Where to live in London
moove2london on 02 Feb 2010What should you look for when choosing where to live in London? We already have plenty of area profiles listed on the site as well as 10 popular areas for young professionals to live in , so this article isn’t designed to tell you where the best areas of London are, but more to help you work out what factors are important to you, when deciding where to live.
Personal – this may seem obvious, but your own personal circumstances are an integral part of choosing an area to live in. Probably the most important factor is related to your workplace. If you already have a job secured, then you’ll need to work out how long you wish your daily commute to be. 45-60 minutes per single journey is an average and reasonable amount of commuting time for most Londoners (although many people who commute into London from counties such as Essex, Kent, Hertfordshire etc. will travel much further every day) You might choose to live on the same tube line as the station nearest to your workplace. Alternatively, you might absolutely hate the idea of travelling on a hot, sweaty tube in the summer and prefer to use a bus or rail route to get from A to B. These are all your personal choices and there is no right or wrong answer, just make sure you think your daily travel plans through before you commit to anything.
Also falling under the ‘personal’ bracket is your social circle. If you already have friends and/or family living in London, then you might want to live vaguely near them. Many people make the mistake of moving to London and assuming that they’ll see their friends all the time, just because they now live in the same city. Wrong. If you happen to live out in South Woodford and your best friend lives in Richmond, then that’s well over an hour away – on a good day. You’ll end up always meeting in Central London as a compromise, which isn’t a bad thing, but if you want to be popping into your mates house for coffee all the time, you’ll need to think about living closer to them.
Amenities – if you’re the type of person who requires an active nightlife in the vicinity of their home, then keep that in mind. You might want to live nearer Central London than further out in the suburbs. Also, some areas really require that you have a car to get around, (particularly to get to the supermarket), whilst others have everything in walking distance. For further discussion on having a car in London, read this post. Remember that an area with a bustling high street full of late-opening bars, restaurants and shops might seem like a great idea, but if you fancy an early night and you can’t sleep because of the loud music in the clubs, or want to have a Saturday morning lie-in but the noise of the market traders won’t let you sleep in, then you might wish you’d gone for a slightly more ‘boring’ location. Again, there are no right or wrong answers, just personal preferences.
Crime – you’re moving to a capital city and some areas are more dodgy and dangerous than others. If you’re a single female, you might want to live closer to Central London so that you have a short journey home after a crazy night out. Or alternatively, if you’re not the type of person to go out till all hours in Central London, then you might prefer to live a little further out, where a more village-like location makes you feel safer. Either way, please read our Safety in London post and also try out the Crime Mapping tool, which allows you to enter a postcode and discover crime rates in a particular postcode area.
Investment – if you’re looking to buy a property in the longterm, then it’s a good idea to rent in an area before you commit to purchasing property there. In London, you can either choose to buy in a solid, popular area which has been discovered many, many years ago. An area falling into this category will most likely have good transport links and a plethora of bars, restaurants and boutiques. Clapham and Islington both fall into this category. Properties here, to rent or buy won’t be cheap, but they are a reasonably safe bet and are unlikely to decrease in popularity. On the other hand, you might want to choose an up-and-coming area. To be honest, there are very few areas of London left in this category, as many have now already up-and-come! Even formerly dodgy areas have now been swallowed up into the territories of their posher neighbours. However, there are still some areas which could have investment potential. Look for areas which are due to get new improved transport links in a few years time. For example, areas in South-East London which are about to feature on the London Overground network, are worth a look. Remember that up-and-coming areas, might not already have all the local amenities that you desire. There might be one good pub or bar on the local high street, but the idea is that more might follow.
Ok, by now you should have some idea of matching up your personal requirements with an area of London, so please go ahead and browse through the North London, South London, East London and West London pages to give you a specific idea of which areas might suit you.