Life in London and tips for moving there

[pepper 8]

I grew up near Richmond, it's pretty nice there.

 

Have the tube (District line) plus the train. Fast train regularly from Richmond to Waterloo.

 

When I go back next year, this is the area I want to live.

[gus1933gus 0]

I would have to agree that even though Richmond is very beautiful it is a little way out and also quite boring. Islington (Angle tube stop specifically) is quite central in fact, other than there being loads or restaurants and bars up there, its only 3 stops form bank tube stop if you work in the city and one change to the west end. This is heavenly when living in London where the commute is the killer, or alt least one of them.

 

If one would like a more relaxing quiet time then Richmond is perfect, if one is looking for more of a party then Islington is probably better among other places

(Putney,Clapham, Fulham)

[pepper 8]

the great thing about Richmond, although it is out a little far, it does not take long to get into London centre, and there is always the N97 back again !

[Jimbo 1,269]

The great thing about Islington though is that nobody from proper London will think you're a t**t, unlike if you live in Richmond ;)

[pepper 8]

I grew up around Richmond/Kingston.

 

So just what are you saying ?

[Jimbo 1,269]

People from London will all think you're a posh t**t. I'm from Hertfordshire though, so they all think even worse of me mate (and arguably they're right).

[interplanetjanet 164]

Well, I didn't grow up in London and have only been there a few times, but my brother-in-law lives off the Mudshute stop on the DLR and it seems nice enough. It's just a walk under the river to the park and shops, Tesco is right around the corner and it's a convenient location. His apartment is a bit industrial looking, but they houses in the neighborhood seem nice enough, even rather quaint. I could definitely handle living there, though his apartment costs about 1.5X what I pay in Ismaning, and my apartment is twice the size.

[Showem 865]

Mudshute. Heheheh. And you think the German's have funny names.

[Big C 2]

 

Tesco now stocks Erdinger Weissbier!

Who cares where you live as long as it's near a Tescos!!!

[Johnny English 3,058]

Quite amusing this really.

 

Just considering Jimbo that if someone comes from say Islington then they would think that people from Richmond are posh twats, and of course the Richmond folk will think people from Islington are common twats. Just the way of the world.

 

I met a mates bird with a really weird "posh" accent once...turned out she was from Birmingham and had tried to adopt the accent. Now THAT is a twat.

 

Although to be honest when I was an FX broker I worked with all Essex boys - and spoke almost 100% "allright-fella-howzit-goin" all day long.

[K1w1 1]

What's Stoke Newington like? I'm moving there in September, was told it was "real" London and full of Hasidic Jews (don't really see how black clothed Jewish men make London real, but rock on), is all of east London slightly dodgy or just the Phil Mitchell-like part?

[Hutcho 2,225]

I used to live in London, in Camden Town. It was really good, because it was cheap (866 pounds a month for a 2 bed apartment), but was really central with the tube and lots of buses into cerntral london. I used to bike to work in Baker St in 10 minutes through Regents Park and rent there was over twice as much..

 

Overall it is in almost every respect more expensive than Munich, however if you are getting 55 grand, I can tell you that you have nothing to worry about! Unless you have a family, but even then you will get by without any trouble..

[Hutcho 2,225]

Oh yeh, and don't go south of the river, that is a rule I alway stuck by since actually going south of the river :)

[Topsy 32]

 

What's Stoke Newington like? I'm moving there in September, was told it was "real" London and full of Hasidic Jews (don't really see how black clothed Jewish men make London real, but rock on), is all of east London slightly dodgy or just the Phil Mitchell-like part?

i wouldn't call east london dodgy, but it's a long way from posh

if you like posh, you'd be best off moving to richmond or somewhere

personally, i lived in richmond when i first moved to london (because i'd been advised it was a "nice" place to live) - i lasted 6 weeks, couldn't stand it, full of hooray henries, i had nothing in common with those people, i just stayed in of an evening and cried

you're better off living somewhere with real people, and stoke newington certainly qualifies (i ended up in brixton, which also qualifies as "real" - and i loved it)

i think there are new vegetarian restaurants and trendy cafés popping up every week in stoke newington, this is what i'm led to believe anyway

it's one of the safer bits of east london (it's officially north london, anyway, innit?)

not on the tube, though

get a bus down the road to hackney, you can have some good nights out in hackney (i did), and cab it back home

it'll be a bit of a shock to the system after the fluffy cotton-wool life we live here in munich ;)

[Propellor Head 0]

A little late to the party here fellas but I'd say east not west on 50gs a year in London. Trying to live in Richmond on that wedge would not be amusing for you - perhaps for the neighbors.

