Thatcham,(Newbury,Berks) thread… give me your yes/no points etc

I recall there was a thread not a million years ago on here about someone relocating to Thatcham area and plenty/lots of advice on it.

I’ve now found that i may also be in a position to end up there, moving from a smaller village 5 miles or so north in middle of no-where.

Now, i’ve driven through it a few times etc, living not too far away, but have no actual idea of how it is to live.

Any ideas/thoughts are most appreciated.

Our other option is another house in our current village, but they’re few and far between and by the time we get a buyer for ours, the one that’s there currently may well be sold.

I lived in Aldermaston Wharf for a bit.
West Berkshire is a really nice place to live with excellent transport links.
Property in the nice villages can be expensive to buy. I would go back there tomorrow if the opportunity arose and would have no problem living in Thatcham.

I live in Newbury; which is nicer than Thatcham in my opinion. I’ve lived in the area for ages.

Really nice area to live, great country side, great links to London, Wales etc. Some fantastic country pubs and the Newbury Beer Festival is this weekend 😉

There loads of riding as well; you’ve got the Ridgeway, Wayfarers Walk, Greenham Common is pretty good for a single track fix……and some new offical trails are appearing. Swinley is quite close too which has some new trails which are brilliant.

there are plenty of bikers in the area with some good bike shops

at work at the moment but if you got any question let me know. if you’re ever in the area let me know, happy to show you round the local trails.

Ramsbury ale!

Towen, as said mate, i LIVE in the local area already, just north of Newbury in a small village… It’s more the specifics of Thatcham and possibly even Newbury that i’m not aware of.

We were/are also considering Hermitage, Cold Ash, etc etc. It’s simply that the vast ammount of properties around this area are either Tilehurst which the wife doesn’t fancy, Calcot, which neither of us fancy… or Thatcham/Newbury, which is second on our list. Top of the list is our current village due to schools being ‘outstanding’ according to OFSTED, but like i say, depends what’s about when ours sells.

Ah sorry fella, the curses of flash reading on the sly whilst at and not understanding before I reply.

which viallge are you in? I see your pain though; the wife and I want a bit of village life but could’t afford the extra costs. We live Newtown Road way which is ok. If i had to choose again I would probably go for areas such as Speen, newotwn Road area or probably out the back of Thatcham near bucklebury way.

We found that going closer to Reading was cheaper to buy than towards say hungeford way. In the end we bought with our heads as newbury is an area that has a fairly stable market.

Thanks mate… nice one..

Keep any ideas coming please guys.

I think that qas the theead I put up. Still not moved but should be soon. We chose thatcham as its not west reading and we can afford it. Primary schools south of a5 are better. Kennett secondary is outstanding to the east further west its more newbury secondaries cant remember its name but its good, results much the same as Kennett. We are hopefully moving to place near the discovery centre to the south. Cant comment on your situation as it sounds like you live in a nice place, we live off oxford road in Reading!!!

I used to live there too, Connaught road, also one by where ducati shop was that’s now a porn shop lol.

Where we live is stunning, horses, fields, ridgeway just 100m from the door. But the house is too small. I’m getting the feeling from the wife our budget is going up and we’ll be buying larger one in this village. However, still would like info please.

Things like how bad is traffic at 9am after she’s dropped our boy at school, she works in didcot.

How noisy is the rail line?

Things like how bad is traffic at 9am after she’s dropped our boy at school, she works in didcot.

dont know, but did I mention its not the Oxford Road!! Ducati shop must have been before my time. I live not far from MTC.

I know the lads there well.

My bike has been known to visit a few times!!

