London area names?

I think we're looking at moving to somewhere around Holland Park, Kew, or Richmond.  I was looking at the Ofsted site to find a preschool around these areas, and naturally nothing matches up name-wise

Here's my list of Ofsted locations:

    *  Barking and Dagenham
    * Barnet
    * Bexley
    * Brent
    * Bromley
    * Camden
    * Corporation of London
    * Croydon
    * Ealing
    * Enfield
    * Greenwich
    * Hackney
    * Hammersmith and Fulham
    * Haringey
    * Harrow
    * Havering
    * Hillingdon
    * Hounslow
    * Islington
    * Kensington and Chelsea
    * Kingston-Upon-Thames
    * Lambeth
    * Lewisham
    * Merton
    * Newham
    * Redbridge
    * Richmond-Upon-Thames
    * Southwark
    * Sutton
    * Tower Hamlets
    * Waltham Forest
    * Wandsworth
    * Westminster

Which of these, if any, is anywhere remotely near Holland Park, Kew or Richmond?  I tried doing it by postal code and the gerbil powering my brain ran for the exit.

You must have lots of money! Those are quite posh areas. Those Ofsted "areas" are in fact the 32 London Boroughs, together with the City Of London, which has an elected body called the "Corporation Of London", although as you can see from the maps, it is actually a very tiny area.

Here is a map kindly provided by one of them (Brent).

http://www.brent.gov.uk/home.nsf/pages/lbb-757

Here is a Wikipedia page also with a map.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_borough

There are three boroughs which do not use the term "London Borough of" in their names. They are Westminster, which is termed the City of Westminster as it has city status; and Kingston upon Thames and Kensington and Chelsea, which are termed "Royal Borough of", due to their Royal borough status

Richmond and Kew are both in the London Borough Of Richmond-Upon-Thames.

Holland Park is in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

If you want to find out in which borough a particular part of London is located, you will usually be able to tell by typing e.g. "Brixton borough" into Google. (It's in Lambeth) The boroughs are responsible for running most local services in their areas, such as libraries, schools, social services, waste collection and roads. Each borough has a website and there you will find lots of links to useful information.

Thanks!  This is exactly the information I was looking for!  As for money, not so much  .  I think we're being given an allowance of like £3,800 per month for housing, so we'll see what we can get and where we can get it.   I'm honestly not sure if we WANT to get into those areas because his office will be in Brentford and we don't want to live horribly far from there.   We likely won't have a car either so that's going to make a difference in where we end up. 

We get to take a preview trip in a few weeks to scope things out.  Unfortunately we only get the estate agent for 4 days, so I think we'll scout around on our own first and try to get a feel for the areas.  But, now I at least have a modicum of a clue where these places are and I can try to contact some schools.  The schooling age breakdown is going to drive me bananas, but that's a topic for the parents forum .

£3800 per month, even in those areas, will get you something pretty substantial!

Well, that's good news.  I've been a little worried about getting a rental house and what I'd get for the money.  I need to troll the rental sites more I guess.

Find out a bit more about the areas you are insterested in by going to www.upmystreet.co.uk  Among many other things this site will have info on the performance data for the schools in that area. 

I've got friends who live in Richmond and in Chiswick (close to where you're looking) and both have nice houses, 3-4 bedrooms, 2 baths, on an allowance that's less than yours.  4 days with an agent will be good if you do some scouting in advance. 

When we first arrived, I had a week to find a place on my own, setting up my own appointments, and I found a very nice place in 4 days (it later turned out to be a disaster, but it wasn't anything that would have been obvious on the search).  In that time, I think I looked at 35 places.     

You can get something really nice, even in those areas, for £3800 a month!

I suspect that will have to cover your council tax and utilities as well, but even so!


I would suggest Richmond or Kingston as nice areas.

Richmond is very beautiful and, obviously, right next to Richmond Park and Kew Gardens.
Kingston has a very good (but very busy) shopping centre.



And, to be honest, I wouldn't sweat the Ofsted reports for pre-schools in that area. The chances are very high that the schools will be good. They are very wealthy areas.

[mod note]

Off topic comments have been removed.  If your comment was removed it was either off topic or referred to something off topic.

People have all kinds of different incomes.  It's not always necessary or indeed polite to exclaim about it. 

The topic is different neighbourhoods in London not incomes or rent. 

