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Places to live near UCL

Cami

Cami

New Member
So myself and another girl 23 will be moving to London to do our masters in UCL and LSE respectively, we have a budget of up to 2000 per month. We want to live in a safe and nice area within our budget that is nearish our uni's. I understand Camden and Kings Cross is near but I have heard that these places are notorious for drug use, prostitution and things like that. I also was told Elephant and Castle is a big NO NO as well as Shepard's Bush. Chelsea and Notting Hill is a bit far and out of budget. Which areas would you recommend?

Canada Water? St George's Wharf?

Thanks11
 
Cami said:
I understand Camden and Kings Cross is near but I have heard that these places are notorious for drug use, prostitution and things like that.
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London attracts affluent students from all over the world. A friend, who is lucky enough to have a flat in central London, let it while he went to live abroad for a year or so. He got some extraordinary amount of rent for it, something like 3000 quid a month. The tenants were Chinese students at the LSE.

As for the reputation of King's Cross... I believe there has been a clean up so it has changed since the days when, yes, it was very much a neighbourhood of prostitution and associated drug addiction, drug dealing, theft, and the sort of petty anti-social behaviour that upsets residents. However, I don't know how far away these problems have been pushed. Perhaps not very far. Maybe you can expect to find the same problems nearby, just no longer on the Euston Road.

I think if I were a 23-year-old Panamanian woman going to live in London I would have a strong preference for avoiding areas of street prostitution and drug-dealing too.

Cami,

I hope you enjoy your stay in London. London is more dangerous than some cities, but generally it's OK, as long as you are careful. Most of Camden is OK. Much of Islington is too and, IMO, the same is true of Hackney. But all those boroughs have some crime-ridden housing estates that are best avoided.

The difficulty in identifying good or bad areas is not only that neighbourhoods change, as some say KIng's Cross has changed, but also that London boroughs, eg, Camden, are quite big areas. There will be good spots and bad spots.

I would recommend not renting a flat until you are in London and have looked around. Find a cheap-ish hostel to stay in for a week or two and spend your time flat-hunting. When you find a flat that is tempting, don't say yes immediately. Spend an evening in the area, walk around, use the pubs, bars, cafes etc, walk around some more and talk to people who live in the area, before you decide if it's a good neighbourhood or a bad neighbourhood.
 
Manter said:
I smell troll
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How very u75 of you! Gawd, I hope I never become acculturated to this place.

If 'troll' means anything (I mean if it's anything more than a daft u75 way of saying I dislike this person or disagree with this person), it means a person who is trying to wind people up. I really don't think asking in a London forum about where to live in London is much of a wind-up.

Sure, when I was a student I did not have £1000 a month to spend on rent. Many years later, I still don't! However, I am well aware that many people in London do spend that or more each month on rent. London's bloody expensive. That's one reason so many people go to live elsewhere.

I am also well aware that some students in London, not least foreign students, are from rich families. I hate to think what the fees are for an overseas post-grad student at UCL. £'kinloads, I'm sure.

My rent at the moment is much less. I pay 320 euros a month. Nevertheless, there are plenty of people, not least students, who could not afford 320 euros a month. From the point of view of people who can't afford 320 euros a month, am I a troll?
 
JHE said:
How very u75 of you! Gawd, I hope I never become acculturated to this place.

If 'troll' means anything (I mean if it's anything more than a daft u75 way of saying I dislike this person or disagree with this person), it means a person who is trying to wind people up. I really don't think asking in a London forum about where to live in London is much of a wind-up.

Sure, when I was a student I did not have £1000 a month to spend on rent. Many years later, I still don't! However, I am well aware that many people in London do spend that or more each month on rent. London's bloody expensive. That's one reason so many people go to live elsewhere.

I am also well aware that some students in London, not least foreign students, are from rich families. I hate to think what the fees are for an overseas post-grad student at UCL. £'kinloads, I'm sure.

My rent at the moment is much less. I pay 320 euros a month. Nevertheless, there are plenty of people, not least students, who could not afford 320 euros a month. From the point of view of people who can't afford 320 euros a month, am I a troll?
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If you google any version of where to live in London/student/masters/safe places to live in London/ UCL/ luxury student accommodation etc that I can come up with, U75 doesn't come up. So 1. How did she find the site and 2. Having found the site, and looked at what else was on it, how did she decide it was the perfect place to ask her question?
 
Manter said:
If you google any version of where to live in London/student/masters/safe places to live in London/ UCL/ luxury student accommodation etc that I can come up with, U75 doesn't come up. So 1. How did she find the site and 2. Having found the site, and looked at what else was on it, how did she decide it was the perfect place to ask her question?
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Probably googled 'London hipster'.
 
