Moving to the UK, where to live?

Hi all, I will be moving to England in the summer on a job transfer. I am a soon to be 31 year old single guy. Born and raised in Jamaica until I was 19, moved to Texas for college and lived there until now that I am about to give England a try.

The job will be in Marlow in Buckinghamshire which is an hour or so outside of London. There seem to be quite a few tech jobs out in Marlow, which leads me to believe that there should be more than a few people like me in a similar situation, i.e. unmarried, childless, professionals under 35. However after looking at some things on the internet about Marlow and talking to a few people, Marlow definitely doesn't look like the type of place that would cater to that crowd. So I have the following questions:

Should I try to find a place to live in London and commute to/from Marlow?
Should I get a place in Marlow and head into London on the weekends?
Is there a medium, i.e. a cool neighborhood somewhere in between that isn't too far a commute to Marlow (say 30 minutes), yet close enough to London for it not to be a weekend trip if I want to have some fun?

For the record here in Houston I currently live in the Midtown area of town, about 5 minutes from downtown, so it is pretty urban, mostly young professionals, lots of restaurants, bars, clubs, major sports stadiums close by, theatre district close by, and other similar neighborhoods 5 to 10 minutes away by car. I realize that an area like that in London will probably cost me the arm of my first born child, so I am not looking to replicate the lifestyle. But I also don't want to be stuck in a boring area that makes me which I never left the States after my first month living in England.

Suggest away!

I think Marlow is considered to be quite a nice area to live in and there are quite a few towns near it all of which will have varying degres of nightlife. It may be better to stay in Marlow initially and expolre the local area, London will still be easily accessible by train as well.

I've never been to Marlow, but from what I've found out online, it seems to be very similar to the town I grew up in in south west England (in terms of size, population, amenities etc.).

From census data, it would seem that the town is typically suburban, mostly populated by families with dependent children and by pensioners, with a fairly low proportion of young, single people (only 13% of households have just one adult, the other 87% consists of families with children, two adults living together and pensioners).

While Marlow does have several pubs and restaurants, it doesn't seem to have much of a nightlife apart from that. As far as I can tell, there are no bars, nightclubs or movie theatres in the town! I believe there is a small theatre that seems to host local amateur productions and shows and there are a few clubs and societies to join, but really, if you're looking for more of an adult-oriented social life (rather than family/child-oriented), you'd probably have to travel into London or to a different nearby town.

As english.bloke mentioned, there are other towns nearby with more amenities. High Wycombe is only 5 miles from Marlow, but has about 90,000 people (compared to 14,000 in Marlow); Reading is 25 miles to the south west and is even larger (143,000 people) and London is 33 miles to the east. 

Marlow is a gorgeous little market town on the river Thames. Property is very expensive however and it definitely does not have much in the way of nightlife, although there are some very nice pubs. It does have a nice community feel but is probably better for families than for a young, single guy who wants to be out and about and meeting people.

Someone mentioned Reading, which is nearby (is it really 25 miles? I would have thought it was about 12). It's a lot bigger and has a lot more going on (music, arts, sports) and is cheaper but in my opinion it's pretty ugly, fairly industrial and personally it would not be my first choice. Ditto Slough which is also near by, and only about 20 mins from London by train. Your other choices in that area are more small towns and villages, pretty and expensive: eg Henley, Maidenhead, Twyford, Cookham, Burnham.

Also, I forgot to say, if you are considering commuting from London, check the First Great Western trains site for train times etc.  I think there are some trains that go direct at peak communte rtimes but other times you need to change at Maidenhead and there is only one train an hour from there to Marlow ...

I wouldn't suggest Marlow to a young professional person, with such a great opportunity to live and work here.  A family yes, but once you get over the beauty of Buckinghamshire and all the lovely towns, you'll be ready for London.  I'm not sure if living in a multi cultural city or town is high on your list, but if it is then London should be your choice.

I'm thinking areas like Ealing, Hammersmith, or places close to Paddington station such as Notting Hill Gate, Bayswater, Maida Vale will have direct trains to Marlow.  Notting Hill Gate would be ideal.  It offers everything, art galleries, cafes restaurants, bars, night clubs, interesting places like Portobello Market.  It's on the door step of Central London and all it offers.  The main theatre district is in W1, SW1 , This way you can be out at all hours and not have to rush for a train to marlow, or miss your stop.  Another thing worth noting is that buses run all night in most of London.

Here is the website for First Great Western Trains.

http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Content.aspx?id=3 [nofollow]

Someone mentioned Reading, which is nearby (is it really 25 miles? I would have thought it was about 12).

When I looked it up on Google maps earlier, the driving directions said 25 miles, but I just tried again, and I got 19.8 miles instead  .

Someone mentioned Reading, which is nearby (is it really 25 miles? I would have thought it was about 12). It's a lot bigger and has a lot more going on (music, arts, sports) and is cheaper but in my opinion it's pretty ugly, fairly industrial and personally it would not be my first choice. Ditto Slough which is also near by, and only about 20 mins from London by train. Your other choices in that area are more small towns and villages, pretty and expensive: eg Henley, Maidenhead, Twyford, Cookham, Burnham.