Hello Orestia,

We moved to Kew two weeks ago, and we are really pleased with our decision.  Like you, we also considered Richmond and Holland Park, as well as some other central London neighborhoods.  With your budget, you can easily find a large house with a garden, close to the station, in fact there is one available on our street right now for 3000 and another for 2500.  Kew village is mainly residential, which means that if you are commuting by Tube your walk to the station will be both short and pleasant.  For us, this was a minor negative point about Richmond...Richmond is excellent for shopping, but generally speaking you have to cross or walk along noisy crowded roads to reach the residential streets from the station.  But Richmond really is nice, too, especially if you can find something close to the Green or the Terrace Gardens.  Something that I love about both Kew and Richmond is being next to the Thames, where we can enjoy walking along towpath.  And you can buy a season pass for the Botanic Gardens, which is a good family activity. 

Shopping in Kew is actually better than I expected, as it turns out.  On your map you may see Kew Retail Park, between Mortlake Road and the river.  The first time I went there was at noon on a weekday, and 90% of the other shoppers were women with small children.  It was a bit overwhelming to see so many strollers, not something you will ever experience in central London I think.  Evenings and weekends the clientele is more diverse, of course.  Anyway, the retail park has Mothercare, Gap, Next (clothing), Boots (pharmacy) and Marks and Spencer (cheap department store and EXCELLENT supermarket).  I was worried that without a car I would be doing most of my grocery shopping at the Tesco Express next to the station, so the Marks and Spencer was a pleasant surprise.  Also, it is common for supermarkets to offer home delivery (for free, or for a small fee), so you certainly won't starve, no matter where you are.  There is a huge Sainsbury's on Manor Road as you head down toward Richmond, and Richmond itself has Waitrose (my personal favorite).  As for household things, I am a big fan of John Lewis department store which offers free delivery for any purchase over 30 pounds.  (I need to figure out how to insert the pound sterling symbol, but I hope you understood that I meant cost, not weight.)  So really, no problem not having a car!  In any of these areas, Kew, Richmond or Holland Park, I am certain that you will be happy.  If you have any questions about Kew in particular, I will be glad to try to help (bearing in mind that I am new here myself), so do feel free to ask.  And four days with an agent will be more than enough...you will be spoilt for choice, and will probably find something perfect on the first day.  Best wishes and have fun with your home-hunting!

We've been in Kew for over a year and absolutely love it. If we could ever afford to buy in the area, we wouldn't hesitate for a moment.

... his office will be in Brentford and we don't want to live horribly far from there.   We likely won't have a car either so that's going to make a difference in where we end up. 

My husband and I just got out of Brentford (alive, thankfully) and it's good to see you are not considering living there.  We don't have a car either, but one thing Brentford does have going for it is good transport links to the nearby areas (except Acton, but you probably wouldn't want to go there either). 

We used to spend lots of time in Chiswick, Kew and Richmond and can highly recommend all three of those areas. 

We now live in Wimbledon and are much happier there - nearly three years of living in Brentford really ground us down, so it's good to be really careful and do your research about where you choose to live, as you are doing here.

Good luck!

Glad to hear some good things about the areas.  We JUST got back from our preview trip last night and spent most of our time in those three (Kew, Chiswick, and Richmond)  I'm gunning for Richmond and Kew because I think they'll be closer to a tube stop for hubby and the atmosphere is just really nice.  Hopefully the rental market will cooperate with us .

Glad to hear some good things about the areas.  We JUST got back from our preview trip last night and spent most of our time in those three (Kew, Chiswick, and Richmond)  I'm gunning for Richmond and Kew because I think they'll be closer to a tube stop for hubby and the atmosphere is just really nice.  Hopefully the rental market will cooperate with us .

It's a renter's market at the moment, so you should be able to negotiate down from the asking price (depending on the desirability of the property and competition from others for it). 

My husband and I got a steal on our short term rental that we moved into last month - keep in mind you will be desirable renters from a landlord's perspective, and it is also a slow time of year with a lot of landlords facing void periods, so they may cut a deal with you just to have something coming in, and to avoid having their property sitting empty from the perspective of it being a burglary/vandalism/squatters target (we are renting privately and my landlady told me this specifically - almost as though she just wanted my husband and me to rent from her so we could house-sit the property!)