Ridiculous question about living in London

[Skunkandnancy]

I’ve just come back from a few days in London. We stayed in Paddington (Sussex gardens), just across the road from the station.

I LOVE London and when I get back I’m always a bit fascinated and think about it a lot. Where we stayed there appeared to be ‘normal’ flats just along from Sussex Gdns where people were just living.

I know it sounds absolutely ridiculous but I can’t get my head around being able to live right in the middle of London like this. Surely it must cost a fortune. It was noisy at night (all night partying it sounded like) so how do people just live alongside this.

We walked up Whitehall, around Covent Garden, Fleet Street, St Paul’s etc and am just fascinated at the thought that people live amongst this. I look at people on the tube and imagine just being able to travel around like this so easily.

London history is so fascinating too, so much to see everywhere. Do ‘ordinary’ people live right in the centre like this? How is life? I bet it must be amazing 🤩

Go to central London in February in a residential area, and the attraction will be less. A friend of my dad lived in central London as a house sitter for someone working abroad, and arrangement which saved him commuting time, and when visiting him saw little life around.

You can have all the benefits (for me access to theatre, wide choice of cinemas, music, the arts generally) if you live within an hour of central London and especially as I do, near a tube line.

I bet its largely bedsits round there isnt it?

I LOVE Pimlico. It has such a community feel to it. Loads of little grocers and independent cafes and a market. It seems to be full of families and school children and is so quiet and peaceful but spitting distance from Parliament and the river. It feels like such a happy place to live.

My first apartment was in Wapping, shared with a colleague. It was a penthouse with a huge living room. Back 15-20 years ago these places were really affordable for two professionals, I think it was £1200 - £1400 rent per month.
we had a small roof terrace from which we could see Tower Bridge. The City was a short walk away during which we had to navigate tourists.
Apart from a gym and a big supermarket there wasn’t much in the area though in terms of amenities and I found it a bit soulless. It may have changed in the meantime though, of course.

@goldfinchonthelawn - I lived in Pimlico for a while. Some of the estates round the perimeter are pretty nasty and the area up near Victoria is grubby like most major London stations. There are also a lot of cheap hotels.

On the plus side if you live in the grid in the SW of the area it is quiet and convenient for anywhere central. Despite everything the pubs on Warwick Way are much better than you would expect and although some have closed (Grosvenors and the one that used to be on Warwick Square whose name escapes me). I lived near Ebury Bridge and you could just do a 5 minute walk over to Sloane Square / Belgravia as well.

Would definitely live there again as the plusses outweigh the minuses

I love in zone 3/4. Was born here and grew up here. Generally average families don't live in central London...People who live in the centre will sometimes live in social housing or will be from abroad, or sometimes young professionals on a decent wage will flat share to be able to live in the centre. When I worked in the city, many young, single colleagues lived more centrally but shared the rent with friends. Personally I'd absolutely hate to live in central London. I like driving and driving and parking are an absolute nightmare. Also, because families don't live there and the people who do are often transient, it feels a bit isolated.

@Puffthemagicdragongoestobed - it hasn't changed. I assume the supermarket is the Waitrose up at Thomas More Square but the rest of the amenities there are really low level. There are some nice pubs by the river but not much else.

When I was there it seemed to me that there were three commiunities living in parallel who hardly interacted at all - affluent city types who occupied the sort of warehouse conversions you lived in, old school Eastenders who were born within half a mile of the pub they still go to and Bangladeshis who'd managed to get out of places like Whitechapel and Poplar

Really funny place and not where I would live long term

It's true the prices have changed hugely. 20 years ago, I rented a studio apartment with a garden for £500 a month included all bills in Holland Park. When I bought my flat in Notting Hill (ex local authority) in 2009 it was £195,000 for 2 bedrooms - and we had a huge communal garden. It was before buying ex-local was a thing.

People who don’t know much about social housing think it’s all estates and high rises. I live on a street of Victorian houses and I’m a HA tenant. My HA owns a few of the houses in this street. The others are privately owned/rented. My rent is approx 25% of what it would be if it was a private let. Of course there are many big estates and tower blocks in London, but also many more flats and houses that you might not think are SH.

For shopping we have an ok high street 5 minutes away but actually I just get most of my groceries delivered. I grew up somewhere extremely rural so I love the convenience I have here. My street is actually pretty quiet but we’re only a few minutes away from livelier streets so for me it’s the best of both worlds.

My sister lives in the West Country and her living costs are higher than mine. She needs to keep a car on the road to get anywhere. I don’t. Her rent isn’t much less as she is privately renting. We also found out her gas and electricity standing charges are higher and she pays more overall for groceries. Added to that, wages are lower. So, if you do have SH, it’s a bit of a myth to say you need to earn £££ to live in London. London is expensive for private housing and maybe childcare, I don’t know about that. But day to day living doesn’t need to be expensive.

I’ve lived in Kings Cross in very early 2000s, so before it became gentrified like it is now. It was a very place to live and a special time in my life - so many memories. N1 so walking distance to the west end and various other places. Spent all my time in the bookshops in Russell Sq, museums and because I worked at screen on the green in Angel, a free pass to all the other independent cinemas like the Curzon and Roxy.