[K1w1 1]

 

i wouldn't call east london dodgy, but it's a long way from posh

if you like posh, you'd be best off moving to richmond or somewhere

personally, i lived in richmond when i first moved to london (because i'd been advised it was a "nice" place to live) - i lasted 6 weeks, couldn't stand it, full of hooray henries, i had nothing in common with those people, i just stayed in of an evening and cried

you're better off living somewhere with real people, and stoke newington certainly qualifies (i ended up in brixton, which also qualifies as "real" - and i loved it)

i think there are new vegetarian restaurants and trendy cafés popping up every week in stoke newington, this is what i'm led to believe anyway

it's one of the safer bits of east london (it's officially north london, anyway, innit?)

not on the tube, though

get a bus down the road to hackney, you can have some good nights out in hackney (i did), and cab it back home

it'll be a bit of a shock to the system after the fluffy cotton-wool life we live here in munich

 

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Cotton wool isn't all it's cracked up to be, it causes chafing in the summer. Nice to hear Stokey's one of the safer parts of east London, no need to sleep with a knife under my pillow then. My flat is actually pretty close to the tube, about 5 streets over fron Manor House. Ooh, it's nice to know I will have a social life close to home, I live in Feldmoching at the moment where the most exciting place is Pinoccio's Mucis Cafe that closes around 11 :blink:

[jordigo 15]

what will really get on yer tits is the commute. it is a bitch. if you work in the city, DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES MOVE TO SOMEWHERE LIKE TEDDINGTON OR PUTNEY OR WIMBLEDON. people will tell you "it's only 20mins into waterloo" and forget to tell you that at 8.30am it actually takes another half hour to walk from your train to the waterloo and city platform

 

convenient locations if you work in the west end and do not want to spend south ken or notting hill money are pimlico or bayswater. you can rent a decent furnished one-bed ("zwei zimmer") flat in pimlico for 250 pounds a week which is like 1,100 per month. bear in mind that you will have to pay council tax.

 

bayswater and pimlico are westminster. expect to pay 55ish quid council tax per month for a 1-bed. other boroughs (camden, islington, etc) will charge twice as much and you will be further out so your travelcard will be more expensive. bottom line: live in the cheaper parts of zone 1, it is worth it in every way (e.g. pimlico: walk home from the west end, do not look for a cab, do not pass go, do not pay 20quid for a 7mile journey)

 

on 40k you will feel rather poor. on 55k you will be a bit more comfortable but by no means the king of mambo. 55k should equate to just over 3 grand a month after NI and income tax. it varies a bit depending on whether you have a company pension, contract out, contribute AVCs etc

 

government health "insurance" (read: NHS) is free. usually your company will pay for private health (BUPA or the likes)

 

generally, expect your money to dissappear faster than it does in MUC. that is not just because stuff is more expensive. in MUC, a lot of the fun stuff is free: hang out in the englischer garden, go hiking, go cycling. in London nothing is free, and you can't go hiking, cycling, etc unless you leave town

 

leaving town is a bitch. from zone 1, expect to drive for at least an hour to see some proper greenery (no I do not think hyde park or hampstead heath are "proper greenery"). if you play golf, surrey is a dream but it is a bitch to get to on the weekend since you have to cross south london which is a maze of one-lane streets

 

generally expect to feel poor not only because money evaporates at the speed of light, but also because so many people have so unbelievably much of it and you can see it everywhere. "relativity theory" if you will ;-)

 

I love London. when my Munich gig ended I instinctively went back there. now I am glad I don't actually live there because the logistics of life in London are just sooo much hassle. however, I would not want to stop going back there at the very least once a month.

[Hutcho 2,225]

 

on 40k you will feel rather poor. on 55k you will be a bit more comfortable but by no means the king of mambo.

What are you talking about? Do you have a 100 pound a day coke habit?

 

I have friends that live in London and work in pubs on 10 grand a year! You will be living it up on 30 grand let alone 40 or 55!

 

As you said, for 55k you'll probably get about 3 grand in hand each month.. factor in 1000 for rent and council tax and you still have 2 grand left each month..

[Jimbo 1,269]

It's all relative, but my household income is more than 55k and we don't feel particularly rich and neither of us has a coke habit (and we have a company car too). We live in a 2 bedroom house in Bromley - leaving a 25 minute commute to Victoria (so about 35mins to W1).

[Guest]

Will you lot shut up! I'm feelin' homesick.

 

Don't believe a word. If I were ever to go back it would be somewhere between Putney and Southwark, and somewhere close to the water (couldn't be doing with livin' with all those foreigners norf of the river).

 

I always had this dream about restoring a handful of Thames pleasure boats and converting them back to steam (I worked on the conversion of Streatley - volunteered for love). Then running trips from Westminster to Hampton Court... maybe even back on the original service to Folly Bridge, Oxford. S'in me blood, see. Always wanted to convert a tug and turn it into a home. Then again, I always had this dream of becoming a billionaire and buying Sheen Gulls. Time is tickin'. :(