Where to live in London?

[R8BWT]

Due to the credit crunch I've just relocated from the North East down to London to work in Canary Wharf for the forseeable. Luckily I've managed to get some temporary accomodation with a friend in Canada Water for the next month or so. But after that I'm on my own.

So I'm now looking for a decent(ish) flat share. As I'm new to London I don't really know the good from the bad, but looking for somewhere half decent, with parking if possible.

Budget £400 - £800 a month (Still have a life to pay for up North so the smaller the better but willing to pay the extra if its worth it)Currently Thinking Wapping, Greenwich, Canary Wharf at the moment? but realise Canary Wharf is easily commutable on the jubilee line so could potentially live anywhere along it?

Obvioulsy a bit of a hindrance to the personal life, and I've still got a life up north I need to visit on a frequent basis but on the up-side my mileage has dramatically decreased (30,000 down to nothing) so I can get something a little less frugal!

So anyone got any ideas? or even better anyone got a spare room in a penthouse flat with car parking, free use of their ferrari, and walking distance to work for £400 a month

[Neil_H]

Greenwich is nice, the village side anyway, but on the pricey side. You should find a flatshare somewhere for that money though. Off-street parking isn't common but not unheard of. Wapping is ok I hear, mostly new-build places.

[threesixty]

I share a 3 bed flat in canary wharf. Does your stated budget include bills/tax? if it does you might struggle, to find somewhere nice.

I quite like it as a place to live, its quiet, excellent access by road from outside london, 5mins walk to waitrose and the mall. relatively lively in the week but It's all abit soulless at times though.

Jubilee line is rubbish at weekends so getting into town sometimes is abit annoying.

We looked at moving further in a long the jubilee line but couldn't find anything as nice as we have now.

p.s plenty of parking round us!

Edited by threesixty on Tuesday 12th May 13:01

[R8BWT]

Budget would ideally include bills/council tax to be honest, as I've still got a live up north to fund.

I can see the upside of living in Canary Wharf, but I definitely see your point with the Jubilee line and the lack of soul.

Don't know whether to go cheap and cheerful and regard it more of a place to rest my head during the week, or spend the extra and try and get something more homely that I can actually enjoy living in.

Thanks for the advice so far though, please keep it coming!

[markh1]

If you are working in Canary Wharf then what about living in Docklands? I lived there for a few years and did a house share that cost about 700 with bills included. For this I had parking and a garage. It is a pretty souless place but is good because there is very little traffic and you can easily get out of London by car from there.

[R8BWT]

Excuse my ignorance, but when you say docklands where excactly do you mean? I thought Dockloands was the generic term for canary whary, canada water, north greenwich, etc. Cheers

[Daisy Duke]

Neil_H said:

Wapping is ok I hear, mostly new-build places.

Actually you might be thinking of Limehouse (which would be a good option if there's anything available in the price range), Wapping has a high proportion of warehouse apartments, but the OP will struggle to get anything for his budget.

R8BWT said:

So anyone got any ideas? or even better anyone got a spare room in a penthouse flat with car parking, free use of their ferrari, and walking distance to work for £400 a month

Well I could, but I don't think MOH would approve of me taking in lodgers!

[markh1]

R8BWT said:

Excuse my ignorance, but when you say docklands where excactly do you mean? I thought Dockloands was the generic term for canary whary, canada water, north greenwich, etc. Cheers

Sorry I meant the Isle of Dogs, basicly the bit of land below the wharf.

[zcacogp]

Bear in mind that the scenery in London can change with little more than a couple of streets. Chelsea has one of the most deprived council estates in the whole of Europe ...

We live in East London, in a small patch which is quite sought-after. Great access to public transport (very easy access to both Central and District lines and it's well-served for night-busses) but anything in the Shoreditch/city area is walkable in not much more than 40 minutes. Also the DLR at Bow Church is only about 10 minutes walk away so it's great to get into Docklands/CW.

PM me for more details.


Oli.

[Daisy Duke]

zcacogp said:

We live in East London, in a small patch which is quite sought-after. Great access to public transport (very easy access to both Central and District lines and it's well-served for night-busses) but anything in the Shoreditch/city area is walkable in not much more than 40 minutes. Also the DLR at Bow Church is only about 10 minutes walk away so it's great to get into Docklands/CW.

