Moving out of London

Reading this thread makes me want to contribute.

The older I get the more I realise everything is 2 sided.

People want to be around people. Living in the city provides this.

At the same time it can become too much and you can't move for culture. (See hipsters)

Now with kids I have been fortunate enough to ride the property wave out to the suburbs.

In many ways the best of both worlds as you have the space to swing cats but still wander in for a blow out.

It is a time of your life tho and I would not want to have spent my twenties at the end of a trainline.

I did miss a trick with hanging on to London property too.

Swings / Roundabouts

Suburbs is where it's at. Pubs with good beer and food which aren't too busy. Decent length commute so you don't need to worry about finding additional time to ride. BBQ in your own garden. Still a short enough public transport journey in if you want to do central London stuff (like opera and ballet). Easy access to the countryside so if you do want to ride evenings/weekends you don't spend the first and last 45 minutes battling through traffic.

Downsides are lawn mowing and narrow mindedness perpetuated by a lack of diversity.

Anyone for swing ball?

nail on the head ! esp the lawn mowing business .. fucking hell its boring.

Corny move to Bromley ;)

My grass shot up by about a foot while I was away on hol. Fly Mo could not handle that shit.

Had to get a 600 W strimmer that ate everything. Much excite.

Pour a few slabs of concrete and you'll never have to mow again.

Worse thing about coming from London is you've got nothing to aspire to, apart from maybe a long career of moaning about how your home has changed so much since youse were a lad (well duh!)

Im here for a bit at least, but theres no way I could hack it for too long. The fact that I have to house share for a rent that would get me at least a 1 bed elsewhere really depresses me. Especially as im spending more then twice my uni rent for a far far worse and smaller flat.

BUT... currently I wouldnt be anywhere else. London is fantastic for my work, friends and all the extra things that you dont get anywhere else.

Interesting comments. The London / south east suburbs still don't interest me in the least though, compared either to London proper or other good UK cities. The advantage over London proper is they are cheaper and you get more space, more green etc, which is nice. The disadvantage is you have to go into London proper for jobs, culture, diversity, nightlife etc. But you could move to eg. Bristol and have both at once... I moved to Bristol a month ago after living in London all my life, and I already know I'll never look back.

Whoa. So done and dusted? How is it so far? only ever breezed through the city but hear good things.

Well I can't see the conditions - that made me make the move - changing. I still love London, but Bristol is going to stay cheaper, friendlier and more liveable, while being pretty much as vibrant and exciting. Basically, quality of life is better value here.

So far it's made a great impression on me. Book an AirBnB for a weekend and give it a try, then look at the difference in rents!

Bristol is a hell of a city.
One of the best I've ever been to. So many memories of living there.

Well although I have a soft spot fo Bristol. (I was born there)

My family ties are all South Coast so no brainer really.

Good to hear. Encouraging that I have heard nothing but good things about this city, and the people who live here love it.

Brighton then? Was also on my list.

Really glad to hear it. Totally get your motive for jumping ship compared to a lot of what people have commented on here.
Might do just that or make a big ride out of it and hang about a while.

Brighton then? Was also on my list.

Brighton is great, unfortunately full of people who moved from London now.

People actually from Brighton are worse.

You'd love bristol. Your kind of place I think.

I grew up close to Brighton.

Never.

Again.

:oP

Moved back to Birmingham after redundancy in London a few years back.
Visited London again at the weekend for the Nocturne and am proper missing living there now.
If only the cost of living wasn't so expensive ! - even a two bed flat in the aforementioned Bromley is double what I'm paying for a two bed house I'm renting in Brum.

Still, getting there is reasonably cheap via Chiltern trains. Perhaps I just need to visit at weekends more often.

I moved into my building in October 2013 and my next door neighbors were paying £850/875 in rent. Just heard that downstairs is now paying £1,400. That's some climb. Only mention because it's kinda/sorta Bromley.

In many ways a lot of people can't afford to move out of London. Season tickets are hideously expensive. Some of my colleagues commute in from places such as Brighton and Cambridge, one bloke even from the outskirts of Bristol . When they tell you what they pay in travel each month it makes me want to cry for them. It's not as if those places are particularly cheap to buy or rent in either...

I'd only leave London if the job moved, otherwise the prospect of spending 4 hours per day commuting horrifies me

Could be worse, I grew up in Eastbourne...

Born and bred in London, moved out to Oz in Spring 2015 and I love it...

My life has been turned upside down but in a great way, as much as I miss my playmates back in Lundunberg I don't think I could come back now...

I couldn't afford it either by the sounds of it...