Calling all London Commuters !

Conanius

Conanius

Conanius

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
12,902
Considering taking a job in London at the moment, but im wondering where to move to if I take it. Currently If I stay in Cheltenham, it will cost me 7.5k to get the train to London, Tube to the office, and then back again.. thats using one of those fancy season tickets to get a bit of saving...

now, the cost isnt an issue (as its one hell of a substantial payrise!) but what is an issue is the 2 hour commute JUST to get me to paddington...

Ideally I want my commute time to be not much more than 1hr 30 (allowing 30 mins to get from Paddington to the office which is near victoria station), be west of London, with good transport links to get back to Cheltenham.

Currently, Reading looks a good shout, with the season ticket costing 3.5k from there, and the commute to cheltenham being a sinch, and a mere 75 miles....

so.. where do you lot recommend? and if any of you have any season ticket prices for your location, it'd be appreciated.

House wise I need to go to a mortgage advisor to confirm how much I can get with the new salary, but ive had quotes online ranging up to about 190k, ideally I dont want to spend more than 150k on the house which would need to be a 2 bed, ideally with a drive. so if you know rough house prices in your area, that would also be fantastic.

aware this is a bit of a massive request, but im confident that the OCUK community can give me some great suggestions !
 
Have you thought about looking down south? If you live there you can get overground trains that go straight into Victoria, so you wont need to use the underground - you can get off your overground train and walk into work.

The properties in Kent are quite reasonable.

Look in rightmove for any areas that are recommended to you here.

Personally, I wouldnt stand for a journey-to-work time of more than 35mins.
 
sunama said:
Have you thought about looking down south? If you live there you can get overground trains that go straight into Victoria, so you wont need to use the underground - you can get off your overground train and walk into work.

The properties in Kent are quite reasonable.

Look in rightmove for any areas that are recommended to you here.

Personally, I wouldnt stand for a journey-to-work time of more than 35mins.
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the only problem with that is that it makes my commute back to cheltenham a bit of a nightmare..... Reading is right on the direct train link, as well as the M4 for M4-off at Swindon A419 - A417 - Gloucester/Cheltenham in about an hour lovin....

I think ive pretty much talked myself into Reading really, so unless theres somewhere else that I can get close to this sort of ease of use, I'll probably end up asking for advice as to where to look in Reading !
 
I would recommend Bedfordshire, 30 mins to kings cross from where i live, which is around the centre of the county, and that's not a straight through train either. Couldnt really comment on season ticket price, or house prices as you havent said what sort of house your looking for :p

Edit: yes you did specify house specs, lol, it's getting too late for me :o
Prices average at around 150k for a two bedroomed house
 
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Unless it's an amazing job, I'd avise against that sort of thing myself. Working within London and living outside, on a 9-5 weekday job, is probably commuting hell. Tubes will be heaving, buses will be stuffed, trains heading there will be packed, motorways in will be incredibly busy, roads and stations can often be inconveniently closed, and driving within London is a nightmare at the best of times. It's more than just the cost imo, it's whether you want to waste so much of your time and blood pressure doing all that commuting every day.

If that's your thing then fair play, go for it, but I guess it's just not for me. :)
 
I think he wants to commute in between Cheltenham, Victoria and his new place. Befordshire (luton, et all) would be a bit out of the way.

I think Slough is also close to Reading, though parts of Slough do have a slight reputation.

Reading is good to get to from Paddington and if you dont mind the long commute, then Reading isn't bad at all.
 
Welshy said:
I would recommend Bedfordshire, 30 mins to kings cross from where i live, which is around the centre of the county, and that's not a straight through train either. Couldnt really comment on season ticket price, or house prices as you havent said what sort of house your looking for :p
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I think you'll find I did in my first post... unless you wanted me to describe the style !?
 