Tredegar Square?

[Chilli]

Neil_H said:

Greenwich is nice, the village side anyway, but on the pricey side. You should find a flatshare somewhere for that money though. Off-street parking isn't common but not unheard of. Wapping is ok I hear, mostly new-build places.

Agreed, and a 15 min "commute" to the office

[Neil_H]

Daisy Duke said:

Neil_H said:

Wapping is ok I hear, mostly new-build places.

Actually you might be thinking of Limehouse (which would be a good option if there's anything available in the price range), Wapping has a high proportion of warehouse apartments, but the OP will struggle to get anything for his budget.

Fair enough, I'm sure I saw a few new builds there when I was viewing a few years back.

I lived in Westferry a few years ago, nice (new build) flat with a 24hr guard on the gate, balcony on the Thames and underground parking - very convenient but dead at the weekend and as soon as you left the development you were in a pretty crap area. For the money (my mate and I paid about £750 each before any bills, in 2002) I'd now live somewhere with a bit more life, but everyone's different.


I think if you want bills included as well you'll be looking at the top end of the budget for something decent.

[zcacogp]

Daisy Duke said:

Tredegar Square?

I'm impressed!

(Should add, not on the square itself. We can dream, but a house with some space and a workshop actually on TS is silly money.)


Oli.

[R8BWT]

Why is nothing easy lol, thought the last of my worries would be choosing somewhere to live! and all of this before i've even found some sane people to share with!

all advice appreciated though! Keep it coming!

[ConcreteBuffalo]

You'll struggle to find somewhere nice with bills included for £400 quid! The best option imo is to share, as hopefully you can find a large house/flat share that will come in at that price. Try out gumtree, the housing section usually turns up some gems if you want to keep the cost down, but then you have to deal with muppetts most of the time....

Just to give an indication of the pricing as I've lived in a fair few place -

Ilse of Dogs - not that nice!) - £600 inc bills,
West Silvertown (East London) - £600 inc bills,
Canary Wharf - £800 inc bills
Tower Hill - £950 inc bills
Angel - £750 inc bills

This was all sharing....

Edited by ConcreteBuffalo on Tuesday 12th May 14:53

[ConcreteBuffalo]

Neil_H said:

Wapping is ok I hear, mostly new-build places.

Living there at the mo - it is indeed ok! Plus you got the rich g*ts round the corner in St Katherines Dock, so indeed a nice area.

[EngJock]

zcacogp said:

Daisy Duke said:

Tredegar Square?

I'm impressed!

(Should add, not on the square itself. We can dream, but a house with some space and a workshop actually on TS is silly money.)


Oli.

Ah, Tredegar Square The OH and I are trying to choose between a place there or Elephant (one of the new builds, not some skank-hole!!) when we return to the smoke in September. Although I can't help but think I would spend far too much time in the Morgan Arms if we were living on/around the square! Top notch area

[Neil_H]

ConcreteBuffalo said:

Neil_H said:

Wapping is ok I hear, mostly new-build places.

Living there at the mo - it is indeed ok! Plus you got the rich g*ts round the corner in St Katherines Dock, so indeed a nice area.

My boss has just relocated from Paris and viewed a nice little 1 bed flat in St Katherine's Dock - that was £400



....a week.

[zcacogp]

EngJock said:

Ah, Tredegar Square The OH and I are trying to choose between a place there or Elephant (one of the new builds, not some skank-hole!!) when we return to the smoke in September. Although I can't help but think I would spend far too much time in the Morgan Arms if we were living on/around the square! Top notch area

Drop me a line when you get back to town - always up for a beer with PH'ers in the local area.

(Although we would have to meet in the Coburn Arms. Never seen the appeal of the Morgan Arms. More expensive and their beer is perhaps not as good. And their food has always underwhelmed me. It's a "Bourgeois Hellhole" as a friend calls it ... )


Oli.

[R8BWT]

Thought it was a bit optimistic to get somethig for £400, but you never know! So realistically looking more like £6-800 a month including bills for a flat share.

I've been looking on gumtree and spareroom.co.uk. So the search continues. If anyone knows of anything please let me know!