Zone 2 London - which are the cheapest areas to rent?

mhoc

Just wondered if anyone knew which were the cheapest areas to look for rentals in Zone 2 London? They need somewhere close to tubes and/or trains station, with parking for at least one car (and possibly somewhere young and trendy

My eldest problem is that she could be working in central London, near Tower Bridge.

Her partner could also be in central London but possibly based at St Albans.

Daughter is looking at zone 2 because her friend lives in zone 2 and she says although its an hours commute she has the choice of overground train, tube, bus or even the ferry so its not so much of a problem getting to and from work.

BigAunty

probably Peckham as there's a single change to StAlbans from Peckham Rye and it comes in at under an hour plus its easy to get into central London. I assume a northern postcode could speed the journey to herts but the rent will be dearer.

princeofpounds

Most commutes in zone 2 are well under an hour if you are living in a sensible place.

mhoc

princeofpounds wrote: »

Most commutes in zone 2 are well under an hour if you are living in a sensible place.

What constitutes sensible?

benjus

The Zones in London are rings around the centre - so while all of Zone 2 will be roughly within the same distance range from Charing Cross (generally regarded as the centre of London), the transport times to a specific area will vary a lot - and in some cases will be worse than commuting from the outer Zones in a more favourable location.

Living near a tube line is convenient, but tubes are slow (overland trains are often a lot faster) and generally it's more expensive to live near a tube line.

The best commute to the north side of Tower Bridge would probably to live near a DLR station, or on a train line to Fenchurch St. - or even somewhere on the river to get the Thames Clipper.

If they will need to get to St Albans as well, they could look on the Thameslink line - for Tower Bridge you could change at Blackfriars for the circle line.

If they want to keep it cheap, living south of the river is generally cheaper (e.g. you'll get more for your money somewhere like Lewisham than in most of the northern part of Zone 2). However, this is going to make getting to St Albans more of a pain. It would be easier to decide if her partner could find out for sure if they will be working in St Albans or central London.

princeofpounds

i.e. not working in east london and living in the west, or vice versa.

Zone 2 from side-to-side is as far away as centre and zone 4, so when you say she wants to live in zone 2 because her friend does, that probably means she has a specific area in mind already.

verulamium

Brockley.

Direct trains every few minutes to London Bridge via the mainline (9 min journey), or via the Overground/Jubilee Line (15 min journey) from Brockley Station (zone 2), and trains (during peak times) direct to St Albans via the FirstCC/Southeastern joint Thameslink service (none peak time and weekends will require a change at Blackfriars) from Crofton Park Station (zone 3) or Nunhead Station (zone 2). In fact I travel up from Brockley to St Albans about once a week via that very route.

Also has buses to the City and Holborn, as well as a night bus from the West End.

Brockley is mainly residential with plenty of none-permit on-street parking availability. Its proximity to Goldsmiths, University of London means that there are plenty of young people around. It's also next to trendy Peckham, New Cross and East Dulwich; and a 20 mins train ride away from sexy Shoreditch. Rents aren't as high (yet) as Peckham; and is definitely cheaper than equivalent areas in the north.

BigAunty

The Transport for London journey planner is helpful for planning city related journeys, their duration, frequency and changes.

Brockley is probably going to be much nicer than Peckham so I'm surprised that rents are cheaper there but haven't lived in South London for years now.

verulamium

For better or worse, Peckham is taking the brunt of the East Dulwich gentrification spillover. And many young 'media types' has been moving down there.

I like Brockley a bit more, a bit quieter than Peckham and yet not far from all the fun.

mhoc

princeofpounds wrote: »

i.e. not working in east london and living in the west, or vice versa.

Zone 2 from side-to-side is as far away as centre and zone 4, so when you say she wants to live in zone 2 because her friend does, that probably means she has a specific area in mind already.

She has some ideas but I don't know how realistic they are.

This is daughters 2nd week and it has been a huge learning curve.

Whats happened is that the BF has now been sent to St Albans but he has been having interviews and it now looks like this job is going to be permanent.

Daughter is on secondment and is working in London 4 days a week and at home base one day a week. This situation is fluid at the moment but I think they really want her in London full time.

Main stumbling block now seems to be making sure they choose the right area to live in and making sure they get offered enough money so they can afford to live in London.

mhoc

Most of partners clients are going to be in central London but the office base is St Albans and at this stage its not easy to tell how often he will need to be at the office.

benjus wrote: »

The Zones in London are rings around the centre - so while all of Zone 2 will be roughly within the same distance range from Charing Cross (generally regarded as the centre of London), the transport times to a specific area will vary a lot - and in some cases will be worse than commuting from the outer Zones in a more favourable location.

Living near a tube line is convenient, but tubes are slow (overland trains are often a lot faster) and generally it's more expensive to live near a tube line.

The best commute to the north side of Tower Bridge would probably to live near a DLR station, or on a train line to Fenchurch St. - or even somewhere on the river to get the Thames Clipper.

If they will need to get to St Albans as well, they could look on the Thameslink line - for Tower Bridge you could change at Blackfriars for the circle line.

If they want to keep it cheap, living south of the river is generally cheaper (e.g. you'll get more for your money somewhere like Lewisham than in most of the northern part of Zone 2). However, this is going to make getting to St Albans more of a pain. It would be easier to decide if her partner could find out for sure if they will be working in St Albans or central London.