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Shenfield, Brentford, Billericay, and Upminster are all fairly nice but you'd never call them gems - just bland suburban shitholes. But bland suburban shitholes that are more or less safe, and with green spaces around them. I grew up in Dagenham and all the middle class girls we knew came from these places, and they more or less turned out alright.
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Inside the M25 or outside?
It's all shite inside and shite outside too up until about Chelmsford and then you can live in little villages, but if you're commuting, you probably don't want to drive for 20 mins to the station first, so you have to live in a town, which is shite.
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Colchester. Best of a bad bunch.
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If you had to live within an hour's train connection from Liverpool St, and accessible to M25/M1/A1 road links to North and Stansted Airport (i.e. the NE quarter of greater London), where's the 'nicest' places?
You haven't put a price on the requirements, so the answer is West Hampstead.
What do I win?
A more budget option would be Mill Hill.
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I've just moved to Forest Gate and love it. Regular trains to Liverpool Street in 10 mins. Crossrail opens in a couple of years giving you a fast train across London. Easy access to roads north / stansted. It's right next to Wanstead flats and v. close to Epping so plenty green space. It's got a good little high street, decent mix of pubs and a nice community feel about it. And the property is still relatively cheap.
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@Olly398
Now that the Dagenham bit's been kinda answered, can I turn this question on its head a bit and ask:
If you had to live within an hour's train connection from Liverpool St, and accessible to M25/M1/A1 road links to North and Stansted Airport (i.e. the NE quarter of greater London), where's the 'nicest' places?
A bit of green space would be nice, and doesn't need to be the cheapest place, but the bits of Essex I've been to randomly seem pretty characterless. Are there any gems out there?
The thread is not filling me with confidence that there are any?
FWIW I've lived in and enjoyed Clapham/Brixton area for over 10 years but need a bigger place and job/family suggest the above location change. But I also was born in Hull and spent 2 years in Grantham recently so have a high desolation threshold ;-)
Thanks @b&d @BleakReference and @NurseHolliday you're from these endz no?