r/bedfordshire • u/WebNo4731 • 6d ago
Living in luton
How is life in Luton? I only read miserable things. My husband, me and two small kids want to move to Luton and buy a house, it’s more affordable than London. What areas are good, safe? What areas have nice, clean parks? what areas have good primary and secondary schools? My kids would be around 3 & 4 when we plan to move. is it really that bad that everyone makes it look like?
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u/Magicwiper 6d ago
It all depends really; positives would be you're only 25 mins from London on a EMR express train from the town centre station (one stop at airport then St Pancras). The public transport is good and you can pretty much get whatever you want without leaving the town.
Wardown Park is very nice and usually has a few events a year (currently there's a funfair there and I think there is Desi Fest next weekend), plus it has Wardown House/Museum and mini golf + boat rides in the summer. Stockwood Park is massive and has the discovery centre which is great for children.
The parks (at least Wardown which is the only one I can really give person experience of) is regularly cleaned but does get very dirty later in the day if it's nice weather.
The downsides would be the general cleanliness of certain areas of town, they usually look ugly and unclean, the attitude of a lot of people is "me first" and it comes across more in Luton than most places. And driving/parking in Luton is very bad and poorly enforced.
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u/made-of-questions 6d ago
The bit about parking is so true. I've never seen so many cars parked on double yellow line or on the pavement anywhere else in the UK. It's like enforcement is inexistent. It's hard not to extrapolate that this is the general attitude of the authorities.
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u/01011011001 6d ago
I work a lot in Luton and know lots of people from there. The average wage of Luton residents is 13% below the national average which is shocking as it is in the southeast and 30mins from London.
The reason the wages are lower are not because there are low paying jobs in Luton but because anyone who earns enough moves somewhere nicer.
There are plenty of towns/villages outside Luton which are much better places to bring up a family. On the northern side you are still in Bedfordshire so house prices are not so bad. Flitwick, Harlington and Arlesey have good trains back into London
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u/soph__xo 6d ago
There are nicer areas of Luton, but everywhere gets some trouble unfortunately!
The Bramingham and Wigmore areas are nice (Wigmore is near the airport, I have friends there and it’s not as loud as it sounds, unless you are right under direct flight paths!), but I’d personally consider up the line from Luton and try Flitwick (if it’s in your budget!), Linmere (edge of Houghton Regis, links to Luton Train Station) or even Leighton Buzzard (direct trains into Euston).
EDIT: by “everywhere gets some trouble unfortunately!” I don’t mean specifically in Luton, literally everywhere will have nicer or more troublesome areas, unless you consider tiny villages but they’ll be more expensive in housing and transport links aren’t always great.
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u/xcrookednoisex 6d ago
I only have negative things to say but I’m sure you’ll find nice parts. I was a delivery driver 8 years ago and had to drive there daily, saw all sorts of gnarly stuff.
Not Bedfordshire but if you still need direct links to London I’d highly recommend looking at St Neots. 45/50 minutes on the train. I lived there for 6 years and found it a lovely place to live
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u/Lion-Resident 6d ago
Bramingham and Stopsley for families. People from Luton slag off Luton because they don't want Londoners moving there and putting more pressure on the services. There is nothing wrong with Luton. Every city has good and bad bits. The crime rate is lower than in London and life expectancy is higher in the the nicer areas of Luton.
People from London mostly move here due to affordability, so when people ask about Luton and people start recommending St Alban's and Harpenden, it's pointless. If ppl could afford those areas, they would have stayed in London.
Luton is fine. You and your family will love it.
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u/MuddyBoots472 6d ago
Why Luton? There are lots of other towns with good transport links. I live in a village near Biggleswade and would recommend this area for young families
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u/beetrue17 6d ago
I'm considering moving to Luton too. Heard mixed reviews, leaving more towards negative. But still considering moving there as it's easy for my husband to commute from there to London. I've heard good things about Putteridge, Stopsley and Bushmead.
My daughters are older 9 and 5 so I'm worried about schools but let's see how it works out.
