Moving to London

[SpiritOfTheForest]

The North end of Birmingham, I believe but I may be mistaken, has Aston, Lozells and Alum Rock and while I've only ever been to Aston myself I've never heard any one say anything even close to positive about any of the three.

 

Indeed. I've never been but Tony Iommi famously described Aston as "a shithole basically".

[Fox Piss]

Why would anybody want to leave Yorkshire

[d-d-d-dAz]

I moved to West London about 5 months ago. I live opposite Ravenscourt Park, just before King Street in Hammersmith becomes Chiswick High Road. It's pretty nice and rent isn't that bad. Flats in shitter areas wanted just as much.

 

I love it, though. The only thing is, you move down expecting to do lots of shit and then after a while it becomes home and you really only go out when you can be arsed. It's nice to know that what's on offer is so good, though.

 

The only thing I hate about London, though, is the bloody mice. Everywhere.

[Pinc]

Indeed jobber. And those saying south is a better part of London to live in are forgetting about Brixton, Peckham, Bermondsey, Southwark, Lambeth etc. There's decent areas and utter shite at both ends to be honest.

I've been living in Brixton since May and it's a class area. 20 minutes max to central London via the Victoria Line. Brockwell Park and Clapham Common both walking distance, loads of good places for a scran or a bevvy and enough good places for a night out. The Hootananny, Electric, Jamm and Windmill have gigs on multiple times a week and then there's the Academy. The Ritzy's a shout for the best cinema in London an' all.

 

I'm paying just over

[nfc90210]

Are the norths of cities shit in other places? North London is shit and north Manchester is REALLY shit. Is anywhere else like that?

 

In all seriousness, North London isn't shit as a whole. It has shit areas. Most places do. Go to Crouch End, Muswell Hill, Highgate, parts of Finchley. Stroud Green Road is pretty nice before you hit Finsbury Park. Large swathes of Islington and fucking nice. Not shit at all.

 

Finsbury Park seems to be on the way up as well. Or the bit around the station does anyway; they are even in the process of building a theater there. There's nice new block of flats before you turn into the bus station and there is some other construction going on as well. The Stroud Green influence is spreading. Unfortunately you aren't able to relocate Seven Sisters Road and Green Lanes so some of the bits around by the actual park maybe, to put it mildly, slower to gentrify. Who knows though.

 

Stroud Green was a bit rough around the edges back in the day. The improvement has happened over the past fifteen years. My theory is that Crouch End kept getting more desirable and estates agents began advertising houses in Stroud Green as being on the "Crouch End Borders" meaning that the area was flooded with people who wanted to live in Crouch End and by association their money, and so over time the shops etc began to change to reflect that.

[fugaziuk]

Thanks for all the info. Looks like I can share with a mate in Shepherds bush for the first 6 months before I have to find something else.

[mikey]

If you have the money and want to live the hipster lifestyle, London's awesome. If you don't have the money and hate dickheads, it can be an utter fucking nightmare. Pretty much like any major city in the world.

[Bohan]

In all seriousness, North London isn't shit as a whole. It has shit areas. Most places do. Go to Crouch End, Muswell Hill, Highgate, parts of Finchley. Stroud Green Road is pretty nice before you hit Finsbury Park. Large swathes of Islington and fucking nice. Not shit at all.

Yep North London has some of the most desirable areas to live in London as you say Angel, Highgate, Barnet, Crouch End are all lovely. South London's ok I guess, just gets a bad rep due to every single teenage gang related tv show and film being set there although most of that is based in truth I guess

[Bohan]

Stroud Green was a bit rough around the edges back in the day. The improvement has happened over the past fifteen years. My theory is that Crouch End kept getting more desirable and estates agents began advertising houses in Stroud Green as being on the "Crouch End Borders" meaning that the area was flooded with people who wanted to live in Crouch End and by association their money, and so over time the shops etc began to change to reflect that.

Yeah I remember Tuffnel Park being a bit crap, but it's bloody lovely around there now.

[nfc90210]

North London has Hampstead as well.

[SpursRiot2012]

Also, Stoke Newington is a up and coming area.

[Bohan]

Also, Stoke Newington is a up and coming area.

Yep, Church Street has become very trendy. Loads of nice coffee shops and eateries along there.

[Loki]

I drove through Redhill last weekend, and though the bit where Gladstone lived was shit, the parts just to the south were lovely.So, yes, it does appear to be a rule.

[Devon Malcolm]

I drove through Redhill last weekend, and though the bit where Gladstone lived was shit, the parts just to the south were lovely.

Yeah, that's Earlswood. Redhill doesn't have any lovely parts.

[Chris B]

A big old bag of them.Especially Wood Green.

Wood Green's actually okay. I moved here in 2007. Transport links are good, it's pretty cheap, and has some not-bad food options around (including a fucking great vegetarian Indian place up in Turnpike Lane), all things considered. There's a lovely little bookshop, and I run a writing group and a comedy night there. Admittedly, the only club looks lethal, and the Wetherspoons at either end are actually the two classy options with regards to pubs in the central bit, but there's stuff to like about it.But it's moving up as an area. Banksy did one of his paintings here, and it was hailed as a sign that it's an up-and-coming area. Admittedly, that ignored the fact that it was on the side of a poundland, but still.