JHE said:
Fuck sake, this is a public place. According to the figures on this site, more than 45,000 people have joined. How did we all find it?
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By looking for things like Brixton, or forum, or, y'know, things that come up in search results
 
Cami said:
So myself and another girl 23 will be moving to London to do our masters in UCL and LSE respectively, we have a budget of up to 2000 per month. We want to live in a safe and nice area within our budget that is nearish our uni's. I understand Camden and Kings Cross is near but I have heard that these places are notorious for drug use, prostitution and things like that. I also was told Elephant and Castle is a big NO NO as well as Shepard's Bush. Chelsea and Notting Hill is a bit far and out of budget. Which areas would you recommend?

Canada Water? St George's Wharf?

Thanks11
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I can strongly recommend hiding on the second floor of the Waterstones bookshop on Goodge Street. This has been a very popular place for students to live in recent years.
 
JHE said:
How very u75 of you! Gawd, I hope I never become acculturated to this place.

If 'troll' means anything (I mean if it's anything more than a daft u75 way of saying I dislike this person or disagree with this person), it means a person who is trying to wind people up. I really don't think asking in a London forum about where to live in London is much of a wind-up.

Sure, when I was a student I did not have £1000 a month to spend on rent. Many years later, I still don't! However, I am well aware that many people in London do spend that or more each month on rent. London's bloody expensive. That's one reason so many people go to live elsewhere.

I am also well aware that some students in London, not least foreign students, are from rich families. I hate to think what the fees are for an overseas post-grad student at UCL. £'kinloads, I'm sure.

My rent at the moment is much less. I pay 320 euros a month. Nevertheless, there are plenty of people, not least students, who could not afford 320 euros a month. From the point of view of people who can't afford 320 euros a month, am I a troll?
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Your ideas about trolling are a little quaint (unless your reply is a subtle troll in itself ;) ). You can't just go blasting into a forum to wind someone up these days; you have to be gentle about it. You want to arouse an interest, but not a suspicion. Provoke a reaction, but not one so strong as to get you banned instantly. An otherwise innocuous thread can be turned into a bunfight by just slipping in a little more information than is strictly necessary, or perhaps making a judgement on something you know people will react to - like the problems an area possesses.

I'm not saying cami is a troll, but it's definitely got the look of a troll thread, and it seems to have piqued the mods' interests, so there might be something to it.
 
Kings Cross was notorious in the 90s - I worked around there then - used to be prostitutes plying their trade outside the station, and herion users shooting up behind the town hall - it is nothing like that now - it has been cleaned up proper
 
Cami said:
So myself and another girl 23 will be moving to London to do our masters in UCL and LSE respectively, we have a budget of up to 2000 per month. We want to live in a safe and nice area within our budget that is nearish our uni's. I understand Camden and Kings Cross is near but I have heard that these places are notorious for drug use, prostitution and things like that. I also was told Elephant and Castle is a big NO NO as well as Shepard's Bush. Chelsea and Notting Hill is a bit far and out of budget. Which areas would you recommend?

Canada Water? St George's Wharf?

Thanks11
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Ilford is lovely. You'd like it there. Thornton Heath is pretty good too. If you fancy something a bit more central try Thamesmead.

HTH
 
I preferred Kings X in the 90s - despite all the issues - there were some great pubs then - most have now gone - The Flying Scotsman is probably the last reminder of the old Kings X

I'd recommend moving above the Flying Scotsman
 
Guys thanks for the input, I do not see how I came across as snobbish? Being a woman in a new city, one as London I would like to be safe. Is that a crime. Sorry if I offended anyone :(
 
i am trying to get a real perspective about London, from Londoners, not from what agents tell me. See Kings Cross as you tell me is completely different from what I thought.
 
But if you bothered to spend an iota of a second on google you'd have found it out for yourself.

You can't expect not to get negative responses when you post out dated bollocks.
 
Cami said:
Guys thanks for the input, I do not see how I came across as snobbish?
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Well, people who do live in Elephant and Castle or Shepherds Bush might be a bit offended at you turning your nose up at it because its a NO NO. There are very few no go areas in London, there will be good bits and bad bits and that is what makes London what it is, you won't be able to cushion yourself entirely from drug use or prostitution because they are realities of life. That said, LSE and UCL are in central london and therefore very well connected with the tube and train network, if you do want a cosy/safe/anodyne place to live I while you study the you could try the suburbs.

According to this search ( http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property...ertyType=flats&googleAnalyticsChannel=renting ) 2000/month would get you a small two bed right in the centre, near both universities (Holborn/Covent Garden) which would be nice for your social life but it is very busy. Really where you want to be living will depend on what you want to do with your spare time as there are nice tranquil green bits, more buzzy going out bits, and trendy hipster posing its to choose from.
 
JHE said:
London attracts affluent students from all over the world.....
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I was just going to say Clapham until I read your welcoming and helpful post and was reminded that we must not be so cynical and dismissive. Shame on us all.
Especially fogbat, extra shame for him.
 
Cami said:
Thank you!! What would be some nice green areas? And again sorry if i offended anyone.
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It really depends on how far you want to travel as London has lots of green space both north and south of the river, many within bus or tube reach of the centre. Sorry I can't be more helpful but you're not giving us very much to go on.
 
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