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Neighbourhood profile
St Mary Cray
Bromley, London
PocketsSt Mary Cray South (River Cray · Riverside gardens · Poverest Road · Church Hill Wood)Orpington East (Orpington Rovers Football Club · Chelsfield Road · Grassmeade Recreation Ground)Orpington West (Poverest Park · Covet Wood)St Mary Cray East (Sandway Park · Oakmore Gardens)
St Mary Cray sits in the east of Bromley, strung along the Cray valley between Orpington and Swanley. The ward grew as a mill village on the River Cray and then as a railway commuter suburb after Orpington station opened; the eight listed buildings on the old high street, including the Grade II Rowlands and Grade II Spring Hall, survive from that earlier phase. Housing affordability is among the strongest in south-east London, which has pulled in families priced out of Bromley town centre, and eleven outstanding-rated schools fall within reach. Pollution and safety scores sit well above the London median. The trade-offs are on connectivity and culture: public-transport access is moderate, with St Mary Cray station served by Southeastern rather than a Tube line, the high street itself is thin — 48 food and 38 non-food venues open — and conservation area cover reaches just 4%, so the historic core sits alongside a lot of piecemeal postwar infill.
- Strongest78Air & Quiet
Clean air and low ambient noise by London standards
- Also strong75Property prices & growth
Strong combination of affordability, price momentum and turnover
- Watch out0Area development
Little recent major-development activity
At a glance
- Limited public-transport access
- 8 listed buildings
- 4% covered by a conservation area
- 3 schools rated Outstanding by Ofsted within 1 km
- Largest green space: Poverest Park (9.8 hectares)
- 88 open venues (50 food and drink, 38 other)
11 pockets across 4 named areas · coloured by overall score.See on full map ↗
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Scores as of 23 Aug 2026 · prices to 2026 · crime to Jun 2026 · air 2022 · sources
Property prices & growth
75Better than 99% of London
How scores work - Purchase affordability75
- Rent affordability90
- Price momentum (5yr)71
- Activity (turnover)64
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Prices, rent & trends
£ per square foot to buy, an estimated 2-bed rent, and decades of sale-price history for this ward.
For St Mary Cray: 215 sales recorded (2025)32-yr price trend £—
Safety
61Better than 73% of London
- Personal safety63
- Property crime57
- Anti-social behaviour64
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Safety deep-dive
Every recorded crime type — burglary, robbery, vehicle crime and more — grouped into personal, property and anti-social behaviour, with the monthly trend for this ward.
For St Mary Cray: personal, property & anti-social breakdown24-mo trend to Jun 2026counts —
Connectivity
33Better than 21% of London
Median public-transport access is basic (TfL PTAL 2.0 of 8 across this ward).
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Connectivity deep-dive
Real TfL journey times to London's major hubs, plus this ward's transport access rank across London.
For St Mary Cray: — min by TfL to 8 major hubsaccess rank —
Air & Quiet
78Better than 92% of London
- Air quality97
- Quietness50
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Air & noise deep-dive
NO₂, PM2.5 and road/rail noise for this ward, each against WHO / UK limits.
Cultural Signal
11Better than 7% of London
- Nightlife0
- Dining7
- Arts & culture0
- Retail & shops7
- Sports & recreation0
- Independent scene21
- Vitality (openings, diversity)31
88 open venues nearby — 50 food & drink, 38 other.
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Culture deep-dive
What's open nearby — the venue mix, share of independents, and recent openings.
For St Mary Cray: the mix behind 88 open venues—% independent
Education
45Better than 13% of London
- Primary schools48
- Secondary schools44
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School inspection history
Every school in this ward with its current Ofsted rating and multi-year trend.
For St Mary Cray: 7 schools, each with its inspection record
Heritage
9Better than 24% of London
8 listed buildings · 4% under a conservation area
- RowlandsGrade II
- Spring HallGrade II
- 231, High StreetGrade II
From Historic England's National Heritage List for England.
Nature Access
61Better than 44% of London
- Green spaces81
- Waterways20
Largest green space: Poverest Park (10 ha). ~56 ha of green space in total.
Area development
0Shared lowest band with 24% of London
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Planning pipeline
Named recent approvals with homes and floorspace, the local homes pipeline, and the affordable share.
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- Prices — £ per square foot, an estimated rent, and the ward’s full price history
- Safety — crime by type with its monthly trend
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- What's next — the venue mix, what’s been approved to build nearby, and cheaper areas that score like St Mary Cray
For St Mary Cray: 215 sales recorded (2025)32-yr price history £—24-mo crime trend to Jun 2026TfL times to 8 hubs — min7 schools' inspection records88 venues mapped
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What's changing in St Mary Cray
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St Mary Cray, quick answers
- Is St Mary Cray safe?
- St Mary Cray scores 61 for safety, based on street-level recorded crime (police.uk) — safer than most of London. The score weighs personal safety, property crime and anti-social behaviour separately rather than ranking on one raw total, so the mix of crime matters as well as the volume.
- Is St Mary Cray a good place to live?
- St Mary Cray scores 41 overall when all nine data layers are weighted equally. The London comparison beside the score shows how that number ranks against every ward. Its strongest suits are air & quiet (78) and property prices & growth (75); its weakest is area development (0). Whether it suits you depends on what you weight — the same data re-ranked around your own priorities can read very differently.
- How well connected is St Mary Cray?
- Limited public-transport access: Transport for London rates the typical spot in St Mary Cray 2 on its 0–8 public-transport access scale, which puts the ward at 33 for connectivity relative to the rest of London.
- Is St Mary Cray expensive to buy in?
- Relative to the rest of London, St Mary Cray is among London's more affordable areas to buy: its purchase-affordability score is 15/20, where higher means cheaper per square foot (HM Land Registry sold prices matched to floor areas).
- What are the schools like near St Mary Cray?
- St Mary Cray scores 45 for education, based on Ofsted ratings and walking distance to the nearest rated primary and secondary schools. 3 schools within a kilometre hold an Outstanding rating.
Where else to look
Wards with a similar profile
- Longlands · Bexley
- Havering-atte-Bower · Havering
- Eastbrook & Rush Green · Barking and Dagenham
- Bromley Common & Holwood · Bromley
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Neighbourhood matches
Find areas that score like this one, with the price difference for each.
Nearby wards
- Chelsfield · Bromley
- Chislehurst · Bromley
- Orpington · Bromley
- Petts Wood & Knoll · Bromley
- St Paul's Cray · Bromley
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