Is St Albans a good place to raise a family?

I don't have kids so I'm not sure on the school thing, sorry. The park is huge and has a swimming pool; and there are several other parks too.

St Albans isn't near the sea, but by American standards it's very close! I drove to the north Kent coast in an hour and a half the other week, and I think the sea at Essex would be closer.

I don't know Brighton but I think St Albans is quicker to get into London as a commute.

If you take a walk around town you will see how popular St Albans is with families.  When my mum came to visit she said that she'd never seen so many prams or pregnant ladies walking around!  I've a friend who commutes in to London form Brighton - takes around and hour or so to the main stations.  St Albans is 20/25 minutes on a fast train to Kings X. People moan about the cramped trains but it's part of life now. Things will be better when the 12 car trains start running in a couple of years.  As for the seaside, yes Brighton is on the coast but gets very very busy in the summer months with tourists (not sure why they go there for the beach though! It's not what I'd class as a nice beach - way too stoney for my liking).  Like Janqu1C said, north Kent and Essex are only an hour or so away and also have sandy beaches.  The park here is great.  Large enough for a personal space even in the height of summer on a nice day.  Loads of great pubs and places to eat.  I'm not sure if there are many negatives about living here.  I'm sold by it hence why we live here.  I'm sure that Brighton residents will have lots to say about living there but for me and my needs, St Albans does just nicely.

TJAYSTON we have twin girls aged 3 and moved to St Albans from London at the start of this year.  The reasons that we chose St Albans were that the commute is pretty quick  (I also work in London) and the state schools are very good indeed, both primary and secondary but specifically primary, and there is lots of open space.  Brighton as raised on an earlier post is very very busy in the summer with tourists sp although there is a beach there it isn't really that kid friendly.  St Albans is great for kids, there are lots of nurseries, playgroups etc and lots of things to do.  In terms of transport links to the rest of the UK ie if you wanted to take a walking holiday in teh Lake District you could not ask for a more ideally situated place to live (M25, M1 and A1 all within about 10 minutes.)  Luton Airport is about 15/20 minutes away.

All in all there is a community feel to St Albans and it is a great place to live for young families.  There are of course downsides like no superarket open after 8pm on a Saturday night.