Bishop's Stortford among best places to buy a home: Hertfordshire market town offers fast train links for London commuters looking to upsize
Pleasant-looking rather than drop-dead gorgeous, this market town beside the River Stort is nonetheless an extremely user-friendly option for a family in need of space.
Bishop’s Stortford is great for people who work in the City because trains to Liverpool Street take less than 40 minutes. An annual season ticket costs from £4,176.
Most local schools are rated “good” by Ofsted, with St Mary’s Catholic School and The Bishop’s Stortford High School, both for senior pupils, rated “outstanding”.
Why Bishop's Stortford is tipped as one to watch in 2020
Work is under way on an ambitious project to repurpose the old station goodsyard as a modern mixed-use development with flats, offices, a hotel and shops, creating an attractive gateway into town in place of an ugly 200-acre industrial site.
Two-way traffic will make it easier to travel between station and town centre, while there will be an expanded car park, too – not very environmentally friendly but crucial for those who need to drive to the station. There will also be new cycle and pedestrian links.
Pros: what Bishop’s Stortford lacks in quaint olde worlde charm it makes up for in amenities, with a modern shopping centre and lots of chain restaurants and bars. A twice-weekly street market and an improving range of independent cafes and bars mean the town centre is vibrant.
The Rhodes Arts Complex has a cinema, theatre and dance studio, and there are golf and tennis clubs for the sporty. Hatfield Forest, run by the National Trust, is nearby, and while Stansted airport is only five miles away for holidays, it does not inflict flightpath noise on the town.
Cons: while there’s nothing seriously wrong with Bishop’s Stortford, it is a tiny bit on the boring side and there are still too many downmarket chains in the town centre.
Average house prices in Bishop's Stortford — and what there is to buy
An average home in CM22 costs £463,000 according to Rightmove, up from £436,000 five years ago.
Bishop’s Stortford has a great stock of large Victorian and Edwardian villas and semi-detached houses. They do attract a premium though, and you will need to budget £800,000 to £900,000 for a five- to six-bedroom house.
A three-bedroom Victorian terrace house would be significantly easier on the pocket – somewhere between £425,000 and £450,000.
A two-bedroom purpose-built apartment would cost in the region of £250,000.