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A Trip To Thamesmead


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HOLA441
Hi Spark

In my research regarding Thamesmead and my daughter determination to move there, I came across this excellent document which seems to sum up the situation rather well. If you have the time (78 pages!!) you may want to have a read as well.

http://www.gallionsha.co.uk/Portals/0/Docs...mead_report.pdf

For those of you who might be interested here's the link

AMD

Hi AMD,

Thanks for the link. I also found that when I was doing research on Thamesmead!

Spark

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1
HOLA442
You can get a cheap meal at the Arsenal cafe, near Woolwich market and almost opposite the old Woolwich Arsenal!

I was going to try the cafe right at the WA armouries next month, as my wife's uncle is coming over from SA to Europe for a couple of weeks. He is staying with various friends in the UK and flying out from City Airport to Holland. I was looking for a good pub/cafe etc near City Airport where we can get a meal and a drink (alcoholic hopefully). I looked at the WA Cafe but there is some live music on the weekend when he is here, so I don't know if it is worth risking going there if it's packed out and we have to queue for a table (also I'm not sure if this place is licensed).

Could you recommend a good pub within spitting distance of City Airport where we can get some food and a drink? If not I might just resort to my old favourite, the Princess Alice!

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HOLA443
But it is a confirmed shithole. Go to the 'town' centre / newbuild shopping area.

What do you see?

Scum. Littering, fast-breeding, benefit sucking scum.

Normal people as well, I will grant you that but it's the rest that stick out, and they aren't about to move out of the area in a hurry

It's hard to tell if it's the school holidays there due to the truancy levels.

Go to Morrisons and look at who parks where in the car park. Note the proportion of real use of disabled or child spaces. Note the fat basturds who always park in the taxi part at the front, or just dump their cars at the front near to the parking bays. The piss-takers know they only need to growl and nothing more will be done about it. They rule their manor by tribal reputation.

Moving on to the evenings. Go down the riverside. Nice in the day, not so at night. Feral scrotes will attack if roused to your presence. Burning stolen cars, motorbikes and anything else accrued through the day's villainy. Racial wars with neighbouring places to control the drug trade. Etc.

And they do have a gated community there - Belmarsh Prison of course :P

TFH

Woolwich town centre isn't particularly good, although you could say much the same about Lewisham or many other deprived parts of London. I was shopping in Lewisham earlier (through necessity, not choice) and there were whiny kids in almost every shop I went in. I think its also other more subtle things, like people not moving out the way when you're trying to get past or not saying thank you if you hold a door.

I'm not sure the critical mass of working people are there yet either. I passed through Woolwich on Saturday, taking the DLR en route into London (funnily enough I've got into the HPC habit of comparing areas as I pass through them now). I went into the Costa by the station to get a coffee; completely deserted. In other parts of London these coffee shops would be packed.

When I walked around there I didn't see any burnt out cars or anything like that. The riverside has quite a few trolleys and bikes in but they've probably been there for ages. What I would say is that West Thamesmead seemed much better than the centre (I didn't go east or to the infamous south) and once the excess supply has worked through the system it'll probably be much better than before.

Oh, no nightbuses go anywhere near the riverside flats from memory, not sure if that's an issue.

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HOLA444
Good luck. Make sure you take these. :o

P71738B.jpg

Went around for a leisurely walk around Tidelsea path Sunday afternoon with daughter. We had lunch at the Pub, yes it was £3.50 and not bad at all!! Daughter is still very happy with her decision. People were friendly, we even got chatted up by a couple of blokes on the waterfront!! We also went to view the development at Woolwich Arsenal by Berekely Home, similar flat going for £315k but they were willing to sell us one for £270 :blink: and No we did not need the bullet-proof jacket!!!!

Admittedly there were some rough spots, which were down to lack of care by the landlords/renters but we did not feel threatned. Our next visit will be sometime at night.

AMD

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HOLA445
I was going to try the cafe right at the WA armouries next month, as my wife's uncle is coming over from SA to Europe for a couple of weeks. He is staying with various friends in the UK and flying out from City Airport to Holland. I was looking for a good pub/cafe etc near City Airport where we can get a meal and a drink (alcoholic hopefully). I looked at the WA Cafe but there is some live music on the weekend when he is here, so I don't know if it is worth risking going there if it's packed out and we have to queue for a table (also I'm not sure if this place is licensed).

Could you recommend a good pub within spitting distance of City Airport where we can get some food and a drink? If not I might just resort to my old favourite, the Princess Alice!

