Moving to London

ads Yeah I think that is the rule, however to be enforced a company would only be called on not following it, i.e. if there was some sort of discrimination claim by someone who was interviewed. In academia where I work most if not all jobs are advertised on jobs.ac.uk which is considered an international/EU advertisement. If I advertised a job in the Metro (i.e. UK) and only had foreign migrants apply, I would probably have to re-advertise on an EU based site. You have to be able to show that there is nobody in the UK or EU suitable for the job. At UCL where I work as it is a large organisation we follow the letter of the law, however smaller companies may not.

And there in lies the kicker. Currently I work in radio and in a warehouse. I have former experience as a production assistant on film shoots and for an industrials company.

i need somewhere to live, so if anyone hears anything, let me know.

Brooklyn Jack Crank [quote]ads Yeah I think that is the rule, however to be enforced a company would only be called on not following it, i.e. if there was some sort of discrimination claim by someone who was interviewed. In academia where I work most if not all jobs are advertised on jobs.ac.uk which is considered an international/EU advertisement. If I advertised a job in the Metro (i.e. UK) and only had foreign migrants apply, I would probably have to re-advertise on an EU based site. You have to be able to show that there is nobody in the UK or EU suitable for the job. At UCL where I work as it is a large organisation we follow the letter of the law, however smaller companies may not.

And there in lies the kicker. Currently I work in radio and in a warehouse. I have former experience as a production assistant on film shoots and for an industrials company.[/quote]

Yes the main problem with radio and anything media related is that it is a very popular career, thus lots of UK applications. We have advertised a number of programmer positions with a reasonably specialised skill set and the only applicants were from outside the EU. Just depends on the demand for a particular career. I think there are options after you complete an MSc (Student visa) to extend this for a year post doing a course for work.

we? You don't work with the BBC by any chance do you? Currently I'm with sirius satellite radio and we run BBC Radio 1 as one of our channels. Think if I could get involved with I'd have a better shot?

PS: MSc would be a masters in communications?

No I work for a university. An MSc is a Masters in Science, they do these in lots of subjects. E.g. MSc in Biology etc. You can also do MA too which are Masters in Arts, e.g. MA in English.

If you work for a uni what's that to do with programming? University station? You really need a masters to pick songs out?

There is some confusion, I don't work with radio. I work at a university as a researcher doing stuff with computers. If you want to come to London or the UK without a working visa then a student visa associated with a MSc it is a good way into the UK job market. I suspect it is far easier applying for jobs in London with a uk qualification than without one, plus some courses offer placements which get you an inside track into work opportunities. Sorry for the confusion.

Ah, gotcha. The programmer part threw me off. I already have a year at SOAS in and I got top marks the whole time so it wouldn't be that hard to get back in I think. However, the goal is to avoid more school.

i live in Nth London (aRchway) and pay £150 pw (£650 month) on a studio flat with seperate kitchen and bathroom, 20 min into oxford st or bricklane on bike. don't go sth for heavens sake!!

Vinz I have been living in Norwich for quite sometime.

Oh, man, I grew up there. Leaving that place was the best decision I ever made. It's gone from cute, friendly, little town to mean, dirty provincial sh!t-hole in the last ten years or so... I blame the insatiable desire of the local council for building new shopping centres in the middle of town. Good art school, though.

Having made the leap from Naaaridge to London myself, and lived in many areas of our nation's capital, I would have to echo Roxy's sentiments and advise you to look East. Bethnal Green, Hackney, Clapton (the nicer bits), Dalston... they're all good places to live and really convenient for getting into town. I would also say that a nice house share there would be well within your budget. I used to live in a great place near London Fields, and another on Hackney Road - both good locations and nice houses.

Portobello and Maida Vale are also nice areas, but can be a little more pricey. Plus, I wasn't really as enamoured by the social scene in the West as I was the East. I'd probably avoid Camden if I were you (although that's just my personal opinion of it as one of the worst places on Earth). The nicer end of Highbury is also worth a look (around the old Arsenal stadium and Blackstock Road).

A lot of people complain about the crime in East London, but if you keep your wits about you, it's not nearly as bad as it's made out to be - it's certainly no worse than anywhere else. Just use common sense and you'll be fine. One word of warning, however - find a home with indoor bike parking.

Dont live in south east london, you'll have to ride up and down the old kent road everyday and thats enough to send you crazy

runcible rakan Dont live in south east london, you'll have to ride up and down the old kent road everyday and thats enough to send you crazy

Knew I'd forgotten something - Old Kent Road or no, I found SE London bloody horrible (no offence to those of you that live there - it's all personal).

I lived in Ladywell, just near Lewisham, for a year and was not impressed. When your housemate waits until the next morning to casually mention that his friend got stabbed in New Cross (because that's a quite common occurrence) you know that something's not quite right.

