London AN1 rent & where to stay
Gonna be starting FT in the city of London this May with £70K base. Didn’t go to uni in the UK so don’t really know friends I could room with. Need some thoughts about how to not screw myself over with a shitty living situation.
What do people think about co-living apartments? E.g. fully furnished places where you share a flat with 2-5 other randoms but have your own room. I found a few between £1200-£1400 a month (includes utilities and tax) which sounds appealing and convenient. Also found flatshares on London FB groups around £900-1300 a month, but variance in quality seems high for these. Studios seem out of the question for my budget.
Regarding location - I’m working in the City of London. As an AN1, should I try to stay within walking distance? (E.g. whitechapel?) Or is somewhere 25 min away by Tube / bus (e.g. Stratford) also doable? I imagine I’ll be ubering home late every time I’m in the office
2 things. Use the search function and avoid Whitechapel like your life depends on it.
Interested to here why. I grew up in NW London, so all I pretty much know about Whitechapel is that it has a lot of foreigners and used to be trashy, but I was under the impression that it has been gentrified and is now very hipster-ish / artsy
Pros - Decent flats, good location, nice food variety.
Cons - Rubbish all over the streets, know many people who have been mugged/had negative experiences
NW London is actually nice and affluent. Whitechapel, being kind to it, is a dump. True gentlemen never go east of Regent Street!
Rule is usually don't live East of Aldgate (turns into another country), unless you can do Canary. If you do a flatshare, probably best to look with other finance guys with similar hours to minimise disruptions.
How’s aldgate? I actually found a great deal there I’m
Looking to put a deposit down right now, a bit bcramped but figured I probably wouldn’t have time to enjoy it, and It would be 10 min walk from my office at a reasonable price
Aldgate is not that bad as some people made it out to be tho. Probably people think this way cuz it's right next to Whitechapel area which is deemed as not that ideal but the area is still pretty much separated from Whitechapel anyway.
It's still a pretty decent, up-and-coming area with majority of residents living there are students from KCL and LSE since there are bunch of student accommodations and modern buildings all around. Pretty close to Tower Bridge in walking distance as well.
The only con I'd say is the commute. Buses are fine but for Aldgate East station, for some reasons, Hammersmith & City line always cancels tracks in that station, and occasionally District line as well. Your best bet is walking to either Whitechapel station for decent commute to Central via Elizabeth line or Aldgate station for Circle/Metropolitan lines but Circle/Metropolitan lines are slow AF
Will be going to Kings starting September. Theyre housing is around 500 GBP a week. Is that good or should I look private?
That’s extortionate. Would highly discourage. Definitely go private.
For reference, I share a 2-bed flat with a friend and we pay 315 per week each, including bills.
Oh yea sounds like I should go private then. Thanks! ANy reccomendation on how/where to look?
I still highly recommend it as someone who used to live in their hall. The quality, security, amenities are very decent and it's so much easier to make friends considering you're coming in as first year
Also, make sure you're at least 18 years old before you can rent privately.
Work in the city. Most of my colleagues are around Marylebone, South Kensington, Westminster. London Bridge/Southwark is also common.
Personally sharing a 2-bed with a friend in South Kensington at around 1.7k each incl. utilities. 40-min commute but totally worth it in my opinion for your mental health to be able to walk around the park during the weekend and grab a pint/coffee around.
Avoid Whitechapel, elephant & castle. Anything too south or east.
£1.7k each including bills in South Kensington is such a steal
Most people at my firm are around Marylebone, Holborn, Fitzrovia, Bankside, Farringdon. If your office is near Liverpool Street station, I'd highly recommend renting in Canary Wharf in one of those buildings and commute via Elizabeth line which only takes roughly 15mins. You can find pretty great deals over there at around £3.5k for 2b2b with gym, sauna, modern amenities, doorman, etc.
Canary wharf to Liverpool street only takes 15 mins IRL? Google maps says more like 30, big if true (I’ve visited London but never lived there.
The flats I see in CW are definitely in nicer buildings with sick views, but also a fair bit more expensive so this may be a future consideration after 1-2 years.
Yes CW to Liverpool street station via Elizabeth line only takes 15mins. Also, download Citymapper when you're in London since it's a lot more accurate and provides more options for public transport. Only use Google Map for walking distance.
And yes some CW apartments are fairly expensive since this neighbourhood has predominantly modern buildings. But if you look it up a bit on Rightmove, there are some great deals that come up from time to time.
But yeah like other comments said, avoid Whitechapel at all cost. You might find some cheap rents over there since it's not a desirable area at all - dirty and riddled with crime. Aldgate, which is next to Whitechapel, is better but bare expensive for what you get (thinking £4.5k for 2b1b that may only be £3k in CW)
For the love of God don’t go to whitechapel or anywhere east. If you want to live close to work, stay WITHIN the city of London. Otherwise go west, north, northwest. Would avoid south as well, except battersea.
Forgot to mention, canary wharf offers 0 to do on weekends and is far from central London. If socializing is a priority, most of your friends / peers will live in west London. About 1hr tube from canary wharf….
But CW is very clean and probably the safest part of london. You can get much nicer apartments for much lower prices than in central london too. And commuting to central isn’t bad either with Lizzie and Jubilee
I would personally highly recommend elephant&castle.
Houses are affordable enough and most places have been gentrified a lot. Still slightly muggy of course but great commute and you can get a decent high rise for cheap
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