Moving to London - is it possible?

jp1964

What about Bedfordshire, much cheaper house prices and trains that take about 35mins to Kings Cross from Bedford?

lisyloo

What about Bedfordshire, much cheaper house prices and trains that take about 35mins to Kings Cross from Bedford?

Serious question.
Everything within reasonable commuting distance to London is VERY keenly priced according to "niceness" of the area (for want of a better word), train prices and transport connections.
If it's like you say, then why have London workers missed Bedford?

Is the train service good? regular?
There must be a logical explanation because the demand is such that any areas that are reasonable with reasonable connections have had their house prices pushed up.
I don't know the area or train line at all so it's a genuine question.

I do however know that you have to look at "door to door" time.
For example my main home is 75 mins train journey, but 150 mins door to door (when you add in the walks, buses, tubes etc).
Very few people are going to live next to Bedford railway station and work next to Kings Cross.
Even so there must be some explanation as to why Bedford hasn't been "discovered".

EDIT: Just checked on National rail. Train times 38-59 to St Pancras, so likely door to door times exceeding 1 hour. Still not bad though.

AdrianC

Some older relatives of ours moved from St Albans to Bedford a little while back, to be nearer members of their immediate family. They love the place. Half the property price for the same space in nicer immediate surroundings, in a town with an attractive centre that's got just about everything you'd actually need, including some very pleasant small and quirky shops.

Dan-Dan

30k is not enough , to even commute into London (with kids and a 240k house)

katejo

30K will get you nowhere particularly with a partner and kids. I am on a similar salary and have a 2-3 bed terraced house in Walthamstow (E17) but only because I got onto the housing market in 1993 with a 1 bedroom flat. I couldn't do it now. To rent a flat like my old one currently costs around £1200 a month. To buy one costs around 200-300K. To rent a house like mine is now around 1500-1700K. On my salary I take home approx. 1600-1700.

ukcarper

Hillbilly1 wrote: »

The OP has also been posting this issue elsewhere. The same problem was read out on national radio recently.

Troll. Anyone?

I did wonder why someone on a joint income of £33k in the north east would want to move to London for £30k

Owain_Moneysaver

january_23 wrote: »

The one thing friends of mine, my OH and I would agree as being a huge plus for living in London zoning are the night buses. Outside London zoning buses seem to stop around midnight/1am and not pick up until 5am or so. As long as you have a travel card/oyster card you can jump on a bus basically no matter the time.
Great for going home after a work do that ends late/friends party without the cost of a taxi.

Other cities have night buses too.

However outside London and the south-east people can afford guest bedrooms for visitors to stay overnight, which is even more convenient than a night bus.

benjus

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

However outside London and the south-east people can afford guest bedrooms for visitors to stay overnight, which is even more convenient than a night bus.

You must either have very small parties or a lot of guest rooms if you can accommodate all your party guests.

varghesejim

dave88uk wrote: »

Anyone coming to this thread with an issue such as mine is free to contact me, because I have found a way to take up this job in London and to live marginally cheaper (in a good area) than I currently am in the North East.

Allow me reveal the secret location.

The post code is UT0 PIA

jp1964

lisyloo wrote: »

Serious question.
Everything within reasonable commuting distance to London is VERY keenly priced according to "niceness" of the area (for want of a better word), train prices and transport connections.
If it's like you say, then why have London workers missed Bedford?

Is the train service good? regular?
There must be a logical explanation because the demand is such that any areas that are reasonable with reasonable connections have had their house prices pushed up.
I don't know the area or train line at all so it's a genuine question.

I do however know that you have to look at "door to door" time.
For example my main home is 75 mins train journey, but 150 mins door to door (when you add in the walks, buses, tubes etc).
Very few people are going to live next to Bedford railway station and work next to Kings Cross.
Even so there must be some explanation as to why Bedford hasn't been "discovered".

EDIT: Just checked on National rail. Train times 38-59 to St Pancras, so likely door to door times exceeding 1 hour. Still not bad though.

I am not sure why it has not really been discovered, we moved here from London as, like you, needed a larger house, the downside is a longer journey to work for DH (he drives as he does not work in one place, so not sure about trains) I do know that there is quite good commuter parking by the station, so you don't need to live right next door to the station. Bedford town centre is quite compact, so unless you live in one of the villages around Bedford (some of which, like Flitwick are actually closer to London and served by the same line that goes into St Pancras) its quite accessible.

The town centre has pretty much all you need, and of course there is the river, really pretty, and easy access to country parks and a bus ride to Milton Keynes and Cambridge for a wider range of shops if you want them.

In these situations there is always a trade off, and a slightly longer journey time is probably Bedford's, although there are plenty of people that commute to London easily from here.

BTW, I do agree that £30k seems quite a low wage, but perhaps your OH's earnings form a fair part of the £33k you are getting now? Presumably they would also be earning.

My advice would be to check out the house prices wherever you are considering, and look into everything thoroughly.