Specialist Recruitment Agencies in London

moove2london on 10 Mar 2010

If you’re moving to London and are looking for work, one of the first things that we would advise you to do is register with several recruitment agencies to maximise your chances of finding a job. However, there are hundreds of recruitment agencies in London and it can sometimes be difficult to choose the correct agency to approach depending on the industry that you want to work in. Whilst there are many ‘general’ recruitment agencies in London, that will have a wide range of office jobs, there are other, more ’specialist’ recruitment agencies, catering for specific industries.

Nursing and Medical is a healthcare consultancy, based in London, that recruits registered specialist nurses and allied medical professionals into permanent jobs. They recruit at all levels from junior healthcare assistants to senior management level positions. Their specialist healthcare recruitment includes candidates from the following areas: Cardiac, Neonatal and Paediatrics, Midwifery, Intensive Care ICU/HDU, Orthopaedic, Trauma & Surgical, Theatres/Scrub/Anaesthetics, Oncology/Haematology, Renal, Biomedical Science, Hospital Pharmacy, Physiotherapy, Hand Therapy, Radiography and Radiotherapy.

If you’re looking for a job in broadcasting, you should contact the Career Moves Group broadcasting division. With high-profile clients such as Sky and MTV, they’re able to place candidates into a wide range of roles in the following areas: Broadcast (operations, on-air, branding, scheduling, traffic and programming), Research & Marketing (broadcast and non-broadcast marketing at all levels including CRM), Production (independent sector from production assisting to executive producing for long form content or promos), Post-Production (library, tranmission and editing) and Distribution (programme sales, material distribution, rights and clearance.

London is the base for many charities – if you’re interested in working in the charity sector, you’ll need to use a site such as Charity People who recruit for some of the best NFP’s in the country across all job categories. In 2001, they also launched forum3 which is Europe’s largest recruitment fair for the not-for-profit sector.

If you are looking for a job in childcare, you might want to contact Greatcare who are based in Battersea, South London. They work  with individual families and employers such as First Choice, Club Med, Virgin Active, Bright Horizons, Thomas Cook, Thomson and Tinies. As well as searching for jobs on their site, there is the option to upload your CV to the Greatcare database.

Those of you with experience in the hospitality industry, will want to contact the People Tree, who recruit managers and chefs for branded and themed restaurants, gastro pubs, style bars, brassieres and boutique hotel operations. Some of their clients include Frankie & Benny’s, Cafe Rouge, Bella Italia, Vodka Revolution Bars, The City Inn Group and the Living Room chain of style bars. You can search some of their current jobs online, or alternatively attend one of their monthly recruitment open days.

If you’re struggling to find a specialist recruitment agency for your chosen industry, then please feel free to email contact@moove2london.com and we’ll try and assist. In the meantime, you should all definitely think about registering with top recruitment site Monster, where you can search for jobs and upload your CV and cover letter for thousands of potential employers to read.

Things to do for Mother’s Day in London

moove2london on 09 Mar 2010

Whether you’re already living in London and are struggling for Mother’s Day ideas, or you’re going to be moving to London in the future and wonder how you’re going to entertain your mum with a trip to the capital on Mothering Sunday, we have some great ideas for you here.

Gift Ideas

Most mum’s would be happy with a combination of chocolates, flowers and/or champagne… Thorntons Chocolates are doing some great offers at the moment. A ‘Thanks Mum Collection’ of chocolates containing a continental heart box of chocs, a milk chocolate plaque reading ‘Thanks Mum’ and ‘I Love Mum’ truffle cups comes in at £20.00. Chocolate and flower combos start at £28, whilst our personal favourite …. Taittinger champagne and chocolate starts at £21.50. Take a look at Thorntons today to make sure it’s delivered on time!

Along the same lines, you might want to consider going retro and getting your mum a hamper of sweets that she’ll remember from her youth!            Visit A Quarter Of… and get a ‘Marvellous Mum’ hamper containing old favourites such as Rhubarb & Custards, Foam Teddy Bears, Floral Gums, Parma Violets, Wham bar, Drumsticks, Sherbet Fountain, Love Hearts, Chocolate Hearts and Strawberry Hearts for £20.40 – it’s displayed in a lovely handmade wooden box.

Now that the gift ideas are sorted, you’ll probably want to come up with some lovely ways to spend the day with your mum.

