Living in London

megakid

megakid

megakid

Associate
Joined
6 Jun 2004
Posts
2,389
Location
London
Hi all,

Just after a little bit of advice - I've just been offered a job at canary wharf, London and have recieved the contract today detailing the salary etc.

Simple question related to that:
What do you guys think is a comfortable starting pay packet for living in the city?? I dont have accomodation or live there at the moment, also I enjoy a night in the city to have fun...

James
 
Flat share then at least £400 a month plus bills and council tax, if you want your own place then depending where, about £700 a month on rent plus the rest.

I wouldn't move down to london for less than £20,000k salary and that is cutting it as it won't leave you much for fun stuff.
 
megakid said:
Hi all,

Just after a little bit of advice - I've just been offered a job at canary wharf, London and have recieved the contract today detailing the salary etc.

Simple question related to that:
What do you guys think is a comfortable starting pay packet for living in the city?? I dont have accomodation or live there at the moment, also I enjoy a night in the city to have fun...

James
Click to expand...

A respectable pay packet will depend solely on how you wish to live. Do you want to live alone, or flat share? Where would you like to live?

In my opinion, living in London for less than £25,000 p.a would be a real struggle, no matter how you wish to live.
 
Yep, I would say £20K as a bare minimum.
That wouldn't leave you much left over at the end of the month though and I would say £25K is more realistic if you want to have a reasonable lifestyle.

I work in Canary Wharf too and a word of advice. Don't live anywhere that means you have to get the Jubilee line from Waterloo as it's an absolute nightmare!

EDIT This is assuming a house/flat share - add another few £K if you want to live alone
 
Haircut said:
I work in Canary Wharf too and a word of advice. Don't live anywhere that means you have to get the Jubilee line from Waterloo as it's an absolute nightmare!
Click to expand...

I guess you mean at peak times? :p

On £24k after tax i imagine you're looking at £18k, which is £1500 a month.

You'll have to spend half your net monthly income after tax on a studio/1 bedroom place somewhere central or nice in docklands, but you can get a really nice houseshare or flatshare for £600 a month (2 bed places work out so much better than 1 bedders)
 
daz said:
I guess you mean at peak times? :p
Click to expand...

Yep, I generally get on it sometime in the hour before 9. I've had to wait for 7 tubes before, gradually getting nearer to the doors as each subsequent one comes and goes!
 
You want to be on £23K

you wont get a place on the door step but you can live out in the SE quite happily and spend 350 a month on a room else buy the house opp my in road in barnehurst ,two bed terrace 155k needs some work then rent out the 2nd room and train it to lewisham and then DLR 45min journey time :)
 
I used to work at Canary Wharf - who are you working for and are you permi or contractor?

I was paying £550 a month (incl bills) for a room in a nice 3 bed flat in Clapham, which was about average so make sure you've got enough to cover that kind of rent, plus food and entertainment (obviously relatively expensive in London) plus your £80 a month underground ticket....as long as you can do all that and still put some in the bank each month I reckon you're sorted. If in doubt, ask the company you're working for if you wage includes the 'london weighting' and how much it is (think it should be around £3,000).
 
Ps: The Jubille line asn't that bad....it's the northern line you want to worry about ;)

Nah, you'll soon get a taste for cuddling up to strangers on the way to work!
 
The Jubilee line is actually pretty good compared to most (Victoria too), so I'd suggest you work along that.

There's a lot to be said for living in the Docklands - the flats are new and largely well finished. You will be quite a distance from the city. This may not seem like a problem with good tube connections, but expect to bankrupt yourself getting a taxi home after a night out. Several CW employers (I know Morgan Stanley do) will pay for a bicycle for their employees (as part of a get fit/save the environment thing), so this could be an avenue to explore if you don't mind a little exertion first thing and (more importantly) last thing in the day.

no one really seems to live in the Bermondsey area (or, rather, no one who lives there seems to take the tube), so I can't really advise.

