London housing recommendations

[David Cantrell]

On Mon, Oct 23, 2006 at 11:22:51AM -0700, Ovid wrote:

> Since my company is relocating the Nottingham offices just west of
> London, I have to consider moving there.  This is apparently near where
> I'll be working (about 15 miles west of the center of London, depending
> upon how you want to count it):
> 
> http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=ub11+1ba&ie=UTF8&om=1&z=17&ll=51.50913,-0.437211&spn=0.002945,0.010225&t=k&iwloc=A

I find streetmap.co.uk more useful than google maps for seeing where
something is and what's near it as it has OS maps.  Google maps is only
really useful for route finding and making queries like "pubs near WC1A
2BA".

> I'm seeing some reasonable housing prices around there, but for all I
> know, it could be in one of the most hellish slums of London.  That
> worries me.

It's very near Heathrow, so will be noisy.  Hayes and Hillingdon are not
too bad, and as they're not directly under the flight path the noise
will be less and they don't stink of jet fuel.

> I think I'd prefer to live in London proper, despite the commute times.

Hayes and Harlington station, which is the station ESE of that postcode,
is twenty minutes from Paddington, so that shouldn't be a problem.

http://journeyplanner.tfl.gov.uk and http://ojp1.nationalrail.co.uk/
will be useful.

>  Can anyone recommend decent areas to live ...

Hayes, Hillingdon, Uxbridge, Ealing.  Southall might be OK too.
Somewhat further afield in travelling time, Egham, Richmond, Twickenham,
Windsor, Putney are all OK, although somewhat expensive.  Do not under
any circumstances consider Slough, Maidenhead, Hounslow or Feltham.

> Heck, if you can just recommend a good housing agent, that would be
> great, too.

They all suck.  Every single one of them.  I'd just get up early (ugh)
and buy a copy of Loot and start phoning around the private landlords.
Don't bother doing this until about six weeks before you move at the
absolute earliest.

-- 
David Cantrell | Official London Perl Mongers Bad Influence

    I caught myself pulling grey hairs out of my beard.
    I'm definitely not going grey, but I am going vain.