Moving To/Living In London Megathread - ALL QUESTIONS TO GO HERE

Strawberry Fields

djpbarry wrote: »

Is what likely to be cash in hand? Bar/cafe work? Very unlikely.

Cool, how much seed money do you think is minimum with accomodation, some meals, for a couple of weeks while interviewing etc.
I'm sure with job contract in hand can borrow initial rent deposit.

enda1

Strawberry Fields wrote: »

Cool, how much seed money do you think is minimum with accomodation, some meals, for a couple of weeks while interviewing etc.
I'm sure with job contract in hand can borrow initial rent deposit.

I thought accommodation was free?

You will find it hard to borrow I imagine without any credit history in the UK.

If you really want to you could live on 50 quid for 2 weeks but then its all about what you consider your minimum standard to be. This really is a "how long is a piece of string" type of question.

Strawberry Fields

Accom is free but not forever.

Survive on fresh air so bare essentials only and getting around on job hunt.

What about AIB over there?

enda1

Strawberry Fields wrote: »

Accom is free but not forever.

Survive on fresh air so bare essentials only and getting around on job hunt.

Can you bring a bike like I suggested?
You can then live in cheap ass accommodation when your friend gets tired of stepping over you in the mornings. Something like spareroom.co.uk should help you out. You may find at the start that you'll have to pay a weeks rent as deposit and week upfront at about £100 for a cheap place. Good luck though, it can be done.

And I think you can transfer your dole to the UK for a period of time to job-hunt. I've no experience of this however.

Strawberry Fields

enda1 wrote: »

Can you bring a bike like I suggested?
You can then live in cheap ass accommodation when your friend gets tired of stepping over you in the mornings. Something like spareroom.co.uk should help you out. You may find at the start that you'll have to pay a weeks rent as deposit and week upfront at about £100 for a cheap place. Good luck though, it can be done.

And I think you can transfer your dole to the UK for a period of time to job-hunt. I've no experience of this however.

Cheers Enda great advice.

83ste

Strawberry Fields wrote: »

What about AIB over there?

AIB Bank GB is a business banking operation only. You can, of course, withdraw money from an Irish AIB personal account at any UK ATM using your debit card.

djpbarry

serrity wrote: »

AIB Bank GB is a business banking operation only. You can, of course, withdraw money from an Irish AIB personal account at any UK ATM using your debit card.

But you'll incur a hefty charge and get a crap exchange rate. However, some UK banks, such as RBS, don't charge fees for withdrawals from accounts held with their subsidiaries (Ulster Bank, in the case of RBS), but the exchange rates are typically still fairly pants.

Strawberry Fields

djpbarry wrote: »

But you'll incur a hefty charge and get a crap exchange rate. However, some UK banks, such as RBS, don't charge fees for withdrawals from accounts held with their subsidiaries (Ulster Bank, in the case of RBS), but the exchange rates are typically still fairly pants.

Is it worth your while opening an ulster bank a/c here?
Then transferring funds from my main current a/c online?

splanagan22

Am looking to find out the best area in London for a young single lad,,moved over in April and currently staying with relatives in south west London and working in central London,,am a bit far out for socialising and that as I'm in zone 6 so I'd love to know an area for meeting people and making friends and also a good night life, need to keep the budget tight so maybe a flat share or room is only option, couldn't afford a 1 bed at the minute. Any advise would be greatly appreciated and anyone else in same situation.

LordSutch

Sooo many places . . . . . .

Streatham, South London, on the 159 route!

Lovely jubbly.

tibor

I hear Hayes is a great spot.

kraggy

Hi folks,

An agency that are looking for a teaching job for me asked me where I'd like to live and I've no clue about London apart from the names of some areas and the names of the surrounding counties. But I don't know what these areas are like.

I can let them know which areas in London or counties (e.g. Essex, Surrey, Bedfordshire, Hertforshire, Sussex, Kent etc) I wish to live in and then they'll look for a job for me based on that.

So what I'm after is:

a. a place that is no further than 1h15m outside of central London for trips in to town on a Saturday
b. a place where the rent isn't obscene (teacher's salary remember!)
c. a place with a bit of character (e.g. I prefer formerly run-down areas that have been rejuvenated with pubs and restaurants in recent years to posh shopping districts)
d. a bonus would be somewhere near to a hurling club as I'm thinking of getting back into playing. This isn't absolutely necessary though.

Also take into account I'm into the arts, music, theatre etc. Though I realise most of that kind of thing is in central London so it might be irrelevant to this conversation.

As I said, the agency said that I can live anywhere in Greater London or in the "Home Counties". So if you can suggest any areas that might suit, I'd be very grateful.

And if the above is too much to digest, in general, would I be better off living in an area north, east, west or south of London given the criteria that I mentioned?