Theatre

Lots of mum’s enjoy a trip to the theatre. If you’re feeling extra generous, you might want to combine a play with a meal. LondonTheatreDirect.com always has excellent discount tickets and theatre/dinner packages available. Whether your mum is into singing along to musicals such as ‘Grease’ or ‘Mamma Mia’, or something a little more serious such as ‘The Woman In Black’ you can get some great deals here. Current offers at LondonTheatreDirect start at £12.50 for Havana Rakatan – the dazzling dance production from Sadlers Wells.

Sightseeing

The London Eye is now 10 years old. Why not tell your mum ‘Eye Love You’ by treating her to a champagne trip on the big wheel? A champagne flight costs £33 per person and includes priority fast-boarding and a souvenir guidebook. An extra glass of champagne costs £10.

For a cultural and affordable afternoon with your mum, you could go to the Tate Modern and view the Martin Karlsson exhibition entitled ‘London: An Imagery’. Based on the gothic etchings of Gustave Doré, published in 1872, Karlsson updates the portrait of our city and it’s inhabitants. Entry is free!

Dining

Afternoon tea at the Ritz is a British tradition. The menu starts at £38 per person and includes sandwiches such as smoked salmon, ham, chicken, cucumber, cheddar cheese and egg mayonnaise with cress bridge roll. There are also assortments of pastries, chocolate cakes and scones available. The slightly more luxurious champagne afternoon tea will cost £49 per person.

If the Ritz isn’t really your scene, but you fancy taking your mum out for a slap-up meal, then invest in the TimeOut Eating and Drinking guide 2009/10, which is an extremely comprehensive guide to eateries all over town. If you’re worried about not receiving it in time for Mothering Sunday, you can get One-Day delivery, which is available to Amazon Prime members. Luckily you can sign up for a 1 month free trial of Amazon Prime to take advantage of this offer.

Shopping

Ladies love to shop, so what better activity to do with your mum, then have a leisurely stroll around town on Mother’s Day. You could perhaps combine it with lunch or a glass of champers somewhere. Lovely shopping locations include places such as Richmond, High Street Kensington, the King’s Road, Kingston etc.

Pampering

Finally, treating your mum to a well-deserved beauty treatment is always going to be appreciated. Dove Spas are offering special Mothers Day Pampering packages. Their salons in London are located at Virgin Active branches such as Notting Hill, City, Kensington, Mayfair, Streatham, Canary Wharf, South Wimbledon, Hendon and Chiswick.

Hopefully the ideas on this page have inspired you to have a lovely day out on Sunday – please feel free to comment and add your own suggestions.

Come Play Sport

moove2london on 16 Feb 2010

If you don’t know anyone when you first move to London, then it’s important to try and gain a social life as soon as possible, so that you don’t end up feeling lonely. If you’re a regular reader of Moove2London, you’ll know how much we stress the importance of getting out there and doing things like joining a sports team as you’ll end up meeting heaps of new people and have a regular social date in your diary.

Depending on what sport you’re interested in, finding a relevant team or club which is in a convenient location and is accepting new members can sometimes be a complete hassle.
This is why we’re so excited to have discovered Come Play Sport .

Come Play provides mixed sports leagues for adults who want to “come and play” new sports in a fun and relaxed environment whilst meeting like-minded people. The sports on offer include Dodgeball, Unihoc, Volleyball and Inner Tube Water Polo.

At Come Play, the emphasis is on ‘fun’ rather than seriousness. The sports are open to people of all ages and all levels of experience, so if you’ve never tried Dodgeball , but thought it looked good on the Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn film, then this is an ideal environment in which to give it a go.

Another great thing about Come Play (aside from losing weight and getting fit whilst having a great time) are the post-match socials. Come Play already have their local pubs mapped out, which are located just around the corner from their venues in Barbican, Borough, Islington, Battersea and Marylebone High Street. They also have some amazing social nights in the pipeline which will include activities such as bowling, killer pool tournaments and wine-tasting events!

Whilst Come Play don’t market themselves as being OTT in terms of competitiveness and aggression, there are still prizes on offer so there’s a clear goal to aim for at the end of the season. The final week is play-off week where one team will be crowned Come Play League Winners. This will be followed by an Awards evening where prizes are given out to the winning team as well as the best player in the league and the most sociable team in the league.