Britwife is correct, Reading is closer than 25 miles to Marlow. I lived in Reading for 4.5 yrs (gasp!), my job was there. The town center has a lot going on but it is very ugly and overall its not a very friendly town. There is a lot of shopping which is good, great train links and Friar Street has alot of bars for the 20/30 somethings. You can expect a lot of vomit on the streets from the weekend. Add CHAV central to the immediate outlaying areas of the town and it all adds up to not a nice place to live. Oxford Rd is kind of scary as is the canal area. Plus its an expensive considering its not very nice.

All of that said, Reading does have a decent amount of tech jobs so you could live within commuting distance for a job and if you wanted to hit the bar/club scene on the weekends....just don't live there.

We live about 15-20 minutes from Marlow out near High Wycombe.  I'm not sure how suitable it is for what you describe.  If you had a family I'd definitely recommend it.  It has some nice restaurants and pubs/bars and the River Thames running through the town.

To be honest, I'd second somewhere like Ealing in West London which is meant to be quite good for young, single types, close enough to Central London with various Underground stations around but also near the A40/M40 which would whisk you out to Marlow (it's a couple miles off the M40).

Multimap says it's 27 miles or 34 minutes (not sure I believe that!) but if you're willing to drive it might be your best option.  The train service looks fairly woeful, the problem is Marlow station is on a branch line from Paddington, so you'd have to change at Maidenhead.  Branch lines don't always have the best service!  Maybe one every half hour or even 1 every hour.

Not sure where else to suggest, I'm sure there are some nice bits of further out West London although a lot of parts look quite drab or grim so it's worth having a good look around when you arrive here.

Oh, one other thought I had is Windsor, not sure what single 20/30 somethings make of the place?  It's not too far from Marlow and trains into London should be reasonably good.

Mattj74 -- Where do you live that is close to Marlow.  My DW and I are planning the move close to the end of the year and we are looking for places close to Marlow, that is where the in-laws live and we need to be pretty close. 
Are there any jobs, can you find a decent place to rent. I know that there are some affordable areas of High Wycombe, but we just don't know the sketchy/scary areas there. 
Thanks in advance

Wow thanks for all the detailed replies, I posted this at another forum and the only reply was "Live in Marlow, go to London on weekends".

So it sounds like finding something in West London and commuting by car may be the best bet.

How is commuting in England? In Houston commuting is the rule rather than the exception, most people work 20-40 minutes away from where they live. Right now I have an awesome reverse commute where I live in-town but my job is in the suburbs so as I fly out to the 'burbs on one side of the freeway in the mornings the otherside is clogged with people trying to get into the city, and vice versa on the way home.

Would a commute from West London to Marlow be along those lines?

Mattj74 -- Where do you live that is close to Marlow.  My DW and I are planning the move close to the end of the year and we are looking for places close to Marlow, that is where the in-laws live and we need to be pretty close.
Are there any jobs, can you find a decent place to rent. I know that there are some affordable areas of High Wycombe, but we just don't know the sketchy/scary areas there.

I'm about 20 minutes drive from Marlow between High Wycombe, Amersham and Beaconsfield.
Marlow is fairly pricey but I'm sure there are some more affordable areas.  Going up the hill from Marlow towards Wycombe will probably be cheaper.  There are sketchy areas of High Wycombe, it's one of the biggest towns around there.  While not a big fan of that side of Wycombe, Booker and Cressex probably aren't too bad.  You could head slightly further out to one of the villages like Lane End which is between Wycombe and Marlow.  The closer to the river, the more £££ you will pay!  We're on the northeast side of Wycombe which is a nice area.  I think there's some pharmaceutical companies and the like in Marlow.  Some guys I play tennis with work there but I don't know too well.  I work in London right now and around the South East and Midlands heading towards Birmingham depending on what project I'm on.  I haven't found work in my field in this specific area but a commute to London can be only 1 hour depending on where the workplace is.

Right now I have an awesome reverse commute where I live in-town but my job is in the suburbs so as I fly out to the 'burbs on one side of the freeway in the mornings the otherside is clogged with people trying to get into the city, and vice versa on the way home.

Would a commute from West London to Marlow be along those lines?

This would be a reverse commute going out the M4 or M40, I imagine most would be coming into London.  I haven't done it specifically but it sounds like a reasonable plan.  Given your requirements you might enjoy being closer in to London.  Maybe you could get a short term lease to see what it's like and if the commute is too much then move out closer to Marlow.

Awesome I have been looking at some places in Ealing and Chriswick, way more options than Marlow obviously. Google Maps say 25-28 miles at 35-40 minutes of driving depending on which property I chose. That's a bit longer than my commute now, but doable, also hopefully Google Maps is as conservative for the UK as the US and the actual drive will be more like 25-30 minutes.

Lots of things to wrap my head around, looks like a studio apartment is in my future, maybe even a car with a diesel, two things I'd never even consider over here haha, I surely won't be in Kansas (Texas) anymore when I make it across the pond.

Thanks again for the answers Matt! I'll be more frequent around here as I get closer to my move, this site has the best users.

31 year old single Jamaican in London? We should have dinner. 

I live in Ealing and love it! If you have any specific questions PM me.