Pro's & Cons of London

[TelesMedia]

Please forgive me if you're not a londoner.

Just wondered what the pro's and con's of working in London are. Im thinking of moving my office to central london to be in the mix with bigger potential clients but never having been needed to work in London i wondered what people's thoughts were.

Ive covered the social aspect already

Thanks

 

Consider Greater London rather than Central London. It's cheaper to run a business there, cheaper for your employees to rent and buy property there, the air quality is better, and you can come into the city when you need.

 

[IANL]

Depends what you mean as London.

Many people in London live in the Home counties, Surrey, Bucks, Essex etc.

Surbiton is the classic commuter place. 20min by train to central London but alot cheaper to rent office in and around the area than in the Centre

 

[thetime22]

If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.. oh wait.. thats New York! What's London's catch phrase... the city that never sleeps? Wait thats New York too.. What is London's?

 

[abnathan]

Rates are cheaper outside central London and also the cost of travel is sickening getting to and from the centre. If you need to see clients you could always brave the tube/train as and when you need to.

I moved up to Manchester recently and can see immediately the difference in prices. I once got a return to Bolton for £3.50! Made my day that.

 

[virtuallysorted]

I lived between London and Glasgow for a while running my business, although I'm pretty much back in Glasgow now.

What I found about working down there is that whilst the facilities are superb (British Library is one of my fave places ever!), I'd not recommend it for start ups. The reason being you are one of 7 million people, so there's more competition for press, funding, space, limited resources etc.

And if you are thinking of expanding and hiring staff the costs are extortionate and they don't stay long because no one really wants to live in Lond, especially not on an admin salary - it's not fun, I did it for 5 years prior to starting my business!

Presuming you aren't either starting up or hiring, there's still an element of wear and tear on you too. For example, if you are working from home (and that is most likely since office space is extortionate) the isolation and cabin fever really does get to you. Plus everything takes about 3 times as long, which for an entrepreneur whose time is money, is a disaster. E.g. Supermarket shop here can be done in 20 mins because I have a car, there's parking, I do it once a week because I can load it up. Supermarket shopping in London has to be done in dribs and drabs since you mostly wouldn't have a car in Central London and it takes maybe 10-15 mins walk each way, never mind the shopping. Same thing for seeing friends - in Glasgow it take me a maximum of 20 mins to get anywhere, but in London to visit friends I might have to travel up to an hour to meet up - you're losing time and so you make the effort less often, and become isolated pretty quickly.

What really broke the camel's back though was house-sitting a huge house in Fulham for the summer. I had 5 bedrooms, a garden, a cleaner, a car - right next to the park and the lazy River Thames. Realistically this was the best the London could offer its residents. I still found it deeply tedious and decided to get out - never regretted the decision!

In short, to entice me back to London I would need to be being paid at least £30k more than I am at the moment in order to have the same quality of life I have here. Up to you though.... Sometimes you have to live the reality for yourself.

A better idea would be to commit to being in London maybe 2 days per month - make all your meetings during those two days, stay in a nice hotel where you can host people for meetings, attend some networking events... But it'll still work out cheaper and more effective than living there.

 

[danielmeade]

The Pro's... You'll be in a location that could no doubt benefit your business (There are over 1,580,000 UK enterprises based in London and the south-east).
London is an area easily accessible by international clients, likewise it is easy for you to travel to clients / partners abroad.

The Con's... It's an expensive area. The traffic will drive you nuts, and the public transport isn't to anyone's liking.

 

[virtuallysorted]

If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.. oh wait.. thats New York! What's London's catch phrase... the city that never sleeps? Wait thats New York too.. What is London's?

Tube hell?
"If you are tired of London, you are tired of life" - bit depressing that, as otherwise huge swathes of commuters would be committing suicide every morning... um, actually thinking of all the "person on the line" announcements... And you REALLY know you are a Londoner when instead of feeling sadness and compassion, you just get really irritated that you're going to be late!

I'm sure Boris could come up with something interesting - I think Boris is the one thing about London I really like! How refreshing to have someone who screws up and then just admits it, rather than trying to be smooth.

 

[ludachris]

Live in surrey, commuting into london is always hell! but it really is beneficial. I get on at Weybridge and im at Waterloo within half an hour, its hell because i spend the trip with my face implanted on someone's armpit due to overcrowding.

I suggest you avoid central and get a place in greater London or the home counties.

 

[leemason]

I've lived in East Sheen for 11 years now. It's in SW London and I really like the area. It's far enough out to get away from Central London but not so far as to have to get the Train which in London is always hell! It takes 20 minutes on the bus to get to Hammersmith and there are three tube lines there. It's right next to Richmond Park which for me is one of the best places ever! Also it's an area where the people are actually quite friendly (against the London stereotype).

One big problem with London is the cost. And this is the cost of anything from accommodation to buying lunch. Accommodation is especially expensive inc. offices. Business rates are very expensive (as is the community charge in many areas - especially Richmond which we pay ours to).

On the plus side public transport is actually a lot better that anywhere else I have been in the country. There is always a bus, train, or tube to get you anywhere (albeit very crowded in rush hour).