Attention Londoners
 

Can anyone of you help me out?

I got a good job offer in London in the field I work in, and I'm seriously considering it right now.

The problem is - I don't really know if the salary I have been offered, is good enough, taking into consideration the living cost in London etc etc.
Can anyone of you, who is familiar with the living costs in the city, help me out with a little consultation?

Genteel Death? blunderbuss? Florya? toxic jonny? anyone?

I don't want to reveal the salary here publicly, so please just reply to this thread and I'll contact you via PM.

Thanks people

Slavo

Depends what standard of living you want. I would say realistically if you want to get your own place that isn't too far from the centre of town (and by that I mean about a one hour bus ride) then you would have to pay probably at least £1000/month in rent +bills and tax on top of that, obviously you can live closer to town than an hour bus ride (or in posher areas) but that's when rents start to sky rocket, a place in a house share in a similar (i.e. not crazy expensive) area would be around £600 (or often more depending on the room) +bills, but if you're lucky you can find cheaper, but really only if you're lucky. South London (i.e. south of the river) might be a bit cheaper than that although I know prices have been going up there so it might not be so much the case anymore.

As far as bills and things go I pay £60/month for water, electricity, gas, council tax and internet, which I think it at the more reasonable end of average. If you live alone expect to pay more.

If you cycle you can save money, otherwise expect to pay about £25-35/week on public transport, depending on how much you favour the bus or the tube.

A meal out with drinks at a modest restaurant generally would be about £20 - £25/person. A pint of beer in a pub costs about £4.50 these days, the cheapest bottle of wine in a pub will cost about £15, expect to pay more for drinks at places that aren't pubs.

I gave up smoking and I don't know if you smoke but I think a pack of 20 cigs is probably almost £10 by now. Roll ups are cheaper.

Going to see a show at a small venue will cost you approx £10 to get in, at larger venues around £20 or £25, a big show by an established act will be £45, and these are the prices without booking fee, delivery fee, etc. A cinema ticket is about £10 these days. A new record will cost anything between £12 and £25.

The average cost of lunch in the area I work is about £5. Last night I went to the supermarket and bought enough food for two days lunches and dinners, and that cost about £15.

A decent cup of coffee is usually about £2.50

A cab home at the end of the night will cost probably just over £1/minute of journey time

That's great news. I'll leave it to others to reply though, as I live and work in the suburbs so am only really a visitor to London, rather than a Londoner.

Do you have preferences as to where you live? Do you want to be where there is an existing Slovakian community, or does that not bother you? Do you want to be able to step out of your front door and feel you are "in London" or are you happy to get a train / bus / tube to get into the city?

Thanks for all the info.


Me and my girlfriend strongly prefer getting our own place to live, as we're over 30 and don't feel like living with random strangers.
As for the preference of location, I don't have any specific one. I don't really care about Slovakian community and don't mind commuting to work from further.

hello and these are indeed great news.
Toilet was very helpful.

in which area is the job?



from my little experience, i would say to reconsider the latter.
London can get pretty stressful, even in an undercover way, due to commuting.
have you done a search for places?
do look around Dalston; my brother lives there and he is very satisfied.
and its near cafe oto!;)

also living with random strangers is smth we arent used to, i understand. but if you are lucky, it can be a good thing especially for the start.
it can help socially and in practical matters.

Hi Kelly.

The job is on Percy street, near Tottenham Court Rd. and Goodge st. tube stations

check estates in Angel as well. they might far more expensive though.
from dalston ton tottenham it takes 30 mins with the bus (i prefer buses to the tube!), but that not in the busy hours.
if you want pm me the salary they have offered you.

pm sent

During rush hour that journey would take an hour
Angel is a lot more expensive than Dalston, although prices in Dalaton have gone up, and I think you'd be lucky to find as good a deal as your bro.

Due to the high cost of living here it's becoming more common for couples in their 30s to house share.

You don't have to live in London. I live as near to London as I would ever want (a 50 minute train ride to Waterloo but there are obviously a lot of places nearer) and Tottenham Court Road is a 5 minute tube journey from Waterloo.

Whatever you decide, make sure to invite us all to your house warming.

Yeah but how much is the yearly commute, three or four grand?

That's true, but I reckon you'd save almost double that on rent alone.

Commuting to London really is an each to their own thing. I had a 30 minute journey when I did it, and I hated it. I was almost always having to stand, though, and that was a large part of the problem - if you were living further out you might not have that hassle. But on the other hand, if you live further out, you're not really going to be able to experience London to the full.

I had in mind the thought of travelling into the centre of London and maybe that commuting into London would be no worse. But I take your point about "experiencing" London.

T&B pretty much answered all you need to know.

Further to our brief chat on FB earlier this morning, your job location is very central, which makes it easier to decide on an area where to live with more choice and flexibility. With luck you can find a furnished flat for reasonable rent in places that aren't too far from work and with good transport links. Do your research on the agency or private landlord you want to rent from and read the contract carefully before you make your mind up, though, as you can easily find a bargain flat with issues which don’t immediately register until you have already moved in. This will leave fewer margins for stressful matters which potentially can cause you to decide to move out before your contract has run out and affect the refund of your deposit. In your case, and with your creative leanings in mind, I can’t help but recommend the closer to work but still far enough not to be aggressively gentrified areas in the East End. Places like Mile End, Canning Town, Limehouse/Shadwell (I live here) all have good transport links and are close enough to good gigs, art galleries, pubs, museum etc. There are advantages and disadvantages to sharing a house with others. With many agencies all bills are included in the rent and prices for a double room range between £600 to £750, depending on the size of the room and the flat, but when you agree on a viewing and interview, make sure to pay attention to their procedures for renting to tenants. Do they just ask a few questions and say yes? Do they check on potential tenants’ criminal records? Do they appear professional and fastidious when you first make contact with them? This sort of thing. This is obviously not going to stop psychos who will become your flatmates potentially slipping through the net, but asking questions on the people who already live there or noticing the method of work your future landlord uses to agree on tenancy can help you keep ruthless sharks at bay.

