"Moving to London" archive thread

who the fug

propower wrote: »

unfortunately for me its only floor staff experience, glass collecting, clearing tables changing kegs and stocking bars,

ive been working in a milk producing factory the past few years

You still have more experience than the average kid behind the bar in the west end.

propower

really? jeez that gives me a bit of a confidence boost, cheers man,

Fysh

RE: barwork, I make a conscious effort to avoid the pubs in central london most of the time as they're generally packed. The few times I've been there I've noticed that exceptionally poor service is tolerated, the kind of thing that would have someone let go before the night was out if it happened in a pub back home.

Basically, if you've any experience at all you're already ahead of some of the people who actually seem to be employed in pubs here. If you're mainly experienced as a cellarman see if you can get day shifts, you can use the quieter periods to get trained up on the behind-the-bar stuff.

propower

thanks again for that fysh, i will take a look online for cellarman jobs, id say the pay is pretty minuscule tho. but not to worry anything to pay the bills

who the fug

First off

Get an National Insurance Number and a bank account, managers are unlikely to entertain you without them as they want an easy life.

Wages in central London are a bit above minimum but they will be busy in run up to December and if you show willing they will move you up a grade.

Re looking on line, you will be better off pounding the streets with a one page CV highlighting pub experience to leave behind the jump (Put the NI Number and that you are Irish on it)

bayleaf

i was thinking of opening an account in northern ireland and then when i get bills etc in my own name in england i can open the account there, do i just go to a job centre to get an NI number

who the fug

National Insurance Number see here

Go to your nearest jobcentre to start the ball rolling

Jack B. Badd

who the fug wrote: »

You still have more experience than the average kid behind the bar in the west end.

I once had to explain to a barman over here how to make a hot toddy. He still f*cked up the "hot" part...

who the fug

Jack B. Badd wrote: »

I once had to explain to a barman over here how to make a hot toddy. He still f*cked up the "hot" part...

Anyone asked me for a hot toddy got charged the price of the most expensive cocktail on the till

bastard i was

trixie_belle12

going to do the same myself in a few weeks so i'll probably find myself feeling the same as you are now!

best of luck with it!!

Mc Kenzie

awww thanks very muxh trixie. im here now got a job, just need to find a place. it all takes time though, to settle in. if you need advise about it feel free to e give me a shout.

are you coming to london?

best a luck to you too!!

dearwatson19

Hi,

I'm hoping someone can help me with this. I'm moving over to London around the middle of September & I could do with getting my hands on a U.K. mobile phone or number before I move over. I never thought to get one while I was there doing interviews & house hunting as I was able to use my Irish one at the time but I could do with one now. I've had a look on O2, Vodafone, 3, Carphone Warehouse websites & they all seem to deliver in the U.K. only. Does anyone know how or have any ideas on how I might be able to get around this.

Thanks:)

helimachoptor

Go up north, or get a friend to post you a sim over

BuffyBot

eBay?

snowfinch

I'm being relocated to London in the next few months and am looking on a few pointers on where would be a good place to live for a young couple. I will be working near Victoria and will have £2k to spend on rent.

I know next to nothing about the areas in London. I've been over to our London office a few times and liked the general area around Chelsea but I don't know what that area would be like to live in. Colleagues live in Pimlico and have recommended that (but they all get out of London at the weekend) and I have also had Islington mentioned as a good place to live. I don't know many people in London but have friends in Shoreditch. On the map the westside of Bayswater looks nicely central but I have no idea if that area would have the same village-y feel that the other places seem to have...

I am looking for somewhere with a bit of a buzz, lots of bars, restaurants, beergardens and a nice park to hang out in on a sunny day (pref with water - lake, canal or whatever). I love to cook so weekend farmer's market and access to shop(s) with oriental/indian/moroccan ingredients would be great. I would really like to be within walking distance of work(for me that is up to 45 mins or so, I don't mind a decent walk even in the rain) as I can't stand the rush hour tube.

