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Which area in London is the best place to live is a contentious topic. Some may say Camberwell (Time Out London’s coolest neighbourhood) for it’s youthful vibe and independent spirit, others may say Hampstead for its pretty alleyways and access to the Heath while someone else might argue that it’s Finsbury Park, with its parade of brilliant shops, pubs and caffs on Blackstock Road. In the Times’ opinion, the capital’s greatest place to live is a posh borough in the southwest.
The paper has just released its latest list of the best places to live in Britain. And once again, Richmond was named the top spot in London, with the Times describing it as the ‘most serene corner of the capital’.
To determine Britain’s greatest places to settle, the Times sent a team of judges to every corner of the country to chat to locals, soak up the atmosphere and try out the amenities. They also considered the quality of transport, broadband speeds and schools.
The jewel in Richmond’s crown is, of course, the magnificent Richmond Park. But beyond that, there’s Richmond Green, which in the summer is always buzzing with people playing cricking, sipping on alfresco drinks or setting up drinks, and a vibrant high street home to beloved chains, indie stores and, as of last year, an Ottolenghi.
Locals don’t have to venture very far for a fine dining experience. There’s swanky seafood restaurant Scotts, Italian haunt Al Boccon Di’Vino, Bib Gourmand spot Mignonette, Michelin starred Dysart Petersham and Michelin green-starred Petersham Nurseries. Even better, for £36 a year, Richmond residents can get a LoveLocal Card that gets them 10 to 20 percent off at restaurants, cafés, salons and shops across the borough.
One Richmond resident told the paper that it feels ‘like a local town in a big city — you are connected to everything, yet you sometimes feel as if you are in the countryside’. Another said that it’s ‘like a mystical world’.
If you ever need to venture beyond the idyllic Richmond bubble, there are plenty of convenient train links to the rest of the city. A train to London Waterloo can take as little as 18 minutes and the District line can drop you off at Hammersmith in just 15 minutes, giving you easy access to the Piccadilly line and Hammersmith and City line. The Times added that mobile signal across the area is ‘above average’.
When it comes to schools, parents in the borough have their pick of several private schools, including the new Thomas’s College, and top rated state primary and secondary schools like Deer Park and Christ’s CofE, which both feature in the paper’s school league table. According to one recent study, Richmond is in fact the best place in all of England for top quality state schools.
Living somewhere as desirable and conveniently located as Richmond will cost you, though. At the moment, its average house price is £916,900. Rent isn’t much more affordable – the average monthly letting price right now is £3,189.
At the end of last year, it was also reported that Richmond was London’s happiest borough. If you could afford the area’s average £900k house and had one of the city’s most glorious green spaces at your doorstep, you’d probably be pretty chuffed, too.
The Times’ roundup featured 72 areas in total, and six other London locales made the cut – Bow, Crouch End, Fulham, Plumstead, Southwark (between Bermondsey and Waterloo) and Walthamstow.
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