Single person living and working in London....

[BertrandRussell]

About how much money, after paying bills, rent, travel and council tax would a single person living in Clapham and working in Central London need to have a pleasant, but not extravagant life? I realize this is incredibly subjective- but ball park figures?

Graduate DD is loving living in Brixton. She is in a shared house with other young professionals. She earns £26k and seems to go out 3 or 4 nights a week - a mixture of clubs (free entry as her friend is a promoter), pubs, theatre (under 25 scheme) and going to friends for dinner. Weekends seem to be free exhibitions and brunch. —I miss living in London—

I lived in a shared flat in sw11 a few years back. Big Asda and Lidl keep grocery costs down.
If she joins a seat filling service there are always cheap events at Clapham grand and often at battersea arts centre on offer as well as further afield.
Plenty of night buses and equally loads of places to go out locally which keep socialising costs down.

It'll be as cheap or expensive as she makes it, but as areas go it isn't too miserable, if you don't have much, as there are places your money will stretch and you can always go for a walk.

She is likely going to be closer to Clapham Junction than any of the Northern line stations if she's in SW11.

I haven't lived there since SWR took over from SWT but from what little I gather it hasn't improved (this is going into Waterloo). If going into Victoria, she'd be on Southern rail. The services are very very frequent, but the overcrowding meant that on a bad day anything up to 4 trains would pass before I could physically board.

I've also commuted on the northern line, and while people of my parents generation who live outside London seem to think it's awful, it must have improved a lot as that was never my experience of it - no worse than any other tube line anyway.

If living close to Clapham Junction Station, it's worth noting that the south side (St John's Hill) is lovely middle class territory whereas the North side (Grant Road) is frankly rough. I did a lot of door knocking on the Winstanley Estate and surrounds one general election, and I wouldn't choose to live there if I had better alternatives.

Why on earth would you want to live there? Expensive, very difficult to get space on the tube or trains if you work other than shifts, and south of the river. OP have you thought of somewhere better to live?

Why on earth would you want to live there?

Because it is bloomin' amazing

Why on earth? Because it's convenient for both her and the woman she's sharing with! Where would you suggest?

I agree! And because it's the OP's DD who's got her first job in central London and wants to live there. I don't think the OP has much say in where DD's going to live!

X-posted

DD and DS both live in South London.

DD spends about £400 extra a month.
DS about £300.

Most of this is on coffee and books

“and south of the river”

The horror!

What prattish ridiculous snobbery.

Oh oh oh - join the audience club! Tickets are a few pounds each and there are loads of events (music, comedy, classical music/rock concerts, films, talks, walks) to choose from.

Ok so it’s not Les Mis, but there’s recently been Bat out of Hell and a few good talks and music gigs. And because it’s so cheap (you can buy 2 tickets) you can afford to see a few turkeys! It is really great for those who don’t have loads of family commitments and can go out when the want!

My DD started out living in London on a wage of 21K. She seemed to manage on that and enjoyed going out. Her rent at that point was around £670 pm. She now earns a bit more and lives with her boyfriend in Peckham. Their joint rent is about £1500 p.m. but they both have a decent income and manage to eat out a lot, go to shows, go on holiday etc.

This is not answering the "how much money after bills" OP but if she has budgeted for house bills and travel - SW11 is a fabulous place to live as a young person I think. Yes to the big Asda and Lidle near Clapham Junction , which will keep grocery bills down ( also if of interest there is a Wholefoods market just round the corner ) Northcote road has lots of fancy little shops / cafes restaurants . YY to Battersea Arts Centre - also if she is interested in theatre there is a small one above the Latchmere pub on Battersea park Road ( Latchmere503 Olivier award winning I believe - promotes new writers ) - Also on Battersea Park road is the Sushi Cafe which does an "all you an eat menu" - Even my brother in law who lives in Japan and is fussy about his sushi thinks it is OK - quite basic inside but a nice night out at a reasonable cost. Depending on how near she is to a tube - it might be worth checking out the buses - The No 19 goes from North Battersea up towards Holborn and beyond ( well it does at the moment - under review I think from TFL but a very very handy route ) . Also she will be a short bus ride from the King's Road for when she feel "less frugal" . And if she ever is in central London and wants to get a cab it is certainly not a "Sorry love I'm not going there" type of place - it's just over the river . I think it sounds like a great place & if the basics are covered I bet she will find things to do within her budget. I used to live in SW11 when I was younger and loved it. If sharing with a friend I think it is a great place to start. If she decides to stay and wants to buy - then she may find expensive but she will have found her feet a little more by then. Again aside from the house bills & travel card - see what she spent before and aside from the more expensive pubs and restaurants I think she could make a decent guess and it will probably work. And yes Wandsworth Council tax is low.
Sorry @Bertrand that was a bit of stream of consciousness But I think if she and her friend have chosen it for convenience they will enjoy it. Difficult to say not knowing the actual place they will be living - there are many different sorts of places cheek by jowl in London , but by and large SW11 is not "here be lions"

Thank you all. Sadly the flat was wildly unsuitable-so she's back to square one. But they liked the area so they're going to keep looking round there.

She's taken lots of notes from the thread-particularly the theatre and food recomendations!

If they've not already done so, I'd also recommend that they agree some hard and fast ground rules for living together. Who cleans what and when, who pays for cleaning products, agreement on noise levels, overnight guests, not moving boyfriends in on the sly etc. Sounds basic but seen a lot of house shares come unstuck because there were no basic agreements in place.