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Croydon isn't fashionable, I get that. So you need to be happy paying a premium for a fashionable brand. That's all this piece is about, places where there is very high demand and a limited supply are very very expensive. I have my own 2 bedroom flat in a professional neighbourhood, no through road, so it's pretty much a private community. Paying under £700 a month on a standard variable rate mortgage (I could push it even lower switching mortgage providers). Looking out my living room window I see trees. In winter, I have views of Caterham valley. It's quiet and peaceful. This morning just the rustle of leaves and my clock ticking away. I'm surrounded by green, rarely hear traffic, a rumble of a train every now and again down the East Grinstead line. It's everything that London is not. So it's part of Croydon, zone 6. A choice of two train lines, decent access to London. The 40 minute commute each way is good for hacking away at a personal project, laying down foundations for next steps, bolstering/improving unit-test coverage. Granted, front-door-to-front-door, it costs me 11 hours to do an 8 hour day, but the time outside of that is all mine, in an environment conducive to lots of thinking and reflection, and coding zones. And earning less than colleagues doing the same role, I have a lot more disposable income as a single tech-guy working in London. Snub Croydon if you want, but you also chose to justify market prices of North London rent. That's why London has a series of commuter belts running parallel to the train lines. There's a tradeoff of cost, time and quality of life to be made. I quite like the southern parts of Croydon: South Croydon, Purley, Kenley, Warlingham, Caterham. Croydon has good parts and bad, both can change over time, as people living there slowly change. I'm in a once-family area that's mostly professional couples now. On the commuter belt into London. |
This right here is the reason I'm moving from Brixton (short tube commute) to Caterham/Warlingham/Whyteleafe next year (longer commute, better quality of life, cheaper rent).