To think I can find somewhere like London outside London?

[Cheezywotsitforbrekkie]

We are considering a move outside London for the bigger house. Would have to be commutable, and not TOO far. As a result, a city like Birmingham is out of the question.

But I love London. I know I won’t get the big city feel if we aren’t in a city, but I’d at least like to feel like I’m living in a vibrant suburb that’s just a bit further from London.

currently thinking somewhere with a Brixton/ Herne Hill vibe.

its also the people, so want to move somewhere that attracts a fair number of quite arty types. ( we also aren’t loaded so don’t think we’d be able to go anywhere that attracts the banker crowd)

we aren’t particularly edgy ourselves ( like to think we are 😁) but friends who moved to Tonbridge wells came back with their tail between their legs…it was too dull for them and they aren’t wild!

so looking for places that are cheaper than London, a bit arty, community feel and with the obligatory nice coffee shop. Any ideas?

You’d never be able to afford a shed on £100k in London.

Good God, having a regional Gail’s doesn’t automatically make somewhere Chelsea. We broke up a journey there last year for an hour and it was proper Terry and June territory😂

Milton Keynes! Quick train ride into Euston. Beautiful house for reasonable prices and some people refer to it as 'city'

England desperately needs some really successful second-tier cities - the equivalent of Dresden and Frankfurt and Leipzig in Germany.

Instead, England's second city is Birmingham - a city with plenty of history and character, but the modern city is mostly poorly designed and its council is going bankrupt. Biggest city in Europe without a subway system, apparently.

Oxford and Windsor. Windsor obviously much smaller but also close to London.

You can't. There's nowhere like London. I tried and regretted it. Moved to a big city and was bored within a couple of months.

Agreed - these places are like London in the sense that Hampstead Heath is like the Lake District. Yes, it's not flat, and it does have bodies of water. But if you like Cumbria you're going to be very disappointed.

I would also warn against Brighton. House prices are horrendous and there isn't the jobs market to support them. It's at least an hour into London and the trains are not that reliable. If you live further out it's a pain to get to the station. There is also (in my opinion) very little to do. Yeah there are good shops and the beach, but not much else. The museum/art gallery and the pavilion are great, but you can do them in a weekend and they don't really change.

This is absolute rubbish.

Brighton, not sure if that's too far for you but I have friends who do commute. They moved there for exactly the reasons you give.

Birmingham is closer by train than outer London suburbs! Especially after HS2. I'd easily recommend Manchester but not if Birmingham is too far.

100% Brighton or surrounds.

There are some odd posts here. The person who said that unless you live in Zone 1-3 you might as well live in Leicester gave me a good laugh.

I also have family who live there as that is the reason we visited

New York?

MK has its own qualities but it couldn't be more different to London. It's a new town and you have to drive everywhere. It's more like an American city.

Because Germany is decentralised. We've centred everything around London.

In Germany you've got the port city of Hamburg in the north, the financial centre of Frankfurt, the industrial Ruhr region in the west. Munich and Bavaria in the south
The capital city of Berlin In the east.

House prices are as high and higher in parts of Brighton but it is still unappealing to many on here which is probably good as the more DFLs the higher the prices. I am a West Londoner born and grew up there until 20s, DH is a North London, we have loads of family in London still so we absolutely have a huge insight to the benefits of Brighton and London. The parts our family live in with the cultural richness on their doorstep we could never afford but it doesn't sound like the OP could either so when people state there is no comparison, well there is but you have to have the money again. Having grown up in London, Brighton in the 00s was more like the vibrant parts of London pre the streets are paid with Gold era, when I was teenager London wasn't a place everyman and their dog wanted to live so when it came to art and music, that rawness still existed and it was genuine.

But the huge downside of Brighton is you need as much money as London to live in the interesting parts and near to the station for London and you need lots of money for travel to London so basically you need money to have a good life here now.

I wasn't referring to Gails, which is shit and overpriced. But if that's where you went then it says more about you than the town.

The cost of getting fast trains on peak from Birmingham is huge though.

I’d just do what millions of others have done and move out to one of the Home Counties, then you can be in actual London in no time. The other alternatives are too far/expensive to get back into London, and not Londony enough themselves. God I walked along the Thames by tower bridge at 11pm last week and it was just the BEST. Nothing like it. Then tucked up in bed in Surrey an hour later.

As pp have said other places would be like Brighton or Bristol but the best parts will likely be out of budget.

Somewhere like Windsor or Henley on Thames does not have a vibe anything remotely like Brixton.

What you have to remember is you like Brixton now after decades of gentrification & hence why you are priced out of more space. I would look at other parts of London eg outer boroughs. These areas are changing, schools are generally very good & transport is cheaper.

The person who said that unless you live in Zone 1-3 you might as well live in Leicester gave me a good laugh.

They just don’t know London

It’s not just train times. Yes a train from Birmingham might be quicker than one from z4 but how frequent are the train times, how close can you live to the station, what’s the cost and what are your alternative routes if the train is delayed or cancelled.

It'll change with HS2 in terms of convenience but the cost will be extortionate.

The service from Birmingham to London isn't reliable, is expensive and overcrowded in standard class.