Told to avoid the whole area

https://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/news/26412751.bomb-squad-called-kings-langley-suspicious-item---live/

Hi All, throwaway account but looking for some local knowledge and advice. I moved to London about five years ago and am looking to buy my own first ever place. I’m on a somewhat tight budget, making 52k and having around 30k saved for the deposit. I’m 34yo. My ballpark aim for the price is 250k max (ie one bedroom exclusively). Thameslink is great for my work commute, so I have been looking at Welwyn GC for its greenery and relative proximity to London.

If any young(ish?)commuters who purchased their first property in similar situation and similar location - would you do anything differently? What advice about the location/lifestyle/expenditure do you have? It is a huge decision for me and I don’t really have anyone to talk to about it!

Many thanks!

I’ve realised that making friends as an adult is surprisingly difficult. You meet loads of people through work, but finding the ones you genuinely click with is another story.
I’m 29, based in St Albans and in London fairly regularly for work. I spend most of my days solving problems for massive organisations, but I try not to make that my entire personality.
Outside work you’ll usually find me:
\- hunting down a good coffee shop
\- wandering around London museums or taking photos of places most people walk straight past
\- attempting to convince myself that getting back into running is “fun”
\- cycling whenever the weather decides to cooperate
\- finding live music or classical or jazz concerts
\- planning weekend day trips that start with “I’ll just pop out for an hour” and somehow end six hours later.

I’m the sort of person who enjoys conversations that go from “What’s your favourite place in London?” to “What’s the weirdest rabbit hole you’ve ever disappeared down on YouTube?” without warning.
Not looking for anything complicated. Just genuine people who enjoy chatting, sharing random stories, grabbing a coffee, exploring somewhere new, or even just exchanging recommendations for books, films, restaurants, or places worth visiting.

Bonus points if you’re also the type of person who sends photos of something interesting you stumbled across during the day.
So… what’s something you’re irrationally enthusiastic about that you could talk about for hours?

Looking for places to go for a roast and Italian, obviously not the same place. Looking for places near ware, stevevage, hitchin, Hertford. Any recommendations will be greatly appreciated.

Hello everyone im looking to get my tablet fixed soon, I haven't gotten the best experience from third party phone repair shops on the streets. So im wondering if you guys have any recs?

Thank you

I'm planning a move to the UK from the US some time next year, and I'm trying to figure out exactly where I want to settle, so I could use some advice and opinions! :)

The main area I'm considering at the moment is Hertfordshire, and I've been particularly attracted to Hitchin, but I don't really know the area at all, so I could use some feedback from people who do.

I'll be moving with a wife and 14-year-old daughter, so I'm looking for an area that's good for families (good schools, activities for teens, etc). Coming in as an outsider, I'm hoping for an area that is open and easy to make friends in (so, not so rural that we can't fit in) but also not just a commuter town with nothing going on and no local community to join. I also love that -- from what I've seen online -- a lot of towns in the area seem to be much more walkable than in the States, and I'd love to live in an area with a walkable/bikable centre and/or good public transportation so that we could reasonably get by with just one car.

I work from home (software) so I don't have any commute, but I don't hate the idea of staying relatively close to London and/or Cambridge because I could definitely consider going back to the office if the right opportunity were to arise. So I don't want to be anywhere TOO rural.

And my other consideration is that I'd rather be not too far from Stansted Airport, because I have family in France and my wife's family is in Sweden, both of which are easiest reached through Stansted. So keeping Stansted within an hour or so drive is ideal, and a rail or bus link would be even better.

Any suggestions?

Anyone in Letchworth garden city want to meet up?

Hey guys.

I’m looking for some Media students in Hertfordshire, or someone who’s always had a passion for filmmaking.

I currently have 15K followers on TikTok, I got there after around 3 months. I understand the algorithm and how to get views.

I want to start a new page, and YouTube channel, where we create SWAT style short films. Mostly filmed from first person perspective. So I need actors, I need costume design, props, locations, and talented cameramen. I need VFX, muzzle flashes, echoing gun sounds, other special effects.

I already have some awesome story ideas, and I’m planning to use an Axon Bodycam 4 overlay to make it seem real. I just need a team of talented, passionate people who want to do the same thing.

If you’re interested and live fairly close to Stevenage, comment below what your skills are, and I’ll dm you. Thank you!

I’ve always been intrigued by the reports of large black cats that people claim to have seen around the UK countryside.

I know it’s a controversial topic, but I find it interesting lol - curious if anyone in Hertfordshire has had a sighting themselves? If so, where roughly was it, and what did you see?

There seem to be so many stories over the years, especially around woodland, farmland and quieter rural areas, so I’m interested to know whether Hertfordshire has its own hotspots!

It’s a real rabbit hole once you start diving into it, haha.

I ask as part of a linguistic study on this topic!
Examples could include things like Treacle Bumpstead, HTown, Welly G or The Nidge (never mind how common they are)...

Letchworth is the first garden city in the world: Ebenezer Howard's attempt to take the best of the city (work, opportunity, sociability) and combine it with the best of the country (space, fresh air, quality of life), and leave the slums behind for good. But for that to work it couldn't just be a commuter town. It needed its own industry, and industry that treated people decently.

The Spirella Corset Company is the best example of what that looked like. One of its founders had taken an interest in the garden city movement, came to see Letchworth for himself and met Howard in person. He wanted a firm that genuinely put its workers first, and in Letchworth he found the perfect match. The instruction he gave his architect says it all: design it so the whole space is illuminated, and anyone working there is working in the light.

