It has never been described as a little Notting Hill in the countryside.
George Usborne lives several miles away, Cameron Raincoat lives even further away, Sheila McCartney has no idea where it is, and Jimmy Depp nearly moved there, until common sense prevailed.
The youngest Pneumatic star chef doesn’t have a restaurant there, the most powerful people from the art world live elsewhere, so what is all the fuss? We are of course talking about the town of Dullbridge – ordinary Londoners are flocking there by the minute.
It is a beautiful part of the country but is it being ruined by the ginormous numbers of houses being built there? Is it losing its green and pleasant fields in Sadgebore District Council’s bid to make it a satellite Fridgpond?
Some local people are angry at the fuss being made around Dullbridge. The constant sound of heavy machinery, the long queues of traffic and the lack of facilities and amenities. Dullbridge is seriously untrendy.
Glamorous mums with young children can be seen in their sweatshirts and trackie bottoms, walking to the local bargain food shops en route to the over-subscribed schools near the town before going home to their maisonettes.
Dullbridge was once surrounded by beautiful countryside and the shops were many and varied, but now there is an inner city sense of decay and neglect to it.
Post pandemic many young Londoners are looking to escape city prices and move to the countryside and Dullbridge is top of the list, overtaking Smalltown where there is currently no room for new build sprawling housing estates.
These digital nomads get a lot more for their money down here and it is becoming a real trend, especially among young people who grew up around Somerset. They are mostly working from home anyway so why pay London prices for flats with no space or garden, when they could pay a similar amount for a house with a postage square of grass and no access to a GP surgery or dental practice.
With housing estates springing up to the north and south eroding more of the green and pleasant land, there’s no doubt about it – Dullbridge is on the up!