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London Snobbery
trevgo
Posts: 28,241 Forum Member
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Yes. I'm a fully paid up member of the London Obsessives society, and it's a debilitating condition.
I adore where I live. Outer London postal area, brilliant high street, endless eating and drinking opportunities within 5 minutes walk of our house. Tube station at the end of my road. In the main, pretty sophisticated population. We've been sold for nigh on 4 months now, but there are no houses to buy around here (and I have a pretty decent budget) and our buyer is about to drop out from frustration.
We've found the perfect house. Detached (the Holy Grail for me), quiet road, huge garden and 4 minutes from the Central Line. It is, however, 3 stops out and....horror of horrors....in Essex proper. About a mile from official Greater London border. Vendors been stubborn over an unrealistic price and finally have come down to my offer subject to it moving quickly. Now it's come to the crunch and I can't do it (and am avoiding the agent's calls) so looking pretty stupid. That you can look over past the houses as you walk from the station and see green fields to the horizon, brings me out in a rash. Just over 30 mins to TCR by Tube (and 6 mins to where we live now) but I can't get my head around it. If I don't go ahead, we'll have to re-market the house and be back to square 1.
Can anyone sympathise? Has anyone moved outside the Capital and adjusted? Is there life after an Essex postcode? Is a Joey haircut and spray tan obligatory?
I adore where I live. Outer London postal area, brilliant high street, endless eating and drinking opportunities within 5 minutes walk of our house. Tube station at the end of my road. In the main, pretty sophisticated population. We've been sold for nigh on 4 months now, but there are no houses to buy around here (and I have a pretty decent budget) and our buyer is about to drop out from frustration.
We've found the perfect house. Detached (the Holy Grail for me), quiet road, huge garden and 4 minutes from the Central Line. It is, however, 3 stops out and....horror of horrors....in Essex proper. About a mile from official Greater London border. Vendors been stubborn over an unrealistic price and finally have come down to my offer subject to it moving quickly. Now it's come to the crunch and I can't do it (and am avoiding the agent's calls) so looking pretty stupid. That you can look over past the houses as you walk from the station and see green fields to the horizon, brings me out in a rash. Just over 30 mins to TCR by Tube (and 6 mins to where we live now) but I can't get my head around it. If I don't go ahead, we'll have to re-market the house and be back to square 1.
Can anyone sympathise? Has anyone moved outside the Capital and adjusted? Is there life after an Essex postcode? Is a Joey haircut and spray tan obligatory?
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In a nutshell. Only I do love the house - just can't stomach moving out. And as everyone is telling me, I won't get anything like it where we are now. It's the classic house over location dilemma. I've always yearned for a detached house, but can't stretch to the 1.5M that is needed for one in my current area.
I really after being told to get over myself ;-)
Location location location.
This is what I want to hear
Ok, I can't tell you what to do, but I can tell you what I would do if I was in that situation.
A house is the biggest purchase of all for just about all of us. I would never move to an area I was not happy with no matter how nice the house is. I would pull out and start all over again if I was having unsure thoughts about it all. There must be something that is really niggling you and making you have second thoughts.
Then again, I would make sure I wasn't making too much of a deal of moving out further and would spend the next few days or evenings to look again around the area of your nice detatched house to see if the area is really not to your tastes before finally making up your mind to pull out. You might actually like the area more than you realise yet.
But you should make sure either way 100% IMO.
if you are in zones 1-3, don't do it. you will feel like you've moved to mars.
If I didn't still work in The City, I doubt I'd bother going into London at all these days
I love London. ;-)
Central Line. As it is at the end of the prospective house's road - but different branch.
I've lived in zones 2 and 3 for many years, and Tower Hamlets doesn't appeal these days (though still love Bow). Same goes for Walthamstow. It's zone 4 where we are now, and the move would be to 5. But it's Essex....:o:D
If it's a nice house and you're not miles from decent restaurants and bars, you'll be fine.
Are there phrase books?
http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2020877 ;-)
It's not that scary outside of your protective shell. You might even find some clean air.
Still, if you're that apprehensive then don't move. I moved out of the London suburbs to the Sussex coast a few years ago and it's wonderful down here. Unless you want to catch a bus after 7pm.....but seriously it's all about feeling comfortable where you are - not your actual living space but the area you live in as a whole. I live very close to the sea now in a nice quiet area so I can hear the waves rolling across the pebbles at night time.
I feel exactly the same, I was born in City Road, grew up in Battersea, and lived in London for 50 years. I moved to Kent 26 years ago, and it was the best decision that I ever made. I really wouldn't have liked to grow old in London.
I couldn't care less if I ever went back, except that I am running in next year's London Marathon.
You must love taking a beating...because they are right!
i quite like various bits of tower hamlets - regents canal, lots of new developments there overlooking the water, the many victorian squares off the mile end road, cable street and the proper old old london bits towards the tower end,bow as you say is nice. the mayor is nuts though.
but, zone 5 is definitely still london, whatever the postal address. you've got the tube and you're definitely on the LT map. the zones go up to 9 i think so you're still basically in the inner city in zone 5...
We live rural though now and have done for decades, we love rural.
London has its charms in areas of it so I am told, I just feel I have never found those areas ;-):D
When is the last train? That should help to make up your mind.
Essex isn't that bad, actually. Of course, I say that as a beloved child of one parent living near Maldon for 20-odd years.
Yes, I moved from zone 4, nice and leafy to deepest Kent.
We're now moving back (no job choice, too far from London, completely different culture) but cant afford what we want in London (although we did find 2 places to buy but had to pull out due to problems). We have now found somewhere just inside the M25 but its officially outside London, although still has London buses at the end of the road.
Our buyer too is likely to pull out unless things move more quickly, it has taken the best part of a year and we still dont have a survey completed on our purchase. Its a nightmare to find somewhere so I would think carefully about pulling out unless you really cant stand it. If you're just outside the boundary, you're near enough.
Exactly, anyone would think he's currently living in Mayfair the way the OP goes on.