Now, let’s talk money. The price for a 14-week season at Come Play is £75 for individuals or £800 for a team of 12 people. However, as Come Play is so suitable for meeting new people, it’s perfect for people to sign up solo and be placed into a team filled with other people who don’t know anyone. If you sign up before 21st February, you’ll get a 10% early-bird discount, with the season starting on the 2nd week of March. If you think that the average gym membership in London costs in the region of £9.50 a week, this is actually quite a large saving. If you sign up, you get a week’s trial membership and will receive a refund if you decide that Come Play Sport isn’t for you. So really, you’ve nothing to lose except for a few inches around the waistline! Sign up now to claim your early bird discount!

You Know You’re a Londoner When…..

moove2london on 15 Feb 2010

• You say “the city” and expect people to know which one you mean.
• You have never been to The Tower or on the London Eye, but you love Brighton.
• You can get into a four-hour argument about how to get from Paddington to Elephant & Castle, but you can’t find Yorkshire on a map.
• Prostitutes and the homeless are invisible
• You use the correct name of the tube lines, rather than call them colours.
• Your door has more than two locks.
• The most frequently used part of your car is the horn.
• You consider eye contact an act of blatant aggression.
• You call an 6′ x 11′ plot of patchy grass a lawn and complain about having to mow it.
• You consider Kent the “countryside”
• You think Regent’s Park is “nature”.
• You’re paying £1,000 a month for a studio the size of a walk-in cupboard and you think it’s a ” bargain.”
• Shopping in suburban supermarkets and shopping centres gives you an attack of agoraphobia.
• You pay more each month to park your car than most people in England pay in rent.
• You haven’t seen more than twelve stars in the night sky since you arrived.
• You pay £4 without blinking for a beer that cost the bar 28p.
• You scoff at people who live in Transport Zone 4, even though you were raised in a farm town with a population of 77.
• You actually take fashion seriously.
• Being alone makes you nervous.
• You have 18 takeaway menus next to your telephone.
• The UK west of Heathrow airport is still theoretical to you.
• You’re wary of strangers who are actually nice to you.
• You haven’t cooked a meal since helping mum last Christmas with the turkey.
• You take a taxi to get to your health club to exercise.
• You don’t understand what people outside of London do for work.
• Someone jumping underneath a tube isn’t sad or horrifying, it’s dreadfully inconsiderate.
• Your idea of personal space is no one actually standing on you.
• £50 worth of groceries fit in one carrier bag.
• You have a minimum of ten “worst cab ride ever” stories.
• You don’t hear sirens anymore.
• You’ve mentally blocked out all thoughts of the city’s air quality and what it’s doing to your lungs.
Going to church on Sunday means getting wasted with a bunch of Aussies in Clapham.
• You live in a building with a larger population than most market towns.
• You’re starting to wonder where the Sinners Winners guy went.
• Your cleaner is Korean, your grocer is Russian, your deli man is Polish, your landlord is Israeli, your laundry guy is Italian, your favourite bartender is Greek, your favouriterestaurant owner is Irish, the watchseller on your corner is Slovenian, your last cabbie was Indian, your newsagent is Pakistani and your favourite falafel guy is Moroccan.
• You wouldn’t want to live anywhere else, until you get married.

London Council Tax

moove2london on 09 Feb 2010

The amount of London Council Tax that you have to pay, varies depending on which area of London you live in. There are 33 different council boroughs in London from Barnet & Dagenham to Wandsworth and they each set quite different rates for residents of their own borough.
For a full explanation on council tax and the different payment bands, please read our Council Tax in London article.

Here are a list of current council tax rates for each different council borough in London for 2009/10. All rates are in GBP and are the annual figure which is due.

