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Living in London

let's be honest here, if you are going to live anywhere in your early 20's in England it has to be London - it's not perfect and it is expensive but for sheer buzz and variety of nightlife nowhere else compares (yes i have been to most of the major cities several times to base that opinion on)

Bristol, from what i hear is meant to be great though
 
i went to uni in liverpool and moved back down to london straight after, it's a struggle until you start earning over about £50k, anything under 40 and you're cleaned out every month but you always scrape by and have a good laugh doing it. However, that was 7 years ago, rent is even more ridiculous these days, we currently pay £1300 / month for a one bedroom flat (nothing exorbiant either). we're just in the process of buying a two bed house and the mortgage will be £300 cheaper than the rent we're currently paying! I'd recommend moving home and getting a job before coming to london, i moved straight into flat with my girlfriend (who did have a job) before getting a job, took me a month or two to sort something out which caused quite a bit of grief! you can commute easy enough from Kent can't you?

As for manchester, most of my northern mates from uni live there so i get up there quite a bit, it's a cracking night out (but not as good as liverpool). didsbury's the best place to live but pricey for manc, fallowfield is more studenty but cheaper. the city in general is a bit of a dump, city centre is now a nice modern cultural centre but stray too far out of the centre and you stumble across some right brick holes! it's constanstly tinkling down as well, it's no stereotype.

toxteth in liverpool is actually alright! i lived there as a student and had no trouble at all, some of the victorian building's are incredible, if they were in notting hill they would be worth millions! liverpool's a great city to live in, just not much work up there!
 
No....it doesn't HAVE to be London! :)

I have been to every big city in the UK and they all offer excellent nighlife and cultural scenes, which is what younsters care about. Obviously not the same as London! But for me having some money is better than having none.

If you add the caveat of money being no object? Then I agree.

The London myth is mind boggling! I love the place, but 87% of the country happily live elsewhere! :)
 
NW5pur said:
i went to uni in liverpool and moved back down to london straight after, it's a struggle until you start earning over about £50k, anything under 40 and you're cleaned out every month but you always scrape by and have a good laugh doing it. However, that was 7 years ago, rent is even more ridiculous these days, we currently pay £1300 / month for a one bedroom flat (nothing exorbiant either). we're just in the process of buying a two bed house and the mortgage will be £300 cheaper than the rent we're currently paying! I'd recommend moving home and getting a job before coming to london, i moved straight into flat with my girlfriend (who did have a job) before getting a job, took me a month or two to sort something out which caused quite a bit of grief! you can commute easy enough from Kent can't you?

As for manchester, most of my northern mates from uni live there so i get up there quite a bit, it's a cracking night out (but not as good as liverpool). didsbury's the best place to live but pricey for manc, fallowfield is more studenty but cheaper. the city in general is a bit of a dump, city centre is now a nice modern cultural centre but stray too far out of the centre and you stumble across some right brick holes! it's constanstly tinkling down as well, it's no stereotype.

toxteth in liverpool is actually alright! i lived there as a student and had no trouble at all, some of the victorian building's are incredible, if they were in notting hill they would be worth millions! liverpool's a great city to live in, just not much work up there!
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Good analysis....but couldn't you say the same about London? I mean, outside of the West End and some cooler areas of the city and surrounding districts, it's a homogenous suburban sprawl!! And it has 19 or the 20 most deprived wards in teh country!! i.e. some PROPER brickholes!

Probably where James will be living if he moves there! :)
 
Armenia Spur said:
For London I'd budget about £500 a month EACH for rent for somewhere in a decent location with good transport. I base that on 2 friends living in Shepherds Bush in a 2 bedroom flat, round the corner from Loftus Road. the flat isnt spectacular, but the location is brilliant.
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I used to live five mins walk from Loftus Road.

I am about to move out into a two bed flat not spectacular but pretty good - for £300 a month. On my own too. I may sub let the other room but she will have to be fit and pay me in sex alternatively pay me £500 a month.
 
Get applying for jobs mate at end of day you'll have a degree go where the work is you don't wanna commit to a flat in London then find out the only job you can get is working with the twins in chick king on tottenham high road same goes for every city
 
I cant imagine that everywhere in the City you'll be paying £500+ PCM. I had a peek on Rightmove a minute ago and there were two studio apartments right near Clapham common for £90/£95 PW. DHSF, how many properties are there knocking about of a similar rent to your new pad? Are they hard to get hold of?
 