Any suggestions appreciated!

paddyandy

There is a crime index for each area of london,

LadyMayBelle

Is that 2k a month, jeez if so you'll be flying it!!
I'm part of a couple and we are out in east London..not too far from Shoreditch (well a tube ride) and while it's grimy it's 'trendy'.. but you'd get more upmarket say somewhere maybe Canada Water, where you'd have access to Borough Market say..

Islington is nice, esp Highbury..nice parks and while I am not sure about food, you are near Angel which is nice..

Have a look at the tube map and see what areas are around where you plan on working...with your budget i reckon you could get somewhere nice overlooking water too..

S.M.B.

An apartment overlooking Battersea Park could be ideal. No distance to Victoria from there by foot.

snowfinch

Thanks - will look into those. It is nice to be able to research these areas and don't have a clue in general. Islington seems nice but I do wonder if it just a bit too far (to walk anyway, maybe I'll get over my tube averson!). Battersea Park does seem quite close and haven't heard of Canada Water so will be fun checking them out. Will hopefully get a week over there in the next couple of months just to look around, so looking forward to that. I think that picking the right place to live will make a big difference to settling in so want to be as informed as possible before I make it over. Am tempted to ask friends if I can crash on their floor during the first month while I get my bearings too before I go and sign a lease on somewhere I will regret within 3 months!

Lapin

snowfinch wrote: »

I am looking for somewhere with a bit of a buzz, lots of bars, restaurants, beergardens and a nice park to hang out in on a sunny day (pref with water - lake, canal or whatever). I love to cook so weekend farmer's market and access to shop(s) with oriental/indian/moroccan ingredients would be great. I would really like to be within walking distance of work(for me that is up to 45 mins or so, I don't mind a decent walk even in the rain) as I can't stand the rush hour tube.

Any suggestions appreciated!

Sounds like Clapham is the place for you.
I lived there for a year and loved it.

Calpham Common has everything a park should have and there are some great bars and restaurants in the area.

Its about a 40 min walk from Victoria although there is a direct (Overground) train serving only one stop before Victoria and only takes 5 mins, so wet day rush hours won't be too much of an ordeal !

No farmers market, but plenty of shops selling everything and anything.

Islington is similar but its a longer walk from Victoria as is Shoreditch.

djpbarry

snowfinch wrote: »

I will be working near Victoria and will have £2k to spend on rent.

Holy disposable income Batman – that’s a lot, even by London standards. There are very few areas that you will not be able to afford.

snowfinch wrote: »

I know next to nothing about the areas in London. I've been over to our London office a few times and liked the general area around Chelsea but I don't know what that area would be like to live in.

Boring. Really, really boring. And disgustingly pretentious. Avoid it.

snowfinch wrote: »

Colleagues live in Pimlico and have recommended that...

Pimlico is ok, nice and central, but not a whole lot in terms of nightlife.

snowfinch wrote: »

...I have also had Islington mentioned as a good place to live. I don't know many people in London but have friends in Shoreditch.

Islington and Shoreditch are both pretty trendy at the moment – Islington would be handy enough for commuting to Victoria.

snowfinch wrote: »

On the map the westside of Bayswater looks nicely central but I have no idea if that area would have the same village-y feel that the other places seem to have...

I’ve seen some nice flats advertised in Battersea, but there’s no tube, which is a bit of a pain in the bum. Personally, I wouldn’t live anywhere more than about 0.5 miles from a tube station – it’s just too inconvenient.

snowfinch wrote: »

I am looking for somewhere with a bit of a buzz, lots of bars, restaurants, beergardens and a nice park to hang out in on a sunny day (pref with water - lake, canal or whatever). I love to cook so weekend farmer's market and access to shop(s) with oriental/indian/moroccan ingredients would be great. I would really like to be within walking distance of work(for me that is up to 45 mins or so, I don't mind a decent walk even in the rain) as I can't stand the rush hour tube.

