Living in the UK

[Tyro1]

I'm thinking of moving to the UK, from Australia. I'm a British Citizen, however, I've never been there. Where's the best spot to live and work in the UK / England?

I was thinking London, but have heard mixed stories about living there. Where's the best area of London to live?

How about the rest of the UK?

[sybaritical]

Slightly different topic, but his thread might go someway to helping you decide.

http://www.superfuture.com/supertalk/showthread.php?t=21704

[Jezebel]

if you want to make the most money live just outside london and commute. however, please be advised its a hard city when you are new to it, be prepared. I recently moved out of london for awhile, it can drain you.

best advise, research areas, the better ones do cost a fair bit. (notting hill, maida vale, belsize park, hampstead, st johns wood. etc)

try and avoid brixton, hackney, leighton, vauxhall, etc.

[Jezebel]

go on, give it ago.

I explained a bit more further along

[skunkbjj]

stay where you are

[Spike]

London is entirely what you make of it, as long as you take the right approach to it and are willing to go out to get or do stuff

If you're going to live in London, do it properly and live near where stuff happens... I could never imagine commuting, you'd miss out on all the nightlife London has to offer. Personally, if I weren't living where I am now, I'd probably live around the East End, Whitechapel/Mile End/Bethnal Green area... or around the Shadwell/Docklands area. But, again, that's mainly because I like the area and I'd like to be able to walk home from all the night spots along Brick Lane and Fabric/Cargo... My advice would be to find a place offering a shortish let (3-5 months, usually cheaper too) in the closest place you can find that's vaguely central, find your feet, and then move. Also, with the fun (read: torment) that is flathunting in London, being London based while looking is a great help

There's also a really strong Australian/New Zealand/South African community in London who, from what I've heard, love helping their own kind settle into London, so you'd have that too

As for the rest of the UK, forget it. The only other place that I'd consider worthwhile is Edinburgh, and even then it's nothing compared to London. London's the only place with the critical mass of people and cultures needed for it to be a world-class city, the others are still teething

[FaSHioNaBLe_MoDErN_MAn]

I think it fully depends on what are you seeking in life. If you love big cities then london is the place to be. I have been living in Sheffield for 2 years. I would say it is a great place as it is not too busy but of course shopping and entertainment are limited. It is only 2 and a half hours away from london and travelling by train is extremely convinient. I also noticed that people here in sheffield are nicer than londoners. NO OFFENCE but this is what i heard and I feel it too. The choice is yours!

[hilite]

I think it fully depends on what are you seeking in life.

Exactly. There are plenty of great places to live both in and out of London. I really enjoyed living in London but I also enjoyed living outside of it. There are so many good places with much to offer so its really about what you are looking for.

[baladoongdoong]

try other places man! live nearby like brighton or bristol....etc.....

london's reaalllllliiiiiiii busy!!!

but its cool, good place for weekends and all!

[Double D]

try other places man! live nearby like brighton or bristol....etc.....

london's reaalllllliiiiiiii busy!!!

but its cool, good place for weekends and all!

Brighton yes, Bristol not so much... Brighton-Victoria is a 50 minute commute on the train, wheras Bristol-Paddington is more like 90 minutes. They don't call this place London-on-Sea for no reason...

Living in Brighton does have a lot of perks over London. It's an extremely compact city with pretty much everything of note within walking distance, and it has pubs, bars, clubs, restaurants and event venues (from 100 to 2000 capacity, it's very rare that you'll have to go to London) coming out of it's backside. If you like the nightlife but don't want constant aggro and £100 holes in your wallet every night, it's certainly the place to be. It's still not cheap to live in by any means, but house prices of the more desirable areas are in line with some complete shitholes in London. The shopping obviously can't compete with London, but it spanks every other city silly and you're only an hour away from Oxford Street.

There's a few other popular commuter towns to London, but most are either suited to those who like the quiet life, or are just outright unremarkable (Guildford springs to mind).

Bristol is also a pretty nice city, but you really have to pick and choose where you live. Clifton and a couple of other areas are a whole world apart from the rest of the city in terms of generally not being crime-ridden shitholes, but again you get what you pay for. As a shopping fiend, it can't compete with Brighton and certainly not London. I can't really speak for the nightlife anymore, but Bristol used to be the outright Mecca for breakbeat and drum&bass fans. Also, it lacks a quality large-scale concert venue... you'd have to get used to travelling to Cardiff and Birmingham to go to a lot of gigs. As long as you stick near the western end of the city, near Clifton and Park Street it'll do you no wrong.

