battersea we bought a gorgeous 4 bed house with big garden between Tooting Bec And Tooting Broadway on a lovely friendly quiet residential street. I was very apprehensive about moving to this area but now I am here I have realised it was the right move - I can still walk to Wandsworth Common and Balham and getting back to Battersea is only 5 mins in the car. In the 8 months we have lived here there have already been 4 lovely cafes open up within walking distance so I do hope that is a sign that it is on the up. I don't deny it's not quite Battersea but I do think it has a lot of potential. Schools are a bit of an issue but we are holding out for the new Tooting Primary school which is hopefully opening next year.

[NYE31]

We too have just started looking in the area as the houses & gardens are so much bigger than where we have been looking in Southfields & Earlsfield & you can get a family house for 6 figures rather 7.

We have several friends who have bought in the area, apparently Furzedown School is very good & there appear to be quite a number of families that have made the move down there with no regrets.

[Medway]

We live in Tooting Bec - off Trinity Road- after upsizing to a house from our 2 bed maisonette in Balham in 2009. We could not afford Balham so wanted to be as close as possible to Balham but in a nice house with garden. I would be lying if I said I prefer TB to Balham, but it does exactly what I need it to - we have a 4 bed house which is very spacious, a manageable mortgage, wonderful, friendly like- minded neighbours and a 15 min walk to Balham! TB is still a bit rough around the edges, especially the high road which I try to avoid but it is definitly gentrifying. House prices are going crazy (this is not necessarily a good thing, but reflects the increase in demand), and houses seen to sell in days, independent shops are springing up left right and centre, and schools are improving. I love being slap bang between Wands and Tooting comms, and we have some great cafes and restaurants (Dee light, Meze, the Wheatsheaf) to name but a few. My advice is to go for it - if you buy now you may also get yourself a good deal

[digtooting]

I agree Tooting Bec is great. Sure, it's a bit rough around the edges but I think it's got a great sense of community. Our kids went to a local primary school and we've made many great friends from there. It's brilliant having Wandsworth Common one side, Tooting the other. It's a great spot for walking everywhere - you can go left down to the Asian shops and Primark etc in Tooting, go up to Wandsworth Common for your 'posh' fill including the fabulous Chez Bruce, right to Balham for the cafes, restaurants, Sainsbury's, Waitrose etc and down to Tooting Common and the all important Lido. There are loads of families and importantly loads of families that seem to stay put so while my kids are or are about to go to secondary school, they will still have have a lot of local friends around. I know lots of parents with children at a variety of local state primary schools and they've all be happy with them. Being near the tube is fantastic - up to Oxford Circus in 20 mins, Sloane Square in 30 and slowly by slowly there's new places opening all the time ie Meza, the sugarcraft shop, the Wheatsheaf, Walker Wyatt coffee and the shops and cafe's on Ritherdon. There's lots of gyms and sports clubs nearby as well. Importantly, and this is a big important, I feel pretty safe around here. Things do happen as do they always in London, but personally I've never felt threatened. I agree on house prices as well. Everything on our road gets snapped up as soon as it's put on the market as well so don't delay!

[EmmaVictoriaID]

I love this thread! We moved to Tooting Bec in 2010 - we lived on Venn Street in Clapham prior to this where everything was literally on our doorstep so it was a big change for us. We bought off Franciscan Road for under £600k and got 1700 square foot, a south facing quiet garden, 4 bedrooms, wide hallway and original Victorian features. It would have been lunacy not to snap it up!

I had already lived on the modern Heritage Park estate with a friend for a couple of years so had "got over" Tooting High Street ugliness - and it is ugly, there's no denying it - but I am CONVINCED it will improve, it already has since we have lived here. But with the common, the parks and the fact I have never in my 10 years of living in London had more contact and genuine friendships with my neighbours, I am pleased as punch to be here.

When I meet friends for coffee we still more than often meet in Balham or Clapham but that's easy peasy to get to so I feel we have the best of both worlds.

Come on over!

[papinian]

My wife and I have been trying to move to Tooting Bec for the past six months. Despite a couple of tries we haven't managed to buy a house there yet but we are still looking. It was great to see all of the positive comments on this thread. We've got some strange looks from friends and acquaintances when we've told them where we're looking. They think that there is nothing south of the railway line at Balham, but we think they are missing out on better value properties with more space.

We've been looking at properties both north and south of Tooting Bec Road/Trinity Road. We have got the impression that the area north of Tooting Bec Road/Trinity Road is considered more desirable or at least the properties there are more expensive per sq ft. Is that generally the case?

[EmmaVictoriaID]

I think it's a case of, the further down the northern line you go the less expensive/ less desirable the properties become (and better value for money possibly)... So, Tooting Bec less desirable than Balham, Tooting Broadway less desirable than Tooting Bec, Colliers Wood less desirable than Tooting Broadway etc. but that's probably a given anyway as you would obviously be adding time onto a city commute.

I think Tooting Bec is generally considered more desirable than Tooting Broadway as you are really in the thick of the markets, and not very attractive rows of cheapy-shops in Broadway, whereas Tooting Bec is more residential with a scattering of shops but more importantly closer to the Common and therefore prettier. Also, from what I have seen the houses seem to be slightly more modern looking nearer Broadway - less instances of original Victorian/ Edwardian features - UPVc windows and porches instead of sash windows and stain glass front doors for example -but obviously that might not be a consideration for you.

I am biased though as I live in Bec, maybe someone who lives in Broadway would be better placed to offer a view.

[catty29a]

This is such a great thread! We're about to move into Furzedown and I've been a little anxious about it despite really loving what I've seen of the area. We currently live in Abbeville and whilst it's only a 10/15 minute drive it does feel quite far away from everything - but all these great comments have made me feel really excited about our new home. Like others have said - we've just bought a huge house and garden (needs some work but it's 2000 sqft) for 620,000. Basically that's half what a similar house round here would cost. I'm also a little concerned as I'm going to keep my kids at Parkgate House, where they are now, rather than send them to the local primary and it does rather feel that we're going to be flying a bit solo down there. I plan to join up to some of the fantastic after school clubs available in the area so hopefully the kids will make local friends but anyone already down there have experience with this? I do get the impression that alot of the kids go to the , excellent, local school (we just didn't sign our 4 year old up in time to get a reception place). Sorry, bit of a babble...

[newmum83]

We are also thinking about moving to this area but I'm so confused about schools! Can anyone tell me which are the best state primarys so we can pinpoint our search?
Thanks so much!
X

[Wuzzaleena]

I have just moved to Furzedown from Balham (literally been here a week) and need a nursery and GP recommendation in the area. Any suggestions? thoughts?