Finding all that within about 2 miles of Victoria is going to be pretty difficult. I was going to suggest Waterloo/Southwark – walking distance to Victoria and right in the heart of things, but not much in the way of parks or waterways (apart from the Thames). I think you may need to broaden your search a little.

snowfinch wrote: »

Thanks - will look into those. It is nice to be able to research these areas and don't have a clue in general. Islington seems nice but I do wonder if it just a bit too far (to walk anyway, maybe I'll get over my tube averson!).

If you want to make the most of your time in London, you’re going to have to use the tube. Highbury & Islington to Victoria is a very handy commute by London standards (15 minutes by tube).

tricky D

snowfinch wrote: »

I don't know many people in London but have friends in Shoreditch.

I'd think about living near your friends. It's not that far from work and making friends in London isn't as easy as in Ireland.

djpbarry

tricky D wrote: »

It's not that far from work and making friends in London isn't as easy as in Ireland.

That is complete nonsense.

LadyMayBelle

djpbarry wrote: »

That is complete nonsense.

I agree with Tricky D...I regret not going somewhere there's Irish folk and also it depends on your living arrangements/place of work etc

Also agree that even tho you say you won't use a tube, odds are you will and recommend being within .5mile anyways of one

djpbarry

LadyMayBelle wrote: »

I agree with Tricky D...I regret not going somewhere there's Irish folk...

You’re painting a picture of London as a place where nobody wants to know you unless they’re Irish – that’s ridiculous.

I have found it far easier to make friends in London than I did in Dublin. In my experience (disclaimer: this is a really broad generalisation that obviously doesn’t apply to everyone), Irish people are really, really lazy about keeping in touch and “friendships” are often little more than short-term, superficial connections of convenience – I find Londoners are prepared to make much more of an effort to socialise (again, that is a broad generalisation). Londoners have a thoroughly undeserved reputation for being rude and unfriendly – I find them much more polite than Dubs (this post is simply brimming with generalisations at this stage) and just as friendly. The main difference is formality – London (and to a lesser extent, Britain as a whole) is much more formal than Ireland and I think this can often be mistaken for “coldness” and unfriendliness. Personally, I can’t stand formality – I absolutely hate being addressed as “Sir” absolutely everywhere I go – but, it’s a minor irritation in the grand scheme of things.

LadyMayBelle wrote: »

... and also it depends on your living arrangements/place of work etc

Yeah, of course. But at the end of the day, you have to make the effort to get to know people (I’m not saying you haven’t). More importantly, if you want to make the most of your time in London, you have to at mix with non-Irish people – otherwise you might as well be in Cork/Dublin/Waterford/wherever.

I don’t mean to sound harsh and I’m sorry if it appears I’m having a go at you personally – I’m not. It’s just that a large number of Irish people I meet in London deliberately seek other Irish people to socialise with, travel back to Ireland almost every chance they get and then complain that it’s difficult to make friends with non-Irish people in London – if you come here with such an extremely Irish-centric view, then it’s obviously going to be difficult to meet non-Irish people.

I’ll give you an example. Not long after I moved here with the Missus, I discovered that a guy I went to school with in Dublin was working near my workplace. So I got in touch, we met for pints, etc. Turned out that about 18 months after moving here, himself and his Missus were finding it tough to make friends. Now admittedly, this probably had a lot to do with the fact that they were both working crazy hours, but the fact that they were both heading home to Ireland every 2-3 weeks was probably a contributing factor too. So, we took it upon ourselves to invite them out as often as we could (with our mostly non-Irish friends!), but they’ve yet to join us once. They’ll come out for pints if it’s just myself and the Missus (who is half-not-Irish), but if there’s a larger group, they make their excuses and don’t show. I’ve recently learned that they’ve found themselves a group of Irish friends with whom they socialise on a regular basis – but they still maintain that it’s difficult to develop a social life with non-Irish people here. Despite the fact that we invite them out all the time. That. Drives. Me. Crazy.

