Londoners: SW or SE?

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  • richVSrich
    richVSrich Posts: 527
    I'm SW at the moment (been here for a few years now too) and it is really nice...i think its quite chilled out and more green (clapham common, wandsworth common, richmond park).. but when the time comes i cant really afford anything decent down here and was thinking of shifting to SE!

    sydenham, penge, crystal palace - mainly for transport options if i wasnt cycling (touch wood!)..but dont really know the area...any comments?

    though, most of my mates live angel / islington and they would probably try and make me move north! :S
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  • t4tomo
    t4tomo Posts: 2,643
    Headhuunter wrote:
    I wouldn't want to have to commute by train from the country at huge annual cost... If I want to go to the country, as Matt points out, I just jump on my bike from zone 2 SE London you're in Kent in about 45 mins....

    The cheaper property costs normally more than offsets the commuting cost HH, can't quite match your 25 mins commute though.

    Plus side is I jump on my bike and I'm in the Herts countryside in 3 minutes!

    I have kids mind, which makes a big difference I think to the do you want to live in London / out of London debate.

    BTW what type of Heads do you hunt? Anything going for a brilliant FD / CFO?
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  • Headhuunter
    Headhuunter Posts: 6,494
    t4tomo wrote:
    Headhuunter wrote:
    I wouldn't want to have to commute by train from the country at huge annual cost... If I want to go to the country, as Matt points out, I just jump on my bike from zone 2 SE London you're in Kent in about 45 mins....

    The cheaper property costs normally more than offsets the commuting cost HH, can't quite match your 25 mins commute though.

    Plus side is I jump on my bike and I'm in the Herts countryside in 3 minutes!

    I have kids mind, which makes a big difference I think to the do you want to live in London / out of London debate.

    BTW what type of Heads do you hunt? Anything going for a brilliant FD / CFO?

    Yeah, I suppose property is cheaper and if I had kids I would probably live further out. I hunt head in investment banking. CFOs and FDs are not really my speciality, we're more into traders, salespeople, structurers etc in the FICC world.... Sorry!
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  • dhope
    dhope Posts: 6,699
    HamishD wrote:
    dhope wrote:

    SE at the moment means Greenwich. Okay, Greenwich East. Fine, Charlton.

    Ha! :lol:

    My SE is Blackheath. Well, West Blackheath. Ok then Hither Green. Actually nearer Catford . . . :)

    :D Two years ago I moved into Greenwich proper, in the poncy bit, Ashburnham Triangle. Then housemate bought somewhere nearby so I moved to Maze Hill to take up his spare room, then his missus moved in so I moved a mile away to where a couple of friends lived in Charlton. So it used to be Greenwich but it's drifted a couple of miles.
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  • jonny_trousers
    jonny_trousers Posts: 3,588
    I love SE, but from a cycle commuting perspective, too many careless, aggressive, selfish drivers for my tastes. Once I make my fortune I'm off!
  • Headhuunter
    Headhuunter Posts: 6,494
    Jonny_Trousers wrote:
    I love SE, but from a cycle commuting perspective, too many careless, aggressive, selfish drivers for my tastes. Once I make my fortune I'm off!

    Really? I find that the roads are generally wider in SE London, often with big old bus lanes, like the Old Kent Road. North London is a lot older having been originally built up in medieval times so the roads are generally narrower and cycling is more frenetic. I cycled from Chancery Lane out to Harrow last week and it wasn't exactly a pleasant route with narrow A roads, parked cars, lots of traffic etc... Not to mention enormous dual carriageway stretches like the Western Way or whatever it's called...
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  • roger_merriman
    roger_merriman Posts: 6,165
    i'd be wary of generalisations, from SE london to SW edge to edge is some 30 miles, unless you take some 150 year old postcodes as, geographical marker.

    work out what you want and what you can afford I guess.

    I live about as far SW london as you can get, so I have a short commute though parks etc.

    i have local shops etc, but good links into london or out to the hills and friends/family.

    quite a number in my local bike club commue into central london. don't discount the edges there can be hidden gems.
  • dhope
    dhope Posts: 6,699
    Right. SW it is. It's been nagging.

    Benefits of SE are that I don't have to do anything to stay there.
    Benefits of SW are that I'd quite like to move there.

