Moving to Reading

[Sas123]

Hi
Just looking for a bit of advice on earnings needed for living in Reading. Together we'd have a pre-tax income of £80,000, one of us commuting to London and 4 year old with pre/post school care needed. Is this realistic economically? I can't figure out if we'd be comfortable or on the breadline. We've got family in Tilehurst so this would be the perfect area but obviously open to other nice areas.

Hi

I'm a single mum of 2 with a pre-tax income of 16k. (Topped up by benefits)
I manage on that income. 80k sounds like a fortune to me but I guess it depends what standard of living you want.

Hi
Sorry didn't mean to sound like 80k wasn't a lot. Just we'd be moving from oop north so as far as I know living costs are a lot more. For example we now live in a 3 bed house with a decent garden in a nice area, I'm just worried we'd be renting a 1 bed flat in Reading.

Thanks for the welcome 😊

You will very easily be able to rent a nice house for that salary. DH and I earn about £20k less but then we don't have travel costs to London which are about £5k a year out of post tax income obviously. We don't have children yet so can't sat about childcare costs but definitely think it's more than doable.

I moved to Reading from somewhere else in the South where I was probably quite protected from life a bit, and at first I have to say it was a bit of an eye opener. It's a big town which means it comes with its share of problems. There is a core group of street drinkers for example which really shocked me at first (as I said small village type person) but I love it here, so much going on and a really good community underneath some of the unpleasantness. It is also really quite pretty in points. However traffic will always be horrendous!

Yes sorry it didn't sound like you thought 80k wasn't a lot. I was trying to illustrate that I basically have no idea what that would get you
I fell in love with a house for rent recently on the outskirts of caversham. 3 bed with a garage and garden for 1495 pcm. Far more than I can afford but doable on 80k I'd imagine?

You'll be very comfortable. Reading's a great, buzzing place with something for everyone

You'd get more for your money in Tilehurst, north Reading (Caversham, Emmer Green) is very expensive. We live on roughly £50k a year pre tax and live comfortably. No kids and work in Reading. Good luck with your move!

For commuting to London you'd want to be fairly near a station, otherwise it just adds so much to your journey. There are definitely nice houses near Tilehurst station, but it's a bit of a bland area. Tilehurst village ("the triangle") seems like a good place to live, with useful shops etc but a trek down/up the hill to the station.

I live in what isn't really considered a nice area, lol, to the west of the town centre, but it's 15 minutes walk to the main train station, about 3 minutes walk to the swimming pool, two parks within 5 minutes walk, just off several bus routes, etc etc - and on the right side of town for Tilehurst - and there aren't many other places in Reading I'd want to live (and they are probably all too expensive!).

We are similar financially to you, and live very comfortably, I think you should be fine.

If you have family here, do you know the area quite well already?

Bear in mind your season ticket to London will cost more than £5000 a year.

If you are looking to buy a house, average price is currently just under £300,000. House price inflation this year running at 17%.

Childcare costs are closer to the 'London levels' than the 'rest of country' averages.

Hope this helps!

Living near Reading West would make it easier to commute into London - I do this and always have a seat!

Oh yes, CrossRail has sent the house prices soaring. Sorry

Yes I think your main choice would be near to Tilehurst station or reading West station. A lot of people live near these and commute into London, on your salary you should still find something you like, whether suburbia or a bit more urban in nature. I wouldn't go to another bit of reading if you want to visit family regularly, travel time over reading is annoyingly slow.

I live in woodley and I'd look more to this side if I had a daily commute to London. The south lake area of woodley is slightly cheaper and has easy access to earley train station which is on the Waterloo line or two minutes into reading for the Paddington line.

It is more expensive this side than tilehurst but honestly speaking that's for a reason.

There are literally hundreds of new houses being built with some incentives for buying or a few rentals avaliable. The schools are all good and lots of parks and green spaces. Easy access to the m4 if the commuter wants/needs to drive. Also easy access to reading, Wokingham and Bracknell.

I've lived in other parts of reading and prefer woodley. It's not as villagey and community based as it once was but still has a thriving local carnival and town centre with three supermarkets and lots of restaurants and coffee shops. It's not going to compare to a village in the north but it's a nice place for families to live.

Woodleypixue I agree with you that Woodley is definitely nicer than West Reading! I'd caution op to be careful re the commute though; I have a friend in Woodley who commutes from Earley station into Reading each day and he always has to fight crowds and will stand for the whole journey. RDW is much more civilised :)

OTOH you can get into London Waterloo directly from Earley I believe - a slower train but less fighting/general faff!

Thanks for all the advice. I don't know Reading that well at all really, when we visit we do just go between Tilehurst and the centre and I know that up here for example people might visit, look at some lovely houses and think an area is nice but it wouldn't actually be the nicest place to live. Local knowledge makes that less likely to happen.

if you were looking east of reading then you'd commute from Twyford. Twyford has a fast train into London - 21 minutes into paddington. Twyford is another nice place to look at. All the local schools are good, infants through to secondary, which is a plus. it would be about 25 mins drive to tilehurst out of rush hour.

And Woodley from Twyford is about 5-10 mins by car. Charvil would be another potential place - 1.5 miles from Twyford, but it's more of an off shoot of Twyford so for shops and other bits and pieces you'd need to go to Twyford or Woodley (5 mins drive to either). It's got a primary school and is the catchment for Twyford schools.

I'd say be near family if you can, I agree Reading isn't that quick to get across. I'd go for the same side of the centre, just further in or out, and I'd look at schools to narrow it down more. Although if you don't want to have to move area again later, maybe secondary schools should be the first thing to look at.

We have family in calcot and tilehurst and it's easy enough to get over to them. You just use the m4. Drop on at junction 10 and come off at 12. Avoiding the town centre traffic.

Reading traffic is a complete nightmare so definitely better to be on the west side where your family are rather than trudge all the way through the middle of town from Earley or Woodley (or Wokingham where I am).

I go into London on the train quite frequently and it makes little difference to me whether I take the Reading to Waterloo (1hr 10 mins from Woke) then the tube from Waterloo to Temple or Woke to Reading, then Reading to Paddington and then a more convoluted tube journey. So you probably should think about which London mainline is best for you and include that in your considerations. The Reading > Paddington ticket is about £5 per day more than Reading to Waterloo also.

I'm in East Reading and my family are on the far side of Tilehurst. It's a 40 min bus journey from here to there. That's with bus lanes. The drive for my mum can take anything from 20 mins to over an hour depending on time of day.

Like Anne says, it depends what you want. Personally I wouldn't want to live in the suburbs - if I walk home from town at 9pm, down the Oxford Road, it's a roughish area, but well lit and busy and I feel perfectly safe. Walking around Woodley at 9 pm is dark and deserted and I really don't like it!

I live in east Reading.. 10 mins on the bus to the station.

I'd prefer Tilehurst over Woodley which always seems a bit soulless to me.

My preference would be no more than a mile outside the town centre, but OP if you want say your kids to be able to go independently to your family there are plenty of lovely spots in Tilehurst, and with your income you can afford something very nice, with the benefit of easy access to transport.

You've no worries

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