Spotlight on Woking

Lying 28 miles west of central London in the Surrey commuter belt, Woking has frequent half-hour commutes into the capital. It lives in the shadow of its frankly prettier and better-known neighbour, Guildford, but offers cheaper property prices as compensation.


The town owes much of its development to the dead, who arrived in large numbers during the 19th century to take up residence in the magnificent Victorian cemetery at Brookwood.

For many Londoners, their last journey was on board trains that left Waterloo from a specially constructed station (still visible in Westminster Bridge Road today) to their last resting place just to the west of Woking. The spookily named London Necropolis Company saw the potential of surplus land it owned around the cemetery and began selling off development plots to the living.

There must be something otherworldly about Woking because it also inspired novelist HG Wells, who wrote the War of the Worlds when he lived in Maybury Road. In the story, the Martians land and assemble their fighting tripods on nearby Horsell Common.

Rock star Paul Weller and the members of his punk band The Jam all grew up in Woking, though the town probably prefers not to promote the words of Weller’s song A Town Called Malice, which it inspired.

The town also has a longstanding Asian community and can boast the country’s first purpose-built mosque, the beautiful Shah Jahan in Oriental Road, finished in 1889.

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This town has homes from almost every era, from period properties in the villages, to Victorian — from the early expansion of Woking as a commuter town — to Edwardian houses built in the Arts & Crafts style, to interwar and postwar houses, and modern town-centre flats.

The area attracts: there is a strong local market but London families who can’t afford Guildford are attracted to the town and its villages by its easy commute to the City.

Staying power: there is plenty of scope for moving up and down the property ladder, so once here, families tend to stay, although doubts about the quality of the two main comprehensive schools do mean that some families move at this stage of their children’s education.

Best roads: The Hookering, to the south of the town centre, is an estate of large houses on half-acre plots. Many of the houses were built by the renowned local builder WG Tarrant, who favoured the Arts & Crafts style, with sweeping red-tile roofs, leaded lights and tile-hung exterior walls. The most expensive Woking house currently for sale is in The Hookering. Barncott on Danes Hill is a seven- bedroom Tarrant house on the market for £2.75 million through Strutt & Parker. Hook Heath has similarly large Edwardian houses.

What’s new: Barratt Homes are building New Central on Guildford Road in the centre of town. This mixed scheme, described as a “new urban quarter”, has 449 studios, one- and two-bedroom flats and penthouses. The first residents have already moved in, though the development won’t be complete until the end of the year. Prices range from £137,995 for a studio to £549,995 for a three-bedroom penthouse.

Linden Homes is building 70 flats and townhouses at Gresham Mill in Old Woking, close to the River Wey. The final phase is launching soon, with prices ranging from £207,500 for a one-bedroom flat to £425,000 for a large two-bedroom flat.

The local council has recently signed a deal with builder Kier and Thames Valley Housing to build 373 new homes (224 of which will be affordable, 149 for private sale) in Westfield, south of the town centre. And even further down the line, Cala Homes is planning a large development at Brookwood Farm.

Schools: Most of Woking’s primary schools are judged to be “good” by the Government’s education watchdog, Ofsted; the following do even better, being rated “outstanding”: Horsell Village School (ages four to seven); Goldsworth in Bridge Barn Road; St John the Baptist RC in Elmbridge Lane; The Oak Tree (ages five to seven) in Gorsewood Road; Knaphill Infants (ages three to seven) in Chobham Road; West Byfleet Infants and Juniors in Camphill Road.

Woking’s two main comprehensive schools, Woking High in Morton Road and Winston Churchill in Hermitage Road, don’t have sixth-forms and students move on to Woking College in Rydens Way, which is judged “good”. St John the Baptist RC (ages 11 to 18) does have a sixth-form, gets excellent exam results and is judged “outstanding”. A new free secondary school, Hoe Valley, hopes to open in September 2015.

The private school sector was thrown into chaos last summer when Oakfield in Pyrford closed suddenly and pupils, some in the middle of their GCSE courses, were forced to find other schools. Woking has a number of private prep schools: St Andrew’s Woking (co-ed, ages three to 13) in Horsell; Greenfield (co-ed, ages three to 11) in Brooklyn Road; Halstead (girls, ages three to 11); the International School of London (co-ed, ages three to 13) and Hoe Bridge (co-ed, ages two to 13) at Hoe Place.

Shops and restaurants: Woking is the second-largest shopping centre in Surrey; there are two covered shopping centres, the Peacocks and Wolsey Place, which have recently been brought together in a new town square. However, the proximity of Guildford has left Woking with few upmarket chains. The local council, though, has plans for a £150  million regeneration of the town centre, with 190 new flats and a large Marks & Spencers store.

For dining out, book early for London House in Old Woking, owned and run by Masterchef finalist Ben Piette; there is a Café Rouge in Woking’s new town square and Sovereigns was recently voted the best local pub. There are plenty of other pubs in the surrounding villages, with two gastropubs, Sands at Bleak House on Horsell Common and The Inn at West End, particularly recommended.

Open space: the town has many lovely parks, five with skate parks, two with climbing boulders. Woking is surrounded by country parks, commons and heathland, while there are walks along a 32-mile stretch of the Basingstoke Canal and along 20 miles of the Wey Navigation.

Leisure and the arts: the cultural life of the town is rich, with the Ambassadors multiplex cinema, the New Victoria Theatre and the Rhoda McGaw studio theatre. The Lightbox is a striking new arts centre designed by London Eye architects Marks Barfield, which houses a local interactive museum and a café; it also holds exhibitions and arts events.

Mercedes-Benz World is a major tourist attraction — where petrol heads go to race round the historic Brooklands race course — and Woking is home of the McLaren Group, of Formula One racing fame. Golf is popular, with many well-known heathland courses. Hoebridge Golf Centre has three, and there are clubs at Woking, West Hill, Chobham and Pyrford.

Travel: the A3, M3 and the M25 are all within a few miles. Frequent trains from Woking station take about 30 minutes to Waterloo, and there are other railway stations at Brookwood and West Byfleet. An annual season ticket from Woking costs £2,896.

Council: Woking borough council (Conservative-controlled); Band D council tax for the 2012/2013 year is £1,557.90.

Average prices: Buying flats and houses in Woking

One-bedroom flat: £156,000
Two-bedroom flat: £239,000
Two-bedroom house: £270,000
Three-bedroom house: £364,000
Four-bedroom house: £578,000
Source: Zoopla.co.uk

Average prices: renting flats and houses in Woking
One-bedroom flat: £600 to £1,000 a month
Two-bedroom flat: £800 to £1,500 a month
Two-bedroom house: £900 to £1,350 a month
Three-bedroom house: £1,000 to £2,000 a month
Four-bedroom house: £1,500 to £4,000 a month
Five-bedroom-plus house: £1,900 to £4,500 a month

Fun facts for Woking: highest value streets
School Lane, Ockham, Woking GU23: £1,949,658
Shrubbs Hill, Chobham, Woking GU24: £1,766,511
Long Reach, Ockham, Woking GU23: £1,733,170
Warren Lane, Pyrford, Woking GU22: £1,720,012
Rough Road, Woking GU22: £1,617,729

Pictures by Graham Hussey