    Besides, I can always move back :lol:
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  • Headhuunter
    Headhuunter Posts: 6,494
    dhope wrote:
    Right. SW it is. It's been nagging.

    Benefits of SE are that I don't have to do anything to stay there.
    Benefits of SW are that I'd quite like to move there.

    Besides, I can always move back :lol:


    Nooooooo!!!!!
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  • nich
    nich Posts: 888
    Headhuunter wrote:
    dhope wrote:
    Right. SW it is. It's been nagging.

    Benefits of SE are that I don't have to do anything to stay there.
    Benefits of SW are that I'd quite like to move there.

    Besides, I can always move back :lol:


    Nooooooo!!!!!

    He can't hang with the SE SCR massiv innit 8)
  • jzed
    jzed Posts: 2,926
    Deciding factor for SW is the Morpeth is on the way home.
  • rjsterry
    rjsterry Posts: 29,377
    Or you could go for just plain S. Much more affordable than SW, within 15 minutes ride of actual countryside with proper hills (not the ersatz stuff in RP). Downsides: nowhere near as trendy and happening as zones 1-3
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  • dhope
    dhope Posts: 6,699
    nich wrote:
    Headhuunter wrote:
    dhope wrote:
    Right. SW it is. It's been nagging.

    Benefits of SE are that I don't have to do anything to stay there.
    Benefits of SW are that I'd quite like to move there.

    Besides, I can always move back :lol:


    Nooooooo!!!!!

    He can't hang with the SE SCR massiv innit 8)

    I've never seen any of the SE massiv while commuting. You all keep avoiding me clearly 8)
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  • kieranb
    kieranb Posts: 1,674
    Well, too late now, but crystal palace would be a great location, good travel connections, near to herne Hill velodrome and in the summer the crits at CP, not far from the North Downs either. You have the local hills to train on and are near to Dulwich Park, Sydenham woods and Crystal Palace park itself, with its sports centre and olympic sized pool.
  • Sewinman
    Sewinman Posts: 2,131
    I lived in Blackheath once. Lovely place, but I like to go West quite often and found I was trapped over there. That is why lots of Welsh people live near Twickenham - end of the M4!
  • dhope
    dhope Posts: 6,699
    kieranb wrote:
    Well, too late now, but crystal palace would be a great location, good travel connections, near to herne Hill velodrome and in the summer the crits at CP, not far from the North Downs either. You have the local hills to train on and are near to Dulwich Park, Sydenham woods and Crystal Palace park itself, with its sports centre and olympic sized pool.

    Lived in Anerley for 20 years, don't fancy CP. as an area. Good for training certainly though.
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  • Sewinman
    Sewinman Posts: 2,131
    p.s. Balham can never be classed as SW - it is the 'Gateway to the South!'. :lol:
  • roger_merriman
    roger_merriman Posts: 6,165
    Sewinman wrote:
    I lived in Blackheath once. Lovely place, but I like to go West quite often and found I was trapped over there. That is why lots of Welsh people live near Twickenham - end of the M4!

    ha snap well m3 for me.

    the other thing for me is living where I do I have access to swinley and north downs for mild MTBing.
  • bobinski
    bobinski Posts: 570
    kieranb wrote:
    Well, too late now, but crystal palace would be a great location, good travel connections, near to herne Hill velodrome and in the summer the crits at CP, not far from the North Downs either. You have the local hills to train on and are near to Dulwich Park, Sydenham woods and Crystal Palace park itself, with its sports centre and olympic sized pool.

    +1
    I am in Herne Hill and have a niceish commute into town through Brockwell park and then bus and bike lanes all the way into Town.
    At the weekends there are hoards of cyclists heading off from the velodrome into the wilds of Kent. Lots to recommend this part of sw london.
  • HamishD
    HamishD Posts: 538
    Is Herne Hill/Dulwich SE or SW? as pointed out earlier it all gets a bit blurry . . .

    Where's the dividing line? I would say (arbitrarily) on a line North/South from the Horniman on the South Circ . . . :?:
  • bobinski
    bobinski Posts: 570
    HamishD wrote:
    Is Herne Hill/Dulwich SE or SW? as pointed out earlier it all gets a bit blurry . . .

    Where's the dividing line? I would say (arbitrarily) on a line North/South from the Horniman on the South Circ . . . :?:

    Good question!

