# Moving to London



## Mummaonthemove (Dec 15, 2008)

Hello everyone

We are a young Australian family currently living in Canada. We are looking into loving to London next year. I need some advice about living in the eastside of London..not right in the city but out a little bit. No more than around half an hour on the tube into the city centre would be great. Advice that starts from the beginning like..

- what kind of place it the eastside like to live?
- what areas are populated with families?
- lots of parks and greenery
- good schools
- basically, what are the better parts to live

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!


----------



## morten bonde (Jul 30, 2008)

*East London, schools, and everything else*

Hi Mummaonthemove

That was quite a few questions in a short mail  I'll see how many of the things I can help you with.

East London is VERY diverse, and since you are talking about London you will find that some streets have posh houses on one side of the road and council estates on the other. 

Traditionally East London was not all that developed (apart from industry around the river), but this has changed in the last 10 years and now especially Greenwich and Docklands are popular (and thus more expensive). There is also some rather nice areas in Essex where many people working in the city choose to live. 

Generally speaking many expat families choose South West London or North London as a starting point because it traditionally has been the "done thing". Personally I have lived in East London for 2.5 years and I am loving my garden, the extra space, and the lower cost compared to my old house in South West London. If I were you, I would look at Greenwich 


In regards to schools, then you need to find out what kind of school you are interested in, be that private or public, (SNIP)
Again, it is often a question of cost and distance, so read up on the school system and start exploring.

Hope this helped a little

Merry Xmas one and all


----------



## MichelleAlison (Aug 25, 2007)

Mummaonthemove said:


> Hello everyone
> 
> We are a young Australian family currently living in Canada. We are looking into loving to London next year. I need some advice about living in the eastside of London..not right in the city but out a little bit. No more than around half an hour on the tube into the city centre would be great. Advice that starts from the beginning like..
> 
> ...


I lived most of my life in East London, 30 minutes by tube into the centre of London. East London is over-populated, but if you don't mind a 45 minute journey into London, you should try areas such as Chigwell, Epping, Loughton and all the areas around Epping which are all at the end of the Central line. 

Please let me know if you have any more questions.

Michelle


----------



## jjuk (Dec 28, 2008)

hello,

the other option is to be move to the suburbs to places such as woking in surrey as there are quick train services which only take 20 minutes by train to the city and you gte more for your money. i have a number of properties i rent out so if you would like to chat about any of this just drop me a line

jx


----------



## JuliaH (Apr 12, 2008)

*Greenwich*

London's a fantastic place but I think you'll find that you're going to have to make quite a few compromises with regard to space / prices / nature and quality of life in general (especially if you're used to the beauties of Australia and Canada!)

Greenwich at least has a lovely park and is a nice area in general. It's worth checking the reliability of the local transport system before you settle for a particular part though- how overcrowded are the busses, what's the tube like during rush hour, are your kids going to have to take public transport to get to school...

Re. schools, once you've checked out all the criteria that are important to you, I'd hang around the school gates before and after school to see what their every-day dynamic is like. It's not unusual to have police men standing outside the gate to oversee things after school.

I'd personally be prepared to pay more for a decent area than be worried about the safety of my kids the whole time...

good luck

Julia


----------



## bloomfieldtj (Jan 19, 2009)

Mummaonthemove said:


> Hello everyone
> 
> We are a young Australian family currently living in Canada. We are looking into loving to London next year. I need some advice about living in the eastside of London..not right in the city but out a little bit. No more than around half an hour on the tube into the city centre would be great. Advice that starts from the beginning like..
> 
> ...


As per an earlier response, Epping, Loughton, Chigwell are good and on the Central line. They have good state and private schools. I live in Upminster which is very nice. It's at the east end of the District line but also has over-head train links, which take 20 minutes into Fenchurch Street, London. State schools are good but can be oversubscribed. There is a very good private school in Brentwood; "The Brentwood Preparatory School. It's expensive, but if your firm are paying, then all the good. Brentwood and Shenfield are nice and have good train links into Liverpool Street, but this would take about 45 minutes on the train. They are very green and have parks, as does Upminster. 

Personally, I would avoid places like Barking, Ilford, Dagenham, or any of those towns along the "A13" corridor, as schools aren't great and petty crime does seem to be increasing in these areas. 

Julie


----------

