Has anyone lived in Zone 1 of London? Experiences?

[PrincessOlga]

When I lived in London, I rented in Zone 3. I had a former flatmate who moved out and rented a very nice flat in Zone 1 (Bond Street was the nearest tube station). She shared with another girl who was away a lot, so it was like having the whole place to herself, although even then the rent was incredibly steep. She said it was worth it just to be in the centre all the time.

I like walking myself in some of the more residential parts of London (like Knightsbridge, Chelsea, Bloomsbury). But I often wandered what it would be like to live there? So many of the flats seem empty, having been bought for investment purposes by overseas "firms". So you could move in and then not know what you would be getting when your neighbour does put in an appearance (not really something I would like). On the other hand, it might be quiet and the streets always seem clean and well-maintained.

I would love to hear from people who have actually lived, owned or rented in the centre (i.e. Zone 1) of London. Not the more "normal" places like Islington or Chiswick, which could pass for places outside London, but the very expensive parts. Is it worth it overall? Was it better or worse than you expected?

We’re in our late fifties and currently spend most of our time living/working in Zone 1 (SW3) having lived in Yorkshire for decades. I absolutely love it, we can wander to the shops on the Kings Road, lovely London pubs and restaurants, theatre (well more of a trek/bus than a wander but still pretty near) it feels like a new lease of life. we definitely see more and do more now.

I've lived in 3 areas of London within a 7 min walk to a zone 1 station. It was brilliant having easy access to all areas of London. We still often used the tube though as there are a lot of places worth visiting on the other side of zone 1, or indeed in zone 2 and beyond. I'd feel quite claustrophobic only going to places I could walk to.

Some areas we lived in were very busy, as they were known for their night life. It could get very noisy in the early hours - thumping bass music from house parties, and fireworks at random times of the year. I embraced it all as part of the lifestyle, but it's not for everyone. We had 2 dc there, and it was fantastic taking them to museums, galleries and concerts every day. We weren't really interested in having a community around us as we spent all our time as a family going out to places, but it's true we don't have many friends who lived locally and we never socialised with neighbours (tbh I suspect we wouldn't do that even I'd we lived in a home counties village).

I was brought up on the edge of the City of London. As a teen one of my favourite things was walking around the streets of the Square Mile on hot, dusty summer evenings. This was in the days when the City was empty. No bars or restaurants, hardly any traffic and all the workers had gone home. I used to love having it all to myself and rarely seeing another person.

Yes me too! Right next to Kings X on Pentonville road - though I think I might have been the borough of Camden. Still an N1 postcode though so very central. Not even like I lived up Caledonian Road 😂

Edited to say sorry, I deleted this post because for some reason it was a duplicate and posted twice!