Better to live in a cheaper area?

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Dp and I are relocating to London from Scotland (work/lifestyle)

I think it’s better to live somewhere a bit further out, say zone 3 and maybe a bit ‘rough around the edges’. We only need a 1 bed flat, so £1400 a month would leave another £600 disposable income on top of normal spending.

Dp can’t get out of her head about living in a posh neighbourhood. She likes Notting Hill where a 1 bed is £2000 a month. This would mean we’d have to watch what we spend on food/drink/holidays/cafe trips etc. But she makes the point that both of us are due big salary rises next year.

We currently live in the west end in glasgow, so will be a culture shock moving somewhere not so naice. Dp has only ever lived in very well heeled places

Is there not a compromise for where you are both happy to live?

There is definitely areas that are cheaper that is between those two prices. Chiswick is lovely (lived there for 10 years) 1 bed is about 1650 pcm now I also lived in Finchley for a while.

I moved out to Oxfordshire ten years ago though so my advice is to visit a few other areas, definitely don't spend 2k a month on rent, that's insane.

I would agree with you, there’s no point moving to London for lifestyle reasons if you then can’t afford to do anything. And even £2k in Notting Hill probably wouldn’t get something great, not like those lovely spacious Glasgow apartments you’re probably used to. There are lots of great neighbourhoods in London outside zone 1.

Just to add, Chiswick is right near the Thames so you have access to lovely river walks and pubs, near Kew Gardens and easy access into Central London.

I've never understood the Notting hill thing, it's just nice houses and posh shops.

YANBU. There are plenty of nice places to live in London that aren't "posh". I'd much sooner have the disposable income.

It depends what you can afford. There's no point living in a lovely place if you're having to watch the pennies and have to restrict groceries, can't afford to eat out or go anywhere with an entrance charge, especially if you're in a 1 bed flat, which might feel really cramped if you're in it a lot.

But amenities are important to consider. We live in a perfectly lovely semi rural village, but we don't have any decent restaurants in walking distance. There's a couple of chain pubs and an Indian restaurant but it caters for the Chicken Tikka Masala crowd, so very limited if you prefer something more contemporary. If we had an Indian Street Food bar and a Mediterranean place in the village where you could get calamari and good pizza, it would be far more up my street.

Yes, don't live somewhere with lovely amenities that you can never afford to use, that would be very disheartening.

Pick somewhere that's between the two price points, and then go into Notting Hill to use the facilities regularly

Look at Hammersmith OP. DD2 rents there. Mid way price wise, still zone 2.Some vv pretty streets.
Or Islington, some gorgeous streets off Essex Road/Upper Street
Highbury Village? Hampstead?

Tbh, Notting Hill a bit dead.

I live in Hackney, which is a mixture of rough and nice. I'd be v happy to live somewhere more on the nice side, but I've noticed that a lot of things are more expensive in posh areas because they're full of fancy shops. I'd never choose Notting Hill anyway, west London is a desert to me and not nearly as interesting as over my side.

Look further out west such as Hammersmith, Turnham Green or Ealing. Ealing is on the Crossrail route, so travel times into central London will halve eventually (and it only takes 25 minutes now).

I don’t think you need to go as posh as Notting Hill. I agree with Ealing etc for equivalent.

Location is really important to me and I’d sacrifice other things in order to live in a nicer area, but I don’t think you need to live in Notting Hill. You don’t have to choose somewhere rough around the edges as a compromise, there are places that are actually nicer and cheaper than Notting hill in my opinion. The previous suggestions of places to live are great.

Not sure about Hammersmith but all those other places are dead expensive! Hampstead especially is as expensive as Notting Hill, for sure!

I'm in Alexandra Park, which is Z3 and while it's 'officially ' Wood Green as it has an N22 postcode is quite distinct from 'Wood Green proper' (it's on the posh side of the railway line😋) and its lovely here, very green, good transport, good schools, and very close to Muswell Hill and Crouch End which have lovely shops, restaurants etc. There is definitely life outside Notting Hill.

Plus Notting Hill can be very noisy etc during Carnival, which I will assume will be restarting this year after its Covid imposed break.

What about somewhere like Crouch End/Hornsey? I have family there and they all pay around £1500/£1700 for 2 bedroom places (so 1 bedroom would be cheaper). Seems like a really nice to live - big parks, Alexandra Palace is a nice place to walk around and often has events. There are nice restaurants and bars and I know a few celebs live around there (irrelevant I know but shows it's generally desirable/arty).

Gospel oak / kentish Town. Nw5 crossing to nw3 and nw1 . Edgy enough but Easy to get to central London hampstead kings Cross and has heath open spaces swimming ponds and lido

Can you book hotel or airbnb to have a look ?
Where will work be? An easy bus or tube is worthwhile

Most people start from looking into what your commutes would be like, and any other regular journeys or connections to specific hobbies, activities or where your friends live. Then explore the places along those tube/train lines.

There is definitely a middle ground between the two types of places you have listed.

London doesn't really work like that- naice bumps up against grottier. Notting Hill is awful anyway. Full of tourists looking for Richard Curtis characters. Distance from the centre also doesn't necessarily link with commuting time.

Where do you need to get to for work, and what do you like doing for fun? A lot of people stay local for socialising etc anyway, rather than constantly going into the west end.

Live as centrally as you can afford. Where are you working?

I live In Westminster about 5 minutes walk from Houses of Parliament. 1 beds rent for about £1900. I can be in regent street in 10 minutes on a bus, walk to Covent Garden in less than 30, bankside in the same . Tate Britain is next door

Love it. Lived in zone 2 for many years and I could have been anywhere in the uk most of the time.

The cost of living is going to increase, so putting aside choice, certainly factor this into the decision. As said before, is there somewhere inbetween that could work. If your both working, another thing to consider is transport times - ideally I wouldn't want the more expensive area, but less travel time (and more personal time) could trump the decision

I live in SE London. Vairy naice but no Tube unless you live in Canada Water (nice area, plenty of apartments there), and I rely mostly on buses, Overground and railway services. Bit of a PITA.

Walthamstow is nice. Leyton is ok too. Both on the Tube, and in Zone 1 within 15 minutes. I'm sure you can get something in your price range there.