A new commuter hotspot has been identified in leafy Warwickshire… Wootton Wawen.
The historic village is probably better known for the road passing through it rather than the railway but it was the latter that led to it being named in a Guardian report at the weekend.
This identified places that were finding favour with those needing to travel into Britain’s major cities for work in this post-Covid world.
Wootton Wawen
It was based on research exclusively shared with it by property giants Savills that identified a new wave of affordable choices.
The report said: “These are places where entrances and exits into the local railway station have soared since before the pandemic as commuters get cute and hunt out new locations that work for them. The analysis takes railway station use and house prices into account and combines them to show which locations are proving popular and yet affordable in 2026”.
And that saw Wootton Wawen listed as one of just three top tips for Birmingham, curiously describing it as, “south of Birmingham, beyond Redditch”, which suggests it could stay a well-kept secret for a little longer.
But a look at the official figures shows its railway station does fit the bill of seeing a boom in use since the pandemic.
From a low of 5,262 passenger journeys in 2020, it has increased every year since, with a notable jump from 12,432 in 2023-24, to 19,398 in 2024-5 – a rise of more than 50 per cent in a year.
The report says Wootton Wawen is in a cluster of commuter villages and points out it has “two pubs, a primary school and Yew Tree Farm Shopping Village”. For anyone tempted it says the season ticket cost is £1,880 and the average house price in 2025 was £520,711.
The other hotspots for Birmingham were Hartlebury in Worcestershire and South Wigston in Leicestershire.