Moving to London

[dand_uk]

Hi there, I wasn't sure where to post this in the forum....

In May I'm moving up to London for work and have a new job in Chancery Lane. I'm currently looking for a room in a house share, but I am a bit overwhelmed as there is lots to choose from.

Can anyone recommend a good location to live for commuting maybe 20 - 30mins by road bike, to Chancery Lane?

 

[Pale Rider]

What does 20 to 30 mins in London traffic give you?

I reckon not much more than three or four miles to be reliably repeatable.

Linking that to somewhere half-decent to live leads me to suggest Islington/Barnsbury/Highbury.

 

[The Jogger]

I would say Hammersmith or Shepherds Bush, Turnham Green or Chiswick would be a safe bet to the west, Battersea , Clapham to the SW, are all fairly reasonable areas.

 

[Blurb]

I do 11 miles in 45-50 mins depending on traffic/weather conditions, so I'd say a 5 mile radius should be doable.
I'm not the fastest, but try not to hang about :-)

 

[Blurb]

This might be useful to show radius from a point:
http://www.freemaptools.com/radius-around-point.htm

 

[Sharky]

Two of my kids got flats in Clapham and Greenwich/Blackheath - both quite vibrant and lively to live in. When you say up to London - which station would you be coming into? If your folks ever come to visit or you want to make a quick getaway out of the city - have a think about transport. It can take along time crossing London.

Keith

 

[Cycleops]

If you want quick easy access into the city (Chancery Lane is in between) then somewhere east might be good like Stratford, Bethnal Green, Mile End. Then you also need to consider rents!

 

[srw]

How fast do you ride?

Not the right question. In this context, the question is "Do you stop at red traffic lights?" And since the answer is "yes", the answer to the OP's question is somewhere in a radius of 3 - 4 miles.

That said, unless you're a senior partner in a law firm (in which why do you want a flat share) the real question isn't "Where do I want to live that's convenient for Chancery Lane?" but "Where can I afford to live that's convenient for Chancery Lane?". And I suspect you'll come up with an answer somewhere in the East - which is helpful, because that's where the Central Line goes for those times you don't want to ride.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Two of my kids got flats in Clapham and Greenwich/Blackheath - both quite vibrant and lively to live in. When you say up to London - which station would you be coming into? If your folks ever come to visit or you want to make a quick getaway out of the city - have a think about transport. It can take along time crossing London.

Keith

I used to commute up to Farringdon from a few metres west of Greenwich and it took between 25 to 30 minutes. So anywhere close to the river in the SE would be ok up to about the meridian. Surrey Quays, Bermondsey, Deptford, West Greenwich, Brockley, New Cross and other parts of to the north of Lewisham borough. It's reasonably quick - quick in London terms, that is - out of London to Kent outside the rush hour.

 

[Markymark]

You are of course right, I was stupidly assuming that all cyclists stop at red lights.

They do in central london. As soon as you're a few miles out the centre the exact same cyclists develop colour blindness!

I commute from wanstead ti beyond chancery lane in under 40 mins and stop at ALL the red lights.

 

[slowmotion]

I would say Hammersmith or Shepherds Bush, Turnham Green or Chiswick would be a safe bet to the west, Battersea , Clapham to the SW, are all fairly reasonable areas.

Good advice, but I think anybody would have to push it somewhat from Turnham Green tube or further west. More generally, it's the lights and pedestrian crossings that slow you down more than the traffic for a given distance on the road.

 

[The Jogger]

I agree but TG is a very flat route and easily commutable.

 

[srw]

I agree but TG is a very flat route and easily commutable.

Rightmove says that the typical price for a one-bedroom flat in Turnham Green is £400,000. At which point the OP starts hyper-ventilating at what that implies for rents, and the rest of us make sardonic observations about London Underground salaries.

For the OP - the most important question for you is what you can afford. London prices are horrific because there's too much money chasing too few places to live. Work out a budget, then cut a bit off it for contingencies, then start looking. The local press reports horror stories about skanky rooms in shared houses being almost literally fought over by potential tenants, enormous deposit requirements and absolutely no housing security. If I were you I'd be starting by securing a sofa-bed with a friend then by asking new colleagues.

 

[vickster]

May need to move further out and get up earlier, unless £1000 a month for a good share is no bother

 

[subaqua]

Leytonstone , Leyton , Hackney. all within riding distance. http://www.zoopla.co.uk/to-rent/pro...lts_sort=newest_listings&search_source=refine

and prices depend on how horrific you think they are. I might rent ours out now and move back oop north