Barking & Dagenham

Band A: 844.20

Band B: 984.90

Band C: 1125.60

Band D: 1266.30

Band E: 1547.70

Band F: 1829.10

Band G: 2110.50

Band H: 2532.60

Barnet

Band A: 948.68

Band B: 1106.79

Band C: 1264.91

Band D: 1423.02

Band E: 1739.25

Band F: 2055.48

Band G: 2371.70

Band H: 2846.04

Bexley

Band A: 951.33

Band B: 1109.89

Band C: 1268.44

Band D: 1427.00

Band E: 1744.11

Band F: 2061.22

Band G: 2378.33

Band H: 2854.00

Brent

Band A: 912.51

Band B: 1064.59

Band C: 1216.68

Band D: 1368.76

Band E: 1672.93

Band F: 1977.10

Band G: 2281.27

Band H: 2737.52

Bromley

Band A:  859.32

Band B: 1002.54

Band C: 1145.76

Band D: 1288.98

Band E: 1575.42

Band F: 1861.86

Band G: 2148.30

Band H: 2577.96

Camden

Band A:  887.57

Band B: 1035.49

Band C: 1183.43

Band D: 1331.35

Band E: 1627.21

Band F: 1923.06

Band G: 2218.92

Band H: 2662.70

City of London

Band A: 628.53

Band B: 733.28

Band C: 838.03

Band D: 942.79

Band E: 1152.30

Band F: 1361.81

Band G: 1571.32

Band H: 1885.58

Croydon

Band A: 965.14

Band B: 1126.00

Band C: 1286.85

Band D: 1447.71

Band E: 1769.42

Band F: 2091.14

Band G: 2412.85

Band H: 2895.42

Ealing

Band A: 913.17

Band B: 1065.36

Band C: 1217.56

Band D: 1369.75

Band E: 1674.14

Band F: 1978.53

Band G: 2282.92

Band H: 2739.50

Enfield

Band A: 940.11

Band B: 1096.79

Band C: 1253.48

Band D: 1410.16

Band E: 1723.53

Band F: 2036.90

Band G: 2350.27

Band H: 2820.32

Greenwich

Band A: 860.49

Band B: 1003.90

Band C: 1147.32

Band D: 1290.73

Band E: 1577.56

Band F: 1864.39

Band G: 2151.22

Band H: 2581.46

Hackney

Band A: 872.18

Band B: 1017.54

Band C: 1162.91

Band D: 1308.27

Band E: 1599.00

Band F: 1889.73

Band G: 2180.45

Band H: 2616.54

Hammersmith & Fulham

Band A: 764.48

Band B: 891.88

Band C: 1019.30

Band D: 1146.71

Band E: 1401.54

Band F: 1656.36

Band G: 1911.19

Band H: 2293.42

Haringey

Band A: 996.11

Band B: 1162.11

Band C: 1328.13

Band D: 1494.14

Band E: 1826.06

Band F: 2158.22

Band G: 2490.24

Band H: 2988.29

Harrow

Band A: 997.58

Band B: 1163.84

Band C: 1330.11

Band D: 1496.37

Band E: 1828.90

Band F: 2161.42

Band G: 2493.95

Band H: 2992.74

Havering

Band A: 1007.33

Band B: 1175.22

Band C: 1343.11

Band D: 1511.00

Band E: 1846.78

Band F: 2182.56

Band G: 2518.33

Band H: 3022.00

Hillingdon

Band A: 948.50

Band B: 1106.58

Band C: 1264.67

Band D: 1422.75

Band E: 1738.92

Band F: 2055.09

Band G: 2371.25

Band H: 2845.50

Hounslow

Band A: 933.65

Band B: 1089.25

Band C: 1244.87

Band D: 1400.47

Band E: 1711.69

Band F: 2022.90

Band G: 2334.12

Band H: 2800.94

Islington

Band A: 847.80

Band B: 989.09

Band C: 1130.40

Band D: 1271.69

Band E: 1554.29

Band F: 1836.89

Band G: 2119.49

Band H: 2543.38

Kensington & Chelsea

Band A: 719.42

Band B: 839.31

Band C: 959.22

Band D: 1079.12

Band E: 1318.93

Band F: 1558.73

Band G: 1798.54

Band H: 2158.24

Kingston Upon Thames

Band A: 1086.84

Band B: 1267.97

Band C: 1449.12

Band D: 1630.25

Band E: 1992.53

Band F: 2354.81

Band G: 2717.09

Band H: 3260.50

Lambeth

Band A: 823.41

Band B: 960.64

Band C: 1097.88

Band D: 1235.11

Band E: 1509.58

Band F: 1784.05

Band G: 2058.52

Band H: 2470.22

Lewisham

Band A: 901.28

Band B: 1051.50

Band C: 1201.71

Band D: 1351.93

Band E: 1652.35

Band F: 1952.78

Band G: 2253.21

Band H: 2703.85

Merton

Wimbledon Common Area

Band A: 968.62

Band B: 1130.05

Band C: 1291.49

Band D: 1452.92

Band E: 1775.79

Band F: 2098.66

Band G: 2421.54

Band H: 2905.84

Other areas in Merton:

