Retiring to London?

[Mascarponeandwine]

Would this be a goer or a terrible idea? I lived in London in my 20’s, moved to the outer edge of a ‘shire to bring up kids. Still hanker after living back in the city but realistically not until the kids have left school and we are mortgage free (we’d be 55). Would we be mad to move back into town? Would have a budget of £500k and need to live near a tube station.

My parents did this and honestly it was a brilliant idea. All the things pp have said - museums, free transport, parks, free lunchtime concerts etc. They rent an Anchor Homes flat which is affordable for them rather than buying, and has a manager on site if they ever become infirm and need assistance.

That's exactly what we're planning – and I'm counting down the days (years)! Once we've got the kids through school (another 3 years), we'll go and live in London, get rid of the car, and enjoy everything London has to offer. We lived there until about 9 years ago when we moved to the country (where we have rented a house), and have kept our lovely flat which is situated pretty centrally, so it'll be easy to give the tenants notice and move back. We're both freelance so we can work more or less anywhere, and anyway our overheads will be much less.

Do you actually need the tube or would a very good ( short ) train or bus link do ?& How central would it have to be to tempt you? Say this because a retired friend of mine is in the Wandsworth side of Kingston & goes all over including very often into central central London with bus pass / trains / cab back if she feels like it not a problem, and easy / pleasant to walk around. But that may be more suburban than you are thinking of. Depends on budget I suppose. I am not sure some of the Canada Water / new Woolwich developments are that much more accessible than some more Kingston Richmond Clapham SW London type areas - happy to be proved wrong and I do think it depends on what you want for budget / location / size of flat ( and as Professor of the Bleeding Obvious from No Shit Sherlock University I shall leave it there ) - but in principle I think it is a great idea.

I wouldnt have thought £500k would get much in London. The 1 bedroom flat I sold in 2006 now costs about £450k.

8 minutes walk to Belsize Park tube, 4 minutes to Hampstead Heath and Hampstead Heath overground. Location , Location www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-68004874.html

Ruby – that's an over-50s development. I thought it was remarkably cheap for the area.

I've pondered this a few times. Culture, good healthcare and transport links.

I would, and may well do. Good transport, amenities, vast, vibrant community, literally thousands of groups and societies, loads of green spaces ..