Where to live in the UK? | Expat Arrivals

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on 2 Feb 2017

Dear All, I might be moving to UK soon and have no idea where would be the best location to stay at. I'll be working near Gatwick Airport and my husband will be working near Braknell station. I've been looking for places in Battersea because that's where Clapham junction station is (which as per google is midway between both our jobs). Need your advice if that would in fact be the best place to stay (given that we'll be depending mostly on public transportation). Thanks

Anonymous (not verified) on 3 Feb 2017 - 14:50

hi, depending on your earnings, anywhere inside of the M25 (which is the circular motorway that surrounds London) is generally really really expensive. The M25 will probably dictate your location as traffic on the stretch between Gatwick and Heathrow is notoriously busy, can take up to an hour to travel 2 miles in some cases, and that's just weight of traffic. The public transport thing will also have a major say too as train fares in the UK are extortionate and the train system is often unreliable, especially when using southern rail which would certainly do the route from London down to Gatwick. Don't mean to sound such a pessimist but that really is the reality, if you both had driving licences I'd say somewhere like the town of Leatherhead would be good as its a nice area and the houses prices get bigger as you go further North around the M25. Good Luck with everything!

Anonymous (not verified) on 6 Feb 2017 - 19:04

Thanks a lot for your reply. We do have driving licenses but weren't looking to buy a car since we're yet to relocate so purchasing a car/driving will take sometime to prepare for. That's why staying in a place where public transport to/from work is available is really important at the beginning at least. I'm looking for something around the range of 2000-2500, I've found a lot of nice options around Clapham station but what I don't know is whether or not there's another location with good transportation to both Gatwick and Braknell, and nice surroundings at the same time - Clapham was really Google's idea :) Best Regards, Esraa

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