Weebull said:
Unless it's an amazing job, I'd avise against that sort of thing myself. Working within London and living outside, on a 9-5 weekday job, is probably commuting hell.
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I know quite a few people who do it (I used to), but they're all down south. Most of them work at Lloyds, Underwriting, so it kinda is a pretty good job.
 
Weebull said:
Unless it's an amazing job, I'd avise against that sort of thing myself. Working within London and living outside, on a 9-5 weekday job, is probably commuting hell. Tubes will be heaving, buses will be stuffed, trains heading there will be packed, motorways in will be incredibly busy, roads and stations can often be inconveniently closed, and driving within London is a nightmare at the best of times. It's more than just the cost imo, it's whether you want to waste so much of your time and blood pressure doing all that commuting every day.

If that's your thing then fair play, go for it, but I guess it's just not for me. :)
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for me, its definately worth it, even if tis just for a few years, without going into too much detail, its a dam good package ive been offered, and id be able to get some further training done at the same time
 
Zefan said:
My ex's Dad used to commute 4/5 working days (From home the rest).
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swindon was actually a first choice, until I saw the 6.5 ticket cost, for only 1k less than cheltenham, id just bloody commute from where I am now !
 
Reading is quite good into paddington, granted i don't commute daily, but the fast trains are about 25 mins from reading to paddington, and pretty reliable when i've used them. Big advantage imo is that almost all (if not all) of the fast trains from paddington stop at reading, so its a very regular service, well connected at paddington for the tube as well.

No idea about property prices in reading, but i'd imagine you could find something, whether its in a nice area or not is another matter......
 
You seem pretty much decided on Reading fella, and you could do a lot worse.

It's an up and coming town... soon to be a city by all accounts if it's application goes through. House prices are on the rise too so anything bought will be sold for considerably more a few years from now.
Like all other sizeable towns, it has its bad areas, but they're well hidden.

As has been said, trains are a breeze into Paddington. It's busy, but for a 30 minute journey it's easy to put up with. And if you're working in Paddington, you may be able to avoid the tube which, in these temperatures, is a god send.

Go for it fella, and good luck with everything.
 
Come and live in Bedfordshire its near meeeeee!!!! :) Its great, when I work in london, I can leave catch the 0745 train and be at my desk within an hour from Luton Central!!!! Its the drive from my house to the station, parking etc that takes like 45 mins!!!!

I'll have to have a chat to you on MSN mate! :)
 
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Isnt Reading quite pricey?

Ia gree with everything said so far, about it being a good choice, but for 150k I think the OP would be looking at probably just a 1 bed flat near the station, or possibly a 2 bed house a driveable distance away...
 
once you start working in town it become increasingly difficult to get out.. You get used to the money which means taking a drop. Be sure it's really what you want.

Then you have to think of train delays, short trains and stikes (which there is one on Friday).. That said, i'd put up with a delayed train over being stuck on the M25 for 2 hours.

I don't do tubes so can't comment.

Train fares usually increase every january and they can be anything upto 10% :eek: Best thing to do is buy your annual ticket just before the prices are increased :D

Best of luck
 
hey mate,
personally i wouldn't really recomend reading, not the nicest of places to live i'm afriad :( some very dubious bits too it and a pretty stale night life (imho, i'm sure some others will disagree)

Come live in Guildford ;) the train into waterloo is about 45min, although the house prices are a bit of a mare, maybe go for somewhere like godalming or down towards Farnham, although again Farnhams blood pricey, but places like tongham are near good train lines and have reasonable house prices, just went to look at a nice place yesterday for my girlfriend in the area, no drive but a nice end of terrace with a decent sized garden and a little over the top conservatory.

anyhows give us a yell on messanger if you wanna chat about the area or come for a visit :)
 
I live in a small town called Chesham which is the last stop on the tube which is in Bucks. A season ticket from here is just ofver £2k I think as the missus commutes into Charring Cross.

Places like Hemel Hempstead, Watford etc are worth considering and are positioned quite ideally so you have quick access to the M4, M25, M1 etc
 
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