commute to baker street

[Lardydah]

Alrite guys,

I'm graduating soon and seem to have landed myself a job on Baker Street, about equidistant from Baker St tube and Marble Arch tube.

Where should I be looking at living, within a decent (Pref looking at around an hour door to door, but obviously willing to budge further) commute?

Cost is a factor, so would be looking at renting a room or something at first, just want to know about where I should be looking? Anybody with knowledge of the area/commute? Any advice would be much welcomed!

Cheers

[Yanto]

Lardydah said:

Alrite guys,

I'm graduating soon and seem to have landed myself a job on Baker Street, about equidistant from Baker St tube and Marble Arch tube.

Where should I be looking at living, within a decent (Pref looking at around an hour door to door, but obviously willing to budge further) commute?

Cost is a factor, so would be looking at renting a room or something at first, just want to know about where I should be looking? Anybody with knowledge of the area/commute? Any advice would be much welcomed!

Cheers

More info required matey.....

1. Do you want to be in town - and tube it? An hour might be either be SE / SW or E London or out in Herts commuting in on the overland(into Euston / Kings X)?
2. Budget?
3. Interests / hobbies - do you need to be close to social action (bars / boozers / restaurants / clubs) or not.

When I first moved to LN, I was in North (Primrose Hill / Chalk Farm / Camden / Islington) - had an ace time on the social scene and definately recommend it.

Now live in Docklands (Limehouse) and still have an ace time, but for different reasons - settled / missus / house etc...

[sjg]

Logically if you can limit it to a single tube line (no changes) it makes life easier and reduces the risk of a delay on a line affecting you - there's four lines that go into there. Even allowing 10 mins on each end, 40 mins by tube covers quite a big area - I used to live in Uxbridge (end of Met line) and that was about that long to Baker Street. You could consider places that connect by train into Marylebone too.

Bear in mind too that you may be trading lower rent costs for higher travel costs. Live within zone 2 and it'll be under £100pm. Live out in zone 6 and you nearly double it.

Personally, I couldn't stand commuting by tube every day so I'd be looking to do away with the travelcard and spend that on a room closer to work so I could walk it (or if you cycle then you can be even more flexible).

[UpTheIron]

Or look at anywhere on the Chiltern Line - into Marylebone and walkable to Baker Street.

[Lardydah]

Cheers for the quick replies guys -

Being is town definitely appeals to me, never lived in a city before so definitely want to give it a ago while in young. Would also definitely want to be near bars/clubs/restaurants you speak of, not really much of a hobbyist but definitely want to be able to experience 'London'.

Budget, hmm, it's a tough one. The lower the better, but could probably stretch to about 700 a month for room/commute combined. Although thats a maximum, wouldn't be adverse to paying less.

[jazzybee]

UpTheIron said:

Or look at anywhere on the Chiltern Line - into Marylebone and walkable to Baker Street.

Agreed. You get places like Denham, Gerrards Cross etc. Alternatively, you could look along the Met. Line. Pinner, Northwood, Rickmansworth all easily within an hour of Baker street. If you are looking at coming into Marble Arch, you are looking at the Central Line, with Ickenham and around Hillingdon stations being the best bet. If you want cheapish safe places nearer town, I would look at Perivale, around Hanger Lane Station on the South of the A40 (not a nice station at night though). On the Met, you can look at Wembley Park, not a nice area, but reasonably safe, and convenient - Rayners lane, also cheap, safe and an OK area. Harrow on the Hill has a few places nearby that are affordable, but sometimes the area around the Bus Station (out the front of the tube) feels more like Beirut. Shame, its a very convenient station.

[jazzybee]

Lardydah said:

Cheers for the quick replies guys -

Being is town definitely appeals to me, never lived in a city before so definitely want to give it a ago while in young. Would also definitely want to be near bars/clubs/restaurants you speak of, not really much of a hobbyist but definitely want to be able to experience 'London'.

Budget, hmm, it's a tough one. The lower the better, but could probably stretch to about 700 a month for room/commute combined. Although thats a maximum, wouldn't be adverse to paying less.

Sorry, missed this reply when I was typing up my reply. My BiL was paying £450 pm for a room with ensuite in Northwood Hills. This was an annex on someone's semi detached house. I can't remember what the monthly travelcard is for zone 6 though. He now rents a 2 Bed maisonette for £800 in the same area.

HTH

[belleair302]

I live 2 minutes away but unfortunately renting my place is somewhat more expensive than your budget allows. I would look towards Pinner, or Harrow areas...or be bold and move out east, on the central Line towards the Olympic village and areas like Wanstead or South Woodford.

Jubilee line is great but the areas it services are pretty grim beyond Kilburn.

[Daisy Duke]

belleair302 said:

I live 2 minutes away but unfortunately renting my place is somewhat more expensive than your budget allows. I would look towards Pinner, or Harrow areas...or be bold and move out east, on the central Line towards the Olympic village and areas like Wanstead or South Woodford.

Jubilee line is great but the areas it services are pretty grim beyond Kilburn.

You could look at Bermondsey/Canada Water too as it's on the Jubilee line, close to bars/restaurants etc. and would be a short and relatively cheap (approx £100 p/mth) commute. It's possible to get a room in a shared house for approx £500p/mth there.