Thanks a million

EDIT: Forgot to ask, is there some sort of map that shows within which area the London allowance is paid on top your salary?

Fysh

If you're serious about getting into Central London at the weekends, I'd forget about the Home Counties completely - between the time spent travelling, the cost of train tickets and the hassle involved actually getting where you're going it's not worth it (75 min total journey doesn't leave a great deal if it includes "time taken to get from home to train station" + "train journey" + "onward journey from central london train station to actual destination"). Don't forget that for things like shows & gigs, you'll probably need to leave early to ensure you catch that last train.

For guidance on rent you need to decide whether you're looking for a house share, a studio or a one-bed apartment. To be honest, unless you're being offered a pretty good package, I'd guess you're likely to be looking at a house share.

If you get the timing right, you might be able to get in somewhere a bit run-down that's in the early stages of being gentrified - that would get you cheapish rents combined with the character you're looking for. I really like Kilburn, though you might have to look around a bit (West Hampstead, Maida Vale & Queens Park have a lot of overlap with Kilburn and involve substantially higher rents despite being in the same area) to find suitable rents. Clapham & Balham are also pretty popular at the moment for folks moving over, though I've heard that Balham is getting pricey as a result. East London's also worth a look if you can get the right area; I know fairly little about it but I'm sure others can advise. If you can stick being a bit away from the centre, Ealing is a bit far out but has a lot going on and a lot of character - it's worth looking into, at least. (Though I should warn you that you'd end up heavily dependent on the ongoing disappointment that is the District Line...)

enda1

^
I wouldn't really agree with that.

There are many home counties locations which you can live in that offer a half hour journey to central London.
And many offer cheap travel too, certainly cheap when looking at the offset of rent!

I mean a day travelcard from Woking is 11.10 with a national rail card. Not expensive. Then you're in Waterloo in less than 30 mins and at the theatres nearby (Old Vic, Southbank etc.) quickly.

For late travel , the Thameslink runs all night, though not that frequently. So on the Brighton line from Victoria South or on the Blackfriars route (Bedford to Brighton) North or South.

All that said, I'd definitely recommend living in London, if costs permit.

Lapin

While Luton would not be described as one of Britain's prettiest towns it does tick a lot of the boxes the OP enquires about.
At least as a place to start out in while getting to know your way around.

Rents there are considerably less than most places inside the M25 and the stockbroker belts of Surrey and places west of London.

Its only 3/4 of an hour from central London with regular trains running 24 hours a day.

There is a strong Irish community there and a few GAA clubs although football is far more prominent than hurling. However St Gabriel's in Wembley and Kilburn Gaels are both within driving distance.

Luton itself is about twice the size of Cork and has all the services and facilities expected of a town of its size. It may lack the culture and nightlife found elsewhere but it does have its share of decent pubs and restaurants. There are various sports clubs and gyms and plenty of golf courses in the area. And with all the usual edge of town supermarkets and the Arndale Shopping Centre in town there's nothing you can't buy in the place.

Its on the M1 motorway giving a handy commute to places like Milton Keynes, St Albans, Watford large tracts of North London and a short drive from the M25.

And of course it goes without saying that having an airport on your doorstep with regular flights to Ireland is a bonus.

I'm beggining to sound like a rep for Luton Council here - Trust me I'm not !

While Luton itself is in Bedfordshire, it is on the border of Hertfordshire and almost surrounded by it so either county can be used as a description to give a prospective employer as an indication of of where you are looking for work.


Best of luck with wherever you decide to move to OP, and let us know how you get on !

clarbar

Hi looking to move to London now that I'm qualified as a receptionist/secretary, would it be possible to get a job around the place over there or is the employment prospects bad like here?

83ste

Yes, it should be possible to get at least temporary reception/secretarial work in London at the moment. However it may be tricky to get something lined up in that area before you move over, so you'd probably need to have a friend to stay with or some savings to tide you over, to allow some time for job hunting.

Lunni

Have lived in London on and off but always in the same place. Am now looking to stay for period of about a year and as the place is so massive, I'm not sure where to start. I'd ideally want to live in a flatshare/houseshare with my partner (I know finding rooms for couples is an issue but we can't afford to rent on our own) in zones 1 or 2. My main concern is safety and that's more important than just about everything else. I don't mind a bit of a walk to the tube or relying on buses once the area is reasonably nice.

I've been looking at Battersea/Clapham Junction. Is this a good area? What about the Archway/Holloway/Tufnell Park area? Any advice or help welcome!

Playboy

Lunni wrote: »

Have lived in London on and off but always in the same place. Am now looking to stay for period of about a year and as the place is so massive, I'm not sure where to start. I'd ideally want to live in a flatshare/houseshare with my partner (I know finding rooms for couples is an issue but we can't afford to rent on our own) in zones 1 or 2. My main concern is safety and that's more important than just about everything else. I don't mind a bit of a walk to the tube or relying on buses once the area is reasonably nice.

