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Original poster

Area recommendations near London

31 replies

Lem87 · 22/05/2017 22:59

Hiya all,

Myself & the other half are needing to move near to London due to his work & we would really appreciate some area recommendations to move to. We are from the North East, so very clueless! It needs to be within 1 hour train commute (hopefully less), no rough council estate areas, family friendly & we are renting.

We have been looking at Kent, maybe Ashford?

Any help would be greatly appreciated :)!

OP posts:
nancy75 · 22/05/2017 23:01

What's your budget?

Original poster
Lem87 · 22/05/2017 23:11

Oh that would help :)! £1500 pm max.

OP posts:
StarTravels · 23/05/2017 07:08

Tonbridge has very fast trains into London depending on which station you need to get to.

Ifailed · 23/05/2017 07:11

if it's just the 2 of you, then £1500 pcm would find you plenty of one bed flats within easy commute to london. Tonbridge, as mentioned above, is a good example. However, don't forget to factor in travel costs an annual season ticket from Tonbridge is £3224.

StressedMover · 23/05/2017 07:14

How many bedrooms do you require?

TestTubeTeen · 23/05/2017 07:22

What part of London will your partner commute to? For an easy commute in the station you arrive at can make all the difference.

Kokusai · 23/05/2017 09:24

You could get a 1 bed flat IN london for £1500/PCM

WhatKatyDidnt · 23/05/2017 10:32

That's a healthy budget. You could get a lovely 2 bed in SE London, maybe a 3 bed. Save on commuting costs and enjoy the city.

mum2015 · 23/05/2017 10:59

you have good budget for various nice areas. Best place would depend on where OH needs to commute to? Enjoy short commute and less travel costs while you don't have to worry about schools and you can rent.

user1489844432 · 23/05/2017 12:13

As long as you are happy with one bed flat that amount gets you a nice place in decent area. You need look at where you and your partner need to commute to as you can spend easily an hour commuting just within London

Belleende · 23/05/2017 13:04

You need to factor in commuting costs. On fast trains from ashford it would be a minimum of £6k each for a season ticket. If you both need to commute you would be better off looking in London

Original poster
Lem87 · 23/05/2017 13:55

Thanks very much for all the replies :)!

Yes it's just the two of us, we are after a 2-3 bed as I work from home so need an office room & he would prefer to commute than be central. We've seen lots of nice 2-3 bed houses to rent for around £1200 in Ashford for example, but we aren't sure about areas & an annual season ticket from there is around £5000, which is top of our budget. We've budgeted for up to £5000 for his annual season ticket but would prefer around the 3-4k mark. He needs to get to Covent Garden, so Holborn/Embankment/Charing cross.

Just had a quick look at Tonbridge & that looks excellent, especially if the annual season ticket is around 3k! I found a similar post this morning that recommended Tunbridge Wells & Guilford, what are your thoughts on those? Also, is there any areas to avoid?

Thanks very much again :)!

OP posts:
Ifailed · 23/05/2017 14:38

Tunbridge Wells is a bit up its own arse, and only has one line to london, where as Tonbridge has two, useful if there is any disruption

BuggerFlip · 23/05/2017 16:21

If I were you I'd just head out east to somewhere along the central line. South Woodford/Wanstead/Buckhurst Hill etc all very nice, quite leafy and very green with Epping Forest on the doorstep. Why not just live in London itself? Here's a nice looking cottage on a lovely road in a lovely area for rent for £1500 pcm

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-66448403.html

Commuting costs will be a lot lower too. V family friendly area.

StarTravels · 23/05/2017 16:32

I've lived in Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge. Tonbridge is better for trains. More frequent and quicker.

Tunbridge Wells is nicer in terms of the shops and the atmosphere with the Pantiles area.

Tonbridge is up and coming with new independents and restaurants/bars opening all the time but is less polished. Tunbridge Wells is a lovely place to live but the trains aren't as good.

tissuesosoft · 23/05/2017 16:37

Guildford will cost you a lot in rail and tube tickets! West Ruislip, Ruislip, Pinner, Ickenham- all very easy access to London. They are all zone 5 and 6

Marv1nGay3 · 23/05/2017 16:50

I work in Covent Garden and commute into Waterloo. It's then just a short walk over Waterloo Bridge- roughly 15 mins. So you could look at Woking/ Guildford/ Isleworth etc.

Mary21 · 23/05/2017 17:01

As a couple I wouldn't go so far out. What about somewhere like brockley.
Another area to consider is surbiton. On a fast line into Waterloo then not far to Covent Garden.
With places like Ashford Tonbridge Guildford you need to factor in journey time to station, traffic jams, parking, cost of station parking, the commute then journey time from mainline station to office. A 40 minute train ride easily becomes 1.5 hours or more.
Another poster often recommends Petts Wood don't know it myself but maybe worth a look.

StarTravels · 23/05/2017 17:04

We walk to the station though Mary. It takes 5 minutes. No need to park or worry about traffic.

Mary21 · 23/05/2017 17:11

Hi, don't forget too that you need to factor in the cost of travelling in London too. The travel card from tonbridge inculsive of zone 1-6 travel is £ 4168

Mary21 · 23/05/2017 17:12

I realise you can walk with the right place. It's just another consideration

StarTravels · 23/05/2017 17:17

We used this website to help us decide where to live commutefrom.com/

SoYouBetterRun · 23/05/2017 17:22

Look at Greenwich and Blackheath. Great commute and doesn't really feel like the city. Otherwise, yes, Kent. Bexley is ok. Or look at Chelmsford?

nonwonderwoman · 24/05/2017 11:19

What about Reigate? Lovely market town filled with young professionals and families, close to countryside but plenty going on. You can commute from Redhill (1 mile away) and get to Victoria Station and on the circle and district line to Embankment within 45 mins.