Every person living in Loughton for a long time probably at least once visited one or two main town supermarkets: Morrisons and Sainsburys. I know a lot of people do their weekly shopping there and it is indeed very handy - the supermarkets are now our way of life.

I used to go to Morrisons much more than to Sainsburys because firstly, they very rarely or even never have empty shelves - there are always people in store that add the products to the shelves and check them out. Secondly, I hate paying for parking even though after the shopping it will be reimbursed - I like to drive in, do my shopping (in the shortest time possible) and then leave. Thirdly, I like the Morrisons’ atmosphere of neatness and order, which is sort of absent in Sainsburys, where everything is kind of everywhere. Fourthly, one very outspoken and relaxed manager in Morrisons used to reduce prices of the fresh products at the end of the day - I used to go there after 9pm on Fridays and would usually pick up some bargains. And lastly, Morrisons is still opened until 5 o’clock in the evening on Sundays, which is very handy for lasy shoppers and those, who get home after 4pm on Sundays.

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As a Loughton resident for many years, I find it very easy to answer the question “Why do you live in Loughton?“. In this article, I would like to share my thoughts about the town where I live and persuade those, who are thinking of moving to Loughton, to do so.

I find it very easy to travel everywhere from Louhgton because of Loughton’s strategical location. It has two underground stations - Loughton and Debden. It takes about 20 minutes to get from Loughton to Stratford and 40 minutes to get from Loughton to Oxford Street. Inner London buses 20 and 167 go from Loughton to Walthamstow (where there’s a big market on all days except Sunday) and Ilford where there’s a big shopping centre. Bus 397 goes to Chingford. Essex bus 250 goes to Waltham Cross.

It’s very easy to get on the motorways M25 and M11 from Loughton. If travelling to London, M11 is the obvious choice with Junction 5 located to the east of Debden underground station. One cannot travel northbound directly from Junction 5 of M11 because there are no southbound exits, which is a pain. In order to travel to Bishops Stortford, Stansted Airport and further north, one needs to drive through Epping Forest to M25 and then join M11 at Junction 27. On M25 it’s possible to get to Heathrow Airport from Loughton in under 50 minutes if there are no delays.

One of the main advantages of Loughton is that it is very close to Epping Forest. The forest is huge - people can hike, ride bicycles, walk their dog and play games there. There are a lot of nice views from the hills in the forest. There is even a place with the perfect view of London City but it’s difficult to find. There are couple of pubs in the middle of Epping Forest, which can become useful if a person plans to spend a good part of the day in the forest.

There are several small lakes in Epping Forest where fishing is forbidden but some people do it. There are also many open spaces where people play ball games and take sun baths. In short, everyone can find something useful for himself or herself there.

I’ve always wanted to live in an area with the clean air. Loughton has an excellent air quality. That is because there are no big roads crossing the town and there are no air polluting factories nearby. Don’t forget the Epping Forest on the west of Loughton and fields on the east. M25 and M11 are located nearby but in my view they don’t affect the Loughton air quality because they are quite far away and the prevailing winds come from the east.

Recently my mate has told me that Loughton schools are high-rated. I cannot confirm this information at the time of writing this article but I believe it to be true because my mate has two kids and wants to get them into the best school in the region.

Loughton doesn’t have a shopping centre but there are lots of quality shops in Loughton where a person can technically buy everything. There are three supermarkets in the centre of Loughton: Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Marks & Spencer. In Debden, there are smaller Sainsbury’s and Iceland. There are many shops that sell clothes and their number has increased over the last couple of years. There are well-known Halfords and Holland & Barrett, the branches of the following banks: Barclays, Halifax, Natwest and Nationwide (Lloyds TSB and Abbey in Debden). There are garden shops, barber’s and hairdresser’s, video renal shop and many more. That’s not including restaurants, cafes and fast food outlets. By the way, there’s no McDonald’s and Burger King in Loughton (I should add: at the moment - February 2009).

Loughton is a sport’s heaven because of its location and available outdoor facilities. That’s why there are a lot of clubs, schools and societies in Loughton. I knew a couple of them but typing “Loughton club” into Google has found so many in so many areas I simply felt proud of Loughton. These are Loughton Cricket Club, Loughton Gymnastics Club, Loughton Football Club, Loughton Golf Club, Loughton Camera Club, Loughton Mountaineering Club, simply Loughton Club and many-many more. In addition council’s Loughton Health Centre, which is now privately run, has a swimming pool, gym and various classes to keep Loughton residents feet if they wish to be fit.

Loughton is a good place to live in - and that’s a fact, not an advertisement. So if you’re thinking about moving to Loughton, come and see the town for yourself.

