At the end of next month I will be moving from Liverpool to London to start my first job, and I need to find somewhere to live. The two major questions on my mind are what bits of London to look at and how much I should be prepared to pay. The question about costs is in this thread.
Can anyone tell me which bits of central London are worth looking at and why, and where to stay away from? Advice, experience and opinions are all good.
I would like to live in Zone 1 for convenience (I will be working very centrally), but will consider Zone 2 as well, as long as I am near a tube station. I am hoping to share a flat or apartment, preferably with some other people fairly recently out of university. (If this sounds like you, drop me an email - see my profile).
Not knowing how much I have to spend yet (see the other thread), I am not going to eliminate any areas on cost (though many are probably too expensive).
I would like to find a good balance between the size and quality of the place and the quality of the neighbourhood, if possible.
Try zone 2 or 3. A fair bit cheaper and not terribly far to travel. (For a rough travelling time guide it takes approx 2 minutes per station outside rush hour on the tube).
Places like Elephant & Castle are fairly good. South of the river is generally cheaper though North London areas are not bad either. The more central you go the more expensive it is (and crowded and dirty) so you would do well to find a nice spot further out.
Honestly, you would be better studying the tube map and concentrating on places which have a direct route to your work than concerning yourself with distance.
I live in Ealing, 8 miles out of central London by distance or about 30 minutes by Underground. You can also get to Paddington in about 12 minutes by First Great Western Link (formerly Thames Trains). It’s at the western edge of Zone 3.
I inhabit a small, privately-rented, one-bedroom flat which costs me £735 per calendar month (£8,820 per year) - plus £83 a month Council Tax. Obviously, sharing a house will be cheaper but be prepared to live with Australians, New Zealanders, South Africans and Zimbabweans.
I have friends who have lived in both Chalk Farm and Kentish Town over the past few years, and both palces seem a pretty good compromise on price for North London. Both are in Zone 2 on the Northern Line, are walking distance from Camden and Primrose Hill, and even Hampstead, and not far from Islington - but are still quite working class, which keeps rents down. Reasonably quiet, too, though the crack factory next door to their place in Kentish Town caused some excitement until the cops shut it down.
Still very expensive from where I am looking, though…
London is not the same as any other city - you don’t need to be living in the centre to experience it
You’re going to have to be very well off or very lucky to find pretty much anywhere affordable within zone 2 that isn’t in a bad area, a nasty apartment or sharing with 6 other people.
A better approach would probably be to give us a rough idea of how much you can afford and we can make some suggestions based on that.
Don’t let people fool you into going south of the river though - stick to the North. Everyone knows its far better (not least because we have all the tube stations)
Come to the South, its much nicer - because I live here! I’ve lived in both North and South London, (Finchley, Harlesden, Queens Park, Balham and Croydon shudder) and I really think living in the south is a better quality of life, and cheaper. I live in Camberwell (Zone 2)and pay £625 per month rent and £65 per month council tax for a one bedroom flat with garden, I get the bus to Zone 1 every day which takes about 30 minutes. Living in the south of London is generally cheaper because there are not as many tube stations - HOWEVER - south London has a fantastic bus system, and loads of ‘bus only’ lanes, which zip you through traffic in a very satisfying way! I think taking the bus rather than the tube is a nicer and cheaper (£13 per week) way to travel (especially in summer), and as a newcomer to London it really helps you to oriente yourself with where you are - as opposed to ‘tube mole syndrome!’ Also your journeys are judged in time rather than distance - it may only be a couple of miles in distance, but in London that could mean over an hour in journey time.
If I were you I’d start with my place of employment and then work out from there -A) how long are you prepared for your commute to be?
B) how many changes are you prepared to make in your journey and which modes of transport (2? 3? bus? tube?) http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/
C)Which tube stops/bus routes are near your job? Choosing your flat by following the direct bus/tube route out to the 'burbs can save you hassle and time.
D) How much do you think you can afford? Remember to factor in council tax & transport. Also, even a sandwich bar lunch is not cheap, (Even if I do bugger all it still seems to cost me about £10 a day just to exist in London) and general cost of living is high.
