Good places to live in London if you are starting out and have never lived in the UK before

I lived in Reading before relocating to the North on promotion. Great links to London but a season ticket can be 5K or so. In some ways, worth getting a share or studio in London unless WFH dictates only going in for 1 to 2 times a week. That would be the deciding factor I think. How many times does the person need to come into the office.

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Catford is nice spot. Easy in and out of London but more relaxed. Good luck to him.

It’s 550 a month for a train and tube pass. @Celeborn compare the prices of apartments in London vs Reading and add the 550 to Reading to see how it comes out to.

Also which tube stop he will be going to. Reading to Paddington is 25min for me with the express train that runs a few times every hour but Paddington station to Canary Wharf is 50min which is where the bulk of my commute is.

Do the math on the time. Some of my colleagues spend about 1 hour commute in London each way and pay way more than me for a smaller apartment even if I pay for the monthly pass for 550. If he works close to Paddington, it’s really worth considering.

Yeah, depends on WFH or if they go to the office, how strict the bosses are on arrival times. One can always shave a little off the annual ticket by getting one that is off-peak. I make nearly 3X the average annual salary of most Brits, and up North that is pretty comfortable. Wouldn’t relocate to London unless it were very good remuneration. Commuting is a bitch, especially in Covid times.

Disgraceful.

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I assume this 550 is in Pounds?

Yeah. The reading commute can expect a random delay causing you to be late once a week. My boss is understanding about it, it is a long commute. But some bosses can be dicks about it.

Yes. GBP. It’s absolutely insane.

Round trip to Paddington during peak hours is like 60 pounds not including the tube. Absolutely nuts. Train travel is so overpriced in the UK. It’s cheaper for me to fly into Edinburgh than to take the train I was seriously debating just flying there last time.

Yip, I am no lefty, but when I was in France, for the same commute as London to Reading in Aquitaine, I paid 50 euro a month or about 500 pounds a year. Employer mandated to pay half. 250 vs 5000.

Really makes you wonder where all the taxes went. It’s not like Britain had low tax rate but public transportation is absolutely pathetic. At least in the continent the trains are cheap.

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And they just upped the taxes to get more funding to the NHS. Something like half a million brits are waiting to see a doctor….something tells me funding isn’t the issue as NHS already takes a crazy amount out of my paycheck not even including employer’s contribution to that.

@Andrew0409 To all of the above statements about the UK - wow.

I used to live in Charlton. A bit dull, but reasonable transport links and it’s next to Greenwich. SE London is probably the best bet.

Don’t get me started on the local council tax. I pay 1500 a year for that as well. Not to mention the ridiculous income tax bracket. You jump from 20% to 40% after 50k. In my first year as an entry level position, I’m already in the 40% tax bracket. It’s absolutely robbery on top of whatever I am left with… another 20% of everything I buy goes to VAT.

Do you even have anything left after all that lol

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Yep, UK is a pale shadow of what it used to be 10 years ago, would never recommend living there now. Covid, Brexit, and incompetent government are to blame.

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Does your company help out? Ireland my company paid us a bit to use public transport and not drive. Example{ Taxsaver Commuter Ticket Scheme

No, they don’t.

A few years back I was in line behind a posh looking gentleman at Didcot Parkway. He was renewing his annual pass and I saw it come to 13,000 pounds. Presumably first class.

Public transport in the UK is so expensive and so bad.

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