Considering a contract there. What’s it like?

Souless london commuter town?

There’s a big **** off IBM place 🙂

sure you’ve asked this before

redhill, so so, a bit chavy for surrey
Reigate, (2 mins down the road) really nice little ‘market town’ lovely place to live
further west gets more rural same as further east

Reigate deffo aint souless and there are plenty of friendly mtber

prices are pretty high almost everywhere round there though

Town centre is a dump, reigate is a bit nicer, great riding nearby on the north downs/surrey hills and not too far to the south downs, reasonably good train connection to london too.

reigate is a lot nicer…

I’ve lived nearby for the past 6 years:-

* You can live in reasonalby nice places nearby.

* Riding is good (for the SE) – Surrey Hills in riding distance, quite a lot of N Downs available for an easy local loop.

* Town centre is dire, but Reigate is pretty good.

Lively night ride scene, – there are 3 groups that I know of and I’m a hermit.

Trains to London fast and frequent. Gatwick close.

If you have to live in the SE and like riding bikes, then you coudl do a lot worse.

you coudl do a lot worse

croydon, for example

I’d be looking for a furnished 1-2 bed flat that’s reasonable, for 6 months.. just want it to be safe enough so I don’t have to worry about my bike all the time. I think the place is in the town centre.

Redhill…. covered by the smell of the local landfill often..

halfway between redhill and reigate is the police station – maybe accomodation around there is safer ??

and you will be close the the bottom of that hill that takes you up to the cafe/car park at the top of reigate hill with a short but steep cycle.

I doubt it’s like the Bronx, crime wise….. Stop fretting! 🙂

Not fretting, just want to know if it is like the Bronx or not. Or, the UK equivalent, Bristol.

Or, the UK equivalent, Bristol.

That made me smile! 🙂

I’d go for Reigate too Redhill is a bit meh or even better Dorking which is not far at all and has the benefit of Harleys cafe.

Having moved around with and rented various places for a few years, don’t you just go with the cheapest place that’s habitable? I did……and it’s only 6 months!

Probably very offensive to everyone but this is where you want to live!

It’s a bit of a mixed bag. The town centre is a bit grim as are some of the residential areas in Redhill but some are also fine.
Good for mtbing and commuting.
Yes, Reigate is nicer but a lot more expensive.
The other surrounding towns are cheaper but harder to commute from (hence the price).

Why not look for somewhere along the A25 West of Redhill / Reigate.
You would then have the best ridng south of the M4 corridor on your door step. Being a 20 – 30 min drive to work might seem a trade off, but you could cycle in . Westcott / Dorking / Leigh / Abinger all very close to Surrey Hills and North Downs .
Not cheap, but nice never is .

£650 a month for a one bedder in Redhill that’s surprising.

halfway between redhill and reigate means about 1 mile from each, which is an easy commuting walk.

51.246175,-0.187025 on google maps is the base of wray lane, which is the climb up to the cafe on the NDW, great for popping out for a ride once you get home.

Doods road is likely to have some cheaper bedsit type accomodation – 51.240547,-0.19254 in google maps.

here for routes around that area:

http://www.a-trip.com/users/home/12398

Coulsdon – 7-miles North – is within Zone 6 if getting into London regularily is a consideration (ie cost).

Plenty of nice places to rent.

Thanks for the tips folks… All going into the big decision making pot. I’ll be down tomorrow afternoon for my interview 🙂

Weekend and weekday night rides from Westcott, a mile the other side of Dorking, maybe 25 min (on a clear run) drive from Reigate. Be aware at rush hours getting to the the Westcott road from Dorking is a bottleneck as there is no easy way of avoiding Dorking’s 1 way system.

Been a mile north of Redhill for 7 years, really like it. Great running and riding on the doorstep. There’s a lot worse about! (I know, I lived in Crawley and work in Croydon…

Like everywhere, pick your area – we live in a nice quiet cul de sac with very friendly neighbours, several of whom ride

We live out in the sticks only a few miles away but have had the (dis-)pleasure of visiting Redhill many a time. It’s bearable during the day in as much as you shouldn’t see much trouble, so IMO working there is fine. Tis full of yoofs and the ‘unworked’ though. Can turn mental at night and not the place you want to go drinking in.

As has been said already, the town and surrounding area vary a lot for tenancy. Worth checking out parts of Merstham, Bletchingly, Godstone, South Park, Reigate and anything further west.

Other bonus is you’re only a few miles from the mecca of SE riding. If you wanna come down and have a look around then drop me a PM.

I live in Horley, about 3 miles out of Redhill. It’s a bit shonky but no trouble and the rent’s are slightly cheaper here. I keep my bikes inside the house though.

Plenty of wednesday night ride options from Reigate.

Redhill town centre is chad-central. But as others have said, some of the residential areas (e.g. law courts area) aren’t too bad.

nxb1

Like everywhere, pick your area – we live in a nice quiet cul de sac with very friendly neighbours, several of whom ride

Spot on

Feel like I should stick up for Redhill here as it’s coming in for a bit of a bashing. Having grown up in the area albeit Caterham, I think it’s a perfectly fine town…I’m not saying it’s some utopia but it’s not as rough or bad as has been implied. The centre is fine for your generic shops/banks/restaurants and the small shopping centre (Belfry) is perfectly adequate…WHSmiths, Boots, M&S, Currys etc. C&N bike shop give 10% off for ST subscribers as well! Plus the railway is on the main line for commuters.

I’m also going to stick up for Croydon…from working there I’ve learned to like the place for all it’s eccentricities although this might be similar to Stockholm syndrome 😕

I live in Redhill, I’ll fill you in properly a bit later…

Reigate is a lot nicer than Redhill, I couldn’t afford either so lived in Creepy Crawley, 100 yds from Ifield station, made it easy to get up to work in Redhill.

Possibly a cheaper option….but I now live near Derby, so what does that tell you?

I grew up in Lower Kingswood, and went to school in Reigate… lived in Redhill for a year before moving away (Oakwood Close).

As most have said it is a perfectly fine place to live (as long as you pick your area) and work, not such a great place to drink (there are plenty of decent country pubs around, just avoid the town centre after dark), but a bloody excellent place to ride 🙂

Loads of good riding at the Reigate Hill end of the downs, then plenty of stuff all the way along Headley Heath to Box Hill, then you’re on to Ranmore and Leith Hill for the honey pot Surrey Hills areas.

Dave