Where do you start in London?

[kagir]

If I would be so crazy, to move where the weather is notoriously terrible and where there actually lives a lot of Brits.. Ok, jokes aside.

Both me and my girlfriend kinda fancy London, and after a bunch of trips as tourists and in the job, we've been talking about maybe moving there. Copenhagen is nice, but after 2½ years here, it'd be fun to try something new and bigger for a while.

Where do "normal" people live in London? I expect that we'll find jobs in central London and we both don't really fancy 1h train rides to work and are ready to pay the price for that, within reason.

Also, where does one look for apartments? I guess we're looking at renting, maybe with furniture (pretty common in UK right?).

Any inputs from you Brits - or anyone else who've been in a similar situation?

[Ino]

From what I've seen renting in London is pretty damn expensive yes/no?

[Daekesh]

One of the most expensive cities in the world I believe.  If you want to live anywhere near the centre, that is.

[kagir]

Groceries, drinking, dining, shopping etc. is cheaper than Copenhagen by quite a margin. Don't know about renting really, but I assume it's rather expensive, yeah. However, salaries usually follow that.

[Goza]

Where do "normal" people live in London?

In a broom closet.

[Daekesh]

Heh.  Some guy paid £500,000 for a room practically the size of a broom closet for his daughter for uni :D

[delling]

Any of the North/East/South bits are fairly reasonable. Main problem is that anything near/on the Underground lines are expensive. If you move away -- a bus-ride away from the Underground, it gets cheaper (reasonable by Copenhagen standards I am sure).

Think the North/NNW is very popular at the moment. Campden, Kentish Town and moving out to East Finchley?

I've never lived there tho'. Tyler will know a lot more.

[kagemoth]

I was living in london for 2 years. I found it Good cause i love convenience
and actually having a good (good -.- , in South africa u get shot) mode of
transport.

Getting a place to stay isn't too hard but finding one in the right area will most
likley be tricky. London is divided into Zones and are Priced accordingly.
The Center Zone (zone 1) is the most expensive , this is the bussiest part of the
city cause its literally just bussinesses everywere. I lived on the edge of zone 3
and was pretty comfortable there. A ride to work on the train was 30 min and the bus
was 1h. there are a few Zones but since you want to work in central you will likley
only be using 4 zones max.

Another thing you should know is that since
london is so populated by so many different people from different countrys , there
are areas that are focused by them. For instance the area i lived in was Jewish
and therefore everything was kosher and there was a lot of jewish foods.

oh.. and like everyones already said , Expensive. Find a job fast bro..

Places to look for apartments are Gumtree.com and also there is i think sum london
times newspaper that shows available housing and jobs.

[Cojche]

Btw, what was that in London? Ppl stampedo for xmas lights? o.O I saw it on tv but only ending of it... :)

[Daekesh]

No.  That was Birmingham I think.  Definitely not London.

[delling]

Stampede because of JLS... a boy band...!

[Cojche]

No.  That was Birmingham I think.  Definitely not London.

Ah yes, the news said Britain not London. My bad there...

[kagir]

Looks like this might actually be happening this fall :)

I applied for London and NYC - so far London showed the most interest. Is 50.000/year good or bad?

[kawe]

Wow, I don't have much info to offer about london but I think moving to somewhere new is always exciting and fun, hope you enjoy it thoroughly :)

[delling]

£50k/year's good! Not massive, if you want a house or something -- but if you are happy with a small'ish flat, or something outside the center...

What will they be paying you for?