Living in London

[DHSF]

I cant imagine that everywhere in the City you'll be paying £500+ PCM. I had a peek on Rightmove a minute ago and there were two studio apartments right near Clapham common for £90/£95 PW. DHSF, how many properties are there knocking about of a similar rent to your new pad? Are they hard to get hold of?

Ah well the place is in East Acton 15 mins walk from Loftus Rd. Easy to get to and from work and not too far from the likes of Westfield etc.

I got it cheap because its actually my dads place and the tenants are fudging off. Which means i pay sons rates.

If you were some hot chick - I would have given you a room for £300 but youre not - sorry haha

East Acton you are looking at 1200 a month. two bed two bath etc

 

[southstand1882]

Just find a decent house share. You can live somewhere fairly decent if there are 2 or even 4 of you

Plus you'll have a great laugh, try new drugs (e.g. bath salts) and meet some new women

 

[Park Lane James]

Just find a decent house share. You can live somewhere fairly decent if there are 2 or even 4 of you

Plus you'll have a great laugh, try new drugs (e.g. bath salts) and meet some new women

Ha, I'm sticking away from those bath salts!

I'll probably have to either share a two bed with my mate or, as you say, join in with some students or whatever. Would do so much shagging if I lived in London.

 

[P.D.]

I guess we need to know a bit more really before firm advice can be provided:

What sort of job will you be looking for?
What sort of commute do you have now from Kent if you had to do it for a few weeks?
Are you bothered about living in a crap area and/or a crap house i.e. not so nice
Do you like to go out drinking/clubbing - whats your sort of scene e.g. standard bars, posher affairs etc
Is proximity to facilities of importance e.g. shopping, tubes, supermarkets, cinemas etc

I mean in London there are so many factors to consider really, I lived in Bethnal Green for a year in a shared house paying £800 plus bills thinking I'd be tearing up Shoreditch every night but in reality I wasn't and could easily have lived a bit further out/in a cheaper place and had the same social life.

Living in Borough now and pay £1,200 plus bills for a 2 bed place which I partially own, by far and away a better area. Near enough everything about it is fantastic, so much going on and I can get to anywhere else with ease due to transport connections etc

 

[P.D.]

Realistically if you have less than 25K income then you arent going to have much fun in London. Even 30K isn't that much really if you are young and going out a lot.

 

[nw7 yid]

Most companies that I have worked for (or that my friends have worked for) offer a London salary weighting of 20-25%. But it costs a lot more than 25% to live in London than it does to live in other cities.

I like London but it's not the be all and end all. Depends on the type of work you want to go into, and where your friends live.

You should be prepared to live quite far out of the centre unless you land a really good job. Ideally you should be looking for a job now - I know lots of people who moved to London in hope of landing a great job and ended up hating the place because they had to do bricky temping work and couldn't afford to make the most out of the city. Where you get a job will also determine where is a good area for you to live - London is huge, and commuting sucks balls.

Going by recent experience, if you want to live in a two bedroom flat in zone 2 North London, decent size but not particularly spacious, with no outdoor space, you'll be looking at about £600-650 per month each. Cheaper in South London. The other thing is that because there's so much demand for accomodation in London, landlords can be pretty ruthless.

Ultimately it's a trade-off. In London you have amazing culture and pretty much anything you'll ever want in terms of nightlife, eating out, etc. But you'll be short of space and time. Up north you'll get a much bigger place to live but you might well find that it's all a bit limited (depends on what your interests are really). Cities like Saudi Sportswashing Machine, Leeds and Manchester could offer a reasonable compromise.

 

[nw7 yid]

Realistically if you have less than 25K income then you arent going to have much fun in London. Even 30K isn't that much really if you are young and going out a lot.

Agreed.

 

[nw7 yid]

Most companies that I have worked for (or that my friends have worked for) offer a London salary weighting of 20-25%. But it costs a lot more than 25% to live in London than it does to live in other cities.

I like London but it's not the be all and end all. Depends on the type of work you want to go into, and where your friends live.

You should be prepared to live quite far out of the centre unless you land a really good job. Ideally you should be looking for a job now - I know lots of people who moved to London in hope of landing a great job and ended up hating the place because they had to do bricky temping work and couldn't afford to make the most out of the city. Where you get a job will also determine where is a good area for you to live - London is huge, and commuting sucks balls.

Going by recent experience, if you want to live in a two bedroom flat in zone 2 North London, decent size but not particularly spacious, with no outdoor space, you'll be looking at about £600-700 per month (plus bills) each. Cheaper in South London. The other thing is that because there's so much demand for accomodation in London, landlords can be pretty ruthless.

Ultimately it's a trade-off. In London you have amazing culture and pretty much anything you'll ever want in terms of nightlife, eating out, etc. But you'll be short of space and time. Up north you'll get a much bigger place to live but you might well find that it's all a bit limited (depends on what your interests are really). Cities like Saudi Sportswashing Machine, Leeds and Manchester could offer a reasonable compromise.

 

[southstand1882]

Or live in a nice town with a 20-30 minute train ride to London

Twickenham, Surbiton, Kingston etc

They all have plenty of restaurants, bars and even clubs, but you're a gnats pube away from London and living in a decent area

Northern cities are northern cities. They remind me of towns in the South. They're nothing like London

 

[Leeds Spur]

Agreed.

NIce to see some realistic posts here!!

 

[Leeds Spur]

Or live in a nice town with a 20-30 minute train ride to London

Twickenham, Surbiton, Kingston etc

They all have plenty of restaurants, bars and even clubs, but you're a gnats pube away from London and living in a decent area

Northern cities are northern cities. They remind me of towns in the South. They're nothing like London

Towns in the south? Lol

 

[Park Lane James]

Double post - the editing system has some sort of flaw.

 

[Park Lane James]

What sort of job will you be looking for?

Within the area of sport ideally. I'm studying Sport and Exercise Science at University and currently doing a dissertation on coach/mental toughness. So anything to do with well-being of an athlete/coach, sports psychology - extending to agency work or player development. I'm very open as to what I want to do, I will work towards that area, but if other opportunities arise then I'm more than willing to investigate and perhaps head down a different career path.

What sort of commute do you have now from Kent if you had to do it for a few weeks?

To London? I can get the high-speed rail link up to St.Pancras in an hour and a half (to Victoria in two hours). From there it depends on where I want to go via the underground network.

Are you bothered about living in a crap area and/or a crap house i.e. not so nice

Not particularly, where I live in Portsmouth isn't exactly the nicest area! It's one of those things where if I had to do it then I would, but would prefer to go to a part of London with a lower crime rate.

Do you like to go out drinking/clubbing - whats your sort of scene e.g. standard bars, posher affairs etc

For sure! I love going out and having a few drinks. I prefer bars and pubs more than nightclubs if I'm honest. So, anywhere that plays decent music and that can cater for themed nights. I'm into all sorts of music, but am very partial to hip-hop, ska (first wave and revival), mid-60s rock, late 70s/early 80s punk etc.

Is proximity to facilities of importance e.g. shopping, tubes, supermarkets, cinemas etc

I guess it's always of an importance, but I'm more than happy to walk 10 minutes or so to find a tube station, high street or a mall.

I mean in London there are so many factors to consider really, I lived in Bethnal Green for a year in a shared house paying £800 plus bills thinking I'd be tearing up Shoreditch every night but in reality I wasn't and could easily have lived a bit further out/in a cheaper place and had the same social life.

Living in Borough now and pay £1,200 plus bills for a 2 bed place which I partially own, by far and away a better area. Near enough everything about it is fantastic, so much going on and I can get to anywhere else with ease due to transport connections etc