To want to move my family to London

[Miralala]

I've been offered a job in Zone 1 (mix of wfh and 5 hour return commute on diff days).

I really want to take the opportunity to live in London now, as live fairly rubbish city I don't like - however we have the 'ideal' life now with great schools, 3 bed semi, leafy suburbs, nice little high street and park 5 mins away.

We can up our house budget so could we keep any of that lifestyle anywhere in London for £700k? Absolute must is a nice secondary as kids are gentle souls and getting to secondary age, and son plays music, chess, etc - would be eaten alive in typical comp. I have no idea whether / where to start looking in London.

Another vote for Bounds Green/Alexandra Palace! We love it here. Very friendly, we know all our neighbours, there's a monthly food market on Myddleton Road, not to mention the Ally Pally one, also v close to shops/cafes in Muswell Hill. Best kept secret in London.

I live in Eltham. Zone 4. I love the place. Near everything, great links and quite as well with a little palace around the corner. The schools are good too.

@TheHoptimist

Unless you live in zone 1 or edge of 2 it isn’t really London You would be better living in Corby or Kettering which are quick on the train in. Shooters hill etc are not going g to give you a London experience

@TheHoptimist

There aren’t enough eye rolls in the world for this, I’m sure the millions of londoners living in eg Highgate, Golders Green, Tottenham, Wembley, Crystal Palace, Bromley by Bow, Stratford, Croydon, Richmond.. will be delighted to have their lives dismissed by you, despite the fact that these areas and their people have contributed really quite a lot to London’s story and vibrancy.

Chiswick, Ealing, Acton are good places to live and good schools in the area too.

I'm z3 & count it as Greater London/suburbs as it's not what you think of when you picture London if that makes sense. In the same way that I think of Manhattan as New York as opposed to say Queens.

Out of interest op, what is it you are looking for in moving to London? What type of city experience do you want? As pps have said, London is a very varied place! Do you want to be walking distance from theatres and galleries? Do you want green space? A multicultural area? Somewhere offering lots of cultural activities? A short commute? These are all key questions for determining which bits of London might suit you.

Might be worth looking around Bromley. You can get a fast train from Bromley South station into Victoria in 17 minutes.

[quote gilorga]@cafedesreves I do think it's changed though. I'm half torn about whether to leave or not, so many y friends & neighbours have that I've got fomo. The pollution worries me & the traffic is infuriating.

Unless you live in zone 1 or edge of 2 it isn’t really London

That won't go down well 😆[/quote]
That's interesting. In what way do you feel it's particularly changed? Apart from traffic.... which I don't recognise as having changed too much.

Poor OP. This thread is insane. To summarise: London is the world's greatest city. Anyone who suggests you should live in Corby instead/zone 3+ is not real London etc, is either a millionaire or a countrymouse at heart and doesn't live here or doesn't get it. But millions of people do and if you think you might be one of them, come join us. 700k is a fine budget. I'm buying a house for my family here on far less.

@TheHoptimist

Unless you live in zone 1 or edge of 2 it isn’t really London You would be better living in Corby or Kettering which are quick on the train in. Shooters hill etc are not going g to give you a London experience

Hahaha what?! I grew up very near Kettering. I now live in London zone 4. I can assure you they’re very different experiences and absolutely not comparable. I most definitely am in London and can be in zone 1 on the fast train in 12 minutes.

I most definitely am in London and can be in zone 1 on the fast train in 12 minutes.

Is that door to door or just or just length of train journey?

@gilorga

I most definitely am in London and can be in zone 1 on the fast train in 12 minutes.

Is that door to door or just or just length of train journey?

Pretty much door to door. I live a 5 min walk from the train station which goes to London Bridge. I work near Oxford Circus and my door to door commute is 40 mins.

I live in New Malden in the borough of Kingston. Back in the day we were classed as living in Surrey but now come under Greater London. My local train station is in Zone 4 and 30 minutes ride will get you to Waterloo. We are very close to Richmond Park, Bushy Park, Boxhill which is lovely if you like nature. We have some fantastic secondary schools in the area (eldest son and daughter both at local secondary’s, which are some of the top in the country). Surbiton KT5 is even better but prices are a little higher and that’s in zone 6, travel would be more expensive but there are faster trains available. I grew up here and it is the perfect mix of the hustle and bustle of London with lots of green space and community spirit. I hope you find what you are looking for, enjoy the new job

Thanks @massiveblob this is exactly what I’m looking for. Similar story… brought up abroad in a big city and tired of where I’m now. Love london and visit couple of times a month for work. Office in same location as yours and have one kid looking for selective secondary schools in London.

Our plan to rent out our home and rent in the city until we figure out depending on what school we get.

Good luck to you 👍

I wouldnt like to live anywhere near zone 1
London is far too romantised and most of the kids I come into contact with on an everyday basis are all rude little shits. So that would put me off alone

I live in north-east Zone 2 London and love it. Look at Hackney, Tottenham, Walthamstow. They have good links to Holborn, particularly from Hackney.
State schools in London are quite enlightened and civilised, you know I know plenty of people whose kids who are gentle souls attend(ed) them and do very well.

Pretty much door to door. I live a 5 min walk from the train station which goes to London Bridge. I work near Oxford Circus and my door to door commute is 40 mins.

40 mins sounds much more realistic compared to 12 minutes!

You’ll get a tent on a common for 700k
Try zones 3,4,5 and you’ll get more for you money. But it’ll cost more to travel to zone 1.

@JackTheHack

I wouldnt like to live anywhere near zone 1 London is far too romantised and most of the kids I come into contact with on an everyday basis are all rude little shits. So that would put me off alone

Which kids do you come into contact with?

@gilorga

Pretty much door to door. I live a 5 min walk from the train station which goes to London Bridge. I work near Oxford Circus and my door to door commute is 40 mins.

40 mins sounds much more realistic compared to 12 minutes!

Door to door for me to London Bridge is about 15-20 mins. It’s the extra bit of the journey to get to Oxford Circus that makes it up to 40

London is cesspit now - wouldn’t risk it! Moved from Paddington due to not very nice people moving in and taking over.

@WTAFhappened123

London is cesspit now - wouldn’t risk it! Moved from Paddington due to not very nice people moving in and taking over.

Oh the whole of London must be a 'cesspit' because your little bit of it is

To all of those asking ‘how has it changed?’
Well, just look at the streets. Folk just leave all sorts of rubbish out, old furniture, dirty nappies, food waste. It gets cleared away here in Westminster, but it is still an eyesore, and folk used to be a lot tidier, eg if a communal bin was full they’d walk to the next, rather than just dump it beside it.

Sorry. Dont recognise this. No different now to 15 years ago.

I live in zone 6 on a line that is 35 minutes into LB which is perfect imo. I work in central London. Best of both worlds for me. Such melodrama about the kids. My own DC are at a school in S London with about 1000 other kids and almost all of them live in London, most are great kids. There's the odd little shit, of course, but no different to anywhere else or any other time.