What part of London would suit me?

[tyburnia]

I am going to be moving to London for a year. I'll be living alone, and am far beyond the age of living in a house share. My income is good but isn't outstanding for London... I make about £60k before tax

I really like old buildings. So would ideally like a one bed in a georgian townhouse or edwardian mansion block... but I can dream 😏

I will need to commute to Victoria, but will work from home a few days a week. So might be worth me considering somewhere a bit further out to get more room. Please only areas safe for single women 😊

You can get Pimlico for your budget

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/122930927#/?channel=RES_LET
Kennington
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/84889452#/?channel=RES_LET Clapham North
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/122901827#/?channel=RES_LET Stockwell (though not a nice location)

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/122933930#/?channel=RES_LET
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/122928713#/?channel=RES_LET
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/82259926#/?channel=STU_LET
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/85054986#/?channel=RES_LET
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/122960903#/?channel=RES_LET
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/122876138#/?channel=RES_LET

When we moved south of the river, lots of people were aghast at the idea of not being on a Tube line, but it's fine, actually, especially now we have the Overground and the Docklands Light Railway. If you live centrally enough, buses are an option too, or at any rate a back up.

It might help to narrow things down if you try to rank various things you might want in order of importance:

• maximum rent


• minimum number and type of rooms


• size of rooms


• garden/outdoor space


• house or flat or maisonette


• period property or new/recent build


• being on a Tube line


• length and ease of commute to work


• length and ease of other journeys you might often make


• how near various amenities, e.g. park, shops, supermarket, bus stops/station, gym/pool/health club


• safety

If you're going to spend a lot of time at home it would be good to be in a pleasant area with something interesting to look at out of the window of your work room - street trees, other people's lovely front gardens, a park, a view if you're up high, or the river or a canal.

St Johns Wood and Notting Hill are in your budget, both are very nice areas with lots of green spaces

Please don't go for Finsbury Park! I lived there as I have family nearby and it was OK, but if you had the whole of London to choose from why would you pick Finsbury Park?

It was one of the places I got the most street harassment in.

We used to call it "crappy rub sniff" which is Finsbury Park backwards (Krapy rub snif) which felt fitting.

If I could live anywhere in London I'd go for Highgate. Beautiful area, so much to see and do. Loads of lovely bars, restaurants and independent shops in Highgate itself and nearby areas like Crouch End and Hampstead. Lots of history and a view over London to die for.

It's green and leafy with access to Highgate Woods and nearby Hampstead Heath. Plus the historical Highgate Cemetery.

Yet it's on the tube and you can be at Victoria in 20 minutes from Highgate tube station (northern line, change to Victoria line at Euston).

Also there are some nice places there under your budget e.g. this:

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/84719925#/?channel=RES_LET

Greenwich also would be an amazing place to live, and you could get to work by the Thames clipper commuter boat*. How cool would that be?!

*Disclaimer I have no idea if this is expensive or not!

Didn't mean to bold that, I meant to asterisk my disclaimer!

I'd suggest Walthamstow

Cloudcats

I travel to work by Clipper - I walk down through Greenwich park from my house to the boat

Its only a couple of quid more than the daily travel for all of London for £8.90 I think

OP - you won't care about being on a tube line - Blackheath doesn't just go to Victoria but to Charing Cross (and Cannon Street) every 7 minutes - and it gets you there in 18-22 minutes

MUCH faster than a tube would go and the overground is very reliable

Victoria line is really fast and really frequent IME. Also unbelievably noisy for some reason: get noise cancelling headphones.

Balham. Direct over ground trains to Victoria, tube, lots to do locally, good access to green spaces. You could rent a one bed garden flat or mansion block flat.

i doubt you'd get from highgate to victoria in 20 mins.

Yes, it's about 20 minutes once you're on the tube. The Victoria line is incredibly fast across London.

In practice, of course there will be extra time getting to the tube station, waiting for the tube, possible delays, getting to the destination at the other end. But the actual journey bit is about 20 minutes, give or take.

Ooh, I'm jealous, I'd love to travel to work down the Thames! We did it with the DC in the holidays and it was a completely new (to us) way to look at London - we loved it.

Yes, I agree, the Victoria line is amazingly fast. And so frequent. The trains are often only a minute or two apart.

The Circle and District lines (which also go through Victoria) are a right pain in the arse. My heart sinks every time I need to catch one. You can wait up to 10 minutes sometimes IME, which is just not a proper tube service IMO!! (Perhaps I've been unlucky, but I avoid it now if I possibly can!)

Camberwell - about 9 mins to Victoria Station from Denmark Hill. Amazing period properties around the Camberwell Grove area. Lots of restaurants, pubs, galleries etc.

Highgate is lovely, definitely recommend it OP. But you will not be at Victoria in 20 minutes!! In peak times you’re looking at more like one hour travel. And the Northern line is horrible, very old = worst air quality of any of the tube lines and many signal failures.

Clapham has a fast overland service to Victoria and loads of period flats.

I’d stay on the Victorian line, or overland lines, if you can. Much better quality of life than say Northern or Piccadilly lines.

Avoid Archway, Finsbury Park, Wood Green, Brixton and anything East for safety reasons. Although tbh nowhere in London is particularly safe for a single woman walking alone, I’ve been mugged in Highgate which is a smart safe area ☹️

It's much faster than a tube would go from Blackheath if there was a tube

The point being that anywhere the OP wants to live on a tube line for under £2k a month is a balancing act time wise - being 20 minutes from Charing Cross is great, tube or train

1 hour travel by tube?!

Admittedly I've not done it in years but I don't understand how?

Unless the tube stations are so overcrowded they're not letting people in, how could that journey take so long?

Highgate to Euston is 5 or 6 stops depending which branch tube you get. Most tube journeys about about 2 minutes a stop, so that's about 10-12 minutes. Then change at Euston. Supposing it's packed and you walk really slowly, let's say that takes 10 minutes. Then, let's say the Victoria line takes 3 minutes to come (unusual in peak hours, but for argument's sake). Then it's 4 stops to Victoria, so another 8 minutes. That's 33 minutes.

Where do you get the other half an hour from?! Am I missing something here?

Unless you mean door-to-door, in which case, of course, that time needs to be added on for any journey.

Vauxhall, Oval, Kennington, would be my pick. The value of being able to walk home from work on a summer's evening / walk into central London at the weekend, can't be overstated.

Greenwich or Blackheath would perfectly fulfil your brief OP!