I wouldn't recommend the Arsenal Cafe for entertaining or showing off! Its a greasy spoon and OK for a cheap meal thats all.

There are quite a few pubs/restaurants in the Royal Docks complex adjacent to City Airport and Canary Wharf isn't too far away by DLR,

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HOLA446
  • 1 month later...
6
HOLA447
I wouldn't recommend the Arsenal Cafe for entertaining or showing off! Its a greasy spoon and OK for a cheap meal thats all.

There are quite a few pubs/restaurants in the Royal Docks complex adjacent to City Airport and Canary Wharf isn't too far away by DLR,

In the end we just went to our old favourite, the Princess Alice. I think my wife's Uncle quite liked the pub and the West Thamesmead area in general. Being from South Africa, he finds that space is at a premium in London and people are packed in like sardines on the tubes etc. I gave him the choice of eating at a pub/restaurant just across the dock from the Excel centre (really handy for the airport) as the safer option or whether he wanted to go to the Princess Alice. He chose the latter.

We collected him at West Ham and took him through the Blackwall tunnel. He did comment that things opened up and there was a bit more room in the Thamesmead area. We drove round to the flat and showed him the place from the outside and he was surprised that the flats came with an underground parking space. He then experienced the fun of the Woolwich ferry crossing before we dropped him off at City Airport.

I also invited the tenants out for a meal at the PA, but they had just come back from a cruise and were trying to catch up on their emails in readiness for work the next day. They did invite us round to the flat for a couple of hours to catch up on things, as we hadn't seen them for almost a year when we attended the EGM last Summer.

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7
HOLA448

Hi Spark, we are in the process of buying one of the top floor flats in the 3rd block - a repo - which I think is where your tenant lives (he may even be a neighbour) . We've been to the site a few times to look around and the area seems fine. However, there was quite a lot of scaffolding up last weekend on the block and I'm unclear as to why? The block isn't very old! I’m also wondering how the management company is getting on - are they doing a good job etc?

Thanks for any response

Tideslea Resident.

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HOLA449
Hi Spark, we are in the process of buying one of the top floor flats in the 3rd block - a repo - which I think is where your tenant lives (he may even be a neighbour) . We've been to the site a few times to look around and the area seems fine. However, there was quite a lot of scaffolding up last weekend on the block and I'm unclear as to why? The block isn't very old! I’m also wondering how the management company is getting on - are they doing a good job etc?

Thanks for any response

Tideslea Resident.

Rather you than me. Good luck.

Oh, and welcome to HPC by the way.

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HOLA4410
Hi Spark

In my research regarding Thamesmead and my daughter determination to move there, I came across this excellent document which seems to sum up the situation rather well. If you have the time (78 pages!!) you may want to have a read as well.

http://www.gallionsha.co.uk/Portals/0/Docs...mead_report.pdf

For those of you who might be interested here's the link

AMD

I scanned through it......

Have a look at the pictures posted on the flicker account mentioned earlier. I remember Thamesmead when we used to go sailing there with the school in the late 70's to early 80's. I was always fascinated by the place. Anyway the point was I'm sure there was such a document back then about the great future of the place very similar to the view expressed in that PDF.

At the end of the day priceless ming vase is going to look crap if you fill it with dog turds.

It's a drum I have been banging for a while but compare and contrast the Barbican with Thamesmead (I actually use Brunswick Center in Bloomsbury but the point is the same). Two estates essentially built around the same vision, high rise communal living, one is a no go area the other you pay close to £1 million for a place.

You can plant all the trees, add all the cycle lanes and foot paths you like it will still be a shit hole. At the end of the day the lowest in society have been push out of pretty much every other area of London, there has to be somewhere they eventually end up.

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HOLA4411
  • 4 weeks later...
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HOLA4412
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HOLA4413
Hi Peeps,

Im looking to invest in a property around this area and just wanted some opinions on the place? I took a look around miles close and it was very residential which was nice! However, how is the transport into the city like?

Thanks

It has DLR now, Woolwich Ferry, Mainline station and bus routes to North Greenwich to pick up the Jubilee. Excellent cycle routes along the Thames path to the City/Canary Wharf and beyond.

Edited by HostPaul TAFKA Rover2000
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HOLA4414
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HOLA4415

Yeah i have been doing some research into the travel and i think it would take me just over an hour to get into the city! Makes it quite tempting that the flat prices are quite cheap in this area. Can any residents on this forum advise on the travelling time into london city.......?

I had a drive around the area today and it looked ok but i guess an appointment with the agents to view the property might reveal more.

As usual any more tips or advice would be appreciated!