Then several years later I lived in Dolphin sq in Pimlico - a million miles away from kings cross and it was so posh. But a lovely little area and explored so many areas I’d never been to. Would work to work in Russell Sq area. Dolphin Sq was very very quiet but Kings Cross was so noisy, but I loved it.

@GorgeousLadyofWrestling - the Waterstones in Bloomsbury that serves UCL and does second hand books as well is one of London's best kept secrets

Many areas of London and in particular Notting Hill have roads where there are multimillion pound properties on one side of the road and social housing on the other. The properties all share the same postcode and everyone rubs along together as it has always been like that.

You have hit the nail on the head about the area! Though when I was there it wasn’t Waitrose but Safeway.
I moved elsewhere after a year. Still thinking back fondly of our roof terrace though and the views of Tower Bridge!

I used to live within walking distance of Tower Bridge/Tower of London and loved being able to get to Central London within minutes on the bus.

lt Was very noisy and constant sound of sirens as the hospital was nearby but you got used to it and I stopped hearing them after a while.
I loved it, especially at night. It was beautiful.

OP - going to stay in Marble Arch - fab. If you had to Connaught Street, just off Edgware Road (by Ranoush Juice), where I used to live was a real mix - inner London villag/Arab fusion. Connaught Square is vair posh but one of the houses is still a doctor's surgery. They (try to) call the area Connaught Village now 😩but Markus Coffee has been roasting blends there since the 1950s and is now run by the son of the original owner and the Persian patisserie opposite has the best and freshesh pistachio nuts. The shops are posher now than when I lived there (the laundrette has become an art gallery) but the Duke of Kendal is a lovely old-fashioned pub where June plays piano for singsongs and it gets a real mix of locals and visitors who stumble across it. www.connaught-village.co.uk/food-and-drink/bars/duke-of-kendal/

@Auntpodder - I stayed in Connaught Square when I first came to London in the 1980s' Scruffy hotel but at least it was before Blair moved in and lowered the tone of the area. Duke of Kendal was great as was the Victoria just down the road. We also lived in the Old English Gentleman on Edgware Rd but it's closed now probably some shitty kebab or shisha place

What kind of salary do you need to be on, to live in your area?

What is the waiting list for SH properties for families?

I 100% agree that living costs could well be higher living rurally, than some parts of London.

We live in a new build intermediate rented flat in a very nice part of zone 1. We get very cheap rent because we are key workers working in central London. There are a fair few of these schemes around the capital.

I really hate the phrase "key worker"- virtual signalling of the worst kind

Anyone who works is a "key worker" - lawyers, delivery drivers, shop assistants. nurses, firemen, police officers.dustmen - all make society work

I've got a very dark view on senior civil servants and people running teaching unions but I reckon 99% per cent of us are "key"

Aaaah I flipping love living in London! In zone 2 now, but have lived all over the city, from zones 1-3, and it’s fab. No need for a car, everything is there (except countryside!) So much to do, including lots of free and cheap stuff. Back in the 90s felt a lot more ‘mixed’ and places like Camden and the market, Kensington market etc., were brilliant. Feels wealthier and a bit blander now, but that could just be because I’m now a middle aged mummy 😂 I can’t enjoy London at the moment because of ill health, but once I’m recovered I’m looking forward to getting back out to the museums and theatres and bookshops and all sorts!

There is council/social housing all over London - OK not so much in the super-expensive areas, but loads in Tower Hamlets within spitting distance of the Tower of London, St Katherine's Dock, Spitalfields, Brick Lane - all very touristy areas. Camden and Westminster have big estates, you could be in Pimlico a few minutes from Tate Britain. Also, there are life-long Londoners who have bought or inherited properties in areas that used to be cheap or at any rate affordable, that are now not - Hampstead, Chelsea, Bloomsbury, Kensington.

I live in central london and love it.

We should have moved out years ago but DH and I struggle to come to terms with giving up having everything on the doorstep in return for more space in zone 3 or 4. We pay through the nose on rent but you wouldn't know it if you saw our house. It's 'unmodernised' (busted), tiny patio garden and every room in the house is on a different level (constantly running up and down). Space is definitely compromised so we tend not to buy too much 'stuff'. I'm constantly giving away things we have outgrown or no longer need just to free up space. We also can't bulk buy food/toiletries. Scooters, bikes and outdoor toys hog up all space in the entrance hall. Car parking is annoying... but we just can't bring ourselves to move.

The kids love being able to use the zoo as a playground after school, scooter in Regent's Park until closing time, visit the museums on weekends. We Love all the restaurants, bars, theatre, concerts, window shopping, people watching, walking around town during the bank holidays when it's quiet. So much to do even during the cold/wet winter months.

Yep, I'd have to be dragged out of London kicking and screaming.

I grew up & live in Z3. A friend lived in z1 & I often stayed over, it was amazing to be so central.

Surely it's far harder to get social housing in central London these days?

Been in zone 2 spiting distance to zone 1 and I hate it.been here for 41 years. Once youngest has finished secondary we’re off to live by the coast and I cannot wait