Add to that the time a 40-year-old man in my local pub threatened to bottle me unless I joined him in a rousing chorus of 'White is right! England for the English!' at 3pm on a Tuesday afternoon (I politely declined his request - also, I think that when he asked me what the Chinese have ever given the world and I quickly replied 'gunpowder', he wasn't very impressed) you can understand my reluctance to venture into the badlands again.

i dot know what you all have against the south? all the comments are "its nice... but dont live there" . it really isnt that bad, theres loads of nice areas around, streatham balham clapham and even tooting have nice areas. and its only about half an hour into central or east, depending on what route you go. plus i reckon it would cost a lot less to live south side.

i'm with dale go north london - although we are definitely the minority (think its only me dale and chandra and JOL

everyone is going to pick their current place as the best place to live, but i don't see why south of the river is no good? i have lived in london for 15 years in various areas and i personally would steer clear of the lambeth/hackney council tax areas as they are deprived shitholes with a lot of crime.(apart from places like dulwich which are nice) hackney has just been knocked off 1st place in shite places to live by Middlesborough.
if you think the world revolves round brick lane/old st then the east end is probably quite attractive. but believe it or not there is more to london.

Just wanted to say a big thanks to everyone. I have come to the conclusion that you get more for your money in the south, but it lacks a certain Je ne sais quoi The north has that certain something but you have to be willing to pay.

runcible rakan Dont live in south east london, you'll have to ride up and down the old kent road everyday and thats enough to send you crazy

I strangely quite like riding that bit, nice and flat / straight. Get your speed up. The bus are so irregular and crap that I tend to have the bus lane to myself most mornings. There is also a really nice route up from sydenham to Depford which follows the river / parks, hardly touches a road, brings you out by Depford DLR.

London is such an incredibly diverse place that differences between neighbourhoods you may or may not like occur at street level. My opinion on Ladywell (described above) is actually good, some really nice streets and close to Lewisham for the shops. I am sure there are bad bits too though, I just haven't been there.

New Cross is a bit grotty and I wouldn't live there, however, things are changing there with a number of pubs getting tarted up for us young folk.

Nice parts in SE London in my opinion are Forest Hill, Honor Oak, Brockley and Peckham Rye. The White Stripes played in Brockley recently. Nobody got stabbed ;)

I'd go where your mates live, if you have mates in London. You'll be continuously hooking up with them and it could get a pain if that's far from where you live.

Money is the main deciding factor - no good moving somewhere nice but you can't afford the price of a pint or coffee cos all your money's going on rent. I've lived North, South and West (was tempted by the East but it never happened) - there are nice neighbourhoods in all of these areas.

The great thing is that you're into cycling, so are not going to be dictated to by the classic '10 minutes from a tube' criterion when renting. This means that you can have a nicer place that may be a bit further from transport - there are some nice areas that are cheaper as a result of being linked by bus rather than a tube e.g. Muswell Hill / Crouch End / Stoke Newington (North) or Herne Hill / East or West Dulwich (South).

Good luck!

ads [quote]runcible rakan Dont live in south east london, you'll have to ride up and down the old kent road everyday and thats enough to send you crazy

I strangely quite like riding that bit, nice and flat / straight. Get your speed up. The bus are so irregular and crap that I tend to have the bus lane to myself most mornings. There is also a really nice route up from sydenham to Depford which follows the river / parks, hardly touches a road, brings you out by Depford DLR.

London is such an incredibly diverse place that differences between neighbourhoods you may or may not like occur at street level. My opinion on Ladywell (described above) is actually good, some really nice streets and close to Lewisham for the shops. I am sure there are bad bits too though, I just haven't been there.

New Cross is a bit grotty and I wouldn't live there, however, things are changing there with a number of pubs getting tarted up for us young folk.

Nice parts in SE London in my opinion are Forest Hill, Honor Oak, Brockley and Peckham Rye. The White Stripes played in Brockley recently. Nobody got stabbed ;)[/quote]
Preach!
Been in Lewisham/St Johns/Hither Green for 10+ years and its been fine for me and great value. Zone 2 doesn't get much cheaper. I had a 1 bed ground floor garden flat in a conversion terrace for £700 till 2 months ago and just stepped up to mahoosive 2 bed for under a grand.

OKR @ 7am is a peachy smooth dream of a ride down an empty bus lane. Other times probably nasty but works for me and my commute.

I do worry about the 15 year old posh kids wandering around New X trying to get into pubs thinking The Klaxons are hanging out in the saloon bar. The latest yellow board up at New X Gate is asking for info about the undercover policeman getting shot whilst on surveillance(!)

flickwg i'm with dale go north london - although we are definitely the minority (think its only me dale and chandra and JOL

and me. i'm a native north londoner... even went on holiday to south london, once! (5 days in Dulwich with friends, almost sent my mum a postcard)

I was wondering why no-one had suggested out West, then worked out with your budget you'd have a mother of a commute before you were back in the middle of town for a night out. And there'd be nothing but yummy mummies and stockbrokers to talk to in the pub each evening...

Still, West is cool if you can put up with the above or you've secretly got a trust fund

Hey man.. west side still has the most successful pub meetups.. unless you're murtle in which case the most 'painful' pub meetups. Just coz we don't play polo doesn't mean nuffin'! ;)
I pay less than 700 a month for a studio (actually more like 300 coz it's split btw 2 people) but is this dude's 700/mth total living costs or budget just for rent?
You can get heaps cheaper options if you share as well. You don't think half of Poland would be living out here if it was all overpriced do you? :P

My girlfriend is considering moving with me so she would split the costs. How do two people live in a studio. Do you not get on each other's nerves?

We fuck so it's not really an issue :P
(no, it's not murtle it's my gf)

Vinz How do two people live in a studio. Do you not get on each other's nerves?

you're supposed to get in each other's pants..

she's your girlfriend... do we have to spell it out?