Goodmayes Park has a lake and basketball and tennis courts
(Picture: ES)Super leafy, totally suburban, and full of affordable Edwardian terraces, Goodmayes is a good choice for buyers and renters who find more central locations too hectic.
Families in particular love Goodmayes for its high performing schools and open spaces like Goodmayes Park, with its lake and basketball and tennis courts.
Abdullah Hasan, 36, moved to the area with his family as a teenager. Twenty years on he now has a wife, a six-year-old son and a nine-year-old daughter, plus a job with a bank in the City. He could live pretty much anywhere in London, but he has chosen to remain in Goodmayes, where he still lives in the bungalow his family bought.
“I have been part of this community for a long time — it is home,” he said.
His only gripe about the area is that traffic is getting increasingly heavy and parking can be tricky.
It has to also be said that the de-facto high street, Goodmayes Road, is light on interesting shops and cafes. And there is only one local pub, The Greyhound.
But there is a good choice of neighbourhood restaurants, as diverse as the local community. Sample south Indian cuisine at Muziris, pick up a smoked salmon bagel at Bagels & Bites, a burger and a milkshake at Das Bao and Burgers, or sample the masala fried fish at the award winning Goodmayes Fish & Chips.
“You have got to think of Goodmayes as a small town which is part of Ilford,” said Mohammed. “It is just down the road and that is where we go to shop and eat.”
Average house prices since work on Crossrail started
2012: £247,520
2022: £448,580
Growth: 81 per cent
Source: Hamptons
In his spare time Abdullah develops local properties, working with local architect AA Studio to buy and renovate houses. He sees the Goodmayes as a solid property investment.
“Its transport links are good, and getting better, and to me it feels very safe,” he said.
Certainly, during the pandemic, Goodmayes has performed strongly. Average prices have increased by almost ten per cent in the past two years.
“Everyone wants gardens,” explained Imran Alam, director of Everest Independent Estate Agents. “They are coming out of areas like Whitechapel where they can sell a flat and buy a three bedroom house here with a garden for about £550,000. Plus the schools are great.”
The flat market has been, well, flat during the pandemic however. Alam says prices have flatlined at around £300,000 to £350,000 for a two bedroom property.”
Renters, meanwhile, should expect to pay around £1,400pcm for a two bedroom flat, or around £1,750pcm for a three bedroom house.
Crossrail journey times
Goodmayes to Tottenham Court Road: 36 minutes
Goodmayes to Paddington: 41 minutes
Goodmayes to Heathrow: From 77 minutes
Tenants tend to be an older crowd than you’d find in more central locations. “They tend to be 30-plus, a couple or a young family,” said Alam.
“They come here because it is cheaper than most parts of north and east London but it has got really good facilities.”
The future for Goodmayes
There has been very little in the way of regeneration pre-Crossrail.
But now that the Elizabeth Line is up and running that looks set to change.
In March Sadiq Khan rubber stamped plans by Weston Homes to build 1,280 new homes on the current site of a Tesco supermarket.
Weston is currently accepting expressions of interest for homes at Lorimer Village – prices are still to be confirmed - which will have an on site primary school, landscaped gardens, and “village hall”.
Meanwhile, plans to build more than 560 homes on another former retail site — a defunct Homebase on the High Road — were given planning permission last summer.
The site will have a gym, restaurant, café, as well as a “digital music academy” to train budding DJS, and a bike and scooter hire scheme.