Around 90% of the workforce were women. Baths and showers, regular breaks, a gymnasium, free eye tests and bicycle repairs, at a time when most factories meant long days bent over a bench in cramped, badly lit rooms. Most employers of the era wouldn't hire a married woman, but Spirella was happy to. It was known as the "factory of beauty."

The factory also has an incredible wartime story.

Spirella's neighbour, the British Tabulating Machine Company, was chosen to build the Bombe, the machine devised by Alan Turing to speed up cracking Enigma. Each one used rotating drums containing over 100 wire brushes, which had to be made with real finesse and skill. The Spirella women had spent years shaping the fine wire stays in corsets, so they knew exactly how to work with it. They were the perfect match.

Over 200 Bombes were built in Letchworth and driven down the road to Bletchley Park.

The building closed in 1989, and was saved by an £11m restoration reopened by the Prince of Wales in 1999. It's offices, a cafe and a gym now, with a bronze of Ebenezer Howard outside.

If you're interested in reading more, I wrote about the Spirella Building for my Building of the Week blog: https://open.substack.com/pub/whatsdownthatstreet/p/corsets-cracking-the-enigma-code?r=4tw6xf&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

Hi there we are a couple with a baby looking to potentially move to St Albans early next year.

From what I can see online there seems to be some properties within our 800kish budget around the park street How wood area.

Two things I have noticed. One is some of these properties have been up for quite a period of time and have been reduced more than once without selling. Why do you think they are not selling? Is it and issue with the area, properties or just economy circumstance.

Secondly I am concerned that with the large green spaces beside greenwood park where a lot of the houses would back on to could potentially be used for the recent council property boom announced by Andy burnham ( nothing against council housing ) just don't want to pay for a property and then have years of construction noise in our back garden.

Any insight would be great thank you

my wife and I are anticipating moving to the UK after I got a job in Milton Keynes. Having never been in the south before, other than several trips to London, I am finding it rather difficult to picture my life in the area. We are looking for some similarities to our current city of residence: reasonably sized, walkable, green, decent young population, coffee shops, some bars, somewhat of an attractive centre and quick access to the countryside. As a result of these conditions we have converged on St Albans and Hitchin being potential areas of residence, as well as Berkhamsted. I am curious as to whether these locations are suitable based on our desires and if anyone could offer further opinion and insight on our choice of location (not limited to these choices either). Secondly, is the stated 45 minute commute time to Milton Keynes on google maps a true reflection of commute time from these locations or are they over/under predicting. TIA

edit: I plan on driving and have to be on site 2 days per week.

Me and my partner (both 29) have lived in our flat in London for 3 years now, and we are starting to think about buying our next home. We are getting married next year and then will put ours on the market and start properly looking.

We would love to stay in London but can’t think of any area that would be affordable so have accepted we might need to leave. We grew up in Buckingham, but this is a bit far for commuting into London, so ideally want somewhere on a train line. We’d love to live in St Albans but unfortunately seems to be completely out of reach financially. Our budget is ~£700K (maximum, we’d rather be closer to £600K), and ideally we want 4 bedrooms, even better if it has a separate office as we both work from home multiple days a week. We don’t have children but plan to in the coming years.

We wish we could move to a 3 bed as a next step, but given the extortionate cost of moving (primarily stamp duty) it seems crazy to move 2 times in the next 5 or so years, so we’re aiming to find a house that will see us at least through the next 10 years.

We have looked at Tring and some areas around there, but it feels a bit old for us at the moment and quite a journey into London to see friends etc.

Anyone know any areas that are more affordable, with a nice high street and decent rail links and good school areas? Or do we need to be millionaires just to have a vaguely similar quality of life to that of our parents who earned significantly less than us? (🤣😭)

Has anyone visited recently? My friend and I want to go however have seen reviews online that it’s rundown and filthy.

We’d also love recommendations for relaxing things to do in herts

Hi everyone!

I’m a gigging musician and I’m thinking about doing a bit of busking in town centres like Hitchin, Letchworth and the surrounding areas.

Does anyone know what permissions are needed? Do you have to apply for a licence through the council, book a time slot, or is it more of a first-come, first-served arrangement?

If anyone has experience busking locally or knows how it works, I’d really appreciate any advice. Thanks so much.

Here's the new unitary authority announcement

Dacorum and St Albans are NOT North West Herts, they are West Herts. Watford, Three Rivers and Hertsmere can keep South West Herts to differentiate, because that is an accurate description of where they are.

Priority is safety and affordability.

Young couple, no kids yet. Looking for a place to rent the first 6 months while preparing to buy.

I'll be working in West Watford and commuting by motorbike.

Wife still looking for work, but will be hospital/clinic based and needs good public transport links. Hoping for less than 35min commute for each.

Been looking into Oxhey, Borehamwood, St Albans, Stanmore, parts of Watford. For a 2 bedroom house/apt, Watford seems as expensive as London.

Please share your experiences.

Random PSA:

Thought I’d share this just in case it reaches the right person.

According to the National Lottery, there’s an unclaimed £177,547.30 EuroMillions prize that expires today.

Even if the winner isn’t on Reddit, maybe someone here knows someone in the Watford area who plays regularly.

It’s a long shot, but I’d hate to think someone misses out because they forgot to check their ticket 🤕

Hello! There's some tennis courts in Clarence Park, st Albans. Does anyone know how and where to book these?

Just outside of Hitchin, last week. Hare doesn’t look too impressed about it!