Moving, but where to?

Diddums

Diddums

Diddums

Caporegime
Joined
24 Oct 2012
Posts
26,743
Location
Yer nan's knickers
Being a South African, I'm not all that clued up with the UK (yet). I currently live in Streatham, London. I pay stupid amounts of money for rent and bills and at 30 I'm not getting any younger so it's time to sacrifice the London lifestyle for something cheaper and start saving for a house and whatnot.

I have a decent job in London so ideally I'd like to keep it. I'd like to live about an hour by train from Central London, I work literally on top of St Pauls tube station so any main city station is fine.

For reference, I pay 1200 a month rent, 180 a month council tax, gas and leccy, and of course I'm extremely limited to car choices because of where I live (insurance love London residents).

So GD, where to? I'd prefer a place that's a bit respectable, I have no qualms paying a but extra for a neighbourhood that's isn't too shabby.

The way I see it, I will be paying through the nose for travel but this will be offset by cheaper rent / council tax and car insurance when I decide to get another car.

Any ideas?
 
If you're working at St. Paul's then somewhere on the Thameslink line would probably be ideal. The nicest place to live would be St. Albans but you wouldn't be saving much money compared to living in London!
 
Cheers guys, I'll have a look at your suggestions once I've had a good sleep.


Of course I'm always open to dos / don'ts, so if anyone else has anything to say, I'm all ears!
 
Think there's a 40 minute odd train to London from Winchester too, hence why it's expensive there, but add on a 20 minute drive to the station and there's some alright and pretty cheap areas around there too.
 
You can consider anything along the Liverpool Street > Stratford train routes where you get the central line (red one) into St. Pauls. (East side of London)

There is also anywhere along the District line (green one) Change at mile end to the central line. It ends up in Upminster which is a generally a nice affluent area on the outskirts of London, not cheap at all - not 'trendy' more family orientated.

1h commute will take you a few stops past Romford~Shenfield. Its hellishly busy though, I did that commute for a few years and its partly why i no longer wanted a City job.

You will spend a small fortune on travel.... All those are in The London Borough of Havering if you want to google around it for a clue. Its alright, a bit 'Essexy' at weekends in the pub but most of suburban non hipster/trendy London is broadly the same. imo.
 
I generally kept to single train and tube routes (ie no changes), add on 5-15 minute walks from stations and looked in the suburban-ish areas around there. Found a really nice place in Harrow a few minutes from the station, 3-bed terrace for under £500 + bills. Even had a garden with it. Nice and quiet, backed on to a cemetary, shops nearby and everything.
 
If you got somewhere coming into Liverpool Street I wouldn't bother getting on a tube and just walk for St Pauls. Will save money and should only take 15 mins. I have a 15 min walk in the opposite direction for my commute.
 
I have a similar dillemna (just taken a job in the city) and found this site really useful; http://commutefrom.com

Top of my list at the moment is Fleet (allegedly best region to live in the UK) although I have a few other criteria limiting me like my wife's commute to Southampton, proximity to family etc.

Have a look around Ashford in Kent maybe as it has superfast train to London (don't be fooled by the distance).
 
If you want to escape the London money vacuum, you need to leave it entirely. Moving to Zone 56 and commuting in will land you with a season ticket that will wipe out most of your savings. A 12 month season ticket for St Albans to London is £3,000 more expensive than an annual travelcard.
 
Thanks for all the replies folks, lots of things to consider / digest. It's definitely a move I want to make but I want to do it right first time, no regrets. Might take another year but at least once I pull the plug, it'll be the right plug :)


TJM said:
If you want to escape the London money vacuum, you need to leave it entirely. Moving to Zone 56 and commuting in will land you with a season ticket that will wipe out most of your savings. A 12 month season ticket for St Albans to London is £3,000 more expensive than an annual travelcard.
Click to expand...

This is something I've considered as well. Thing is, I earn a decent living in London, my salary for my job is about 60% of what it currently is outside of London. My employer also has tons of good benefits which I'm not willing to forfeit at the moment.

I also had a sniff at a supervisor role last night so I might be pursuing that.

Let's just say that having been a supervisor for my current firm in this location would be an opportunity I could never pass up, it'd pretty much be a free pass to walk into any job in my industry worldwide, and that's not something I can pass up on.

That said, it's very tempting.
 
Last edited:
I'm in Sussex on the Southern Rail Oxted line which will get you into East Croydon / Clapham Junction / Victoria / London Bridge all under an hour.

Season ticket is £2k which is really odd as the same from somewhere like Haywards Heath is 4/5k.

I live pretty much on the ashdown forest and can be in London in an hour which is quite nice.
 
HangTime said:
I have a similar dillemna (just taken a job in the city) and found this site really useful; http://commutefrom.com

Top of my list at the moment is Fleet (allegedly best region to live in the UK) although I have a few other criteria limiting me like my wife's commute to Southampton, proximity to family etc.

Have a look around Ashford in Kent maybe as it has superfast train to London (don't be fooled by the distance).
Click to expand...


Oh what a fantastic site, thanks for that.

I need to set up a proper plan for this, ie. travel time, costs involved, what the area is like, expected rent and bills, etc etc.

I really need a place with a garage or shed or something. Not having any hands-on hobbies sucks :(
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom