johnh66
Reviews
"Honest review from a local"
Berwick appears to have highly contrasting reviews from everyone on this site so I wanted to set the record strait through an in-depth review of many topics.
Berwick can be easily divided in to two highly constrastong halves, The North side and The South side. I would consider the dividing line for these two areas to be the railway line which crosses over Clyde road. The quality of housing and general aesthetics of the North side is significantly better than that of the south, and from what I believe there have been some crime issues from the south too. This leads me to believe that many of the negative reviews may be coming from the south side.
Crime:
Whilst I am not saying that it is an area free of crime, I have lived in North Berwick for nearly 20 years and have never had any issues with crime of any form, nor have any of my friends, family or neighbours who live here.
Demographics:
I believe that in recent years, North Berwick has undergone a demographic transformation. I can’t help but notice that the streets are now filled with luxury cars such as BMW’s, Mercedes and Porsche’s, and that the property prices have increased significantly in a lot of areas, indicating that there is a higher socioeconomic class. This is backed up by the recent business development that has taken place in the area such as the addition of luxury car dealerships for Land Rover Jaguar and Lexus, the addition of multiple plastic surgeon clinics, and the construction of a new private hospital.
Schooling:
As far as secondary schooling goes, Berwick High is known to be quite “ratty” for lack of a better word. However, people often forget that Berwick has many private schools including, Haileybury College, which is the number 1 ranked school in Australia, St. Margarets girls school and Beaconhills College, all of which provide state of the art facilities and are known to receive excellent VCE results.
Real Estate:
As previously mentioned, the housing on the North side is a lot bigger and nicer, also a lot more expensive. There are a number of elite streets which are known for their spectacular housing. Such streets include;
- Beaumont Road
- Glen Moidart Drive
- Brisbane Street
- Casey Drive
- Stylebawn Drive (in my opinion the best street in Berwick - worth a drive down there)
- Old coach road/ Panoramic Terrace ( which offers 1 acre blocks with views all the way to port Philip bay)
I highly recommend going on to Realestate.com.au “sold” section and setting the Berwick filter to $3 million plus. You’ll see some of the most amazing homes that you never knew were there.
Facilities:
Berwick offers a great deal of facilities and amenities which makes it easy to get anything you need without having to travel far. Some of the most noteable include:
- Multiple hospitals, Public and Private ( largest are Casey hospital and St. John of God).
- Numerous schools, Primary and secondary, public and Private.
- Tertiary education including Federation University (formerly Monash) and Chisholm Tafe.
- 4 major supermarkets.
Lifestyle:
Berwick offers countless nice cafe’s and restaurants, particularly along High street. (My personal favourite cafe is “Primary at Pioneers park”, which is the Orginal Berwick primary school which has been converted in to an indoor/ outdoor cafe which overlooks the beautiful Pioneers Park). There is also a number of bars/pubs such as Eighty One and the history rich Berwick Inn. Countless parks are scattered throughout the suburb, but nothing compares to the Wilson Botanic park which features lakes and walking tracks and is home to an abundance of wildelife including turtles and formerly peacocks.
Traffic:
The traffic in Berwick is known to be bad during peak hour, particularly on Clyde road which essentially comes to a stand still. The newly proposed upgrades to this road will hopefully eventually result in elevation of this traffic.
Many people writing reviews complain about the distance from the city. Im sure they were aware of Berwicks distance from the city when they bought there so I’m left wondering why they complain about it! (It’s 37km from CBD). Let’s get one thing strait, if you work in the city and aren’t prepared to allow at least an hour of travel each way (40 mins non peak) then Berwick is not for you. It frustrates me when people who work in the city move here and then complain about the distance and use it to drag the suburb as if it wasn’t their own fault.
Jobs:
Given that there are many facilities around Berwick, there are some jobs around, particularly those in the medical/ specialist industry. However, like any suburb which is primarily residential, you will likely have to travel out of the suburb for work.
Proximity:
Berwick is a 5-10 minute drive to Westfield fountain gate which is the second largest shopping centre in the country.
If you are thinking of moving to Berwick, the North side would be recommended as long as you are willing to pay more. Some estates such as Bellbird Park and Bryn Mawr May offer a more affordable housing range with double storey 4 bedroom houses priced at around $800,000 - $900,000.
After living here myself for so long I can happily say that I love it and have no intentions of moving. It is a beautiful suburb and has a lot to offer.
Who lives here?
- Families with kids
I definitely agree with most points like the crime and demographics and with the schooling yes there are some bad-ish ones like Berwick high but there are other options as in my youth I went to Timbarra P-9 collage and most student from there go to Berwick high but there are other options considering in year 2 I moved schools to another school called Beaconhills Berwick (there are 2 campuss) and I was provided with a great education there for it is a private school and yes I completely agree with the real estate part but those are not all of the best streets there are more and with the facilities yes there are great ones there I should know I was born in St. John of God hospital (the old/original one) and have been living here my whole life its a very good place to live and with the cafes and all that I agree there are lots of different cafes and restaurants that offer lots of food styles from all around the world and I also like the primary at pioneers park Ive actually been there before and yes the traffic can be quite a struggle when I was younger my parents always struggled with traffic especially in peak hour and yes there are some jobs here but most are outside and fountain gate I go there almost every week (when we werent in lockdown) and so yes I completely agree with you
John you sound like your typical nosey Parker Try hard Berwick snob that lives his life through others, this is the issue with Berwick, people like you who Carry on about the north and south, your the type that goes to House auctions and you dont ever bid. The Berwick market huddled who wants everything for nothing, John get real, Berwick is growing and its costly in all areas for the average income earner.
@jayc10 Really not sure where you are getting that idea from... very strange and random accusations to be throwing around. I am guessing that you live south of the freeway and have taken offence to what I have said, but I am only dealing with facts here. Firstly, the south side buts up against Clyde North which is a higher crime area, some of which spills over to the south side of Berwick, you only need to follow local crime pages to realise this. The North side doesn't cop it as much because it connects to quieter places like Hawkaway. As for the expensive areas, just by looking at the realestate.com.au map which breaks suburbs up into price segments it's easy to see that the north side is far more expensive with some parts floating around a $2 million median house price. And as for the desirability, the North side has the private schools, the hospitals, Olde Berwick, Main street and Berwick village, all of the larger estate style properties and is an older area in general with more established greenery and homes. Yes I understand that there are some outlier pockets on the south side such as around Viewgrand Drive, but the simple fact remains that they are extremely different areas with very different character.
No john you are mistaken, it's south east Berwick where the crime is the worst "Golf Links estate" or the cheap ass old homes around there, Clyde North used to suck, but now its gotten better, and has better infrastructure, Although the chase estate used to have some issues, I guarantee you its gotten better, and the houses are ranging from 850k to 1.2m. In my estate (Meridian) houses range from 600k-950k because of the new amenities, (Bunnings/Aldi) - Clyde North Lifestyle Centre (Element Park).
Thank you for this very detailed and honest review . Can I suggest people also include how Multicultural the area is as well as some people appreciate the diversity of neighbourhoods that arent Anglo only which occurs in more established suburbs. Id love my kids to see nice Indian professional families that make up for a lovely area .
Langmore Lane is another beautiful street. I prefer it over the others you mention. Oak lined street, walking distance to the shops, arguably the best properties and location