St Mary Cray East
Bromley 019 · 5 sub-areas · 9,103 residents
Bromley 019 is a suburban pocket of the London Borough of Bromley, home to around 9,100 people and well-placed for a fast rail connection into central London. A typical two-bedroom flat lets for about £1,627 a month — noticeably above the UK average but considerably cheaper than inner London for comparable space. The standout fact: nearly a third of residents work from home, giving the area a quieter, residential feel on weekdays.
St Mary Cray East is a commuter neighbourhood within Bromley — train into London runs in around 14 minutes, and the rhythm of weekday mornings is shaped by it. The demographic profile leans family-aged, with a clear share of households with school-age children.
Overview
What's it like to live in St Mary Cray East?
3 parks and 1 playgrounds are within five minutes' walk, so greenspace is reliably close at hand; Recorded crime is higher than the national norm — common for built-up urban areas, but worth weighing if you're looking for a quieter base; Public transport is genuinely strong; most errands and a fair share of social life don't need a car; rents sit firmly in the upper bracket nationally, with a typical home letting at around £1,670 a month; gigabit broadband is effectively universal.
Generated from the latest May 2026 data · refreshed automatically
Figures are aggregated across 5 sub-areas — population-weighted means for rates, sums for counts. Sources cited beneath each section.
St Mary Cray East in Bromley
Living in St Mary Cray East
Bromley 019 sits in the outer south-east of Greater London, where the city gradually softens into suburban streets with gardens, green space close at hand, and a noticeably slower pace than zones 1 or 2. Greenspace is genuinely accessible here — around 94% of residents are within easy walking distance of a park or open area, with the nearest green space averaging under 200 metres from most front doors. That's a meaningful quality-of-life advantage over much of inner London.
The cost picture is mixed. At about £1,627 a month for a two-bedroom, you're paying well above the UK median of around £1,200, but you're also getting proper suburban space rather than a cramped city flat. One-bedroom properties come in around £1,300 a month, and three-bedrooms sit at roughly £1,970. Council tax (Band D) runs to £2,140 a year. The median house price is just under £378,000, which translates to a deposit-saving timeline of around four years on a typical local salary — achievable, if tight.
Nearly half of residents here own their homes outright or with a mortgage — 49.6% — which gives the area a settled, established character. A further third are in social housing, making the tenure mix broader than you might expect for outer London. Private renters are a relatively small share at under 15%. The population skews slightly younger in the under-18 bracket, with over a quarter of residents below 18, suggesting families are a significant presence.
Practically speaking, the nearest mainline rail station is roughly 1.3 km away — about a 16-minute walk — and puts central London around 16 minutes away by public transport. That's a strong commute for outer London. Just over four in ten residents drive to work, while nearly three in ten work from home. See the streets and sub-areas below for more detail on how different parts of the neighbourhood compare.
What you'll need on day one
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Frequently asked
- Is Bromley 019 a nice place to live?
- It's a settled, suburban part of outer London with strong green space access — around 94% of residents are within easy walking distance of a park. The rail link to central London is fast at about 16 minutes, and nearly half the residents own their homes, which gives the area a stable, community feel. The trade-off is a crime rate roughly twice the national average and a below-average proportion of nearby schools rated Good or Outstanding.
- What is the rent in Bromley 019?
- A one-bedroom flat typically runs around £1,300 a month, a two-bedroom around £1,627, and a three-bedroom roughly £1,970. These figures are estimated by scaling borough-level ONS data using local sale prices. Rents rose about 3.6% in the past year. Council tax for a Band D property adds £2,140 a year on top.
- Is Bromley 019 safe?
- The recorded crime rate is around 169 incidents per 1,000 residents a year — roughly double the UK national average. That's worth taking seriously, though outer London areas generally run above the national norm. Conditions vary within the neighbourhood: quieter residential streets tend to be calmer than busier commercial routes. Checking street-level crime data on police.uk for specific postcodes is a sensible step.
- What's the commute from Bromley 019 to central London?
- By public transport, central London is around 16 minutes away — one of the stronger outer-London connections. The nearest mainline rail station is about 1.3 km from most of the neighbourhood, roughly a 16-minute walk. Nearly 30% of residents work from home, so the commute isn't a daily reality for everyone here, but for those who do travel in, the rail link is a genuine asset.
- Who lives in Bromley 019?
- A broad mix. Nearly half of residents own their homes, and over a quarter of the population is under 18, pointing to a strong family presence. Around a third of residents are in social housing — above average for outer London. The median resident salary is about £44,000 a year, and most working residents commute out to better-paid jobs elsewhere, particularly into central London.
- What schools are near Bromley 019?
- There are 48 schools within 2 km, so the choice is wide. However, only around 23% of those nearby schools are rated Good or Outstanding by Ofsted — well below the national average of roughly 89%. The nearest Outstanding-rated school is just over 2.3 km away. Families should check current catchment boundaries directly with Bromley council and review individual Ofsted reports before committing.
- Is Bromley 019 good for families?
- The green space access is excellent — nearly all residents are within a short walk of open space — and over a quarter of the local population is under 18, so there's a genuine family community here. The school picture is weaker than many London outer boroughs, with only around 23% of nearby schools rated Good or Outstanding. Home ownership is relatively accessible compared to inner London, with a deposit-saving timeline of around four years on the local median salary.