I've been looking at Battersea/Clapham Junction. Is this a good area? What about the Archway/Holloway/Tufnell Park area? Any advice or help welcome!

Battersea/Clapham Junction is a great area. Vibrant social scene, shopping and loads of good restaurants. Clapham Junction rail is one of the most connected in the city

Lunni

Playboy wrote: »

Battersea/Clapham Junction is a great area. Vibrant social scene, shopping and loads of good restaurants. Clapham Junction rail is one of the most connected in the city

Great to hear. I've had a few people tell me Clapham Junction is dodgy..?

Playboy

Lunni wrote: »

Great to hear. I've had a few people tell me Clapham Junction is dodgy..?

Not more than anywhere else in London. There are some gang issues in south london generally but I have lived in the area for 7 years almost and never had an issue.

Lunni

Playboy wrote: »

Not more than anywhere else in London. There are some gang issues in south london generally but I have lived in the area for 7 years almost and never had an issue.

Great, thanks. Can you connect to the tube easily from Clapham Junction? Could you change at Clapham North to the Northern line? What are the bus connections like?

Louche Lad

Lunni wrote: »

Great, thanks. Can you connect to the tube easily from Clapham Junction? Could you change at Clapham North to the Northern line? What are the bus connections like?

First, Clapham Junction is not even in Clapham, but Battersea (like Limerick Junction is in Co. Tipperary, not Co. Limerick). So you can't change from Clapham Junction to Clapham North without a VERY long walk.

However, CJ is on the Overground, which is almost Tube-like. See timetables and maps at http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/richmond-and-clapham-junction-to-stratford-timetable-may-2013.pdf and http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/highbury-islington-to-west-croydon-and-clapham-junction-timetable-may-2013.pdf .

Also, there are extremely frequent mainline trains from CJ to Victoria and Waterloo, and many trains to most places south of London. CJ is the busiest station in Britain, I believe.

Outside CJ station there are huge numbers of buses. And taxis.

All in all, CJ is one of the best-connected stations is London, so for me the downside of no Underground line is just a minor annoyance.

Lunni

Louche Lad wrote: »

First, Clapham Junction is not even in Clapham, but Battersea (like Limerick Junction is in Co. Tipperary, not Co. Limerick). So you can't change from Clapham Junction to Clapham North without a VERY long walk.

However, CJ is on the Overground, which is almost Tube-like. See timetables and maps at http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/richmond-and-clapham-junction-to-stratford-timetable-may-2013.pdf and http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/highbury-islington-to-west-croydon-and-clapham-junction-timetable-may-2013.pdf .

Also, there are extremely frequent mainline trains from CJ to Victoria and Waterloo, and many trains to most places south of London. CJ is the busiest station in Britain, I believe.

Outside CJ station there are huge numbers of buses. And taxis.

All in all, CJ is one of the best-connected stations is London, so for me the downside of no Underground line is just a minor annoyance.

I know it's in Battersea - I meant, are there trains serving other nearby stations which would connect Clapham Junction to the Tube? It would be a bit of an inconvenience not being near the Tube, as (as far as I understand) the Overground only really serves the major stops. Can you get on any train, for example, a First Capital Connect service, using your Oyster card, to go somewhere in central London? For example, CJ to Victoria?
Definitely willing to put up with the lack of a Tube service if a train/bus combo can get me where I need to go!

Edit - the reason I thought there was a connection is that the Tube map I just downloaded shows a change at 'Clapham High Street' (Overground) to Clapham North (Northern Line). Has that line not been finished yet or am I missing something?

Louche Lad

Lunni wrote: »

I know it's in Battersea - I meant, are there trains serving other nearby stations which would connect Clapham Junction to the Tube? It would be a bit of an inconvenience not being near the Tube, as (as far as I understand) the Overground only really serves the major stops. Can you get on any train, for example, a First Capital Connect service, using your Oyster card, to go somewhere in central London? For example, CJ to Victoria?
Definitely willing to put up with the lack of a Tube service if a train/bus combo can get me where I need to go!

Edit - the reason I thought there was a connection is that the Tube map I just downloaded shows a change at 'Clapham High Street' (Overground) to Clapham North (Northern Line). Has that line not been finished yet or am I missing something?

OK, sorry, had assumed you were completely unfamiliar with the area.

Anyway: the Overground serves mostly quite minor stations, and it sort of fills in some of the gaps in the traditional Tube service. I find it's mostly fairly easy to slip from the Overground to the Underground, though sometimes it's a little confusing about exactly what's going on (e.g. are you inside the station or outside, etc.?).

You can also use Oyster on many other services (see here for FCC). To be honest, I'm not an expert on who provides what service, but I just find things seem to work when I'm whizzing around London on an Oyster.