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HOLA4416
Yeah i have been doing some research into the travel and i think it would take me just over an hour to get into the city! Makes it quite tempting that the flat prices are quite cheap in this area. Can any residents on this forum advise on the travelling time into london city.......?

I had a drive around the area today and it looked ok but i guess an appointment with the agents to view the property might reveal more.

As usual any more tips or advice would be appreciated!

I'm not sure how long it takes to go to the city, as I bought my place as a BTL. My tenants are a professional couple in their 50's. The guy works in Bermonsey and his wife works near Canary Wharf. I think the guy takes the bus to Greenwich. His wife uses the Thames Clipper service from the pier that's near the Woolwich Arsenal development (a 10-12 minute walk). The Thames Clipper website is here

Woolwich Arsenal pier to Canary Wharf takes around 30 minutes on the Thames Clipper. Have a look on the website to see if it stops at a pier that is near to where you work.

One tip I have if buying in Tideslea Path is: If standing outside and looking up from the banks of the Thames there are 3 blocks of flats. Blocks 1 and 2 (the right and centre ones) were built by Barratt and block 3 (the one on the left) was built by Fairclough homes (now taken over by Miller). Block 3 is the best one, as Fairclough used better quality internal fittings. Barratt used cheap internal doors, cheaper kitchen appliances and they only half tiled the bathroom and en-suites. The doors inside block 3 look nicer, the kitchens had all AEG integrated appliances and the bathroom/en-suites had Roca bathroom fittings and were fully tiled with big mirrors with built-in lights. The flats are wired for TV/broadband in the lounge and both bedrooms (I think this was standard on all flats although I'm not sure). The sparks wiring the aerials etc seemd to have made a mess and wired them incorrectly. Our flat was wired for 1 Sky but the tenant couldn't get Sky+. He called an engineer out, but it is always a nightmare trying to get access to the aerial/utility cupboards. These are locked and the cleaners have the keys and it is difficult to track them down. The mains stopcock for the flats are even locked away in a cupboard!

One major problem is the Potterton combi boilers were incorrectly installed when the flats were built. I don't know what the exact fault was, but there was something wrong with the heat exchanger outlet and there was a risk of carbon monoxide leaking! I had installed a CO monitor in the flat and it hadn't gone off, but British Gas came out and condemned the boiler! Luckily a Potterton guy came out the next day with the relevant parts and sorted it. It's worth calling BG to see if they have a record of the doing any flat you are interested in to ensure that it is safe. I have the boiler under contract with BG - something like £18PM and £95 whenever you call them out to fix a problem. Probably worth taking out a service contract with BG or Potterton as most combi boilers seem to need regular maintenance/repairs and these Potterton ones are apparently non-standard ones.

The original management company, CPM were a bunch of incompetents. They didn't collect enough money from the residents and ran out of money. We are now with Houston Lawrence and they are much better. Last year the management charges went up from something like £1200 to over £2000 so HL could cover the deficit for the previous year. This years management charges are around £1800.

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HOLA4417
Hi Spark, we are in the process of buying one of the top floor flats in the 3rd block - a repo - which I think is where your tenant lives (he may even be a neighbour) . We've been to the site a few times to look around and the area seems fine. However, there was quite a lot of scaffolding up last weekend on the block and I'm unclear as to why? The block isn't very old! I’m also wondering how the management company is getting on - are they doing a good job etc?

Thanks for any response

Tideslea Resident.

Hi there,

I'm sorry I didn't respond sooner. This wasn't a very replied to thread on the day you asked the question and it wasn't on the 1st page when I viewed new posts. The new management company is Houston Lawrence. They seem to be pretty good. Annual maintenance charges for a 2 bed place will be around £1800 for this year. The flat I bought is at the back, so only has a glimpse of the Thames. I haven't been round to Tideslea since May and my tenant hasn't mentioned anything about scaffolding. My tenant was voted in as one of the directors of the company that was formed to decide what we should spend money on and then liaise with Houston Lawrence. I know they got rid of the original cleaning company hired by CPM and they are working on getting the lifts put on a regular maintenance contract. I know when I visited my tenant in May, the other flat next to them (but accessed from the other stairwell) had a new tenant in it. The original guy who was living there bought it and was using it as an office and he was really quite. He bought it from the EA that showed me round my flat, so the EA would lean over and have a chat with the other guy. He had apparently moved out and rented this to a noisy couple with a dog (and pets are not allowed according to the lease). Each block has 4 penthouse flats at the back and 4 at the front. Have you bought the one at the back of block 3 in the middle? If so, that will be the one that the lounge of our one backs on the the lounge of the inside flat that is accessed via the other stairwell. If so, this will be a relief for our tenant (as long as you are fairly quiet!) Our tenants love the flat and they think the area is okay. They find the people around there really friendly. They haven't had any trouble except there was one guy on the 3rd or 4th floor that used to play loud music occasionally (but he has now moved out). My tenant has been there for 17 months and he said they would probably stay "for 2 or 3 years".