More later.

i don't know shit about london, or if this would apply to either you or the city, but in theory one could turn minimalist and look for closet-sized accommodations and live off a suitcase rather than a traditionally outfitted home with its usual overload of stuff.

kinda like these extremists, but maybe not so much: http://nypost.com/2009/12/06/cozy-cr...iniest-studio/

--

ps- also, do they have airbnb in inglaterra? because you could get some good monthly deals and buy time to look around before locking into something.

Sound advice from T&B and GD, although personally I'd be reluctant to recommend Canning Town. It's the point where the East End (interesting cultural and economic mix, central, great social scene) becomes East London (poor, big ethnic tensions, depressing atmosphere, crime ridden). East End/Tower Hamlets would be ideal for what I think you're looking for but avoid anything east of Stratford or Canning Town (basically Newham and Barking).

And beware of estate agents giving bad areas new names. Plaistow is now being sold as Stratford East. You know a place is fucked when it needs to associate with Stratford to look better.

Hilarious, I hadn't heard about estate agents doing that.

Here are some pics of the studio......lot's of wine bottles for such a small place / two people.

Congrats on the new job and move, Slavo!

I mentioned Canning Town after reading on a paper that it's up and coming for buying/renting flats and because it's not too far from here. Yes, it does look depressing and the station reminds me of a place you'd rather take a plane from and fly away.

It's horrible, especially at night. In the day it's not too bad because of commuters going into docklands but after they've gone it's totally dead and pretty much just a massive cluster of sink estates.

I've only been there a few times at night when I have been out and ended up falling asleep on the night bus and I had to change number from the station. There is a pub in that area where Iron Maiden played their first gig in London, I forget its name. Loads of metal bands still play in the same place.

My boss who was born and raised in England said that there is a government ban on using newspapers to wrap fish n chips? He says they sell wax paper printed to look like a newspaper. weird.

gotta love the drano bottles next to the coffee maker!

In my lifetime I've never had fish n chips wrapped in newspaper.

Me neither

I think they saved the newspaper for the tourists.

All I know is things went rapidly down hill when the polystyrene tray was introduced

Slavo - Now that I know what your proposed salary is more or less going to be after tax, it would help if you tell us more about the sort of lifestyle you're acquainted with and the things you and can and can’t do without.

Transport – I imagine at first you’ll rely heavily on the tube and buses to move around until eventually you choose what’s best for you. A weekly bus pass is £ 19.60 and it can be used to travel in all zones (1 to 6). I didn’t buy a weekly pass for the tube in a long time so I don’t know how much it costs now but you can check the price on the TFL website. The price varies according to the zones your journeys cover. If you end up finding accommodation which is not too far from your workplace, I suggest you start learning which bus (or buses) to take to get there because travelling overground you’ll learn more about moving around by foot too, which eventually comes in handy if you decide to cycle around town. It helped me when I decided that being trapped in a bus for a long time while commuting was taking too much of my time which I’d rather spend doing other things. Cycling cut down my journey by at least 20 minutes but that obviously depends on where you are travelling from and to. You’ll never escape the public transport completely, unless you drive a car, because it’s not always possible to cycle or walk due to the changing weather conditions or because you’re simply on a night out and cycling/walking are not an option to go back home. Minicabs charge you a minimum of £5 and anything after that amount depends on how far the place you’re going to is.

Woe be the one making a sleepy eyed pot of coffee thinking they were reaching for the creamer :eek:

I don't go out too much any more. I read books, watch movies, make music and spend time with my girlfriend. That's all I do, basically.
It'd be nice to go out and see a gig once in a month or so. And go to a pub to have one or two pints now and then.

i negotiated a bit and they raised the yearly salary a bit.
sounds better now.

So when's it all happening?

Not much to offer on the costs thing but if you do end up here, give me a shout if you fancy playing gigs in Brighton (a short-ish train ride away), can think of a few promoters that'd be interested in your ting and can probably hook you up with a few in London as well.

Slavo you'll be fine, you're a relocating square without a smack habit. I can't see you struggling in the big city.

I still have to decide - I'm taking the following weekend to say my final yes or no.
Many things to consider.

I'm excited.

Wait ...
is that really true?

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/rates/it.htm#2a

If I make more than £31,866 a year, they tax me 40% in the UK?

But ... that's just ... not ... right.

if i understand progressive income taxes correctly, you get taxed 10% on the first 2880, 20% on the 2881-31,065, 40% on the 31,866+

it's not like they tax you 40% on the whole income-- only on the income above each margin.

i hope i'm clear and correct on this because that's how it works in 'merica. otherwise someone who makes 31865 would take home a lot more than someone who makes 31,866-- which would be an incentive to earn less and therefore stupid.

I doubt it's much different in the other countries that have proper infrastructure