Moving to London!

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luxe

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Hi,

My wife has been offered a rather great inter company transfer from JHB to Central London, starting 1 July.

We are in the process of selling cars, getting tenants, cancelling expenses like gym, medical aid, DTSV etc and deciding what comes with.

All of this is very exciting but slightly tricky as both of us haven't been to London in a while, but we are well travelled and have been wanted to immigrate for a few years, so this is a positive change for us.

I am interested in families that have relocated either way for a recommendation on areas to look for flats? We are looking for a 2 bed flat to start in an area with good schools (not private at this stage of the game) and easy access to transport to stations near St. Pauls.

We are looking at areas like Fulham, Hammersmith, Islington, Limehouse, Battersea - have any of you have experience with these areas?

The deal is done, so we are off - which means comments about weather, bad teeth and no sunshine won't hinder us - we're really after some constructive advice if you have some to give?

Ta.
 
Move to Wimbledon/Southfields - most South Africans live there. Plus it has a nice suburby feel to it.
 
Ancalagon said:
Move to Wimbledon/Southfields - most South Africans live there. Plus it has a nice suburby feel to it.
Click to expand...

no, no, no....

those clicks of saffers are very often the ones you do not want to associate with. The ones that whine about the crime here, and how dreary it is there.
 
I wouldn't sign any long term rental agreements, you may decide that you'd prefer to live outside of London and commute - I know I did.
 
Venomous said:
no, no, no....

those clicks of saffers are very often the ones you do not want to associate with. The ones that whine about the crime here, and how dreary it is there.
Click to expand...

100% agreed.
Just one further thing to note, you might want to reconsider private school. The public schools are pretty shocking there
 
JStrike said:
100% agreed.
Just one further thing to note, you might want to reconsider private school. The public schools are pretty shocking there
Click to expand...
I would have no problem sending my kid to a good state school there, of which there are plenty.
 
JStrike said:
100% agreed.
Just one further thing to note, you might want to reconsider private school. The public schools are pretty shocking there
Click to expand...



That depends on the area. Also the catholic govt schools take a certain percentage not catholic kids.
They seem to be better than just the std govt schools, but still area dependend.
And do remember, you need to live in the right catchment area for the school you want the child(ren) to attend a specific school.
 
luxe said:
Hi,

My wife has been offered a rather great inter company transfer from JHB to Central London, starting 1 July.

We are in the process of selling cars, getting tenants, cancelling expenses like gym, medical aid, DTSV etc and deciding what comes with.

All of this is very exciting but slightly tricky as both of us haven't been to London in a while, but we are well travelled and have been wanted to immigrate for a few years, so this is a positive change for us.

I am interested in families that have relocated either way for a recommendation on areas to look for flats? We are looking for a 2 bed flat to start in an area with good schools (not private at this stage of the game) and easy access to transport to stations near St. Pauls.

We are looking at areas like Fulham, Hammersmith, Islington, Limehouse, Battersea - have any of you have experience with these areas?

The deal is done, so we are off - which means comments about weather, bad teeth and no sunshine won't hinder us - we're really after some constructive advice if you have some to give?

Ta.
Click to expand...

No advice as such but Congrats:D and enjoy and if you a soccer fan you in like flint :whistle:
 
Thanks.

We're going to avoid the Saffa areas for now to entrench ourselves in the culture and city life for a while.

We plan on a 6 month lease to start and have looked at various schools and the great OFSTED ratings the government supplies. We have looked carefully at the catchment areas and schools we would qualify for based on the areas we choose.

Bwana - agreed - we're going to give the city 6 months first to learn about London and decide from there if we should move out to the country.

Regarding schools - there are some fantastic " Government " schools which have performed consistently well year on year - some of them over 300 years old. One can by no means compare our Model C with theirs.
 
JStrike said:
100% agreed.
Just one further thing to note, you might want to reconsider private school. The public schools are pretty shocking there
Click to expand...
Rubbish. Just like South Africa there are bad school areas and good school areas.

Ancalagon said:
Move to Wimbledon/Southfields - most South Africans live there. Plus it has a nice suburby feel to it.
Click to expand...
Wimbledon is quite nice, but hordes of South Africans congregating together there does detract from the area.
 
Fulham, Islington and Battersea are all fairly pricey areas. If you are working in St Pauls area, you can look at commuting in from Hertfordshire (St Albans, Hatfield.) There is a direct train through to Blackfriars and/or Cannon St which takes about 1/2 hour and is a stones throw from St Pauls. The same line also goes through to Gatwick & Brighton so you could also look South of London.

I think you can take that most UK state schools are OK at worst. Many are excellent, the really bad schools are in the minority.
 
JStrike said:
100% agreed.
Just one further thing to note, you might want to reconsider private school. The public schools are pretty shocking there
Click to expand...

bwana said:
I would have no problem sending my kid to a good state school there, of which there are plenty.
Click to expand...

Just remember that in the UK a public school is not the same as a state school. A public school in the UK is private and generally expensive while a state school is what we would call a public school here - a state run school that is free in the UK
 
I'm currently paying £1500pm for a two bedroom flat in North Greenwich.

The proximity to Canary Wharf (where I work) puts the price up but that's about what you'd expect to be paying.
 
joelus said:
Just remember that in the UK a public school is not the same as a state school. A public school in the UK is private and generally expensive while a state school is what we would call a public school here - a state run school that is free in the UK
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That's why I used the term state school. It can get confusing otherwise.

Fwiw I went to public school in the UK though not because the state schools were bad in our area, in fact they were excellent.
 
bwana said:
That's why I used the term state school. It can get confusing otherwise.

Fwiw I went to public school in the UK though not because the state schools were bad in our area, in fact they were excellent.
Click to expand...

Indeed, I went to a state school and it was absolutely brilliant. Still miss those days.
 
luxe said:
We are looking at areas like Fulham, Hammersmith, Islington, Limehouse, Battersea - have any of you have experience with these areas?
Click to expand...

Be sure to look at Barnes as well - across Hammersmith bridge - I lived there for 3 years and loved it.
 
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