Anyone commute into London?

clankk

clankk

clankk

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25 Dec 2010
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2011 - finally decided to leave london but have to keep my job, currently work in Covent Garden. Looking to buy a place, 3 - 4 bed outside london. Dont take the underground, ever, so access into london bridge or Euston preferable, about an hour commute on train.

Looking for ideas / news places coming up and also things like how much parking cost if i have to leave car at the station. My monthly train ticket budget is £400.
Any ideas will be much appreciated. Thanks.
 
That leaves you with a lot of choice. Rochester is around an hour away from London bridge by train. Nice area too. Check the southeastern train website to see how much a monthly season ticket would be. If you want to avoid larger towns, there ate a few villages like greenhithe, 35 min commute, or higham, 50 min commute, on that same line. The village option would get rid of the parking cost as the stations are in walking distance.
 
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I pay (or at least did) £180 a month for all zones, commute into London Bridge every day and get a bus to Old Street. I use to work near Holborn which is pretty close to Covent Garden. You shouldn't have too much trouble.

I am just on the inside of the southern bit M25 (M23/M25 junction) smidgen outside Zone 6, for London Bridge you'll need to be looking at the Southern areas mostly.

Travel time is 1hr 30min door to door each way. I don't find it much hassle, quite enjoy the time to myself with no work/family bothering me. The only thing it causes problems with is work social life as later on trains cut down to once an hour to a station 20min walk away. My local station is 5-10min walk but is on the tail end of a branch.

Oh my house is a 3 bed semi.
 
Do you have any requirements or ideas as to where you want to live?

I'd have thought working in Covent Garden would also rule in anywhere with a good link to Charing Cross or even Waterloo as well. You mentioned somewhere with a good link to Euston - but that would also rule in Kings Cross as well, wouldn't it? Cambridge is a nice area and is 45-50 minutes to Kings Cross.

The question is... do you want to move slightly outside of London (and still be able to go to London on nights out etc) or do you want to move out further - where the houses are cheaper and stuff...
 
I live in Kent and regularly use the Southeastern high speed service from Ebbsfleet. Takes 17 minutes to get to St Pancras which is on the Piccadilly line for Covent Garden.
Its a tad more expensive than the normal rail services but if you live nearby its brilliant.

Monthly ticket is £420 inclusive of zones 1-6. Parking on site is £120 per month extra.
 
daz said:
I'd have thought working in Covent Garden would also rule in anywhere with a good link to Charing Cross or even Waterloo as well.
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Indeed. Both of these are a far shorter walk to Covent Garden than Euston or London Bridge.
 
I used to commute from my parents place in Hertfordshire before I moved into London.

A train ticket on London Midland (West Coast Mainline) to Euston was roughly £210 a month... which had gone up every year, so I'd imagine it's even more now.

Parking in the station Car Park was another thing that kept going up... think it reached about £6 a day, but you could buy season passes of various lengths that made it a little cheaper.

I then took the Tube from Euston to Oxford Circus which worked out about another £90 a month.

All in, I'd say that the cost equates to about the same you would pay for a decent flat/house share in London itself.

I don't miss the crowded trains where you have to stand up if you aren't on the train early before it leaves Euston, or the weird world of the morning commute where you are on a packed train but everyone is silent. You of course also have the odd delay here and there and the occasional complete problem on the line that stops you getting in.

I guess it depends how old you are, but if you already live in London, you might find it a chore... on the other hand if you are settling down with a family, it's a good choice.
 
JBod said:
I am just on the inside of the southern bit M25 (M23/M25 junction) smidgen outside Zone 6, for London Bridge you'll need to be looking at the Southern areas mostly.

Travel time is 1hr 30min door to door each way. I don't find it much hassle, quite enjoy the time to myself with no work/family bothering me. The only thing it causes problems with is work social life as later on trains cut down to once an hour to a station 20min walk away. My local station is 5-10min walk but is on the tail end of a branch.

Oh my house is a 3 bed semi.
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Came here to post almost exactly this. eerie.
 
Nice. Looking to settle down, family etc so space and away from hustle and bustle of london. i'm hoping 200 - 225K will get me something decent even if I have to do some work myself. South east, Rochester etc looks promising. Thanks
 
clankk said:
Nice. Looking to settle down, family etc so space and away from hustle and bustle of london. i'm hoping 200 - 225K will get me something decent even if I have to do some work myself. South east, Rochester etc looks promising. Thanks
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Just FYI then, our place is in a small village called Hooley. If you head down the A23 from London towards Brighton you drive through it in about 8 seconds (if there is no traffic) and about 30 seconds later you are on the M23.

Our 3 bed semi cost £218,000. Offer was accepted in March '09 but didn't complete until November '09 (land rights issues, long story). It needed every room decorating, rewiring, a new kitchen and will be getting a bathroom revamp in a few months. House was originally up for about £275,000.

Nearest station is 2 miles away, trains from there go into Victoria and Waterloo every 20-30 minutes and only take 35 mins I think.

Area is very nice, very quiet & very green. Its got a Croydon postcode but falls under Reigate and Banstead council.
 
Don't know about house prices as I only know people my age whose parents live there, but Hayes area (Hayes, west wickham, beckenham, bromley, orpington) can get you straight into london bridge in 25- 35mins ish.
 
borich_planner said:
High speed 1 line is great for commuting from north Kent. Gravesend to Kings cross in 20 mins. Downside is the area is a total dump!
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Elaborate dump? I'm not into clubs, pubs, high streets etc but if we talking no schools, asbo etc ..... also what's the risk of floods in some of these places; Rochester, gillingham
 
clankk said:
Elaborate dump? I'm not into clubs, pubs, high streets etc but if we talking no schools, asbo etc ..... also what's the risk of floods in some of these places; Rochester, gillingham
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I can't remember Rochester or gillingham ever flooding. Also avoid Chatham. It's like everything bad about the UK converged in that place.
 
clankk said:
Compromise really, looking to get a decent house not flat or 1 bed which is what I'd get nearer work.
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Make sure the commute isn't too long as you'll soon regret it :(

OriginalJonty said:
True. I'm a gravesend resident. Looking to move as soon as possible.
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I lived there my self for 2 years before the high speed train, I used to have to be up by 6 every morning to get to work in central London by 9 :(

MW
 
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