Going further west it is, believe it or not, just about possible to get a decent two bedroom place in Mayfair (nr. Green Park for your purposes). You'd probably both need to be on around 25k after tax, but this isn't unheard of for 'City' boys ;). The place will be a little smaller, but you really can't argue with the location. Bond Street station is a similar story.

Further on, you have St John's Wood and the very popular (for CW people) Swiss Cottage/Belsize Park area, which probably strikes the best balance between cost/commute/quality of life. Again, I don't really know much further up the line.

Good luck with the new job and don't spend the whole sign-on bonus at once :)
 
I work at Canary Wharf and live a 15 minute walk down Millwall dock away. I used to live in Belgravia (Jubilee then Piccadilly) but got so sick of it decided I needed to be closer. Am suprirsed nobody has mentioned Greenwich, it's like being out of London, has great nightlife and is a 5/10 minute DLR ride away or you could walk it in about half an hour, that's where i'll be moving to next :)
 
im looking at living in london for the first year of my new job (will then consider moving out to reading ish area)

Id appreaciate a breakdown of costs off you guys who believe you can live on 23k, very interested to see how much you see things to cost.

Ideally (and I do say ideally) im looking for a 1bed apartment for myself in clapham/wimbledon ish area, as ive been told thats a good area and not too expensive. Commute is to the westminster ish area (westminster tube route would be bloody fantastic)
 
Whats the "london weighting"? I've just got a new job in the centre of London and would love the opportunity to grab an extra grand or two for my rail fares (but i dont live in London)
 
Conanius said:
im looking at living in london for the first year of my new job (will then consider moving out to reading ish area)

Id appreaciate a breakdown of costs off you guys who believe you can live on 23k, very interested to see how much you see things to cost.

Ideally (and I do say ideally) im looking for a 1bed apartment for myself in clapham/wimbledon ish area, as ive been told thats a good area and not too expensive. Commute is to the westminster ish area (westminster tube route would be bloody fantastic)
Click to expand...

1 bed apartments really your looking at a minimum of £700pcm without bills, probably a lot more if u want somewhere half decent.

on 23k, you'd be best of with a house share if you are to stand any chance of saving up for a mortgage one day.

You want to be left with a few quid after you pay your rent so a house share is good with the bills included etc. Plus u can always move around until u find an area u like. Nothing worse than moving into a really horrible rough area and be stuck there for six months on a rental contract. in some ways its good to move in somewhere it will be easy to move out of if so u can find a better area if necessary
 
Justintime said:
23-25k a year minimum.. dosen't leave much for entertainment though :D
Click to expand...

Depends wheere you choose to live...

You won't need a car in London, so that's one expense that you don't really need to worry about.

Going further west it is, believe it or not, just about possible to get a decent two bedroom place in Mayfair (nr. Green Park for your purposes). You'd probably both need to be on around 25k after tax, but this isn't unheard of for 'City' boys . The place will be a little smaller, but you really can't argue with the location. Bond Street station is a similar story.
Click to expand...

Yeah I've seen decent places with two double bedrooms go for ~£400 a week, which isn't absolutely extortionate. It goes down well when you're out at a club or bar and you want to bring a girl home. You've got everything on your doorstep.
 
Last edited:
As someone who has roughed it in London, I would point out that it is possible to rent a clean and in-good-condition room in several parts of zone 2 for around £60-70 per week inc. bills. Add on £22 per week for a travelcard, and it comes to under five grand per year for accomodation, bills, and travel. People living in London, and working fulltime for the minimum wage, i.e. an annual net income of about eight or nine grand, usually end up living in this manner.

I therefore disagree with the people who say 20-25k minimum. It's a lot less. However, considering you would have to relocate then I would say their suggestion is about right, as there's no point in going to such hassle only to subsequntly have constantly to worry about economies.
 
Was just wondering whether any of you guys knew of any good letting agencies/websites for finding these places! I too am looking for a flat (although not until sept. 2008).

Hiroki
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom