Moving To/Living In London Megathread - ALL QUESTIONS TO GO HERE

Olive8585 · 15-05-2014 12:57pm

enda1 wrote: »

Do you not see the irony in your post?

There is no irony. Primrose Hill has a bit of a snobby vibe about it. It just does. That doesn't mean the people who live there are horrible, it means that someone who doesn't fit the mould of a typical Primrose Hill resident might not be happy there. If you're a young guy hoping to be surrounded by loads of other young people, cheap pubs, etc., it's not the best place to live because you're going to be surrounded by parents in cafes with those giant Bugaboo buggies. Plus, expensive areas are generally....expensive. You won't get great deals in the cafes/restaurants/pubs around there.

Your attitude is unhelpful, hostile and uncalled for. Primrose Hill isn't what he's looking for, just as it wouldn't be what I'd be looking for. He doesn't need to tick your boxes for what you consider 'non-bigoted' to find himself a place to live. The only person with the narrow mind here is you. Talk about PC madness. Live in London for a few years and start spouting on about what a melting pot it is and how open-minded it is blah blah blah...give me strength.

RiseToMe · 15-05-2014 1:21pm

enda1 wrote: »

The classist biggotry, akin to racist or xenophobic stereotyping was the hostile act here actually. London doesn't need any more hostility as it's a cultural and social melting pot where you will be loving breathing and inevitably socialising with most all members of these spheres.

Probably best to drop your hostility and open your mind somewhat before making the journey.

Bye.

I think you'll find as a transgender man I am very open minded and accepting and quite the opposite of hostile.

Thanks to people who understood my point of view.

Playboy · 15-05-2014 1:28pm

Olive8585 wrote: »

There is no irony. Primrose Hill has a bit of a snobby vibe about it. It just does. That doesn't mean the people who live there are horrible, it means that someone who doesn't fit the mould of a typical Primrose Hill resident might not be happy there. If you're a young guy hoping to be surrounded by loads of other young people, cheap pubs, etc., it's not the best place to live because you're going to be surrounded by parents in cafes with those giant Bugaboo buggies. Plus, expensive areas are generally....expensive. You won't get great deals in the cafes/restaurants/pubs around there.

Your attitude is unhelpful, hostile and uncalled for. Primrose Hill isn't what he's looking for, just as it wouldn't be what I'd be looking for. He doesn't need to tick your boxes for what you consider 'non-bigoted' to find himself a place to live. The only person with the narrow mind here is you. Talk about PC madness. Live in London for a few years and start spouting on about what a melting pot it is and how open-minded it is blah blah blah...give me strength.

RiseToMe wrote: »

I think you'll find as a transgender man I am very open minded and accepting and quite the opposite of hostile.

Thanks to people who understood my point of view.

I think its a bit strange to dismiss Primose Hill as snobby and middle class yada yada yada and then in the same breath say how much you hate snobiness. The only people being snobs here are you guys by judging people and a place because it doesn't necessarily fit your mould of what you want in an area to live. Primrose Hill is one of the most beautiful parts of London, it is sought after for a reason and you would be fortunate to live there. If you want cheap pubs etc well you can be there in 5 mins because the transport in London is quite good if you haven't heard.

Grandpa Hassan · 15-05-2014 1:30pm

Olive8585 wrote: »

There is no irony. Primrose Hill has a bit of a snobby vibe about it. It just does. That doesn't mean the people who live there are horrible, it means that someone who doesn't fit the mould of a typical Primrose Hill resident might not be happy there. If you're a young guy hoping to be surrounded by loads of other young people, cheap pubs, etc., it's not the best place to live because you're going to be surrounded by parents in cafes with those giant Bugaboo buggies. Plus, expensive areas are generally....expensive. You won't get great deals in the cafes/restaurants/pubs around there.

Your attitude is unhelpful, hostile and uncalled for. Primrose Hill isn't what he's looking for, just as it wouldn't be what I'd be looking for. He doesn't need to tick your boxes for what you consider 'non-bigoted' to find himself a place to live. The only person with the narrow mind here is you. Talk about PC madness. Live in London for a few years and start spouting on about what a melting pot it is and how open-minded it is blah blah blah...give me strength.

But RTM didn't say originally that he didn't want to live in Primrose Hill as it wasn't the right demographic, and not what he was looking for. He said he didnt want to live there because "snobbery grinds his gears".

Which is not something I would particularly associate with Primrose Hill. I don't think it has a snobby vibe at all. What you see as snobby, I just see as people having lunch

Anyway, seems it isn't the right place for him

Fysh · 15-05-2014 1:41pm

I don't want to see any more bickering or sniping. This thread is for questions and helpful advice relating to moving to or living in London, not for petty squabbling.

Olive8585 · 15-05-2014 1:47pm

sorry mod, didn't see warning.

Fysh · 15-05-2014 1:59pm

On the topic of snobbery and (to some extent) gentrification, one of London's strengths to my mind is that there's nowhere I know of where you're more than about a 15 minute walk from somewhere that's the polar opposite. I've lived in Kilburn since I moved to London and really like it. Queens Park on the West and West Hampstead on the East are both posh/snobby/gentrified areas but within 10 minutes of each you've got the High Road with some great pubs, a great cinema & theatre, a range of shops and a bunch of great affordable restaurants (as well as a distressing number of betting/pawn shops and iffy takeaway places). The gentrified areas are more about pricier (though not necessarily better, and in some cases worse) pubs and restaurants, and small pricey boutiques (think artesanal bakeries rather than Greggs). Neither option by itself would really suit me, but having the choice of both within a few minutes of home means that the area overall suits me down to the ground.

What I'm getting at is that the area having a certain reputation may well have little or nothing to do with how you find it to be - though you may find that some area profiles might help you get a general idea. (Don't take this as gospel, however). Some options are FindAHood (which looks promising asa replacement for UpMyStreet), CheckMyArea, UKLocalArea (which helpfully identifies areas by name and provides you with a sample postcode you can use to get general details about an area), and CheckMyFile. WalkScore might be useful for identifying what's in the immediate area. PropertyNotepad has a horrible Flash interface, but section 2 has a useful aggregation of tools that may be useful to figure out if a particular area will suit you.

Vokes · 15-05-2014 2:30pm

Woden wrote: »

Any pre/post theatre menu recommendations around Villiers Street?

Café des Amis - it's tucked away behind Covent Gdn. About 10-12min walk from Villers St. They do 2 courses for 16.50 and 3 courses for 18.50. Lovely place.

Slow Show · 16-05-2014 12:00am

I'm thinking of going to London in the next few weeks to live and work there for the summer. I know I need to get a National Insurance number. I would be staying with my older brother while there, how would I go about with proof of address in this scenario? And in the case of applying for jobs online as I'm doing now, they all seem to be requesting NI numbers on the application forms, is there anything I can do about this? Feeling lost here, so much to get sorted.

ballsymchugh · 16-05-2014 12:14am

get your brother to change the water bill to your name now, so you'll have a proof of address. is it just one you need??

BrokenArrows · 16-05-2014 12:17am

Just get your Irish bank to put your account address as your brothers UK address and get them to send a statement.

A Greedy Algorithm · 16-05-2014 12:26am

I would love to live in London. Just out of curiosity, do most people sort out a job before they go over? I'm just starting my research on it now so any advice/tips would be appreciated.

Slow Show · 16-05-2014 1:45am

Thanks guys, and is there any way that I could speed up the whole process of obtaining the number ie taking care of some of it before actually going to London? Really hoping to get settled with work as quickly as possible!

BrokenArrows · 16-05-2014 1:35pm

Slow Show wrote: »

Thanks guys, and is there any way that I could speed up the whole process of obtaining the number ie taking care of some of it before actually going to London? Really hoping to get settled with work as quickly as possible!

You don't need the number to start work. You will be put on emergency tax until you get the number.

richiculous · 18-05-2014 5:03pm

Hi guys, I got the notion recently about heading over to London in July perhaps, I have a few questions.

Obviously it would make sense to have a job a lined up before going over. However, I think that would be quite difficult to do from here, I'm wondering would it be ridiculous to go over without a job secured? I wouldn't mind working a restaurant / bar job for a while to keep me going while looking for something more related to my field when I get there. (I think I could at the very least get some job soon enough after I get there?)

I graduated last year, the only relevant work experience I have is a 6 month internship that I did during college and the more time that passes, the harder it is going to be to get work. There's not much work in my field here (design related) and I know that it won't be easy to get a job elsewhere but there is definitely more opportunity over in the UK.

At the moment I'm far from happy, working a very boring job (call centre) just to be working really. As much as I dislike my job, I have been able to save money, which brings me to my next question, how much money (generally) would people need to get themselves set up in London for say 2 months?

I've looked a lot at rent prices, even more expensive than I thought, and would hopefully be paying about £600 per month for rent.

Jamey · 19-05-2014 3:44pm

richiculous wrote: »

Hi guys, I got the notion recently about heading over to London in July perhaps, I have a few questions.

Obviously it would make sense to have a job a lined up before going over. However, I think that would be quite difficult to do from here, I'm wondering would it be ridiculous to go over without a job secured? I wouldn't mind working a restaurant / bar job for a while to keep me going while looking for something more related to my field when I get there. (I think I could at the very least get some job soon enough after I get there?)

I graduated last year, the only relevant work experience I have is a 6 month internship that I did during college and the more time that passes, the harder it is going to be to get work. There's not much work in my field here (design related) and I know that it won't be easy to get a job elsewhere but there is definitely more opportunity over in the UK.

At the moment I'm far from happy, working a very boring job (call centre) just to be working really. As much as I dislike my job, I have been able to save money, which brings me to my next question, how much money (generally) would people need to get themselves set up in London for say 2 months?

I've looked a lot at rent prices, even more expensive than I thought, and would hopefully be paying about £600 per month for rent.

I had about 2.5k -3k going over. Got a job after 6 weeks and had a small bit of them savings left when I was first paid (after about 2 months of living in London) so I reckon it's a safe enough ballpark figure. I wasn't paying much rent at that stage though - was still staying with family so was contributing a small amount for my keep.

CSBJ · 19-05-2014 4:07pm

Hey all, there is a possibility of moving over to the London area for work. Just wondering what is considered a normal / acceptable commute to do on a daily basis?

x43r0 · 19-05-2014 4:12pm

CSBJ wrote: »

Hey all, there is a possibility of moving over to the London area for work. Just wondering what is considered a normal / acceptable commute to do on a daily basis?

Depends on you tolerance/budget I think. It's usually a bit of a trade off. You'll find the cost of commuting increase the further you go out but the cost of rent tends to go down at the same time.

I've had "commutes" of 15mins but paid more on rent because I wanted to live close to work. My tube costs were about £80 per month. I've worked with people who commute for up to 1.5hours each way

Use the tube map as a reference when looking at houses/areas. In my opinion, Aagood balance would be anywhere within zone 3

BrokenArrows · 19-05-2014 7:10pm

CSBJ wrote: »

Hey all, there is a possibility of moving over to the London area for work. Just wondering what is considered a normal / acceptable commute to do on a daily basis?

My commute is about 35 minutes on a motorbike which is about 15 miles.
That's my upper end of acceptable commute time but its different for everyone.

I work with people who commute over an hour and when traffic is bad it can be 2 hours.

As said its a trade off between commute time and rent price and possibly how easy your commute is. An hour on a packed tube is different to an hour on an empty train.

theteal · 20-05-2014 11:11pm

BrokenArrows wrote: »

As said its a trade off between commute time and rent price and possibly how easy your commute is. An hour on a packed tube is different to an hour on an empty train.

This. I've actually started taking the bus rather than the tube, it's just a much more pleasant experience - especially in this heat of late!

I do 40-50 mins each way which is what I was doing in Dublin so I don't mind at all. Herself starts in the royal free next month, we'll see how she takes to travelling after a 12 hour shift. . . .I sense an impending move

rainbow kirby · 20-05-2014 11:18pm

On the hottest days I would find it more pleasant to run or cycle to/from work tbh - not everyone has that option though, I'm only around 6km away from my office. The tube is torture when it gets warmer than around 24c.

CSBJ · 22-05-2014 8:20am

Thanks for the info!

Also what is the area around Kings Cross Station is like to live. I know in the past it was a bit of a dump but what is it like now? Any nice (but not outrageously priced) areas within a walk from there?

exiledelbows · 22-05-2014 10:15am

Kings Cross is quite nice now but pretty unaffordable for a lot of people. Islington might be the nearest place that would be a bit cheaper, but not by much, so you should probably commute. A lot of property websites have a 'commuting time from X station option' which you might find useful, and off the the top of my head Kilburn, Finsbury Park, Holloway and Stoke Newington would be less than half an hour from there.

Terrontress · 04-06-2014 7:02pm

exiledelbows wrote: »

Kings Cross is quite nice now but pretty unaffordable for a lot of people. Islington might be the nearest place that would be a bit cheaper, but not by much, so you should probably commute. A lot of property websites have a 'commuting time from X station option' which you might find useful, and off the the top of my head Kilburn, Finsbury Park, Holloway and Stoke Newington would be less than half an hour from there.

South of the river too. 15 minutes on the Thameslink would get you to Kings X from Elephant & Castle. 20 from Loughborough Junction (Brixton / Camberwell). Streatham to St Pancras is 30mins.

seachto7 · 04-06-2014 7:10pm

Quick one, and it's probably been answered 100 times. I got my first "thanks but no thanks" letter for a job application in Oxford. While it's not London, it will be applicable to when I start applying for London based jobs.
While they said I didn't have enough experience, perhaps the fact the address on the CV/cover letter was an Irish one might have gone against me? As in, they could have thought "f*ck this, it'll be easier to interview UK based candidates only".....

Jack B. Badd · 04-06-2014 7:17pm

seachto7 wrote: »

Quick one, and it's probably been answered 100 times. I got my first "thanks but no thanks" letter for a job application in Oxford. While it's not London, it will be applicable to when I start applying for London based jobs.
While they said I didn't have enough experience, perhaps the fact the address on the CV/cover letter was an Irish one might have gone against me? As in, they could have thought "f*ck this, it'll be easier to interview UK based candidates only".....

Depends on the company or recruiter tbh. But I'd be inclined to put a friend's London address on it if you can. You may as well give yourself the best start on the job hunt.

seachto7 · 04-06-2014 7:19pm

It didn't stop me before (having an Irish address) when it came to interest from companies in the UK. The only thing they asked me was "are you sure you would move over?".
I might try the UK address and see how it goes in the next few weeks.

enda1 · 05-06-2014 8:15am

seachto7 wrote: »

Quick one, and it's probably been answered 100 times. I got my first "thanks but no thanks" letter for a job application in Oxford. While it's not London, it will be applicable to when I start applying for London based jobs.
While they said I didn't have enough experience, perhaps the fact the address on the CV/cover letter was an Irish one might have gone against me? As in, they could have thought "f*ck this, it'll be easier to interview UK based candidates only".....

Don't believe that the address matters one bit. If you are applying it is obviously with the intention of moving over so they'll know that. I'd say it's more lively that you simply didn't fare up with the other applications.

It could be as simple as a badly written CV or one with errors on it or something more damning such as experience or level of education/college/university. Being an Oxford company one can assume that perhaps they have many Oxbridge candidates applying for the post?

djpbarry · 05-06-2014 11:10am

seachto7 wrote: »

While they said I didn't have enough experience, perhaps the fact the address on the CV/cover letter was an Irish one might have gone against me? As in, they could have thought "f*ck this, it'll be easier to interview UK based candidates only".....

I really don't think it would matter. Think about it: plenty of UK-based candidates would have to cover considerable distances to get to Oxford.

Olive8585 · 05-06-2014 2:32pm

djpbarry wrote: »

I really don't think it would matter. Think about it: plenty of UK-based candidates would have to cover considerable distances to get to Oxford.

Yeah, and most of them can jump on a bus/train...easier than booking flights and changing country. I would have thought it was pretty obvious that having a foreign address on your CV would make it harder to get a job in any country. It's not 2006 - most jobs attract hundreds of qualified candidates. Why give them an easy reason not to consider you?

Moving To/Living In London Megathread - ALL QUESTIONS TO GO HERE

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