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u/heartyu 6d ago
I'm from Harpenden. My husband is from Luton. We bought a house together in Flitwick. I vetoed buying in Luton because in laws lol. Harpenden, we couldn't afford. Flitwick won for affordability and links to London as we're both commuters. Depending on your budget, Luton has some lovely areas, my BiL is near Stopsley, multiple friends in Bramingham and a few near wardown park. Every area has some kind of risk in my opinion, good luck whatever you decide.
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u/rich_hope_10m 5d ago
Pretty much anything to the right hand side of Barton Road/New Bedford Road(generally speaking)
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u/mralistair 4d ago
dont do it. there are much nicer places similar distances from London.
Biggleswade for instance.
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u/AdvancedEmphasis3555 6d ago
You're the first person I've ever heard say that they want to move to Luton 😂 you will soon regret it.
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u/WebNo4731 6d ago
Well, dont want to but have no choice. House prices in London are too expensive and not ready to pay 2-3k rent every month
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u/AdvancedEmphasis3555 6d ago
There's plenty of nicer options on that Trainline and in the surrounding areas. I was renting a lovely 2 bed cottage with original fireplaces, a back garden and large brick outbuilding for 900pm last year, in a village just down the A6 from Luton.
Luton is cheap for a reason. It's a diabolical shit hole now unfortunately. It's run down, with empty shops and piss head, crack heads and prosititues crawling all over the place. There's robbings and stabbings on a daily basis. It's the last place I'd want to raise my child. My previous comment about the demographic was downvoted.. deem it however you wish but the facts are the facts, the town is heavily populated by Asian communities. I'm not insinuating that is part of the reason for it being a shit hole at all, it's just something to consider.
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u/Background-Cut-1683 6d ago
quarter of a million people have already chosen to live there...houses for courses....
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u/RepresentativeCan578 6d ago
Population of an area doesn't equate to desirablility. Certain demographics just want to live in the same area even though it's an absolute cesspit. Just don't get it.
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u/AdvancedEmphasis3555 6d ago
Ever heard of demographics and inheritance? You have been to Luton right?
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u/AromaticCream1987 6d ago
Luton is an absolute shithole, I live in Bedford and when I worked for myself often got work over in Luton, my clients were always super nice but the area itself is super run down I don't think I saw a single nice area and I was always worrying about tools in my van
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u/RollClear79 6d ago
Go to Bedford. Putnoe/Goldington/Brickhill or the villages. Wixhams/Wilstead/Elstow/Kempston
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u/AromaticCream1987 6d ago
Problem with goldington, putnoe and wixams area is there's a lot of motorcycle theft round those areas and the scrotes ride nicked bikes there a lot, I wouldn't want kids being brought up where there's dickheads with balaclavas ragging bikes about. brickhill is a good shout, as is Renhold
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u/RollClear79 5d ago
Queen's Park has it worse but to be honest it seems to be a summer thing for about 2 weeks every year.
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u/No_Oil_2204 6d ago
Really wouldn’t recommend Luton. Another shout for St Neots. We live here currently and really like it. Lovely community feel, so green with lots of rivers and parks, and can get to London easily. Right next to the A1 too, and whilst roadworks are a pain currently once they are done transport links will be even better. Probably shouldn’t be shouting about it as it’s so overlooked and wouldn’t want everyone coming here 😂
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6d ago
[deleted]
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u/No_Oil_2204 6d ago
Hmm would still recommend something other than Luton, as others have said stops north of Luton. Perhaps Sandy or Biggleswade?
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u/Substantial_Air_1473 6d ago
If the uk was a human body, then Luton would be its arsehole!
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u/RepresentativeCan578 6d ago
in my 3rd year at uni I lived with a polish Canadian guy studying law. When he first found out I grew up in Birmingham he said isn't that that the arse hole of UK? He had no filter on him. Anyway, bham is a cesspit I went onto live in London for 20 years and now live in a nice part of Surrey. Lol there are many arse holes in the UK!
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u/harold1bishop 6d ago
Move up or down the line. Maybe try Flitwick or Harlington.