[baladoongdoong]

Yeah thats true as well.

Im livin in Bath at the moment. But used to live in Basingstoke last year.

An easy accessble place could be Reading too! Not too busy, nice lil shopping area

with really cool pubs n restaurants by the complex at night. And its only 30 mins to Paddington!

Brighton yes, Bristol not so much... Brighton-Victoria is a 50 minute commute on the train, wheras Bristol-Paddington is more like 90 minutes. They don't call this place London-on-Sea for no reason...

Living in Brighton does have a lot of perks over London. It's an extremely compact city with pretty much everything of note within walking distance, and it has pubs, bars, clubs, restaurants and event venues (from 100 to 2000 capacity, it's very rare that you'll have to go to London) coming out of it's backside. If you like the nightlife but don't want constant aggro and £100 holes in your wallet every night, it's certainly the place to be. It's still not cheap to live in by any means, but house prices of the more desirable areas are in line with some complete shitholes in London. The shopping obviously can't compete with London, but it spanks every other city silly and you're only an hour away from Oxford Street.

There's a few other popular commuter towns to London, but most are either suited to those who like the quiet life, or are just outright unremarkable (Guildford springs to mind).

Bristol is also a pretty nice city, but you really have to pick and choose where you live. Clifton and a couple of other areas are a whole world apart from the rest of the city in terms of generally not being crime-ridden shitholes, but again you get what you pay for. As a shopping fiend, it can't compete with Brighton and certainly not London. I can't really speak for the nightlife anymore, but Bristol used to be the outright Mecca for breakbeat and drum&bass fans. Also, it lacks a quality large-scale concert venue... you'd have to get used to travelling to Cardiff and Birmingham to go to a lot of gigs. As long as you stick near the western end of the city, near Clifton and Park Street it'll do you no wrong.

[thomas_highstreet]

Sheffield Sex City

[Double D]

An easy accessble place could be Reading too! Not too busy, nice lil shopping area

with really cool pubs n restaurants by the complex at night. And its only 30 mins to Paddington!

Eh? Reading is a chav shithole, and as far as I can tell the Face Bar is the only smaller venue of real note. Few good bands round there, but that's about it, it's so damn soulless.

[baladoongdoong]

Haha reading aint that bad if your in the southwest (nearer to london).

Face Bar??? Think iv never been there. Used to head over to Ice bar after a couple drinks at wetherspoons nearby! hahahaha

[Double D]

Haha reading aint that bad if your in the southwest (nearer to london).

Face Bar??? Think iv never been there. Used to head over to Ice bar after a couple drinks at wetherspoons nearby! hahahaha

Eh, I'd sooner live in Bath than Reading in a million years. Not the most exciting of cities for sure, but it isn't half nice round there.

[alterion]

London is by FAR the best city in the uk, becuase of its small size and the position of central ineternational airports. the Uk only has 1 hub, which is london. smaller cities like manchester, birmingham ect are forever in its shadow and reaaly just national cities as oppossed to truely internatonal venues.

Having said the the 2 "other capitals" cardiff and edinburugh are both brilliant places. with a unique atmosphere and culutre ( edinburgh is also one the most beautifull citeis in the world which is always nice).

then you have the smaller historic towns which are nice but not very superfuturarian, eg oxford and cambridge - cool but student dominated (cambridge moreso than oxford) and pretty isolated and crappy compared to other places.

to park in LONDON for 6months if you can afford it before you decide where you want to go, get a decent job ect is an excellent idea.

[ruprecht]

Living in Brighton does have a lot of perks over London. It's an extremely compact city with pretty much everything of note within walking distance, and it has pubs, bars, clubs, restaurants and event venues

brighton isn't a city, it's a town. too many bongoloids.

;-p

[thomas_highstreet]

; sheffield or london.

both the highstreet dwellings; sheffields shopping is shit, but its a great place with great clubs and music scene and friendly as fuck. london is party city, fashionable, but very plastic. creativity is dictated as often as its spontanious.

id go to osaka if i was you though. haha.

[Double D]

brighton isn't a city, it's a town. too many bongoloids.