Band A: 952.40

Band B: 1111.13

Band C: 1269.87

Band D: 1428.60

Band E: 1746.07

Band F: 2063.54

Band G: 2381.00

Band H: 2857.20

Newham

Band A: 836.97

Band B: 976.46

Band C: 1115.96

Band D: 1255.45

Band E: 1534.44

Band F: 1813.43

Band G: 2092.42

Band H: 2510.90

Redbridge

Band A: 936.90

Band B: 1093.05

Band C: 1249.20

Band D: 1405.35

Band E: 1717.65

Band F: 2029.95

Band G: 2342.25

Band H: 2810.70

Richmond Upon Thames

Band A: 1064.81

Band B: 1242.27

Band C: 1419.74

Band D: 1597.21

Band E: 1952.15

Band F: 2307.08

Band G: 2662.02

Band H: 3194.42

Southwark

Band A: 814.64

Band B: 950.41

Band C: 1086.19

Band D: 1221.96

Band E: 1493.51

Band F: 1765.06

Band G: 2036.60

Band H: 2443.92

Sutton

Band A: 967.14

Band B: 1128.33

Band C: 1289.52

Band D: 1450.71

Band E: 1773.09

Band F: 2095.47

Band G: 2417.85

Band H: 2901.42

Tower Hamlets

Band A: 796.90

Band B: 929.71

Band C: 1062.53

Band D: 1195.34

Band E: 1460.97

Band F: 1726.60

Band G: 1992.24

Band H: 2390.68

Waltham Forest

Band A: 974.69

Band B: 1137.13

Band C: 1299.58

Band D: 1462.03

Band E: 1786.93

Band F: 2111.82

Band G: 2436.72

Band H: 2924.06

Wandsworth

Main part of the borough

Band A: 454.54

Band B: 530.30

Band C: 606.06

Band D: 681.81

Band E: 833.33

Band F: 984.84

Band G: 1136.36

Band H: 1363.62

Commons Area:

Band A: 470.76

Band B: 549.21

Band C: 627.68

Band D: 706.13

Band E: 863.05

Band F: 1019.97

Band G: 1176.89

Band H: 1412.27

Westminster

Band A: 458.41

Band B: 534.82

Band C: 611.12

Band D: 687.62

Band E: 840.42

Band F: 993.23

Band G: 1146.03

Band H: 1375.24

 

 

 

Throwing a house party in London

moove2london on 05 Feb 2010

House parties are always a popular social event in London, particularly in these credit-crunchy times! If you’ve recently moved to London, they’re a great way to expand your social circle, particularly if all of your flatmates invite a few ‘new’ people who the others don’t yet know. In order to throw a good party that’s talked about for all the right reasons, but allows your house not to look like it’s been involved in a nuclear disaster, there are some top tips that you should follow:

1. You and your flatmates could stock up on cheap bottles of booze. You can get Majestic Wine to deliver in bulk to your house. Stick to wine, fake champagne and beer to make it more affordable for you.

2. Talk to your flatmates about how many people you’d ideally like to invite. You might all want to invite workmates, friends of your girlfriend/boyfriend, friends from home, friends from your sports team etc etc. So you definitely need to work together on your guest list so there are no nasty surprises.

3. Decide if you’d like your party to be themed. Fancy dress/costume parties are really popular in London. There are plenty of fancy dress stores in London. Angels is an amazing store on Shaftesbury Avenue that does also do mail order if you’re too busy to visit.

4. Send out your invitations via email or Facebook. Invitations through the post are a bit ridiculous for just a simple house party. You could send out the email 2 or 3 weeks in advance (people get booked up quickly in London) and then send out some reminders nearer the time. Maybe follow up with a text to people who haven’t RSVP’d.

5. On your invitation, request that everyone brings a bottle. If you’re particularly worried about your carpet getting trashed, then you could have a ‘white drinks only’ policy to ensure that everyone steers clear of creating dreaded red wine stains!

6. On the day of the party, make an Ipod playlist (or similar) and try and cater for everyone’s music tastes. If your guests want to change the music, let them!

