Hello! Current U.S. citizen contemplating living/working in London at St. James. Square. I have a family of four with 2 children ages 5 and 8. I'm looking for any recommendations on places/suburbs to live. Primary considerations are proximity for commuting to St. James Square, quality of schools, safety/crime and dwelling costs. Any advice would be most helpful and appreciated. Thank you!
2007-03-25 11:56:19 · 15 answers · asked by Curious 1 in Travel ➔ United Kingdom ➔ London
not proximity to st jamses sq, but the best place, is wimbledon village.
easy underground and overground train access, and easy soulth of england access.
2007-03-26 07:27:03 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
My partner works on St James Square.
We have 2 children ages 3 and 1
We Live in a place called Erith which is on the London/Kent boarders. Now whilst i wouldn't recommend this exact area just a bit further out in Kent there are some really lovely places to live with very good schools around.
The links to London by Train are excellent (ignore all the people who moan, we're British, it's what we do lol) The only problem is it's expensive for a 3 bed house your looking at about £180K ranging to about £300K depending on where you are but that's not exclusive to Kent, that's all the suburbs of London (they call them the home counties) and if you want inner London it's even more expensive!
Whilst i LOVE London and would never leave if I was you I'd make 100% sure it's what you want to do before you come as i don't think it will be easy hun.
Anyway good luck.
2007-03-25 12:06:27 · answer #2 · answered by ? 3 · 7⤊ 0⤋
Unless you have got a minimum of £500,000 your not going to get a house in London area that is worth buying.
I would say choose somewhere close to a Mainline station within the South East Home Counties area (50 miles of central London) and take the 1hour commute in.
It might be a pain, but you can get a decent house for between £150 and £300,000 with a good garden, quiet area, good countryside and hopefully near to some good amenities.
Make a budget up of what you can afford and look around. For travel advice on areas try www.transportdirect.info which covers cars, trains and busses. For ease of commute to St James Area, try to get a line which ends up at either Victoria, Waterloo or Charing Cross Stations (all within 15 min walk of St James area) to cut sown on fare costs.
Good luck
2007-03-25 12:20:36 · answer #3 · answered by Kevan M 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Try the Southern suburbs- West Dulwich, East Dulwich in SE22, or Canada Water in SE16. All areas are relatively safe (at least during the three years I lived there I was never mugged so that must count), you have parks, some quiet neighborhoods, schools nearby. Underground train from Canada Water to Green Park would take you quite close to where you would be working.
2007-03-27 05:15:49 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hi there, I am an estate agent and a very good one at that. I would consider St Johns Wood should the budget suffice. This has Jubilee Line for great Transport, an American School for the Kids teaching the US syllabus and also shops which have Hershey bars and other American delights.
What you say?
2007-03-26 10:51:10 · answer #5 · answered by Phillip P 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
1. As long as you're north of the river you've got a chance
2. You need to like city life - deliberately setting out to do a one hour+ commute is going to do your head in
3. If you do like the city, this is the best place on earth to be
4. If you like hick town life (which is presumably what the earlier reply was talking about - except that he/she couldn't spell St Alban's) then this is the wrong place for you
5, Don't believe all the whingers............ and don't take advice - look for yourself at the options
2007-03-25 12:13:12 · answer #6 · answered by Tony R 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I would recommend living in South West London,can be pricey but is lovely and green,lots of park-land and great schools,transport links.My personal favourites would be East Sheen,Richmond,Putney.About 20 minutes by train to Waterloo.
2007-03-26 06:32:02 · answer #7 · answered by james g 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It is a bit hard to recommend ideal places as many areas in London (like many cities) have their good parts and bad parts!! That's is, some boroughs (districts) have both good parts and bad parts. The ones I recommend are expensive but in my opinion overall are probably the best!!
Hamstead
Kensington
Holland Park
Winchmore Hill
Chingford
Cockfosters
2007-03-25 12:13:57 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Obviously not in London then.... commute from St Albans or Bedford, much better bet
2007-03-25 12:01:34 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Southend On Sea is quite nice and only a 40 min commute from London
2007-03-25 12:10:26 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