Woking

Woking's town centre reads like a lot of the South East's second-tier commuter hubs: a cluster of chain restaurants and glass-fronted offices around the railway, then streets of semis and post-war estates fanning out into greener, quieter roads. It's not a place that performs for visitors — it's a place that gets on with things, and the mix of ages on the high street, from school runs to briefcase commuters, tells you it's a working town rather than a weekend destination.

The practical case for living here centres on the station. Woking Rail Station anchors a town with four rail stations in total (Worplesdon, Brookwood and West Byfleet also fall within reach), which is the kind of transport density that explains why the area scores strongly on connectivity despite sitting in outer Surrey rather than London itself. Schooling is solid rather than spectacular — Freemantles School carries an Outstanding rating, and Goldsworth Primary and Westfield Primary are both rated Good, though several of the larger secondaries (Hoe Valley, Winston Churchill) haven't been inspected recently enough to carry a current headline grade. With a median age of 40, this isn't a town dominated by young professionals fresh off the train; it's more settled than that, family households who've been here a while alongside newer arrivals drawn by the trains. Housing prices sit right at the district average — Woking town's £435,000 median is barely above its own parent district's figure — which tells you the town centre isn't commanding a premium over the wider borough, just tracking it.