Kingsgrove Suburb Review

Seldom-discussed suburb is a pleasant surprise, with a good selection of eateries and spots for a drink, decent greenery and good property sizes.

Summary: Walking the line between greenery, value, high-end and working class very well, Kingsgrove is down-to-earth and unpretentious Sydney suburbia in full swing. Boasting good diversity in both property types and people, this is a suburb in which decent proximity to Sydney city comes with personal space and a very good array of amenities. There’s plenty of quality local dining dotted throughout, a solid selection of schools, and enough to see and do to keep things lively. Traffic and price are issues, but it’s quite well-balanced overall.

Key stats

Kingsgrove is a suburb you rarely hear being talked about, as it’s often lumped into that mix of southern-ish Sydney suburbs in the same handful of Bardwell Park, Bexley and the like that teeter on the “outskirts” of the Inner West yet don’t quite make the cut.

There’s next to no decent information elsewhere online, which is odd as it’s a pretty convenient and practical suburb which lies on a decently-serviced train line and has quite a lot packed into a relatively small physical area.

Perhaps it’s the less-than-stellar reputation of some of its nearby suburbs which cause people to dismiss it outright, but Kingsgrove actually offers a very solid array of across-the-board pluses for living.

While many mid-level Sydney suburbs simply pack together a ton of houses in boring back streets and have not much else to offer than the local IGA, Kingsgrove is equipped with a lot more both for daily needs and general social and dining enjoyment.

Much of the suburb’s livelihood is centered around its main artery of the aptly-named Kingsgrove Road which dissects the suburb in two the whole way through. This is a constantly-busy thoroughfare which is lined with a very comprehensive mix of restaurants, cafes, and services of all kinds; pizza joints, chemists, banks, hardware stores… there’s practically nothing missing here.

Many of them have been around for decades, and many of the storefronts are a bit older and a little rundown, but they have some character instead of being bland or sterile.

It’s an impressive array of amenities that makes for convenient daily life, although the road itself is eternally packed with traffic, noisy, and parking is a chore.

In addition, unlike many other suburbs of its ilk, Kingsgrove also has a number of other one-off cafes and little other slices of shopping dotted throughout back streets and on corners; it harks back to the days of “Old Sydney” where you actually knew the owner of your – literal – “corner store”. It’s nice to not have to always head to the crowded Kingsway just to get a bite to eat.

For the more modern side of things, the still-relatively-new Pottery complex offers more of that slick, chic side of cafes and delis, as well as a Woolworths supermarket.

It’s also home to apartments that, while not the most beautiful of buildings, offers a chance at some newer high-density living. On the north side of the tracks, you’ve got an express Coles supermarket, a massive Bunnings for hardware and home needs, and a range of factory-style manufacturers and other blue-collar type businesses.

Kingsgrove also offers quite a good selection of places for a drink and watering holes in general if that’s your thing. Both the Kingsgrove RSL and the Kingsgrove Hotel serve as solid focal points for good-value places for a drop and a bite to eat, with frequent deals on meals and good portions at reasonable prices.

Add in its mix of enjoyable local restaurants – particularly Thai, Lebanese, and Vietnamese – and you’ve got some pretty good choice for a small-ish suburb.

Greener than you think

In terms of its streetscape, the few sources that exist elsewhere online speak against Kingsgrove in terms of greenery, but that’s not quite the case. It’s dotted with parks both small and large, and the majority of its residential streets are both well-grassed, tree-draped, and kept in quite good condition.

It’s not teeming with parkland, but there’s definitely enough to get by, and the massive Clemton Park up near Kingsgrove North Highschool offers a massive open space with basketball courts and several fields worth of grass for the kids and dogs alike to run around.

Most of its houses are older, low-lying brick builds on pretty big blocks. There’s a bit of a grand-old-British feel, mixed in with dapples of its Greek heritage and the signature white columns and ornamentation alongside the red brick.

An increasing number of impressive new modern builds are also beginning to pop up, and old-and-new Kingsgrove are more and more evident standing side by side. The block sizes are quite good for prices that are more “not bad” by Sydney averages than truly “good”, but there’s also a decent variation housing types on offer.

The north side of the suburb in particular has a helping of low-rise apartment blocks, and there’s a handful of villa, townhouse and duplex complexes up for grabs as well.

Most of Kingsgrove’s residential streets are quite peaceful and quiet. It cops a little bit of plane noise from flight paths, but it’s not too frequent and nothing compared to suburbs closer towards the Inner West. Its two main fringing streets – both the aforementioned Kingsgrove Rd and the busy Stony Creek Road – are noisy, but the suburb’s layout means these are mostly fringed by commercial then gives way to residential streets behind this buffer.

The M5 runs parallel to the suburb, and easy access to the highway makes the prospect of getting around by car not too bad. Kingsgrove also offers decent connectivity as its train station sees services around every 15 minutes and provides a 30-ish minute trip into Sydney city. It sees pretty substantial bus services as well; a crucial aspect given how school-heavy the suburb is.

Its wide selection of schools is one of Kingsgrove’s strong points

There’s plenty of schooling options here, with 5 on offer and more in surrounding suburbs making for a solid if unspectacular choice for families. It’s also fairly safe, ranking above average for crime stats.

“The block sizes are quite good for prices that are more “not bad” by Sydney averages than truly “good”, but there’s also a decent variation housing types on offer. “

Price-wise Kingsgrove is decent, but not as cheap as you may think. Given home sizes are quite large in general you’ll typically get pretty good bang for your buck, but still have to fork out about $1.1 million for a freestanding 3-bedder – and plenty more if you’re looking for a more modern house.

Apartment rentals are decent value, but not a massive bargain. Due to a lack of highrise, high-density options there’s a bit less choice; expect to pay around $500 per week for renting a decent 2-bedder.

The Verdict

Kingsgrove is more impressive than you might think overall. This is just diverse, down-to-earth suburban Sydney at its best; it’s not too smug yet not too dodgy, and is neither the sterile North Shore nor the Wild West. It walks the line pretty well between working class and upper-end, and has a good mix of demographics without being too dominated by one or the other.

Its amenities come without being too noisy or concrete-jungle, and its streets are pretty lush, quiet and functional. Connectivity is also good, and spacious properties are here aplenty although you may need to sink a bit of $ into renovations to do an older home up a bit.

In all it’s a pretty functional all-rounder that is better equipped and worthy of more attention; crime is not a big issue yet it’s got enough going on in terms of dining and activity to not be totally dead or boring. It’s still heavily family-oriented however, and given its packed with schools you’ll probably want to be at that stage of your life yourself in order to get the true benefit out of living here.

If you can’t afford the Inner West or North Shore – or some of the pretentiousness there doesn’t appeal to you – then Kingsgrove and some of its surrounds are a worthy alternative.