ok im going to generalise now.
Would you really want to move out of the city and move far away and earn a crappy 20k a year tops?
Blah blah spouty rubbish
Well, I'm in banking too and there are many 'admin' staff over £20k, I suspect the OP would maybe qualify a little higher than that. I love it when people with your attitude - London Wideboys - come out to the 'sticks' telling everyone how a) they are wrong and incompetant and b) how important anyone from London is. Then they go away and we laugh at the fact that they don't know their arse from their elbow much of the time.
Let me spell it out for you. London is stupidly expensive, because of a minority of wideboy traders who get massive bonuses and push the price of everything up as their £1m bonus is dead easy to spend. The OP could find a similar house up here in Hartlepool, 35 mins from Newcastle for 60-70% of what he'd sell his for. I know a great deal of people who are junior managers on more than £20k - we've abandoned the barter system 'oop north' recently and are getting used to your 'pounds and pences'. Newcastle is a great place to work, dead easy to get to and you can hapily pick up a 6 figure salary. Problem is, you need to be Q-U-A-L-I-F-I-E-D because they don't give jobs like that away up here like they do in London. Having seen the OP post over many years, I get the feeling he is an intelligent sort and could manage it. Houses up here are no longer pit cottages by the way, we live in the same kind of places you do.
In the North East, there are several large towns but stunning countryside and a better pace of life. If you want a slightly faster pace of life, there is Manchester and the surrounding area - liverpool, Blackburn, Bolton etc. Surprising as it may be to a londoner, there are also clever people there and not all scousers steal your trainers. Though some might if they here your accent I suppose.
Then you can look at Sheffield and surround area for something different. There are big firms there too. Rumour has it that there is even a Tesco (or should that be Waitrose?) Same with Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Finally, the comment about 'soccer moms and incompetant admin staff' - grow up son. Many of my issues at work come from London, and those soccer mom's end up having to fix it. Any firm that employs idiots as admin will struggle to survive in this climate. All the 'soccer mom' admin staff I've worked with have been totally dedicated and work their asses off everyday.
Anyway, good luck Huddy - can't go on letting work mass with your life. You might have lots of nice things and end up with lots of cash, but being the richest man in the graveyard is not an accolade you want tbh. There is also no point working yourself into a situation where you can't enjoy your life.