Lettings agents Southend on Sea – A local guide
As a Estate Agent and lettings agent in Southend on Sea, new tenants often ask us about local amenities in the Southend on Sea area and further afield. We’ve put together the following information which we hope will be of use.
Transport
Arriva runs a network of bus services that link Southend town centre with Shoeburyness, Southend Airport, Hockley, Ashingdon, Westcliff, Leigh, Hadleigh, Thundersley, Rayleigh, Rochford, Basildon, Benfleet, The Wakerings and Landwick. For buses travelling between Southchurch and Southend town centre in particular, take the Number 1 route. For additional information about routes and fares visit http://www.arrivabus.co.uk/southend.
In Essex, First also operates a network of over 70 bus services linking towns and villages across the county. There is also a limited stop coach service to and from Stansted Airport and regular services to Southend University Hospital. Additional information can be found at; http://firstgroup.com/ukbus/essex/
If you prefer train travel, Southchurch residents have a choice of two railways stations both on the London Fenchurch Street to Shoeburyness line. The most convenient is Southend East Station on Ambleside Drive. In April 2006, signs were erected reading “Southend East for Southchurch Village” to better reflect the station’s geographic location in the Southchurch area which it serves. As its name suggests, Southend Central Station is located in Southend town centre on Clifftown Road, just off the middle of Southend High Street.
Train services are provided by the National Express Group train operating company, C2C.
We’re also lucky to have Southend Airport offering numerous routes within the UK and further afield into Europe. Airlines currently operating from Southend include Aer Lingus, EasyJet, FlyBe and Skyworks. Tour operators include First Choice and Thomson.
Education
In Essex, primary education is provided at either infant (4-7) and junior (7-11) schools or primary schools (4-11). Children attending an infant school, transfer to a junior or primary school at the end of Year 2.
Parents living in Essex must apply to Essex County Council for their preferred secondary schools. The Essex Common Application Form (CAF) is the only way you can apply for a secondary school place for your child. The CAF can both be completed and submitted online at www.essex.gov.uk/admissions or by completing a hard copy form available from Essex County Council Schools Admissions department
Southend also retains a selective education policy. Essex and Southend grammar school admissions are managed by the Consortium of Selective Schools in Essex (CSSE), Telephone: 01245 348257. The office is open 9am to 4.30pm Monday to Friday, term time only.
Healthcare
The Southend University Hospital is the main hospital for the area and has an Accident & Emergency Department. The following link will take you to the ‘Find Us’ page. http://www.southend.nhs.uk/other-information/find-us/ For non-emergency care, The NHS website http://www.nhs.uk/Service-Search/GP/LocationSearch/4 offers a search facility which will return a comprehensive listing of all local GP surgeries and health centres.
If you are looking for other types of local healthcare professionals, try a visit to the Neighbourhood Professional website. This is a detailed site, sorting results by postcode, listing many professionals from dentists to opticians, reflexologists to physiotherapists. http://www.neighbourhoodprofessionals.co.uk/regions/ss/proff/healthcare.asp The results show that the Southend area is well-served and offers a wide choice of treatments and therapies.
Refuse and recycling
To find out which day your refuse and recycling will be collected, please visit the Southend Borough Council website. There is a specific area where by entering your street name, you can determine your collection day.
Shopping
As you might expect in a town the size of Southend, there are numerous supermarkets; Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Waitrose, The Co-Operative, ASDA, Morrisons, Lidl and Aldi all have one or more stores. There are also smaller supermarkets and independent stores as well as regular farmers markets selling local produce.
Southend High Street runs from the top of Pier Hill in the South, to Victoria Circus in the north. It currently has two shopping centres – The Victoria and The Royal. The High Street has many chain stores, with Debenhams, Primark and Boots in the Royals, and Next in The Victoria. There are also several out of town retail parks offering a variety of well-known stores.
Places of worship
Southend is home to many places of worship including churches, synagogues, mosques and temples. There are numerous churches around the borough catering to different Christian denominations. There are also two synagogues, one for orthodox Jews, in Westcliff, and a reform synagogue in Chalkwell. Three mosques provide for the Muslim population; one run by the Bangladeshi community, where the sermon is given in Bengali as well as English and the mandatory Arabic. The others, both run by the Pakistani community, provide sermons in Urdu and Arabic, and English and Arabic.
Within Southchurch itself, Holy Trinity is liberal Catholic Church, situated on Southchurch Boulevard, with an emphasis on celebrating the Christian year with a strong choral tradition. The oldest existing part of this church goes back to 1150, with the latest renovations taking place during 2006. For more information visit Holy Trinity.
The parish church of Christ Church is located in Colbert Avenue, just to the east of Southchurch Park East. Its parish was carved out of that of Holy Trinity in 1922 with a boundary along the railway line. It began as a mission church, originally in Elizabeth Road which runs from the seafront to Southchurch Park.
For more information visit http://www.christchurchsouthend.org.uk/page5.html or call 01702 582585.
