Cost of living in/near London

[sobrique]

Righty ho. I've had a peach of a job come drifting past, and ... well probably mostly just a question of reaching out and grabbing it. It's all the skills I'm wanting to use and develop in an investment bank.

The pay's pretty impressive too.

It's the same job that was 'of interest' about 4-6 months ago. Which sort of suggests that they haven't found the right person (although it does perhaps suggest that the role is also a really big stinky fish).

The problem? Well, it's a 'City based' post. And I have heard a number of ... well not quite horror stories, but more things that one should be aware of. Primarily things like cost of living, stress levels etc.

So. Anyone who's reading this got experience of these things? What's the real cost of living of London? (and remember, I'm comparing it to Cov).

Comments

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

A typical room in a house/flat share in a moderate part of London is ~£100 per week. A flat...I know someone who has a two-bed flat for £220 pw.

Live South of the river. It's not as skanky as is made out and is certainly affordable. Bermondsey is 40 minutes' walk from the City along the river, and the two are utterly separated so that you can't take your work home accidentally. However do not wear a suit to walk home.

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

As for other cost of living things - clothes, furniture, food are the same as everywhere else. It's transport and lunchtime food that are the real killers. £3.50-£4 is considered reasonable for a daily lunch (sandwich etc) and the prices for season tickets on the Underground are available at http://www.tfl.gov.uk - buses are about a fifth of the cost of the same journey by Tube. And nobody walks anywhere so it's a great way to get places without being crushed to death by zillions of Spanish schoolchildren.

[sobrique.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

That's useful. I'll follow up the job posting, and see where it goes :)

[jorune.livejournal.com]

Multiply all costs by 4. I've thought that was a good reckoner, if you want to share prices go down. Do you want to be a student and continue to share houses?

[sobrique.livejournal.com]

Hmm all costs x4. OK. Can work with that.

[jorune.livejournal.com]

Part of the reason I say x4 is that I do not want a drop in the quality of living,. If I lived in an ok part of Coventry then I would want a similar experience in London. That's where a large part of the costs come in. Ok areas in London cost a lot while good areas are £200 a week upwards. It's an annoyance for me, the good areas are so enticing, so full of style, elegance, interest that I feel naturally drawn to them. Me and the rest of the world who come to the capital.
Flats/houses near tube stations always have a premium because they are so much more convienient for you and your friends to come and go. Be lucky when flat hunting. While sundry costs are not x4 they are still range from x2-x3. If you are the sort of person who moans when prices go up or when you get charged more than you expect, particularly for poor or surly service then London is your city :-)

Cost of living survey by Mercer Human Resources As found through Google
1) Tokyo
2) London
3) Moscow
4) Osaka
5) Hong Kong

Surprisingly New York was 12th but that's due to the relative depreciation of the dollar. This snippet comes from the article and reflects the prices charged for the good life that corp expats expect.

It's a rare gift to realise that you can earn £40k+ and still have not much savings at the end of the year.

"Mercer's researchers priced a basket of more than 200 goods and services in each city that reflects expatriate spending habits.

The goods and services include the monthly rent for a two-bedroom luxury apartment unfurnished, the cost of a hamburger, the price of transportation and entertainment.

For one month in that two-bedroom apartment in Tokyo, you'll drop a stunning $4,501. In Paris, you can expect to pay $2,422 and in Beijing about $3,700.

The same flat in London will cost you about $3,603, whereas in New York you'll pay about $3,500.

The best deals are in Buenos Aires or Johannesburg, where such an apartment will only cost you about $600.

A cup of coffee with table service, meanwhile, will run you about $3.30 in New York, $5.48 in Tokyo and $1.10 in Buenos Aires. "

[nuala.livejournal.com]

Beer is way more expensive at the pubs in London. That is such a bummer.

[dj-rws.livejournal.com]

As far as I know/remember:

Living in Cov was £45 a week
Living in Oxford now is £70 a week
Living in London is ~£100-150 a week

As for other expenses the other guides on this thread are pretty realistic from my experience.

As far as location goes, don't live in Peckham!

[sobrique.livejournal.com]

So how much is a pint of 'decent ale' then?
Coventry prices are £2-£2.50 per pint...

[zaitan.livejournal.com]

It does depend on where you go, I pay about £2.65/pint for Scrumpy Jack in High Wycombe. I was in The Fitzeroy Tavern, near Tottenham Court Road and a pint of a cider was £2.26. Ok it wasn't Scrumpy, but it was good.

You could always do the commuting thing. :) 0710 is when people leave High Wycombe to get into the city.

[nuala.livejournal.com]

Don't remember. *blush* I'll let you know after tonight's jaunt. ;o)

[sobrique.livejournal.com]

Shocking!
Outrageous!
I insist you go out immediately, and sample 12 different real ales, and give me mean, median and std. deviation of prices.

;-)

[nuala.livejournal.com]

Ha! I'll have an hour to kill in town before hitting the cinema - don't tempt me. ;o)