Several years ago High Road in Loughton has had a makeover. Some new lampposts have been added, the road surface has been re-laid, new parking bays have been added instead of the old ones and several sets of traffic lights for pedestrians have been introduced. All this costed a lot of money and for what?

As a result, the traffic in the centre of Loughton now grinds to a halt during the peak hours. Outside of peak hours, it now takes twice as long to cross the town as took before the “improvements”.

You’re probably thinking of yourself crossing Loughton on the car. Please don’t - please think of all those poor pensioners and older people riding a bus instead. For those using buses 20, 167 and 250 it became a very serious problem because they don’t have any other choice.

The new now metered “easy parking” bays on the sides of Loughton High Road is interrupting the traffic flow. Earlier, the parking was on the parallel small strip of the road and it was perfect but now all cars and buses on the road have to wait for a car to park. If the road was wider, this would be less of a problem. But the road is narrow and this causes a huge problem for those travelling by High Road.

The new traffic lights for shoppers are now everywhere and the period of the green light for the road users is very small. What is the point to have traffic lights every 100 yards? So that shoppers would cross the road to glide from one shop to another? In the busy shopping times, the traffic now barely moves anyway because of the new parking spots, so wouldn’t it be easier for example just to add the traffic islands?

This also relates to the two traffic lights just yards from each other on Old Station Road near Sainsbury’s. Why are they there? It would be much better to add a traffic light for pedestrians walking from and to Loughton Underground Station in the place where they are crossing Alderton Hill near the roundabout because the majority of drivers don’t stop there to let people cross the road. This is a hazardous place and the problem of the road crossing here will need to be addressed at some point. Once I was travelling on the bus there with a group of young girls in front of me and one of them said: “The traffic lights are so close to each other, this is pathetic”. Sorry, council, this is pathetic indeed.

One would read all this and say ok, but Loughton High Road is mainly for those, who do shopping and not for those, who just wants to drive through. The people who drive through may use Alderton Hill and Wellfields - there are no traffic lights there (except for the speed bumps near the school on Alderton Hill). Fair enough - I myself sometimes drive there but notice I use the word “sometimes”. That is because the road surface on Alderton Hill is horrendous. The worst ever road surface I’ve ever encountered in Loughton is on Alderton Hill. It seems to me that the town chiefs have just forgotten about this road. They made people use it by bringing the set of traffic suffocating measures to High Road and - seems like in spite - decided not to do anything about the condition of an alternative route. So it’s either waste of time of the Loughton High Road or waste of your car on Alderton Hill. By the way, High Road is repaired fairy regularly. Probably a lot of council people live nearby.

There are only two positive moment I found in the Loughton High Road makeover. These are new brighter lights and a new pavement (although I can’t remember what was wrong with the old one and why it was necessary to replace it).

With the new Loughton traffic scheme the meters came to Loughton, probably to pay for the awfully designed project. How dare council take the money from people for such a disaster? Everyone I met and discussed this matter pointed to me that the High Road makeover was a disaster. It is a spit in the face of all Loughton residents and visitors. I just hope that the council will learn a lesson and the forthcoming Broadway makeover in Debden will be done with the common sense and for the people’s good.

What is happening with the parking at Loughton’s Morrisons on Saturdays and Sundays? It is simply impossible to park there during the supermarket peak hours from about noon till 3. I can understand that there are the credit crunch and the financial crisis ravaging around and Morrisons supermarket has all over sudden become very popular with locals but these numbers of visitors should have been anticipated when the parking was built initially for Safeway, which Morrisons have bought several years ago.

Look at what Loughton’s Sainsburys did – they built huge parking lot, which is enough to accommodate all peak hour supermarket shoppers. I don’t know how and who they have fought for that and whether they fought at all but the Sainsburys parking is very useful for Loughton.

Look at Harlow Town Centre – a new ASDA, TK Maxx and other shops have been build there and it became obvious that there wouldn’t be enough parking spaces for the customers if nothing is done about that. So they’ve built the huge two-store parking, which together with other parking facilities in Harlow Town Centre is enough for everyone.

Because of the parking limitations I’ve described above I sometimes avoid shopping at Morrisons. I regret this but what can I do? It’s better to go to Sainsbury and park there and shop there rather than going round the Morrisons parking lot together with other unfortunate motorists looking for a soon-to-become-empty parking spot.

Sometimes I park somewhere in Loughton and browse Morrisons with the basket - not a trolley - thus buying much less that I would have if I had a trolley.

Maybe one day Morrison bosses will figure out what’s going on with the parking on Saturdays and Sundays and somehow will extend the shop’s parking area, but at the moment unfortunately they are loosing their local customers.