LadyMayBelle

It's totally my opinion tho and I'm only giving my few pence worth of advice..I (and this may be frowned upon by many) have always tended to 'branch' out a bit and always try meet people who aren't 'Irish'..but have come to realise that actually, in a way, it can be very useful to have an irish group around you...I literally had this discussion with someone earlier today which may be why i was quick to agree with Tricky D...plus having had experience..

I do think that people who move over here and live, say, in a house share or whatever might find it a bit easier, but as I think the OP wants (correct if I'm wrong!), they'll be moving into their own place, which makes things a wee bit tricky in meeting people.

I was aware coming over that people generalise Londoners as 'cold' and 'unfriendly' but have found it quite the opposite, however based on my experience, in my location, it's tricky.

tricky D

djpbarry wrote: »

That is complete nonsense.

Well parts of your subsequent post demonstrate that proximity and some sort of connection are important. That aside, another reason why the OP might consider moving near existing friends, is that travelling around London takes much more time than it appears from looking at the Tube map.

djpbarry

tricky D wrote: »

Well parts of your subsequent post demonstrate that proximity and some sort of connection are important.

I'm not denying that it helps, but most of the people I socialise with in London I did not know before moving here. I also have a much more active social life in London than I ever did in Dublin, but I accept that this is all just one person's experience.

tricky D wrote: »

That aside, another reason why the OP might consider moving near existing friends, is that travelling around London takes much more time than it appears from looking at the Tube map.

That's a fair point.

Lapin

It doesn't really matter where your friends are from if they're friends does it ?

When I moved to London I initially gravitated towards Irish areas to meet people, due to the common ground we might share. Made perfect sense to me. Still does.

I met some great people from my home country, many of whom I still keep in touch with. Of course I also encountered plenty of assholes from Ireland too.

But, over time I got to know people from all over the world, and became friends with people of every creed and colour, (encountered assholes from everywhere too).

So I became less reliant on the Irish community for company but never lost touch or turned my back on people I knew from Ireland.

London has everything but it can also be the most lonely place on the planet. I would recommend to anyone moving there to open their eyes, ears and taste buds to all it has to offer.

It is possible to move there, live, work and play surrounded by people from home. You could spend all your time there listening to people with Irish accents. Many do and nothing wrong with that.

But I feel that they are missing out on the the best of the most cosmopolitan city in the world. Milk it for all it is worth OP. Enjoy the place. There are times when you will hate the place - everybody does at some stage. But I think thats true of most cities.

We're lucky to have London on our doorstep.

Golden3333

Hi folks,

This forum is great, so much useful info! I'm making the move over to London next month and I'm somewhere between excited and petrified about it

Been working in Dublin for the last few years but starting a Masters at UCL this September. My Boyfriend and I have decided to make the move together. I'll be living off savings and he's hoping to get some full time work. We're pretty tight on time as we both have to work notice right up until the 9th of September so only have about 2/3 weeks to find permanent rental accommodation before I start into the course on 26th. We're planning to go over and stay in hostel/hotel for a week to explore a few areas and view some apartments but our problem is we're not really sure where to start narrowing down the search. I was hoping some people here might be able to suggest some areas that we could look.

We're looking to live somewhere central enough, maybe zone 2, that has some nice restaurants/bars/parks etc and is reasonably priced rent-wise. UCL is very central...The closest underground stations are Euston Square on the Circle, Metropolitan and Hammersmith and City Lines and Warren Street on the Northern and Victoria Lines. So we're hoping to get somewhere that would be a handy commute into the college..maybe about a half hour away.

One area I was looking at online was Bow just because there seems to be a few apartment developments around there like Bow Quarter and it seems to have good transport links but I don’t really know much about the area so if anyone has some opinions on it please let me know!

If anyone could suggest some other areas that we could explore I'd really appreciate it!

Thanks very much!!

p.s Sorry for the length of this post, just trying to give as much info as possible