Recently moved to Woolton Hill & really enjoy it here, nice & quiet on the edge of the countryside & close enough to town & the A34/M4. Started running/walking/road biking a lot more & still trying to find my way around the local trails….need to get out more

Hi,one of the Thatcham locals here. Robbie H will be here later, he’s just left after I finished fixing his whippet. Quite a few riders here and plenty of riding. ( priorities first).
Thatcham is more expensive than Newbury. Stay away from Kennet Heath area for houses. Traffic isn’t too bad in the mornings. Its always going to be busy. Fly in the ointment is the railway crossing is a bugger.
Used to live in Tilehurst, but love and all that made me move from Tidmarsh to here. Its not a ‘bad’ place. Every town has its collection of knuckle draggers and we seem no different to the rest. Not as ‘lively’ in the evenings as Newbury if that’s what you want, but my 20 yr old daughter avoids Newbury nightlife.
Sensible location for Reading for shopping, Swindon for outlets. Newbury is better after the refit, but don’t think John Lewis is comparable to Readings etc. Its just not so. ( women bit sorted)
If you want to know about certain streets Robbie H the postie knows every house.
Cold Ash is more expensive. Buckleberry is OK, although Roundfields is a place not to live.

Thanks again.

Shops etc and night life don’t come into play as nothing will change for us from now

Funny you mention Kennet as we were just debating a new build 3 bed townhouse there. In the cold ash side of thatcham there seems decent prices and buys.

We viewed a place today which we liked at £250,000 in our village, but its not much bigger than ours. But has a garage and small garden, which is nice.

Next size up is only 100sq/ft more, but £295k. That place would be £280k or so in thatcham.

Ours was valued by a 2nd company today and potentially worth £25k more than we hoped, which brings £300k houses into play. Which may change deciusions slightly.

That’s more info than I planned writing about my ciurcumstasnces lol

Weeksy, I live in Siege Cross , which is part of the Francis Bailey school and Kennet School catchment. Which does actually increase property values. There is nice streets and bad streets. You get a space between houses rather than Dunston estate. Houses in Siege Cross do come up, but not too often. My neighbours and others in the street have been here since build , which was 1986 !! so cant be that bad, even with me living next to them !!
Kennet Heath is a big no, simples. They cant sell property down there, without giving it away. Don’t forget that the Thatcham flood, actually flooded out houses there, so insurance will be also expensive.I’d rather live in a box than there.

I always found it amusing driving through Thatcham.
You get to a roundabout that has a sign for “crematorium”.
The next roundabout had a sign for “Cold Ash”

Good info thrusty,

I may mail you tomorrow if its ijn profile and you don’t mind?

Just certain bits of location I don’t want out on the www as you can imagine.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-39580717.html

Something like this ?

Allegedly there is council issues with property in Kennet Heath etc also, so another reason to avoid. A colleague of the wife ‘nearly’ bought one but the issues of this and not realising where they were buying then made them buy somewhere else, to their luck.

Any time matey. email is thrustyjust (at) homaildotcom.
I’ll just text Robs to help too…….hang on 🙂

Nice. Saved.

Iolo, I am near the crematorium and at least you get flowers for the missus every night 😆

Iolo, I am near the crematorium and at least you get flowers for the missus every night 😆

Ooops. 🙄

Hi all, yep, been a postie here for 22 yrs so got a fair idea of what’s ok. like the Thusty one says, great riding and like anywhere, good places and bad round here. if you want specific info privately give me a shout and I’ll try and help. great bike mechanical help locally too at Thrusties….. 😆

Just because you cant fix wheels…….or brakes…. or gears…..next time bring beer. Enjoy your ride Wed night and don’t fall off this time Robs !!

Just because you cant fix wheels…….or brakes…. or gears…..next time bring beer. Enjoy your ride Wed night and don’t fall off this time Robs !!

Well, I know how you love my company and so I just pretend to be useless, takes me ages to screw up a few bits on the bike just for an excuse to come round 😆 fall off??? me??

I’m OK for most spannering, but occasionally use ROTEC cycles as they’re by my work and a good bloke. Things like trimming steerer stems as i don’t have a vice/workshop. But that’s going to change with the planned move 🙂

Will shout you in a bit lads via mail etc.

Yawn…….. replied……Yawn

LOL have a word with yourself, it’s the middle of the afternoon almost 😉

I’ve been in work for an hour