What it's like to live in Leatherhead

Leatherhead sits in a district where owning is the norm. Across Mole Valley, 73.2% of homes are owned outright or with a mortgage, 14.1% are privately rented, and 11.7% are social rented, below the England figure of 17.1%. Of that social housing, most is housing association rather than council: 10.1% against 1.5%.

Clarion Housing Association is by far the biggest social landlord in the area with around 3,619 homes, followed by Mount Green Housing Association with 450, Southern Housing with 104, Metropolitan Housing Trust with 70 and The Grange Centre for People with Disabilities with 62. Average weekly social rents in 2024/25 were £119 for a one bed, £141 for two and £157 for three.

The age profile skews older than England's: 23.8% of Mole Valley residents are 65 or over, against 18.4% nationally, with fewer people aged 25 to 44. Mole Valley's housing register held 653 households at March 2025 and the council let 205 social homes in 2024-25, so a mutual exchange is often the more direct route.

There is a good spread of schools close to the centre. Leatherhead Trinity School and Nursery is only 0.3 miles away, with Little Downsend Leatherhead at 0.5 miles, and St Peter's Catholic Primary School, St Andrews and West Hill School all within a mile.

For older children, St John's School is 0.3 miles from the centre, Woodlands School 0.6 miles, and Downsend School, St Andrew's Catholic School and Therfield School all around 0.8 miles. Having several secondaries within walking or short bus distance is a real advantage if you have more than one child at different stages. Check admissions and catchment carefully before committing to a swap.

Family life beyond school is easy to arrange. Mansion Gardens and Common Meadow are both close for after-school runs about, Leatherhead Library is a short walk, and the Fairfield Centre, Fortyfoot Hall and Fetcham Village Hall host local groups. A scout group meets in Ashtead. Across Mole Valley, 17.1% of residents are under 16, slightly below the England figure of 18.6%.

Leatherhead station is about a quarter of a mile from the town centre, which makes rail a realistic option whether or not you drive. Ashtead station is 1.8 miles away, Bookham 2.3 miles, and Cobham & Stoke d'Abernon and Box Hill & Westhumble both sit around 2.9 miles out, so there is more than one way onto the network.

The town centre itself is walkable. Supermarkets, the library, Boots and The Swan Centre are all within a few hundred metres of each other, and Mansion Gardens is a two-minute walk away. If you live in the middle of town, a lot of errands can be done on foot.

By car, Leatherhead is well placed for the wider Surrey road network and for reaching Ashtead, Fetcham, Bookham and Dorking. Parking and traffic in a small town centre can be fiddly at busy times. Bus services link the town with surrounding villages, though timetables are worth checking for the specific route you would rely on.

Green space is the strongest card here. Mansion Gardens is on the town's doorstep and Common Meadow half a mile out, while Ashtead Common and the chalk grassland of the Downs are under two miles away for longer walks. Beaverbrook, about 1.6 miles out, adds to the open country on this side of town.

In town, The Swan Centre covers the shopping, and there is a cluster of pubs and bars in the centre including The Running Horse, The Penny Black, The Edmund Tylney, Gossip and Beluga. That gives you a decent choice for an evening out without travelling.

For indoor activity, Nuffield Health Fitness & Wellbeing is a short walk from the centre, and Leatherhead Library is handy for free things to do with children. Ashtead and Bookham libraries are both within three miles if you want a change of scene. It is a town where most leisure is local and low-key rather than flashy.

Mole Valley is a working district with low unemployment. Across the council area, 58.5% of adults are in work, a little above the England figure of 57.4%, while unemployment sits at 2.3% against 3.5% for England. Unemployment-related benefit claimants were 1.9% of working-age residents in September 2026, well under the England rate of 4%.

Those numbers suggest a steady local jobs market, though they cover the whole district rather than Leatherhead alone. Town-centre retail, the hospital and clinics, schools and local services are visible employers in the town itself.

Plenty of residents commute. With Leatherhead station close to the centre and several other stations within three miles, travelling to work elsewhere in Surrey or towards London is a normal pattern here. If your job is tied to a particular area, it is worth testing the journey before you agree a swap, because a short map distance does not always mean a short commute.