Good areas within commuting distance to London?

Tropez

Errata wrote: »

Reading through some of your other responses, you seem to be severely geographically challenged and that may be quite a stumbling block for you trying to understand which places are commutable for you and which aren't

Yes, I am and that is largely the purpose of researching this now, as opposed to waiting until such a time when it is confirmed that the relocation plans will go ahead and finding I only have a few months to get organised. By being proactive and considering the possibility that this may happen now I likely have at least a year, maybe a little more, to get my bearings.

I have no problem learning. Without wishing to sound arrogant one of the main skills I have, which is crucial in doing my job, is the ability to process and manage information quickly and effectively. The fact is though that aside from holidays and a few business trips which are straightforward and simple, I've had little cause to venture outside my home region and with very rare exceptions have never needed to visit anywhere inside the so-called commuter belt around London.

I'll freely admit that when it comes to London and the surrounding areas I'm a clueless numpty. However, with the ample time I have, I can quite easily change all that with a few pointers in the right direction.

catkins

I too would say look at Essex. Chelmsford is nice and although the houses are more expensive than, say, Colchester, Braintree etc it is cheaper than St Albans.

It is a pretty quick journey to London although I doubt it is cheap. Also what about along the Central Line in Essex? Say Epping, Ongar etc

gallygirl

Have a look at Midland Mainline stations - Wellingborough & Kettering are both an hour from London. If you can afford St Albans you would be able to get a mansion there (not exaggerating!) I think a season ticket is 6-7k, butthe trains are v reliable & from Kettering & usually Welly you would always get a seat. You could get to Manchester with one train change without having to go back into London.

bunty109

I'll chip in its a recommendation for Bishop's Stortford. Close to Stansted, good schools if/when you need them. The villages to north of it are lovely e.g Clavering, Ugley.

I'm another one for saying no to Harlow. It has a fair amount of green space but that's about it.

duchy

Tropez wrote: »

My knowledge of the south of England is so poor I actually forget Kent exists at times. It might be worth a look, if it has connections to St Pancras/Euston.



That is indeed a fair point and one which I probably should have already covered.

Currently, the London offices are very close to King's Cross station, which as I mentioned in another reply my feeble knowledge of the geography of London tells me is near Euston and St Pancras Intl. I'm not convinced that they will stay there simply because I'm not convinced there's enough room to support further workers, unless they have some sort of hidden, underground lair a la the James Bond villain's they all clearly wish they were. However, even if they were to move their London offices they would almost certainly remain close to St Pancras International because of the Eurostar (and more so if the links to Germany become available as we have a major office in Frankfurt).

Definitely look at that corridor-a lot of people haven't twigged 50 mins from Sittingbourne direct to St Pancras yet so house prices haven't gone up............yet and are far more reasonable than Surrey or Berks .

lostinrates

Reroximity to st pancras.....i would not necessarily count on that in a relocation. Many business users of st pancras hail from the city and docklands. If your employer is downsizing employee numbers and looking to enlarge office in london i would not be surprised if they look to docklands or other areas.

E.g. Dh is in the city and pre credit crunch used st pancras or heathrow/gatwick/city airports at least weekly. Connections in london being slightly different to connections outside such a large urban sprawl particularly if besides the office in frankfurt you do other international work in your company.

These talks have been taking place in dh's firm for a few years now, so we have heard the arguments for and against these sorts of relocations and proximity and connectioons within london several times now. .

peachyprice

duchy wrote: »

Definitely look at that corridor-a lot of people haven't twigged 50 mins from Sittingbourne direct to St Pancras yet so house prices haven't gone up............yet and are far more reasonable than Surrey or Berks .

I second this. The Javelin in to St.Pancras from Ebbsfleet it an excellent service and you have the advantage of being on the Eurostar line too.

There are some very nice areas between Ebbsfleet and Maidstone.

lostinrates

peachyprice wrote: »

I second this. The Javelin in to St.Pancras from Ebbsfleet it an excellent service and you have the advantage of being on the Eurostar line too.

There are some very nice areas between Ebbsfleet and Maidstone.

I don't know what rices are like there now but we were looking in a huge area including there a few years ago and prices were dramatically better for what seemed like really nice areas.

shirlgirl2004

catkins wrote: »

I too would say look at Essex. Chelmsford is nice and although the houses are more expensive than, say, Colchester, Braintree etc it is cheaper than St Albans.

It is a pretty quick journey to London although I doubt it is cheap. Also what about along the Central Line in Essex? Say Epping, Ongar etc

That's because Braintree and Colchester aren't very nice areas. That's the same in all counties surely? The rougher areas have cheaper housing.

Harlow is another awful area. Essex has some lovely villages and even some decent towns like Chelmsford but it also has a fair number of places I wouldn't want to live.

Tropez

lostinrates wrote: »

Reroximity to st pancras.....i would not necessarily count on that in a relocation. Many business users of st pancras hail from the city and docklands. If your employer is downsizing employee numbers and looking to enlarge office in london i would not be surprised if they look to docklands or other areas.

E.g. Dh is in the city and pre credit crunch used st pancras or heathrow/gatwick/city airports at least weekly. Connections in london being slightly different to connections outside such a large urban sprawl particularly if besides the office in frankfurt you do other international work in your company.

These talks have been taking place in dh's firm for a few years now, so we have heard the arguments for and against these sorts of relocations and proximity and connectioons within london several times now. .

I'm basing the idea they would remain close to St Pancras from the way they tend to conduct business. It is actually quite common for them to send workers to a mid/late-morning meeting in Brussels after having already conducted an early (and I mean early!) morning meeting in London and still expect them back for another late afternoon meeting in London. Logistically, they can only maintain these levels of insanity by remaining in relatively close proximity to St Pancras. I doubt they'd wish to risk exposing themselves to more traffic and/or delays in public transport than is necessary.

That said, looking on the map, possibly they might consider moving into the City and setting up somewhere around Charing Cross but I couldn't really see them wanting to move further south than the area around the Russell Square tube station. Due to the nature of our work they're not fond of employees on business using the tube as it is.

Still, I could be horribly wrong. My position in the company is only high enough whereby I'm informed of these things once they're in the R&D stage and not before.