7. Make sure that you hide all breakables away somewhere safe, so that your house is party-proofed!

8. Invest in some plastic cups (you can even get fancy plastic champagne flutes these days) so that smashed glasses are kept to a minimum.

9. If you’re worried about upsetting your neighbours with loud music, the best thing to do is go and see them a couple of days before, let them know about the party and invite them to come along. Most neighbours won’t turn up, but will be grateful to receive an invite.

10. Move your furniture around a bit to make a large space for dancing and mingling.

11. Make sure you have some burly blokes around to chuck out any potential ‘gatecrashers’.

12. If the worst happens and you end up running out of booze, contact Just Eat, who should be able to organise a late-night booze run for you.

Dealing with the culture shock of living in London

moove2london on 03 Feb 2010

If you’re moving to London from abroad to study or work, you will probably experience a bit of a culture shock when you arrive in the UK. For the first couple of weeks, it might feel like a holiday, but a little after that you may start to feel frustrated about the differences in your new country and become homesick.

There are ways to deal with the experience of a culture shock, but ultimately it’s down to you to get stuck in and embrace living in London. You won’t learn anything about London by shutting yourself away.

First of all, try and meet as many people as possible. If you are having trouble understanding something, then try not to quickly form an opinion against the culture. Instead react positively by asking questions about why the English do things a certain way. Even if you don’t agree with the answer, it will help if you understand our mentality a little better. If you’re able to meet people from your native country who are also living in London, then that’s great, as they’re likely to have gone through the same experiences and difficulties as you. If you’re from an EU country, then read our EU Citizenspage, which has details of social events for each member country. You’re also welcome to post a message in our forum and invite others to chat with you.

If you’re having difficulty in meeting people, try chatting to people at work, on your course, join sports teams, take classes and make an effort to socialize with your flatmates and their social circle. The more effort you put into meeting people, the more positive experiences you’ll have whilst you’re living here.

However, as much as you need to immerse yourself in London life, you should also keep in touch with friends and family back in your home country. Luckily, letter-writing is a thing of the past and now the technology is in place to be able to email and skype whenever you’re having a bad day. It’s important to talk through your feelings and admit that you’re having a tough time, so that the people closest to you can offer you good advice. Also talking to them about the annoyances in their daily lives, might help you remember that things back home weren’t perfect either.

Depending on where you’re from, English may not be your first language. If you’re having difficulty expressing yourself, then take a class. It’s basic, but if you want to get better at English, you’re just going to need to speak it more and you’ll be amazed at how quickly you’ll improve by interacting on a daily basis with English people. Also, if you have a different mother tongue, then why not look into teaching your language in one-to-one tutorials or even a small class. Talk Languages is a good company to contact if you’re interested in becoming a language tutor.

Above all, please don’t be despondent. Homesickness doesn’t last forever and you may find that when you’re ready to leave the UK and return to your home country, that you might actually feel a little sad at leaving!

Where to live in London

moove2london on 02 Feb 2010

What should you look for when choosing where to live in London? We already have plenty of area profiles listed on the site, 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.

Keeping Fit in London

moove2london on 28 Jan 2010

As we approach the end of January, our motivation to keep our New Year’s resolutions may be waning somewhat and even though we’ve supposedly been ‘dieting’ since New Year’s Day, the scales seem to think differently! For those of you who have recently moved to London, you might be struggling to get into enough of a routine to tackle a weight-loss regime correctly. Maybe you’ve been eating ready-meals because you’ve not located your nearest supermarket yet (if this is the case please check out our area guides) or you’ve been having such a good time going to loads of exciting bars in London, so your alcohol calories are mounting up. If any of this sounds familiar, then help is at hand.

First of all, if gym membership is something that you can see yourself sticking to, then now is the time to join up with one. The best deals are on offer in January, particularly at the end of Jan, when the sales people in gyms realize that they haven’t got enough commission yet, so they start dropping all sorts of costs like joining fees. All the different gym chains have varying price plans, which often depend on whether you would like to commit to a particular branch of their chain of gyms, or have the flexibility of visiting any of their branches throughout town – for instance you might like to visit a gym near your home as well as your workplace. The following gyms have branches all across the city. Visit them for further details: Esporta, LA Fitness, Fitness First, Cannons, Holmes Place, Soho Gyms, Virgin Active, Energize Fitness. As a rough guide, it’s normal to pay a joining fee (admin fee) and sign up on an annual contract making monthly payments of approximately £40. However, it’s quite possible that you’ll come across cheaper and more expensive offers.
Girls, if you’re going to the gym for the first time in a while, you’ll need to make sure that you’re kitted out with a good sports bra. A well-fitted sports bra can reduce pain and vertical movement by 50%, so it’s really quite important that you invest well, particularly if you’re a larger lady. Lessbounce is a good brand to check out.