So you could go south from Clapham Junction to Balham and join the Northern Line there, or you could go north to Vauxhall and change to the Victoria Line, and so on.

As regards the Clapham High Street to Clapham North interchange: they're separate stations, so you'd have to touch out of one, walk through the streets (not fun on a cold wet February morning I guess), and touch in at the other.

Overall, I think the Clapham Junction area is a great place to be (never actually lived there myself, but spent a lot of time there in the past few decades).

Rainbow_brite

Hi it looks like i'll be moving to London within the next month to look for work, I'll be initially staying with a relative in the Wembley area. I am wondering if anybody could recommend the best mobile phone network, I am on 02 here in Ireland. Also my relative doesn't have broadband/Internet in the apartment so I'd be looking at getting something that doesn't involve me signing up to 12 month contract yet. If anybody has any suggestions that would be awesome. Finally my degree area is in IT but I have experience in banking/admin I am signed up to all the major online recruitment sites Monster, LinkedIn, Reed etc. but if anybody has had any luck with an recruitment agencies of late and wouldn't mind passing on info I would be very grateful! Hopefully I might catch ye at a Boards beers session over the Summer

FTA69

I find O2 is the best over here as well. I pay a tenner a month and I get free texts to all networks, a load of free calls to other networks and they also do a sort of international card where you can ring Irish landlines for 3p a minute.

Scarinae

Lunni wrote: »

I know it's in Battersea - I meant, are there trains serving other nearby stations which would connect Clapham Junction to the Tube? It would be a bit of an inconvenience not being near the Tube, as (as far as I understand) the Overground only really serves the major stops. Can you get on any train, for example, a First Capital Connect service, using your Oyster card, to go somewhere in central London? For example, CJ to Victoria?
Definitely willing to put up with the lack of a Tube service if a train/bus combo can get me where I need to go!

Edit - the reason I thought there was a connection is that the Tube map I just downloaded shows a change at 'Clapham High Street' (Overground) to Clapham North (Northern Line). Has that line not been finished yet or am I missing something?

I lived in Clapham Junction for nearly three years. It is really well connected – it’s not on the standard tube map, but there are frequent trains to Victoria (7 minute journey) which is on the Victoria, District and Circle lines, and to Waterloo (10 minute journey) which is on the Northern, Bakerloo, Jubilee and W&C lines. You can get to both destinations from more than one platform, but when you come into the station there is a board telling you which platform to go to for the next Victoria or Waterloo train.

You can use your Oyster card just like you would on the tube, although once you get to these stations you have to swipe out, go to the underground section and swipe back in again.

A lot of people have the same impression as you, that it’s an inconvenience not being near the tube, but I never had any problems because there are loads of trains. The station is dead handy for getting to a lot of other places as well, most notably Gatwick airport which is very useful if you fly home a lot. However, it is crazy busy during rush hour so I always allowed a few extra minutes to get through the crowds to my platform.

There are loads of buses as well, really easy to get to a lot of places. There’s a bit more detail on that here. Lots of night buses as well, you can get back at any time of the morning really.

Louche Lad wrote: »

So you could go south from Clapham Junction to Balham and join the Northern Line there, or you could go north to Vauxhall and change to the Victoria Line, and so on.

It’s worth bearing in mind that Balham is in zone 3. I used to do this a lot though, only takes a few minutes to Balham and I always got a seat. The Northern line is hideous in the mornings though!

frag420

Rainbow_brite wrote: »

Hi it looks like i'll be moving to London within the next month to look for work, I'll be initially staying with a relative in the Wembley area. I am wondering if anybody could recommend the best mobile phone network, I am on 02 here in Ireland. Also my relative doesn't have broadband/Internet in the apartment so I'd be looking at getting something that doesn't involve me signing up to 12 month contract yet. If anybody has any suggestions that would be awesome. Finally my degree area is in IT but I have experience in banking/admin I am signed up to all the major online recruitment sites Monster, LinkedIn, Reed etc. but if anybody has had any luck with an recruitment agencies of late and wouldn't mind passing on info I would be very grateful! Hopefully I might catch ye at a Boards beers session over the Summer

Dont go with Three network. I moved here in March and they were good to begin with but now they are constantly dropping signal in my area. Very bad service. That o2 deal mentioned above sounds good to me.

frAg

Rainbow_brite

FTA69 wrote: »

I find O2 is the best over here as well. I pay a tenner a month and I get free texts to all networks, a load of free calls to other networks and they also do a sort of international card where you can ring Irish landlines for 3p a minute.

frag420 wrote: »

Dont go with Three network. I moved here in March and they were good to begin with but now they are constantly dropping signal in my area. Very bad service. That o2 deal mentioned above sounds good to me.

frAg

Great thanks I'll stick with O2 then, I heard T mobile isn't great for coverage either!