Transit availability is a huge factor. If possible, try to live near a stop with more than one tube line. It makes it a lot easier to head off in the direction you actually want to go.
When I lived in London in the late 90’s I was lucky enough to have a company sponsored relocation package that covered an insane rent, so I lived in Marylebone, just off Baker St. Station. We hadn’t really factored that into the decision, but the ability to get on multiple tube lines from right near where we lived made getting around much easier.
Also, availability of a train (as opposed to tube) station is also a big convenience factor, especially if you plan to head out of town at the weekend very often.
Look at a lot of flats – I was shocked at the variability of flats that cost about the same. I expect the estate agents were try to see if we’d bite on their hard-to-rent properties first, but we were shown some real dogs that were absolutely outrageously priced.
To each his own, but we loved Marylebone. Lots of good places to eat and more than a few good pubs. I’d say overall it’s a bit sleepy part of town, but clean & safe, and relatatively quiet. While it could be a long walk back from Soho after the tube shut down, it was walkable. It was quite close to where I worked, which was probably the singl biggest quality of life factor. It was expensive though - 400+ ppw for a 2 bedroom, and that was almost ten years ago.
Just to echo what others have said - giving us your price range and how long you’d be prepared to commute for is a better way to find help on where to live. I live in Balham/Clapham South which has decent facilities, excellent transport links (by which I mean lots of options - tube/train/bus) to Victoria (where I work) and most importantly for me, lots of green open spaces within a short distance. The rent isn’t cheap as it is an up-and-coming sort of area - we pay just over £1000 for a two bed groundfloor flat - but the council tax is the lowest in the country (£83 per month is criminal, up to now I’d wondered what all the fuss was about).
Zelie - I’d buy you a pint anytime! It really is just glorious to sail past all those traffic-jammed cars…zoooooooooom! 30 minutes from Camberwell to Holborn is just genius!
It does vex me when people drive/park/wander like a lonesome cloud in bus lanes though - grrrrr… I do have a suggestion to aid you with that. Now we’re happily settled snug in the digital age and most people have mobiles with phones on - how about getting Londoners to help you police the bus lanes? Set up a ‘textline’, and ask Londoners to take a pic of the offending vehicle and reg and text it in to you guys. I bet most people would do it just for the joy of seeing selfish thoughtless drivers get busted. If an incentive was needed they could perhaps get either a % of the fine, or some kind of discount off your own public transport. It would be g-e-n-i-u-s!
We have some quite strict laws plus a voluntary code of conduct regarding what is and what isn’t permissable as evidence. And mobile phone snaps just ain’t in it. Bear in mind that a ticket is actually a civil prosecution!
I lived by Lea Bridge Road, on the Walthamstow side of Hackney (just barely in zone 3), and I highly recommend it. Rent is cheap because it is nowhere near a tube (about a ten minute bus ride / half hour walk to either Walthamstow Central (Victoria line) or Leyton (Central line), IIRC), but commuting is very easy: There was a bus that went straight from my house to my workplace (Baker Street), another from my house to Tottenham Court Road, and another from my house to Liverpool Street, as well as two different night buses. They were very quick. (Great work, zelie, can you come work your magic in Toronto?)
So my commute was less than an hour, and one quid, each way: overall, much cheaper and more stress-free than it would have been to cram myself onto a tube. And there was a lovely river to wander around if you need a bit of nature.
One of my cousins lives out in the Docklands, one lives in Shepherd’s Bush, and my sister is about to move to Camden. I think it depends what exactly you’re looking for.
Both cousins own their places, and my sis is moving in with some friends (one of their dad’s bought the house as an investment).
Perhaps you should just decide when you can see your options in person?
I spent most of my first 30 years living in South Kilburn, where we considered Maida Vale to be “posh”. But I suspect that nowadays it is just as full of drug addicts, muggers and other undsirables (such as rich people) as everywhere else in London. There’s a very good-looking pub, The Warrington Hotel, which featured (both inside and out) in an episode of “The Sweeney”.
