@Sumo - I guess Barking is too expensive? I like Barking. It has a proper little town centre, night bus, fast train and slow underground into London. Becontree has a nice feel and some nice bits but no centre, it's spread out in a suburban kind of way with shops kind of scattered about. Dagenham has nice bits and bleak bits. I only know Romford from cycling through a few times, the centre feels pretty bleak and very car-dominated, there are quite a lot of 'nice' well kept suburban streets but I'm guessing they're expensive.
I don't think I've ever been to Barking, maybe cycled through it on the way to Southend, good to hear there's a possibility of a nice town centre. The houses in my budget are definitely more Dagenham than Barking but I could try and find one on the border
@Sumo - I guess Barking is too expensive? I like Barking. It has a proper little town centre, night bus, fast train and slow underground into London. Becontree has a nice feel and some nice bits but no centre, it's spread out in a suburban kind of way with shops kind of scattered about. Dagenham has nice bits and bleak bits. I only know Romford from cycling through a few times, the centre feels pretty bleak and very car-dominated, there are quite a lot of 'nice' well kept suburban streets but I'm guessing they're expensive.