What’s the best area of Central London to live?

[yummyyucatan]

Love the architectural vibe of Soho but think I’d go crazy with how busy it is. South Bank is cool but quite 90s and gets rough quite quickly.

If you were moving to London for a couple of years with work and could rent a one bed flat anywhere central, where would it be?

Where is your work?

I'd love to live in the Barbican.

Marylebone! My Dad used to live there and it's lovely. They call it Marylebone village which is a bit pretentious but it's got a lovely relaxed vibe compared to places like Soho & Mayfair in my opinion. It's got Regents park nearby which is great and lots of lovely independent shops and restaurants/bars etc.

I'd go Southbank but then I am quite 90s and get rough quite quickly. For the more gentile, I'd go Bloomsbury.

Or Pimlico is relatively quiet, more residential, but still walkable to Soho etc.

Exmouth Market in Clerkenwell! Many happy memories of spending time there and I think it’s more upmarket and lovely than it was. Perfect location.

Another vote for Marylebone. Within a hop of the Wallace Collection please.

I love Smith Square, Westminster as well.

I’ve lived near London Bridge, near Warwick Avenue, Finsbury Park and Golders Green, Kentish Town…

My favourite of those for location was London Bridge - it was very busy during the week but died at weekends, so you kind of got the best of both.

Next best I’d say maybe Kentish Town, that was pretty decent. Warwick Avenue was lovely but I was unhappy at the time so find it hard to associate happy memories there, but certainly worth bearing the Little Venice area in mind if you like something a bit prettier.

I think it would be the Barbican for me

Brixton. Not really central but so close on the Victoria line. Amazing restaurants and bars, Clapham nearby. I lived there for 3 years and miss it every day!!!

Budget? I like the City’s eerie quiet at weekends, personally. Marylebone is lovely but you’re sandwiched between an awful lot of heavy traffic, which I find oppressive. I lived for a couple of years on Wells St, just off Oxford St, which I loved.

Bloomsbury for me, every time.

Depends on what you like. I like the mansion blocks just to the east of Tottenham Court Road. Near the British Museum, theatres, close to Soho but not actually in it. Slightly further North and West towards the Euston Road you’d have Regents Park as your garden. I had a friend who had a tiny flat just off Trafalgar Square, which must have been a bit mad, but so central.

This. Or anywhere in Clerkenwell really. Very central, quiet at weekends but with a few really lively little spots (like Exmouth Market), good pubs and great restaurants, beautiful buildings but very few tourists, great travel connections at Farringdon. Feels slightly edgy but is actually very safe. Lots of cool NY-style warehouse conversion apartments to live in.

Otherwise Primrose Hill is nice, more green space, very expensive. Marylebone is good. I’d happily live in Bloomsbury but it is very studenty in parts. Pimlico is pleasant but quiet.

I looooved living in Kennington - used to walk home from Soho along the river looking across at Parliament. The squares are SO beautiful and it was a little less hectic. Plus a farmers market and various galleries and lots of variety on doorstep. Lived just off Brick Lane and liked that too, but noisier and smellier! Didn't love living in Camden. Loved living in Marylebone - Regent's Park makes it feel less hectic.

Another vote for Marylebone!
There's a mews off New Cavendish Street that I ogle everytime I'm up in that area. Now to win the lottery...

Streets between Victoria and Westminster, lots of mansion blocks and quirky buildings. Easy walks to the parks, river, transport and easy to lose the tourists.

A quiet part of Bloomsbury: between Gray's Inn Road to the east and Woburn Place/Russell Square to the west. Marchmont Street and Lamb's Conduit Street give it a villagey feel; lots of little green spaces in the garden squares; walking distance to the West End, City, King's Cross/St Pancras for trains and Eurostar.

Croydon, for sure.

St Katherine's docks.

Bloomsbury.

I'd live in a surprisingly spacious apartment above a bookshop on Great Russell Street, and keep a salon and wear silk turbans on Sundays.

For me I'd limit the area to a 20 min walk to work, because being able to avoid public transport for your most regular journey makes a big difference to quality of life. Maybe longer if you're willing to cycle.
I've lived in Shoreditch, Angel, Primrose Hill, Camden Town and Bloomsbury, but those areas were chosen with work/school proximity in mind and with a free choice I'd go more central, maybe Covent Garden or Fitzrovia.

Bloomsbury - it’s peaceful, very close to Euston and Kings Cross, has a tube station and a Waitrose.

A toss up between Clerkenwell and Dorset Square in Marylebone.

Definitely Marylebone. It’s super central but also a really practical place to live, with a Waitrose, good butchers/ fishmongers etc. In some other central parts of London, you’d have to travel out for that. Bloomsbury would be my second choice, but there’s not the same choice of bars and restaurants.

I think I'd go for Exmouth Market too.

I really like the Barbican though.