Budget areas to rent in London if working in City of London

[Secretriver]

I realise that nowhere in London is budget friendly!

However dd is starting a low paid training role based in the City of London/Lime St area & we’re concerned about affordability.

Most likely looking at a room in shared house. Any thoughts on good areas to target that are reasonable and still pleasant/safe and commutable? She loves the more modern feel of big cities but the budget & commutability
are the most important. We don’t live in London & are pretty clueless on areas.

Thank you!

Op, it’s not long since I’ve been in similar situation to your dd’s, I’ve lived around london in many areas on a serious budget and know a thing or two. South London is much cheaper, greener and she will get more space. How old is she? Does she want suburban with cheap rentals. But not much around, hip village with farmers markets, or young and trendy night life? Deptford, Greenwich and Woolwich are v commutable to lime st. Deptford is v studenty, near river but also has lots of
young professionals/ young families, greenwich and woolwich a bit older vibe but also quite mixed areas with young people etc.

if she’s into more trendy things like coffee shops/ independent brunch spots I’d say east london, Shoreditch v expensive but Stratford a bit more affordable. Also Mile End/ Haggerston could be good.

Does she have to be close to her work? Most people commute about an hour? If this doesn’t matter to her, I’d say streatham hill would be worth considering, it’s close to Brixton/ clapham which has a really going vibe, lots going on there. I loved living there when I was younger and it’s even more gentrified now.

Don’t worry too much about the zones just check the distance on Google maps, I can get to some parts of central london easier now I live in zone 6 than when I lived in zone 2. Generally zone 2/3 is where most young people live though. One thing though is the further out she goes the more expensive transport is. She will need to work out what’s more important to her, living in an area with lots going on or saving money.

pm me if you have more questions

I second Walthamstow’s in east London actually, also Peckham in southeast, not far from greenwich either for big parks/ river

Thank you so much all, that’s such great information. I hadn’t thought too much about travel costs/bus v tube costs etc or supermarket costs so that’s good to factor in.

She’s fine with walking but isn’t a cyclist sadly so I can’t factor that option in. Her office will be near Liverpool Street. I only wondered about Canary Wharf because she loves big modern American style cities, but I take what people say & lots of other options to look at.

Once I can get her to focus we’ll go through those suggestions and think about a £1000 budget as more realistic. Thank you London lovelies 😊

2 of my priorities when looking for places in London have always been being able to get home at any time of night, which can include knowing the nightbus routes, & having at least one backup method of getting to work in case the usual one isn’t working for whatever reason.

Even if your DD has the option to WFH, I had to run an in-person training session last week & my usual tube was suspended - it was annoying but not as stressful as it could have been, since I knew I could still get there in a reasonable time.

Peckham has its own massive park and is next to Dulwich park and not far from Brockwell which has a lido. I never understand the love for Greenwich (or Blackheath)!

Peckham to Liverpool Street isn’t a brilliant journey though.

Does she know anyone at all in London? Any old school friends or Uni friends? This is usually how people choose a place to live. Although it’s one big city, really it’s like a collection of little villages. If a friend lives in a different part of London, you rarely see them, it’s like arranging to see someone who lives the other end of the country!

If she doesn’t know anyone at all, then for that budget, I’d check out a few different areas that are in zone 3 and on a tube line that goes straight into Liverpool Street.

Second Walthamstow and would also look along the Central Line, and anywhere on the Elizabeth.

Central: Bethnal Green into Woodford are all likely a bit more reasonable or Acton to Ealing on the other end

A younger colleague at work has just for Brentwood, which is in Essex but takes the same amount of time via the Elizabeth Line as most Londoners.

But do also agree, about vibe, as someone young and starting out and moving to London Woodford might not be what she is after.

I would also consider the other suggestions about paying more in rent and living close enough to walk (Shoreditch, Old Street, Aldgate)

Catford (the Honor Oak end) so that she can get the Overground into Shoreditch High Street from Honor Oak or Catford train into London Bridge. The bit round Blythe Hill is very nice, safe and cheap.

Overground to Whitechapel and then Elizabeth line to Liverpool Street. It's not a particularly hard journey.

The suffragette, liberty, windrush, weaver, mildmay and lioness overground lines all take you to Liverpool Street so might be worth following those along to a bit further out to find more affordable areas - plenty of which are lovely but by no means all.

£24k is so low for city of London, it's about minimum wage not a graduate salary. Is she totally wedded to this job?