# Gated communities in Canary Wharf



## mom_isme (Dec 28, 2011)

Hello,

We are a family of three, with our son going to complete 6 months and will be moving to London in a couple of months. We were just browsing through a few property sites for rental houses. We have decided to stick to canary wharf as I want my husband to be within walking distance from home, at least till I understand the place better.

I was surprised to find that terraced houses (gated communities) rental is much cheaper than apartments. The situation is completely reversed at least in Singapore. 

Is there a catch? Say compromised security, Far from amenities, increased maintenance effort etc. Request your comments, opinion, suggestions.

Thanks


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

mom_isme said:


> Hello,
> 
> We are a family of three, with our son going to complete 6 months and will be moving to London in a couple of months. We were just browsing through a few property sites for rental houses. We have decided to stick to canary wharf as I want my husband to be within walking distance from home, at least till I understand the place better.
> 
> ...


In UK, gated communities don't mean anything. Do you mean a block or blocks of apartments with own perimeter walls and controlled entrance with 24-hour security? While some such complexes exist, they are at the higher end with very expensive service charges, which you have to pay on top of your rent. 

Terraced house is a house with each dividing wall shared with a neighbouring property. They are sometimes called town houses, esp if they are newly or recently built. In the Est End, where CW is, many terraced houses are old, from Victorian era (1837 to 1901), and standards of modernisation (double glazing, central heating, contemporary kitchen and bathroom etc) vary a lot. 

One advantage of terraced houses over apartments is you may get a small garden or open space with it.


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## curatur (Jan 25, 2012)

Yes, gated communities are uncommon in the UK, much less common than in some in other countries. While crime isn't as low as in Singapore, London is still a safe city by world standards. If you want to live in such a community, I do occasionally see them in the suburbs around London, and I know of one in E3 called Bow Quarter (google it as I can't yet post URL's). There are supposedly loads in the Docklands.


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## mom_isme (Dec 28, 2011)

Joppa, Curatur,

Thanks for the advice. Yes, that is what I meant by gated communities, a collection of terraced houses with a 24 hour security access. Something like the Bow Quarters as mentioned by Curatur. 

I guess with the service tax on top of the rental, the rental will become more or less the same as the apartments, condominiums.


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## John.Phillips (Jan 30, 2012)

The area around Canary Warf is certainly not a great place to live. It borders Tower Hamlets which is a rather rough area.

I would perhaps suggest Grenwhich as an alternative location just across the river.


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## John.Phillips (Jan 30, 2012)

Gated communities are certainly not the norm in central london, although they have started sprouting up in the suburbs. 

They are usually modern and all in all rather dull.




curatur said:


> Yes, gated communities are uncommon in the UK, much less common than in some in other countries. While crime isn't as low as in Singapore, London is still a safe city by world standards. If you want to live in such a community, I do occasionally see them in the suburbs around London, and I know of one in E3 called Bow Quarter (google it as I can't yet post URL's). There are supposedly loads in the Docklands.


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## mom_isme (Dec 28, 2011)

Hi All,

Thanks again for your opinions. I also had a look at another forum topic on neighborhood around canary wharf for families. I have a question though, everyone suggests Greenwich (Joppa included), do you mean Greenwich village (below isle of dogs) or the area near o2 (closer to the jubilee line) northern Greenwich. 

We would like to hear about the pros and cons between these two areas so we can zero in on the location. Again, we are a couple,30 with a son 6 months old.
We are looking for a nice residential area (terraced housing too) with lotsa storage space in the Apartment / house (not 700 sqft apartments) with markets nearby. husband will be working at canary wharf.

Thanks again!!


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## m1key (Jun 29, 2011)

mom_isme said:


> Hi All,
> 
> Thanks again for your opinions. I also had a look at another forum topic on neighborhood around canary wharf for families. I have a question though, everyone suggests Greenwich (Joppa included), do you mean Greenwich village (below isle of dogs) or the area near o2 (closer to the jubilee line) northern Greenwich.
> 
> ...


North Greenwich (near O2) is more apartments with a retail park and cinema complex nearby, with a few smaller shops.

Greenwich proper (Trafalger Rd/Cutty Sark areas) is a more traditional village/town set-up. This area has lots of independant shops, an indoor market and shops and restaurants. There is the park, rail station and DLR also.

Personally Greewich proper wins hands down. North Greenwich is fine for the big chain retail park type restaurants, big sainsburys type stuff, but not much else there - though you aren't that far from other things. Greenwich has a lot of terraced housing and villa type houses.

I would recommend Greewich proper for a young family. More to do and see on your door step and the train and DLR links will get you to central London easily enough.

One thing to note is that come June/July and August it is going to be hell in the Greenwich, Canary Wharf and Stratford areas. The Olympics is going to make life a misery for locals. Travel times are going to triple and more, prices will go up and the place will become crowded. The transport system can't cope now, so with the numbers of visitors clutching their free travelcards to events it is going to be a disaster. Thankfully I quit my job in Canary Wharf in a weeks time and I'm off to sunnier climes 

Good luck with your move


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## nyclon (Apr 3, 2011)

> with lotsa storage space in the Apartment


Good luck with that one. Storage space is VERY hard to come by in London flats/houses.


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