Lively area to live easy commute to Liverpool Street station?

[EachandEveryone]

If you were 21 and moving down for a first job? Within 30 mins commute.

What is their budget please, and requirements other than commute, are they wanting a 'cool' area with lots happening, or somewhere quieter and more suburban, do they want to be on a tube line or are they happy walking/cycling/getting bus to work - avoiding tubes and trains can be a huge saving of several thousand a year on travelcards so worth bearing in mind?

At 21 most people would be into house sharing with others of the same age to save money and hopefully make friends? Even house shares in London are pricey but popular areas would be to the east of central London, starting in Old Street/edge of Islington areas which would be walking distance to the city, and moving out east to Canonbury, Dalston, Hackney, Hackney Wick types areas, all very popular with youngsters and a do-able cycle ride or short bus ride away - but commensurately pricey and possibly out of reach of some!

If they are on more of a limited budget and/or want somewhere a bit more suburban or quiet then they can easily look further out on the Central Line or the overground trains which go direct into Liverpool Street, places like Forest Gate, Leyton, Walthamstow, Wanstead are nice easy commutes to the city and a bit more affordable than the zone 1 areas. There are also lots of new developments around the old Olympic Park so Stratford and surrounds is more popular than it used to be and has great transport links and also the new-ish Westfield for shopping and amenities. Or you can also look at stations on the Northern line as Moorgate is about 5-10 mins away from Liverpool Street although this would tend towards the fancier/pricier areas like Belsize Park and Hampstead. Basically an awful lot of London will be 30 mins away from Liverpool Street so s/he will have plenty of choice if that's their only criteria!

Oh it will be a flatshare so Im guessing £700 a month and hopefully will be a bus ride away. Spare room will be what she uses but she isnt familiar with areas having never lived in London. Used to sharing.

There are lots of places on Spareroom I dont know if its best to avpid agents or not

I would personally avoid agents, yes. It's been a long time since I was sharing but my YA children have been through it recently - none of them had bad experiences with agents per se, all were reasonably fair and maintained the properties well, didn't suddenly hike the rent up or evict them without warning etc but the HMO type landlords that let rooms individually they found were generally inclined to be less fussy with tenants, there would tend to be a higher turnover within the flats and so a higher likelihood of weirdos or people that simply didn't care about keeping the place clean and being considerate of others. No living room in the house/flat (or living room turned into an extra bedroom) was a big red flag for people that just wanted a cheap place to sleep and wouldn't treat it as a home too...

She should probably look for somewhere where the other tenants manage the flat/choose their flatmates themselves, or maybe even as a lodger where someone owns their own place (although that is a very different dynamic of course).

Ridiculous as it is, £700 is not a huge budget for a room in central London (I know, I know, you could rent a whole house for that elsewhere) so if the 30 mins commute by bus only is a priority for her she may need to compromise on size of room or niceness of house - don't get me wrong she should find somewhere but just to be aware, a huge lovely room in a luxury zone 1 modern flat for that budget will probably have a (huge!) catch somewhere - maybe if she looks towards somewhere a bit further out like Forest Gate or Hackney Wick she'd be better off, although that will be more like a half hour train or hour bus ride (in pre-lockdown rush hour traffic!)...

South Tottenham? 15 minutes on the train into Liverpool Street. Well within the budget. It's lively in the sense that there are plenty of late night shops and restaurants, less in the way of bars and music venues, but Hackney/Stoke Newington aren't too far away.

You'd want to check it out first though, I think some people would think it was a bit rough. We loved it!

There are loads under £700 but without outside space. Whats Brick Lane like to live on?

Have a look at the stops on the London overground services in and out of London Liverpool St.

London Fields, Hackney Downs, Hackney Central, Stoke Newington and possibly Walthamstow spring to mind. All plenty going on for young people and it’s the ‘edgier’ side of London.

@toomuchtooold

South Tottenham? 15 minutes on the train into Liverpool Street. Well within the budget. It's lively in the sense that there are plenty of late night shops and restaurants, less in the way of bars and music venues, but Hackney/Stoke Newington aren't too far away.

You'd want to check it out first though, I think some people would think it was a bit rough. We loved it!

I was thinking the same. It’s not for everyone but it can be a great base, there’s excellent transport, relatively cheap housing and food. There is a better choice of pubs, cafes, bars and venues in the area than a few years ago now as well (hopefully survived lockdown).

Romford is "lively"
There are some limited stop trains to Liv St ( Ilford/Straford/Liv St) which are much quicker

And there might be CrossRail before Helll freezes over

Walthamstow or Stoke Newington. Maybe Bermondsey, but I'm not sure what rent is like there. I'd agree with looking for somewhere the flatmates choose who moves in if they want to live with people they can socialise with.

Or actually within half an hour maybe Camden or Stockwell? Depending on where in Liverpool Street, as you can always get the northern line to Bank or Moorgate and walk. Dalston could also be a good option. I think moving to London it's more about who you live with than the area a lot of the time in terms of how lovely it is - you'll be out all the time at 21 anyway and have friends all over the city so you won't just stick where you live!

*lively not necessarily lovely!

Bow is a great part of east London to live- somewhere near Tredegar road (if you stay somewhere between Bow Road tube and Victoria park, that’s the best area.

Also would look at Walthamstow, Stoke newington, or if budget can stretch and she wants to live somewhere very lively and central go for shoreditch, hackney road or old street areas.