If you don’t quite have the time to commit to going to the gym, then you might be more suited to an online weight loss plan such as Rosemary Conley NEW Amazing Inch Loss Plan. It’s for people who want to lose weight and get fit at the same time. Out of 50 volunteers that signed up to the plan, they lost an average of 1 stone in 4 weeks, which is very impressive. If you join up with Rosemaryconleyonline, you’ll get a unique magic measure so you can keep track of the inches of fat that you’re losing, portion pots to measure your food helpings, Rosemary’s latest diets and recipes, your own personal weight loss and exercise coaches and 24/7 availability. Membership costs from as little as 22 pence a day and if you sign up at the moment, type AF into the offer code box at the checkout and you’ll get an extra month’s membership for free.

Another popular way to lose weight through online dieting is by signing up to Weightwatchers. There’s a reason they’re so famous – joining up gives you access to 35,000 food options including 1000 recipe and meal ideas. You’re even able to choose healthier versions of your favourite meals with various interactive tools, then you can check your weight loss by using the online tracker facility. At the moment, they’re running a promotion where if you sign up for 3 months, you’ll save £29.95 and only have to pay £29.85 for the 3 months (making it £9.95 per month).

It seems like the UK is finally catching up with the USA in terms of slimming products that are available to us. We now have access to a range of legal weight loss pills and Slimming Solutions is a great place to go for all the latest products including Slim Bomb Weight Loss pills and the Maple Syrup Diet! As well as medicinal solutions, they also stock Vibration Plates, which is the new piece of kit that if you go on it for 12 minutes, it’s the equivalent of working out with weights for an hour! Slimming Solutions also sell slimming underwear and anti-cellulite products. With every order placed in January, you’ll receive a free diet + exercise program as well as free product samples.

So, all in all, there are some terrific January offers around, so make the most of them and fit your weight loss regime around your new, busy London lifestyle!

Young Person’s Railcard

moove2london on 22 Jan 2010

If you’re moving to London from other parts of the UK, there’s probably going to come a time, when you want to go and visit family and friends from your home towns. Obviously there are various methods of transport you can take – you can drive, or take a coach, but possibly the most popular way of getting home is to take the train.

Now, if you’re new to the UK, you’ll have to learn the unfortunate fact that train travel in this country isn’t cheap. But there are ways around softening the blow and getting more value for money from your rail fare. For a start, many train companies offer really low advance fares, if you book your tickets a few months in advance. However, this isn’t exactly great for spontaneity.

So, if you’re aged between 16 and 25, the answer is to invest in a 16-25 railcard, formerly known as the Young Person’s Railcard.

This railcard, which costs £26 for the year, gives holders 1/3 off rail fares around Britain, however, there is a minimum fare applicable on trains before 10am Monday to Friday, except during July and August. As well as receiving this ticket discount, you can also pick up a free StudentDiscounts card, which offers savings on great brands like Dominos pizzas, Faith (shoes), Peacocks,  Game.co.uk and many more.  With your railcard, you’re also eligible to free YMCA membership for 1 year and 15% off with Contiki holidays for 18-35s!

In order to obtain a railcard, you can either apply online or at a manned ticket office. You’ll need a valid passport or UK driving licence, a digital uploadable passport photo (for online applications, just a normal passport photo is sufficient when applying at a railway station) and to be between the ages of 16 and 25, or to be over 26 and be able to prove that you’re in full-time education as a mature student. Unfortunately NUS (National Union of Students) cards are not accepted as proof of age or of educational status.  Also, Open University or distance learning students do not qualify for the railcard.

For young people who are moving to London for the first time from overseas, investing in a railcard is a great way to see other parts of the UK. A great book to read is Time Out’s ‘Great Days out from London’ which offers an amazing range of things to do within reach of London. From beaches to woodland walks, canal boats to steam trains, the book is packed full of inspiration! Combine it with your railcard and make the most of living in the UK.