;-p

I'll agree that 'Brighton' is a town, but it's part of a bigger conglomerate that we call a city. Also, if anyone is to move here, try for god's sake to live in one of these regions:

Anywhere in Hove

Seven Dials

Brighton Pavilion/Lanes/Dyke Rd

Kemp Town

Queen's Park/Hanover

Avoid, unless you're a cheap scummy bastard:

Lewes Rd

London Rd

Old Shoreham Rd

Bevendean

And just don't ever, ever live in (unless your favourite item of apparel is a NIke Airmax tracksuit):

Moulsecombe

Whitehawk

[baladoongdoong]

Haha....il agree that reading isnt a really great place to live in but still, cheaper than livin in london...

livin in bath is almost the same as london, farkin expensive man!!!

And Shopping is HELL CRAP over here! OMG!!!

and, there arent many nice clubs to choose from. especially when they have stuff

like CHEESY nights for students and all... WTF!!! CHEESE MUSIC is like the CRAP of music man!

Eh, I'd sooner live in Bath than Reading in a million years. Not the most exciting of cities for sure, but it isn't half nice round there.

[Double D]

Trouble with Bath is it's firmly lodged in the sticks of the West Country. If it was a suburb of Bristol it'd be great, but as it isn't I'd say Clifton is the only way you'll get a decent living environment with the convenience of good city life within about a 100 mile radius.

Only thing I really miss about the West is the beer... real ale in Sussex is fucking awful by comparison. Can't really see myself moving away from this area unless I get the opportunity to move to the obvious such as NY and Tokyo.

[viv1984viv]

Cant believe I didnt clock this thread earlier, im in reading at the mo and yeah, it doesnt really have to much to offer other than its proximity to London.

I really think bhams good, maybe it doesnt have quite the upmarket possibilities as london but night life, shopping etc is pretty good. It doesnt have a congestion charge ( yet ) and on the whole its cheaper, you got symphony hall, royal ballet, loads of nice places to see bands, medicen bar. Good shops, harvey nicks, selfridges, a-too, a grenson shoe shoppe, Rent prices are half of readings! Plus if your an outdoorsy type your way closer to yorkshire dales as well as being not too far away from London, there is a fast train between the two cities.

[Michael Hunt]

Earls Court is the place for you.

[AlanT]

London is by FAR the best city in the uk, becuase of its small size and the position of central ineternational airports. the Uk only has 1 hub, which is london. smaller cities like manchester, birmingham ect are forever in its shadow and reaaly just national cities as oppossed to truely internatonal venues.

Having said the the 2 "other capitals" cardiff and edinburugh are both brilliant places. with a unique atmosphere and culutre (edinburgh is also one the most beautifull citeis in the world which is always nice).

There are only a few cities I would put into the international city category, NY, London, Tokyo being some of them so it's pointless comparing places like Birmingham / Manchester / Edinburgh etc to them, obviously you're never going to be able to give an accurate comaprison so it really depends what you want out of it and what you make of it.

I've travelled a lot recently around the UK and live in Glasgow and agree that nothing compares to London, but then again I wouldn't want to live there all of the time because I think it'd be a head fuck after a while.

In my opinion I'd try London for a bit, if you like it stay, if not you can always say you've been there and tried it and it wasn't for you. Birmingham is getting better in my opinion also so I wouldn't dismiss it, Manchester i'm not a fan of, Sheffield / Leeds / Newcastle don't really have much to offer (but I've not spent a massive amount of time in these places). Edinburgh is really tourist focused (especially during the festival) so you probably don't get a true experience, but I'm going to say that being from Glasgow :-) which also has a fair bit to offer depending what your looking for...art / shopping etc.

[superdupersang]

tyro, u still reading this or is it just some mindless goings on about nothing?

anyway, here my 2 cents.

london is amazing and amazingly expencive.

2 vital things you need to secure are:

to hold down a job with decent pay,

and find accomodation with cheapish rent.

other places worth thinking, id say would be manchester and birmingham

[Double D]

to hold down a job with decent pay,

and find accomodation with cheapish rent

Agh, fuck rent. I hold 120 grand in equity right now and I wouldn't consider living in London. The equivalent size and quality of property in such proximity to the centre of town would probably quadruple in price at the very least. If I could afford to live in Sloane or somesuch I sure as hell would, but I'm far too attached to having a flat 5 minutes walk from the shops and the clubs to live anywhere that isn't a totally central location.

[Tyro1]

Yes I'm still here!

Thanks again so much for the info comming through...

What's the deal with temp jobs in london, are they hard to get? What's the average length of a temp poisition?

[superdupersang]

varied. mostly 3 month rolling, loads of office/admin jobs but it depends on experience and qualifications.

if in doubt, lie.

otherwise, catering, waiting on tables, dishes, building sites, etc

reed is the biggest agency. reed.co.uk