There is a residents AGM towards the end of this month, so we can discuss any issues and re-vote for new directors. I cannot remember the exact date - either the 25th or 26th.

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HOLA4418
017.jpg

Very apt, hope we will seem more of these trips to the

edges of London.

Shouldn't that camera pole have spikes on it? What, does the local council deem it inappropriate to terrorise their residents with spiky camera poles. Do unspiked poles ever surfice? They only make the environment half rubbish, yet spikes can't cost that much. It's a liberty I tell you.

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HOLA4419

Thanks for the info spark, can you email me on ees2203atgmail.com??? I cant use the pm system here yet but i may want some further info :)

Do you know of miles close as well.......? I took a look around there today and it was suprisingly nice, flats looked clean and tidy! Regarding Tideslea path im either looking at miles close or tideslea :)

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HOLA4420
I didn't say the council would pay �800PCM - I believe they will pay up to �900PCM. I found this out because a single mum on benefits emailed me to ask if I would rent my place out for �900PCM as that is what the council would pay to house her.

Good grief, HOW MUCH?. This is obviously underpinning a lot of BTL. My mothers' friend lives in a housing association 4 bed town house in a lovely area, most of the properties are O/O, rent £93 a week. It beggers belief the taxpayer is paying vast amounts of money to keep landlords making huge profits, the same taxpayers who can't afford to buy a home of their own. Ripped off at both ends. F00kin magic!

edited for missing letter

Edited by eightiesgirly
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HOLA4421
What exactly were you doing at the time?

He was doing an EA quote for the Beeny property show!

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HOLA4422
Thanks for the info spark, can you email me on ees2203atgmail.com??? I cant use the pm system here yet but i may want some further info :)

Do you know of miles close as well.......? I took a look around there today and it was suprisingly nice, flats looked clean and tidy! Regarding Tideslea path im either looking at miles close or tideslea :)

I've sent you an email. I like Tideslea, as the whole building is curved. There is only 1 90 degree wall in the flat I bought - it is the wall between the back of the kitchen and the wall that juts out where the fridge/freezer is. Doing the engineered oak flooring was a nightmare, as my brother only had the one square wall to line up with. All the other wooden planks come off at a slight angle. The flooring looks fabulous and the tenant commented that the place felt like the deck of a boat because of the curves and wedges. The penthouse places have patio doors in the lounge and both bedrooms, so let in plenty of light (handy as the one I bought faces towards the North East). The hallway is huge and slightly curved like a banana. All the other rooms are slightly wedge shaped - they are narrower at the inside and widen out towards the patio doors.

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HOLA4423
Right that's enough.

I told you lot Thamesmead was a s***hole last month when you were harping on about 60% drops and how you'd love to move to Thamesmead.

It's a nightmare. Everywhere in South London is. I know. I work there.

I wouldn't live in Thamesmead if prices fell 99%. I told you. Last time I went there somebody threw half a house brick at me.

Good luck with the new home if you want to live there.

The housebrick wasn't thrown by a resident. Just the HPC stalker we've appointed to follow you everywhere...

Edited by juvenal
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HOLA4424
  • 2 weeks later...
24
HOLA4425
I've sent you an email. I like Tideslea, as the whole building is curved. There is only 1 90 degree wall in the flat I bought - it is the wall between the back of the kitchen and the wall that juts out where the fridge/freezer is. Doing the engineered oak flooring was a nightmare, as my brother only had the one square wall to line up with. All the other wooden planks come off at a slight angle. The flooring looks fabulous and the tenant commented that the place felt like the deck of a boat because of the curves and wedges. The penthouse places have patio doors in the lounge and both bedrooms, so let in plenty of light (handy as the one I bought faces towards the North East). The hallway is huge and slightly curved like a banana. All the other rooms are slightly wedge shaped - they are narrower at the inside and widen out towards the patio doors.

Spark

I spoke with you a couple of months ago regarding my daughter, who is just about to exchange contracts. Could you PM with you email address as I'd like to know what the outcome of the AGM and the pet owner situation (is anything being done) Daughter is very much looking forward to moving in.

AMD

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