Good areas for postgrad students in London?

[voluminous]

Dd needs to be in Holborn for university to do her postgraduate course.
She wouldn't mind commuting in from somewhere further out like Clapham as long as it is cheaper than somewhere within say 30 mins walking.

She wants to be somewhere safe. We looked at Lewisham but it felt unsafe to us, but that might be because I am not used to cities.

Her budget is low, and is looking with a friend. Ideally her budget would be £1500 for a two bed flat, but there is a bit of leeway if one room is nicer than the other for her friend. So up to £1800 a month.

Goodness! Is she determined to spend that much?

Does her university not have any postgrad accommodation available?

I’m afraid generally ‘nice’ areas will be more expensive. My preference would always be somewhere tiny and central or somewhere completely outside London - Hertfordshire or Kent, say. Longer commute but better and probably cheaper environment.

Which uni, do they have accommodation or a letting agent site. Clapham is a long way from Holborn, ideally she needs to be on a bus or tube route.

Walthamstow is popular and an easy run into Holborn via the Victoria line. Something like this: www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/118858478#/?channel=RES_LET

You could get a small 2 bed in Bayswater for 1600. Walkable to Holborn (about 45 mins) central, close to big parks and shops.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/104936432

This is Paddington/Edgware road. New development on the canal.

Putney! Very safe and ten minute train to Waterloo and a nice walk over the bridge to Holborn. Much nicer than tube travel.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/83607984#/?channel=RES_LET

going East and towards Stratford would be ideal, this looks nice and it's on the Central Line direct to Holborn.

SOmewhere near the Oval? This is opposite Oval tube (northern Line) and right by Kennington Park - only half a mile from Vauxhall for the Victoria Line.
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/119163731#/?channel=RES_LET
She needs to think about how she'll get home late at night as well as getting in and out for the course itself. The advantage of somewhere like Oval is there is the night tube at weekends and it is walkable from the West End as a last resort.

That flat is £1500 per week not £1500 per month, @KittenKong! It seems very overpriced for the area. One of my DC (also a post grad) looked at a flat in the Paddington Basin development that would have been in budget but the market was very different in lockdown last year when they were looking.

OP's DD's budget of £750 per person per month is about average for a room in a student houseshare in London, @LiterallyKnowsBest. It is hard to find 2 bedroom flats in that budget though.

Most London universities have a specific area that their students gravitate towards and where most of the social life is based. She could ask on TSR (or you could ask here). If you look at the private accomodation ads on the university's own accommodation website, you will be able to work out the popular areas. You also quite often see on RightMove etc that the ads for properties in the popular areas say things like "great for UCL/Imperial/LSE students etc".

You haven't said which university but making an educated guess, I would suggest looking north eg Camden (popular with students, good bus links) or east along the Central line.

I would bear in mind that once you factor in travel (£35 pw for a travel card), it can sometimes be more economical to live within walking/cycling distance of the university.

You can also search by commute time on some of the property sites.

If its LSE then they have accommodation for students in Kings Cross

chesirecat99 A god you’re right! I should always wear my specs! I did think it sounded rather cheap for a new development! Way overpriced though (it’s still just off Edgware Road after all!)

Kings Cross is good, it's walking distance.

It's also reminded me, if you are searching for Camden, check the transport links. I meant the Camden Town area but Camden borough is quite large (Kings Cross is in Camden borough). Both of those are good but there will be other places in the borough that are on the wrong tube line/bus routes.

I would also say that being 5 mins walk to the tube/bus stop with a 30 minute tube journey is much better than being 15 mins walk followed by a 10 minute tube journey, even though the journey is longer.

It is a bit of a journey - although not massive - but you'd get a 2 bed flat for that much in New Cross. New Cross isn't scary.

I echo Bayswater. I used to be a student in Holborn years ago and we rented in Queensway/Bayswater for some time, I took a quick train on Central line. Exactly the same-two bed. Also I found Euston and Warren Street not to bad and walkable. My friend lived in Putney and took the bus.

My DD lives in Islington (Holloway Road is the nearest tube). They pay £1300 pcm for a very spacious 2 bed (both bedrooms are around the same size).

It would be 8 minutes on the underground to Holborn.

She loves the area.

if you are talking UCL or Birkbeck, lots of postgrad students live in Camden or Kentish Town or over towards Hackney. I wouldn't go south or too far west.

My post grad daughter is in Ealing which she loves but she’s studying in White City.

She liked Clapham. I’d have thought students in Holborn would go further east.

I do post grad at Holborn and commute from before clapham. Takes just over sn hour
The thing is, I only need to go in 2 days a week, last term 1, next term none.

So it probably doesn't matter too much where she lives, in terms of commuting.

@burnoutbabe

I do post grad at Holborn and commute from before clapham. Takes just over sn hour The thing is, I only need to go in 2 days a week, last term 1, next term none.

So it probably doesn't matter too much where she lives, in terms of commuting.

I guess it does make a difference if you don;t have to be in much. My daughter has to be in 4 days a week as her postygrad is a practical course so she needs to be closish to where her place of study is.

Thank you for the suggestions. I've had a look at them, as to avoid doing housework... will pass the info on to dd.

She'd even thought about moving in with her boyfriend, but one bed flats don't seem to be a huge amount cheaper than two beds!