Which of these areas?

[hamstercoat]

I'm moving to London and feeling a bit overwhelmed looking at flats at the moment.

The flats I've found that work for us and are within budget mostly seem to be in Wapping and a few in Marleybone (I think) near Hyde park and the Marble Arch.
Both these areas are a similar commuting distance to where I'll be working.

If anybody could offer any insight into the pros and cons of both of these areas I'd really appreciate it.

I live in the Marble Arch area. It’s very leafy what with Hyde Park and all that! We are nearer to Hyde Park but also a short walk to Regents Park so no lack of open space. We are also big users of the canal for walks etc. Lovely.

There are also plenty of food shops including a large Waitrose about 200 m from Hyde Park on the Edgware Road ! There’s also a smallish Tesco and the excellent Green Valley for more exotic fruit and veg and Lebanese staples.

It’s true about pollution but not true about it taking ages to get anywhere. We have so much transport at our disposal. I’m walking distance to four tube stations and four or five different tube lines. Also walking distance to Marylebone and Paddington stations.

Nice local community too. But v expensive for a four bed !

My budget is £1.5m at the very most.
(Not really a small budget normally I know)
The vast majority of what I can find for this is in Wapping but there were a couple in Marleybone and a few in other areas.

Work is in the south bank and ideally I don't want to spend much more than half an hour commuting each way.

I'm looking at private schools mainly for the smaller class sizes as the kids are at a pretty tiny village school atm.

I would suggest East Dulwich and that area, it would be a very quick commute, excellent state schools and a number of very good private schools. Very family friendly area. I çant imagine it's more expensive than Marylebone!

East Dulwich would be excellent. Or Herne Hill if you can afford it. Much more family friendly and lots of amenities nearby.

Where will you need to be for work?
What about schools?

Sorry just saw Southbank- easy from ED.

I strongly suggest you rent for a while before buying so you have a better idea of where to live.

£1.5m won't get much in London these days, not 4 beds.Any flat will probably be sold as Leasehold which you don't really want, the charges can be really high. If you're working in the South Bank I would be looking at living a bit outside London. You could get a lovely house with a garden, good schools. Chislehurst/Elmstead Woods/Bromley/Beckenham are within 30 mins train travel to London Waterloo. Greenwich is very nice too. All these areas have plenty to do and the air will be a bit cleaner.
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-77709253.html
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-65819085.html
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-58862163.html

Is it Hyde Park Mansions ?

You could pretty much live anywhere! I’d go out a bit and live near a tube!

Highbury? Finsbury Park? Islington? I’d never live as central as you are talking ! Also agree with others - rent first to figure it out - London is huge. I moved to 6 different areas before I worked out where I wanted to be - which in the end was Walthamstow!

I'm in peckham and can definitely vouch for this area and surrounds like east dulwich, dulwich, Sydenham, forest hill. All good commuting areas and for schools.
Visit and walk around and feel the vibe. Excellent restaurants in peckham too.

What about Blackheath/Westcombe Park/Greenwich? Westcombe Park to London Bridge is 15 minutes on the train. You'd be close to Greenwich Park, and Blackheath and Greenwich are nice villages/small towns.

1.5 won't get you very much in Marylebone, unless it's a short lease and whatever the lease it will have considerable service charges.

As others have said, if you need four bedrooms you should look further out. As you'll be working in the South Bank the best areas are obviously SE London suburbs.

Marylebone and wapping are very unusual choices, they're not traditional family residential areas, especially as you'll be working on the south bank?

As others have said, south east London is the obvious choice and £1.5m should get you a nice 4 bed in areas like Peckham, east Dulwich, outskirts of Blackheath.

Or central and close like Bermondsey/elephant but again I doubt you'd get more than 2/3 beds max.
That budget would not get you 4 beds in Marylebone or Wapping (mainly warehouse type flats), maybe a 3 bed flat at a push.
Where are you currently?

With that budget I would definitely go for Zones 3 or 4. In some places you could probably get a four bed house (not flat) complete with garden and an actual drive to park a car on!

Have you thought about Kentish Town, tune direct to Waterloo, good schools and Hampstead Heath.

I agree with KT