London .. help on where to live

[hot66]

My daughter has just landed a 12 month internship at a company in Soho

Obviously not being from London, we have only a limited idea on where good places are to live . I'm after suggestions on nice areas she can rent an apartment in which are also straight forward to get to Soho for work everyday.


Fulham ?
Canary Wharf ?

any other advise welcome too

[BILLY BEAN]

Fulham is generally a decent area. Canary Wharf is a soul less place and a good commute to Soho. Having said that most affordable places will probably involve a commute. I think the issue is affordability: renting a room in a nice house starts at around £800 a month including some of the bills. However, these would entail train or bus or tube journeys into Soho as would most areas. This obviously adds to costs and time. Renting a room means obviously sharing facilities with it's down sides.
One of my daughters lives in Camberwell, bits of which are leafy and have beautiful Georgian and Victorian properties. Parts are what my daughter calls "edgy" and other bits just run down. But it is a vibrant area. No tube stations so bus or mainline. A small one bed flat would rent at around £1750 a month plus bills. My daughter uses the main line train to get to near St Paul's.
My other daughter lived near Clapham Common until about five years ago where a house share with 4 others cost her £1300 a month plus bills. Again Clapham is mixed regarding what you might call a "good area". We lived in Ealing west London for over 20 years. W5 and parts of W13 post codes are generally good. Ealing is served by two tube stations so good for commuting.
Excellent that your daughter has landed an internship but finding suitable accomodation in London is "challenging". Good luck.

[yoda]

Hi James

Soho is very accessible so easy to get to from a number of locations. Probably need a few parameters as a guide - budget, size of accommodation, what sort of area (established/trendy/edgy etc). Central / West London is generally nicer but more expensive. Also depends where any friends live etc., maybe somewhere like a Maida Vale?

My wife works in the property industry so drop me a PM if you want to chat and / or some help finding a place as she will have good ideas and reliable contacts.

[Jonny Hart]

I live near Tunbridge Wells. I can get to Soho faster than all my mates who live 'in London'. These days most people who claim to live 'In London' actually live in at least an hour away from it by Tube.

[KS]

Soho, eh? Phwoar!

[Sam]

I don’t think that sort of company do internships KS.

Where she should live depends what she’s into doing in her spare time and how long she can bare to commute I guess. For Soho I’d go out north a bit so I could go swimming at the Hampstead Heath ponds and get in a fun ride to work, but maybe she doesn’t like swimming or riding a bike.

If she wants to be part of hip young London she’ll need to head a bit south east towards Brixton or north east out Dalston way. Anything west of Soho is strictly for the over 30s, except Shepherds Bush which is not a suitable place for anyone to live.

[Darren65]

.....I'm after suggestions on nice areas she can rent an apartment.....

.....mmm, suggestions from a bunch of old and middle aged blokes!

Why not get to her to make contact with Lucy, in the past few years she's gone from Bow to Finsbury Park and now Clapham plus has many friends all over London who could give a few pointers. Young girls might have a slightly different perspective on where's best to live!

Congrats on the internship btw

[Mike]

Great question James, and as a man who's lived and worked based in London for over 40 years one I know a little about!

But more importantly both my son and daughter have gone through the process of leaving uni, getting internships in central London and living in shared houses and rented flats for some years until recently when they both have bought their own places.

When you say rent an apartment, it sounds like you are looking for somewhere for her on her own, when usually kids are looking to do a flat or house share? Obviously that comes down to budget, but I have to say sharing does make financial sense, but perhaps more importantly gives you people to be with who are in a similar situation in what can be an intimidating time as you start out in London.

As for location, again budget comes into it, especially with suggestions like Maida Vale coming in but really it comes down to what kind of girl your daughter is and what kind of lifestyle and social group she likes to be in.

Years ago it used to be north or sarf of the river was the first decision, but now it's more east or west and to give a couple of real basic generalisations to give her something to think about you go east, Hackney, Victoria Park, canalside Hampton Wick if you're an edgy, creative cutting edge woke kid who embraces London for it's multi-cultural and richly diverse society, or you go to Clapham, Brixton or Camberwell as a more middle class 'safer' chino rugby playing type of place... better make that massive generalisations!

Then of course for a man of your means, maybe Maida Vale will fit the bill, but then look at Chelsea and Fulham for a younger crowd. But if she wanted to be a little cutting edge go back east again to Shoreditch.

Just a few ideas so help that helps.

[Lightweight_911]

.....mmm, suggestions from a bunch of old and middle aged blokes!

Why not get to her to make contact with Lucy, in the past few years she's gone from Bow to Finsbury Park and now Clapham plus has many friends all over London who could give a few pointers. Young girls might have a slightly different perspective on where's best to live!

You'll get lots of conflicting opinions - typically depending on which part(s) of London people are most familiar with &/or have lived in - but Darren's comments are spot on ...

.

[Peter]

Not sure you meant Hampton Wick Mike, that’s the least edgy place I know. Maybe Hackney Wick?!

[Sam]

And Shoreditch hasn’t been hip since 2019.

[hot66]

Thanks for the info so far

… yes she wants a flat of her own unless specifically sharing with friends
…. Her friend is currently near Stockwell and my daughter has found a nice flat in a building designers for renters with gym etc but not sure what the area is like ?
….. not sure what kid of area she’s after as she is a country girl at heart but wants to have the London lifestyle for the year
…. Budget , maybe £1200 -£1400 / month

[Mike]

Not sure you meant Hampton Wick Mike, that’s the least edgy place I know. Maybe Hackney Wick?!

Thank you Peter!

[yoda]

Thanks for the info so far

… yes she wants a flat of her own unless specifically sharing with friends
…. Her friend is currently near Stockwell and my daughter has found a nice flat in a building designers for renters with gym etc but not sure what the area is like ?
….. not sure what kid of area she’s after as she is a country girl at heart but wants to have the London lifestyle for the year
…. Budget , maybe £1200 -£1400 / month

Stockwell is nice enough and that’s a sensible budget. If her friend is happy to share, that would be a great result. They would be able to get a nice place together and I am sure she would enjoy London a lot more - that’s what makes the experience fun (vs the area), getting around London to do things is easy.

[hot66]

Unfortunately won’t be able to share as her friend has already comittted to a place, but would be close enough