Living In London Advice

[delmorpha]

I've just accepted a job in London and Im a bit stumped to where to live, was wondering if anyone could give me some sound advice with regards to safe areas to look, with decent rent prices/the most space.

Ideally I want somewhere with easy access to Oxford Circus, but I want a place with the most space possible thats not anywhere near gang warfare. I definitely don't want to house share, and am willing to pay for that, but I'm not on a limitless budget! I'm thinking outskirts of the underground, but have no clue to where is ok? Any advice?

I've had a scan through gumtree for prices etc, but its areas Im interested in mainly.

[Over Carl]

If your going to live on the outskirts of the underground, make sure you are near the tube, as the trains run reasonably well, but can take a while, so the last thing you want to do is wait 30 mins for a bus thats not coming to get you to the station. Also actually in london, the bus services are reasonable, but once you get to the outskirts, services drop to pretty poor levels. I come from hounslow which probably wouldnt be suitable to you as its near heathrow. Rents cheap here but I wouldn't recommend it as these days there are way to many chav kids and smack/crack heads around. Shame as it was a nice area when I grew up.

[FireBlade]

I like the Finchley area myself dont know much about London village but seemed like an ok area to me. I think North of the river is preferred by many

[Over Carl]

North seems to be the rich area, finchley's not bad. I reckon west is probably next, dunno which I would prefer out of south/east.

[muttleymacclad]

very tough one to answer really.

What you need to do is look where you're going to be working and then decide how long you want to take to get there. Is oxford circus where you'll be working?

Commuting in london can take a long time or can be be really fast depends on what mode of transport you want to use, how many changes you have to make etc.

i agree with fireblade, finchley is nice, west hampstead if you can afford it is nice but there are so many good and bad areas in london. Northwest london is ok in my experience.
MML

[Roach-Rampino]

I have a friend who has a flat for rent in SE19. I will email him and get you some details if you wish?

[delmorpha]

Cheers guys, much appreciated! Im working a few minutes walk from the Oxford Circus subway stop so ideally I was hoping somewhere close to the underground stops. I dont mind a longer journey in, as long as the area I'm living in is safe and the rent isn't ridiculously expensive!

[delmorpha]

I have a friend who has a flat for rent in SE19. I will email him and get you some details if you wish?

That would be great, thanks! Any details on it would be much appreciated!

[GTI]

North of the river definitely. The south is over-priced for what it is, ditto the East of London (which IMHO is very grubby).

I would personally aim for somewhere like Cricklewood, Finchley, Hendon, Wembley, Golders Green, Belsize Park etc.. The other advantage of the North of town is that we have the Lion's share of the tube/train network. Within 10 minutes of my home I have the Metropolitain, Northern, Jubilee and Bakerloo lines as well as a Thameslink overground train (from Hendon) into the City.

Life is good up North

[DJ OD]

Stick to NW London mate. Near the Metropolitan and Jubilee tube lines.

From Wembley Park (tube) you can get to Oxford Circus in 20mins.

Lots of new flats about in Wembley due to new stadium and the like. Most of London has nice and nasty areas. View a few places and you will instantly tell if you're in a bad area/road.

What's your budget?


DJ OD

[muttleymacclad]

the other thing to consider is although your work is a few minutes from oxford circus there may be other tube stations on different lines that are only a few minutes extra walk to your walk that are more convenient for where your going to live.

[GTI]

the other thing to consider is although your work is a few minutes from oxford circus there may be other tube stations on different lines that are only a few minutes extra walk to your walk that are more convenient for where your going to live.

I think Wembley would be ideal for him. Take the Met line train which gets you to Baker St in <15 mins. Then change for the Bakerloo to Oxford Circus or the Jubilee to Bond Street. I can get from Wembley Park to Oxford St in 30 mins max.

[yazooo]

Yeah I live near Wembley. Anywhere up there is good. Also consider Hendon, Golders green, nice places, not too pricey, and handy as long as you're near the tube. Further north, end of the jubilee line, stanmore is nice.

Other branch of the northern line is also good, more pricey though, looking at areas like totteridge, high barnet and finchley.

[gunner]

I live in Borehamwood, north London, which is about 15 miles from Oxford circus, and get a train to central london (overground) that takes about 30 mins.
It all depends on your budget, central London is very expensive - my bro has just got a place in Hammersmith, which is West London and he pays £1300 for a 2 bedroom place. I pay about £900 on a mortgage on a 3 bedroom house.

What did you have in mind to spend? Do you want to share?

[delmorpha]

What's your budget?


DJ OD

I was hoping less than £700 a month total including bills but after looking at prices now Im not sure!

[Tommy J]

£700 a month will get you a 1 bed flat in E London on the district line.

Hornchurch is where I use to live, quite a nice area. Everything on your doorstep. You can get the C2C train from Upminster which is 20 mins from London or the district line which takes about 35/40 mins into Bank/Embankment/Liverpool St.

As well as work, it's not far from loads of nice restaurants, cafe's and Romford for Nightlife, Lakeside for Shopping and there's a Bingo hall

Check out http://www.upmystreet.com/ for info on the areas

[londoner]

I live in Oakwood...nice area on the end of the piccadilly line.

In the summer its great, with some lovely parks to chill out in.

And only 30 mins into the west end

[DJ OD]

Might be hard to find a nice place for £700 in North London TBH...

You will have to sacrifice space to get into that price bracket. I'll have a look in the local rag, if I can find one!


DJ OD

[Fresh]

I live in Clapham, right next to the highstreet and the common, takes 20 minutes to get to Oxford street - Northen line to Stockwell and then a change onto Victoria line. Old town area is the nicest, which is more toward Clapham junction side. Claphams also full of young professionals which means the nightlife is actually pretty good.

With regards to recent events - I live about 500 metres from where it happened and honestly we still cant see a problem with the area. These things happen and those responsible keep very much to themselves. I go out in Clapham all the time and we never get any problems with fights, let alone anything worse. Be careful though if you move into any sort of ex-council estate, but then that goes for anywhere, in london or further afield!

From looking round before we moved to Clapham, you yourself should really go round areas and get a feel for them. Ask estate agents where the "no go" areas are and dont even consider them, they are stupidly cheap for a reason. Also remember that londons one of those places that can turn from posh to dodgy in 200 metres.

One place we went to visit, the occupants were so scared of the neighbours they demanded to see our ID [door on the chain] and they phoned the agents to confirm who we were!!! We told them straight away that it wasnt for us.

[biotricon]

How about Putney?

Easily find something nice for between £500-600pcm. Youngish vibe & lowest council tax in the country (Wandsworth borough)

Zone 2 District Line but for Oxford Circus take the train into Waterloo then the Bakerloo line straight to Oxford Circus (about 20mins in total).