Is Leiston going up market?

Our new home would not look out of place in Aldeburgh and I get teased about being part of the gentrification of Leiston, by a friend who has lived here all her life. Of course Leiston will never become like Aldeburgh, but it is slowly but surely changing, just as everywhere is changing.

A conversation with Jack, a young man who with his wife and child have recently moved to the town illustrated that change well. He’s a software engineer, so works remotely, with perhaps one day each week spent in London. He used to visit this stretch of coast as a child, and wanted to bring his daughter up in the countryside, near the coast.

His new build house overlooks fields, is a short drive from the beach and just three miles from both the railway station and Waitrose at Saxmundham. He loves living near to Aldeburgh, Snape, Minsmere in an area where there is so much to do, and miles of footpaths to explore. He’s fascinated by the town’s industrial past and not bothered that EDF are about to build a third nuclear power station nearby at Sizewell.

It is inevitable that affordable housing will bring more people to the town, and that will cause house prices to rise, but it will never go quite as far up market as Aldeburgh or Southwold.