Nursery up for sale?

[linzkg]

Anyone know of a nursery up for sale in the local areas?

Ta,

[Eliza.D]

I think you should have elaborated on your thread. You make caring for other peoples children a pure financial venture. Which of course it is not.

The established nurseries in the area have gained their reputations by word of mouth and the good ones are doing very well, and i guess would not want to sell.

[linzkg]

I think your comments are completely unnecessary and if you have nothing nice to say then don't bother - there is absolutely no need for you to pass judgement like that is there? Honestly, read your comment back to yourself - what a silly thing to say - how you've come to that conclusion I have no idea - it was a simple question!

[Mellors]

How bizarre.

Anyway, I'm not aware of any freehold premises which are up for sale, but Bojangles who were in the New Life church on Upland Rd have just been kicked out by their Landlords (the church), so the nursery premises are empty at the moment. As teh space is already set up, it might be of interest to take on a new lease from them?

[linzkg]

Thanks for that, that is definitely an option as its already set up as you say - its so sad that there's such high waiting lists for something so important as childcare - it should be a given and there should be no stress around it. I was made redundant 5 weeks before I was due and I now have a 3 month old baby and thought with my (pitiful) redundancy package that maybe I should investment into childcare in the local area (I can't think of anything worse then returning to the big city away from my little one .. and my other first time mother friends have also said they're not looking forward to leaving their babies .. so maybe I can somehow make it work.) That's me talking from a completely unknown and I've not taken any of the red tape and beaurocracy into consideration but we do have good friends who have a very successful business that are willing to support us. ;-)

And can I just add that by successful I mean they are personable and good people and the kids are well looked after and very happy - I'm not talking about the balance sheets.

[Moos]

I don't think it's at all unreasonable that you might want to run a business that turns a profit, linkzg, it isn't a charity. From a pure business point of view keeping the children safe and happy and their parents satisfied that they are getting value for their money makes a lot of sense!

[ludoscotts]

I think good luck to you linzkg, the waiting lists are ridiculous, you asked a simple question and got jumped on with a stupid response. I hope you manage to find a suitable property.

[Mellors]

I agree, and can offer advice on the premises side if you do find somewhere (I am a commercial property solicitor).

What about where Puddleducks used to be in the church hall at Goose Green? I assume that space is now empty as they have just moved to Nunhead. They were term time only there though and short hours.

Beware if you take on somewhere that wasn't previsouly a nursery you have the hassle of applying to Southwark Council for consent for the Change of Use. Not insurmountable, but paperwork/time/money.

[Mellors]

The alternative I suppose for much smaller numbers is to consider being a childminder from home/a friends home. My friend has just registered as one, and has 5 children she looks after (including two of her own). I might be able to get you info on how that all works, or people on here can help I am sure.

[Eliza.D]

Apologises Linzg. Can i suggest that you contact Southwark Family Information Service. They can put you in touch with Early Years who will be able to advice and support you through the process of setting up a Childcare provision. They will also be able to offer training in Safeguarding and the implementation of the Early Years Foundation Stage.

[Smiler]

Eliza D, what on earth do you mean? Surely all childcare for which money is charged is "a financial venture"? Anyway, isn't it OK to make money from childcare as long as one provides a good service? After all, parents have a choice about whether or not to use the services on offer.

Wish childcare round here was cheaper mind you!

[linzkg]

Goodness - thanks for all this information .. now I must chase it all up! A scary path to go down - looking after other people's kids and babies but with the right staff and support it can only be great hey. Looking forward to the challenges. Thanks again everyone!

[womanofdulwich]

A few years ago I know Nellys in west dulwich wanted to expand and before they moved into All Saints church they had been looking at a premises in West Dulwich somewhere. I know they did a HUGE amount of research first - getting nursery qualifications etc. Is it worth trying some local property agents?

[EDmummy]

The owners of Nelly's were originally new parents with the same idea and look at them now. I wonder if they would speak to you about the process? They are very nice people.

[linzkg]

Thanks again - I may go knocking!

[ryedalema]

HI Linzkg - how far do you want to travel? I take my daughter to nursery in Waterloo (working in Farringdon) as the timings don't work out for me to be any nearer home and I'm constantly amazed at the number of nurseries that used to be there, but aren't any more. There just isn't any nursery provision in the city - and for people that have long working hours it's really essential. Kids Unlimited rented premises opposite the old Guardian building in Farringdon road and it was a beautiful set up. Unfortunately they moved two weeks before I was due back from maternity leave (another story) and so I am where I am. The average price of nurseries that are thriving seems to be between 1100 and 1300 per month (sorry no pound key), which I'm guessing makes up for the hiked up rent. I'd jump on anyone (in a nice way) who set up a decent nursery in the city - put nursery into yell.com in EC1 and stick it on map view and you'll see what I mean - most of the results that come up have gone now and will be premises of some kind.I guess on the minus side there must be a reason why these nurseries have left but I'm hoping it's bad financial management rather than demand - cos believe me the demand is there.

[womanofdulwich]

i expect the rents were too much to make it worth while? Seriously if you are working long hours haev you thought about a nanny/nannyshare/childminder? Having a nannyshare is usualy no more expensive than a nursery,

[linzkg]

This must be true - the rents are probably really high (hence you're finding Dulwich based nurseries moving to areas like Nunhead I guess ..)

I would also like to consider a city based nursery, or at least operating like one - I worked in the financial sector in the city and childcare was always so stressful for my colleagues - so I'd like to work around city office hours. This could get tricky as I'm guessing working with extended hours could get messy .. but definitely something I'm considering.

[ryedalema]

Not much help on the premises front but something you might want to consider to tap into demand is that all the train lines have changed recently. You can now get straight into the city from Tulse Hill, Denmark Hill, Nunhead (hence my other email strand about Nunhead nurseries) and Peckham Rye (altough my OH won't let me commute from there in case I fall onto the platform - really!). Nunhead seemed to be to the best - so far- in terms of parking there all day and commuting into the city - although back roads around Denmark seem to be a bit freer too. I run a department in a housing assoc with a commercial prop division and we've a pretty full-on development programme so I can keep an ear to the ground for new props coming up. As you are benefitting the community you might be able to tap into section 106 obligations which means that any development above a certain value/number of units, has to build some sort of social community offering to 'give back to the community'. You can ask the councils about that.

[gwod]

There used to be a nursery in St Stephens Church up College Road which I think has moved nearer to Sydenham last year....Its a church hall so no need to buy the premises and must have already have passed all the red tape for use of premises.

Good luck - let us know how you get on.

[tallgirl]

The nursery site in Nunhead that will be used by Puddleducks will be empty after that, its in a prime lcation on Nunhead Green

[The Nappy Lady]

Linzkg,

Just a thought - empty old 'Salvation Army' hall on Nunhead Grove, next to Doctors Surgery. Been empty for years and looks run down, plus change of use issues etc. I guess, but I wonder if worth investigating what the deal is with it....no idea how you even start to find out who owns it etc. though.

Molly

[east-of-the-Rye]

The hall on Nunhead Grove wasn't a Salvation Army one, at least in the recent past. Its last offical use was as an Age Concern run day centre for elderly people - charmingly called the Early Intervention Centre. That moved up to St Anthnoy with St Silas hall, the funding was lost (I think some of its activities moved to Lime Tree House Sheltered Scheme,) and that hall is now where Puddleducks is. But the hall on Nunhead was being squatted I think and used for various alternative-type activities. Pull the Other One was there once. Not sure whether it is still active. http://www.chapelproject.com/

[The Nappy Lady]

Thank you east of the rye it never ceases to amaze me what you can discover via this forum.

Molly