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i avoid the west end like the plague! i wouldn't say it's a homogeneous suburban sprawl, due to the way london spread and enveloped the surrounding towns and villages each area tends to have it's own little high street, character, community and things going on - camden town for example, hampstead used to be the countryside. there are obviously some fecking hideous parts of london, but because of the size of london, unless you live in them you're a bit oblivious to them because you've got no reason to ever go there, i think i've been to newham once in my entire life! i might be wrong but i'd say the brick holes probably out number the nice places in manchester whereas it's the other way round in london, i don't know leeds as well but i'd say leeds was more affluent then manchester so it might not be the same there
 
Park Lane James said:
I cant imagine that everywhere in the City you'll be paying £500+ PCM. I had a peek on Rightmove a minute ago and there were two studio apartments right near Clapham common for £90/£95 PCM. DHSF, how many properties are there knocking about of a similar rent to your new pad? Are they hard to get hold of?
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you don't want to live in the city, it's like a ghost town at the weekend and full of ****s in the week (including myself!) north london's where you want to be, hackney and dalston are probably the "trendiest" areas at the moment
 
NW5pur said:
you don't want to live in the city, it's like a ghost town at the weekend and full of ****s in the week (including myself!) north london's where you want to be, hackney and dalston are probably the "trendiest" areas at the moment
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What's Hackney like now then? Going back a few years wasn't it a bit of a brickhole? I'm about a year away from potentially moving to London, so by then who knows what will be a decent spot to move to!
 
Park Lane James said:
What's Hackney like now then? Going back a few years wasn't it a bit of a brickhole? I'm about a year away from potentially moving to London, so by then who knows what will be a decent spot to move to!
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still got it's rough bits but that's the the same with all parts of london, even kensington and chelsea have got rough parts. hackney and dalston are probably the latest trendy areas that will become bourgeois, parts already are - 2-3 houses going for a million plus etc. it's a great place to live if you're young, loads going on, good nightlife and close to all the other east london nightlife, good access to the city, nice parks etc.
 
NW5pur said:
i avoid the west end like the plague! i wouldn't say it's a homogeneous suburban sprawl, due to the way london spread and enveloped the surrounding towns and villages each area tends to have it's own little high street, character, community and things going on - camden town for example, hampstead used to be the countryside. there are obviously some fecking hideous parts of london, but because of the size of london, unless you live in them you're a bit oblivious to them because you've got no reason to ever go there, i think i've been to newham once in my entire life! i might be wrong but i'd say the brick holes probably out number the nice places in manchester whereas it's the other way round in london, i don't know leeds as well but i'd say leeds was more affluent then manchester so it might not be the same there
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That's the point......if you live in the many brick areas of London, that's your experience. You don't think about Notting Hill, Swiss Cottage, St. Johns Wood, Chelsea, Kensingston, Chiswick, Fulham etc.......you just think, 'this is brick'

As you say, each 'village' in London is it's own island.......but think about the look and feel of these places, they do feel the same to me. You can drive 10 miles in north London and it all looks the same, high street after high street of 2/3 story post war brick buildings.

London is a city of bigger inequalities than you'll find in any other UK city. Because it has the richest and poorest people in the ciuntry all in the same city.

Leeds has some VERY VERY brick areas!!! As you say, overall it's more prosperous than Manchester......but it is blighted by poverty the same as anywhere else.

All this brings me back to the point, i'd rather be middle income in Leeds than London!! But I'd rather be rich in London thatn Leeds......and by rich I mean MILLIONS!
 
southstand1882 said:
Just make sure its at least commutable to London. You are in your prime.

It would be like moving to the US and choosing Michigan over New York.

You can retire up North when you can no longer sustain an erection
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The idea of living in Kent and commuting to London is a bit silly as the weekly difference in travel cost is almost the same as the rent for an apartment! It's one of those things where I wouldn't mind paying extra to be in the hub of the country. As another poster said earlier (can't remember the name), it's great to be a part of something that is very large indeed. My future residence needs to be up to date with music, fashion and nightlife - whether or not that is in London remains to be seen.
 
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