Help needed choosing location within commuting of Kew

Cakeguts

Planet_Switzerland wrote: »

My first job in London was in Fitzrovia, I never considered living there nor did anyone else I worked with because its expensive, didn't put me off taking the job though as cheaper areas exist.


Funnily enough I was at the Black Horse in Sudbury last weekend and as far as I can tell its still nicer than Greenford.


I never said Ealing or Acton were cheap, but they are certainly more reasonably priced than the trendier areas of London. Without knowing the OPs budget I cannot say whether they can afford to live there, but I take it from saying cheap they mean cheap for London.

The Black Horse is nearer to Harrow on the Hill and Sudbury Hill than Sudbury Town. If you went to the area around Greenford Station which is north of the A 40 you would find that that area and the area in Sudbury with the Black Horse that you visited are very similar. Sudbury town is completely different.

It is sensible if you are moving from another part of the country to London to find out if what you are about to earn is enough for you not to have to rent in cheap areas. Most cheap areas of London are cheap for a reason.

bouicca21

I used to commute to Kew from the other side of London, so did some of my colleagues. It all depends on how long you are willing to travel and whether you want a direct journey or are willing to change trains.

Remember the way the travel zones work means that it costs no more to travel across London than to travel in.

Elfbert

If you're comfortable cycling then you may be able to save money on a commute, but pay a little more for housing.

If you can give us an idea of budget maybe people can help more?

I live in Acton, and it's fine. It's not glamorous, but there are some lovely bits (and obviously some not so lovely bits - this is London!).

At least our new mayor has brought in a deal so that you can complete 2 bus journeys for the price of one, expanding your area a bit whilst still giving you a cheap commute.

marksoton

My office used to be in Kew. All i know is b0lla5ks to London.

ElsieMonkey

Try Isleworth and anything further west of it like Hownslow and Feltham

Starbrite

I drive through Kew daily on my way to Brentford or Ealing (depending if I'm going to uni or work) from Epsom... It's lovely down here...

zagubov

I strongly recommend you don't travel across London. That way madness lies. You need to limit your commute or it will suck all your energy away and leaving you loathing what's actually a cracking city.

StumpyPumpy

ElsieMonkey wrote: »

Try Isleworth and anything further west of it like Hownslow and Feltham

Hounslow is right on the Heathrow flight path. Some people say you get used to the noise, but I couldn't live with 1,280 flights a day (6am - 11pm) every day, so low that you can recognise the pilots by sight and that shake the buildings every 90 seconds or so - triple glazing does not cut it. On the plus side, Concorde doesn't fly any more, on the negative is the thought of Heathrow expansion and more night flights. Isleworth is a bit quieter by virtue of the planes being higher, but I can't think of any other merits.

Feltham, though closer to Heathrow than Hounslow is actually a bit quieter too as it is to the side of the runway. It is famous (or should that be infamous) as the home of the Feltham Young Offenders Centre (aka Borstal), and that is about it. There have been attempts to spruce Feltham up over the last ten years but all that has done is added a thin veneer and put the house prices up.

A bit further west are Stanwell and Ashford. Ashford avoids most of the louder aircraft noise, but Stanwell almost goes up the the perimeter fence. Ashford has quite a large high street for shopping but is very run down and the council are about to close the only car park in town, probably replacing it with flats so the shopping is bound to suffer even more as customers will have no where to park.

It is probably fair to conclude that I wouldn't want to live in any of these places. Obviously it depends on exactly how you plan to commute but if I had the freedom to choose, and had to be back in that part of the world, I would look toward somewhere like Shepperton which is either a large village or a small town depending on who you talk to and still manages to have cheaper housing than some places nearby that are not half as nice. Cheap for the area that is: it is all extortionate really. Looking at Rightmove, a small flat costs around £1k a month to rent, but you might need to act quickly, Shepperton came 6th in the happiest place to live in Britain for 2016 according to Rightmove so prices might go up.

The train goes to Waterloo so would need to change to get to Kew but would be doable if you did need to use public transport, I'd guess a bit over an hour journey each way - a major plus point is that Shepperton is at the end of the line so you are guaranteed a seat at least for the start of your morning commute (as someone who used to commute into London most days, I can tell you this is a real plus point!).

If you want to be a bit closer to Kew I'd look at the outer reaches of Kingston/Surbiton/New Malden which has the benefit(?) of having more house share type accommodation if money is going to be really tight. Or you could get a studio apartment for around the same rent as a 1 bed in Shepperton. These places are nowhere near as grim as the areas closer to Heathrow.

SP

ThemeOne

If your workplace at Kew is close enough to the station, changing at Clapham Junction does open up some south London possibilities.

I've done a few short term projects over the years in that direction and commuted from the Croydon area - it seemed a bit of a trek (though I've done worse) but do-able, though whether I'd have been happy doing it for years I don't know.

An area this route opens up which is cheap by London standards is Mitcham, though I'm not sure I could recommend it on any basis other than price.

Jeems

Surprised no one has mentioned Brentford, a bus or cycle ride away from Kew (10mins), much lower rents but in an area with a small high street and lots of new builds.

OP also hasnt mentioned her budget which would probably help.