    Road where i live is on Herne Hill/ brixton border and has an sw postcode and postie tells me its categorised as Herne hill. Tell people not to address letter to "brixton". Doesnt make much odds to me but i suspect closer you get to Herne Hill station/Dulwich it becomes SE...
  • DonDaddyD
    DonDaddyD Posts: 12,689
    Both have their plus points and negative points.

    SW benefits from the underground. SE benefits from it's direct access to the city.

    I prefer SW.
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  • cjcp
    cjcp Posts: 13,345
    bobinski wrote:
    HamishD wrote:
    Is Herne Hill/Dulwich SE or SW? as pointed out earlier it all gets a bit blurry . . .

    Where's the dividing line? I would say (arbitrarily) on a line North/South from the Horniman on the South Circ . . . :?:

    Good question!

    Road where i live is on Herne Hill/ brixton border and has an sw postcode and postie tells me its categorised as Herne hill. Tell people not to address letter to "brixton". Doesnt make much odds to me but i suspect closer you get to Herne Hill station/Dulwich it becomes SE...

    SE.

    @dhope - you've done the right thing. There are also more hours of sunlight per year in SWL than SEL.*






    *This may not be true.
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  • Obie
    Obie Posts: 51
    Eerrrr........ DHOPE, Looking at your map it seems I live a few doors from you. That is just weird......never see anyone else ride to and from work in my street.

    Anyway....Stay SE, its cheaper, less crowded, Greenwich is still pretty hip, Kent hills 10 min ride away and can be at the coast in 40 mins!! No brainer really.
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  • turnerjohn
    turnerjohn Posts: 1,069
    Jonny_Trousers wrote:
    I love SE, but from a cycle commuting perspective, too many careless, aggressive, selfish drivers for my tastes. Once I make my fortune I'm off!

    Not just the South East am affraid !
  • PinkPedal
    PinkPedal Posts: 180
    I'm considering the opposite move towards the end of the year - Clapham to Crystal Palace area. Where I live is great (especially easy access to Richmond Park and superfast embankment commute, tube for when I need it, tooting lido near , green spaces, etc) but it looks as though for not that much more than I pay for a shared flat I could rent a place myself in SE!! I do love SW though, it's very nice, I just wish it wasn't quite so pricey. I don't think you'll regret trying it dhope.

    Would it be crazy to commute back through Clapham and along embankmnet from SE??
  • richVSrich
    richVSrich Posts: 527
    PinkPedal wrote:
    I'm considering the opposite move towards the end of the year - Clapham to Crystal Palace area. Where I live is great (especially easy access to Richmond Park and superfast embankment commute, tube for when I need it, tooting lido near , green spaces, etc) but it looks as though for not that much more than I pay for a shared flat I could rent a place myself in SE!! I do love SW though, it's very nice, I just wish it wasn't quite so pricey. I don't think you'll regret trying it dhope.

    Would it be crazy to commute back through Clapham and along embankmnet from SE??

    can you let me know what its like?? :) was thinking that exactly for the same reasons, though a bit further down the line...and probably a little east / north east of CP..maybe sydenham for the transport access..
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  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    Give us a shout if you're going to rarr rarr Fuhlaarm land.
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  • DonDaddyD
    DonDaddyD Posts: 12,689
    PinkPedal wrote:
    I'm considering the opposite move towards the end of the year - Clapham to Crystal Palace area. Where I live is great (especially easy access to Richmond Park and superfast embankment commute, tube for when I need it, tooting lido near , green spaces, etc) but it looks as though for not that much more than I pay for a shared flat I could rent a place myself in SE!! I do love SW though, it's very nice, I just wish it wasn't quite so pricey. I don't think you'll regret trying it dhope.

    Would it be crazy to commute back through Clapham and along embankmnet from SE??

    That's because everyone wants to live in Clapham so it demands a higher price. If you live in surrounding arears like Balham, Tooting, Colliers Wood or Morden, which are no more than a couple miles from Clapham (Morden is a little further) I think you'll find the prices more agreeable.

    You will also be able to do exactly all the things you enjoy now and be closer to Kingston, Richmond Park, Surrey and lovely green spaces.
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  • rolf_f
    rolf_f Posts: 16,015
    Leeds :lol:
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