Possible to work in Woking and commute from Clapham?

 I am a young professional and I want to stay somewhere that is is lively and I can walk or take a short ride to clubs and bars.  Because of the location of the office, I will probably have to get a car.

1) How close to center of London can I live and also make it to the office in Working at a decent time.   I've read that Clapham is a good area for young professionals.  What would my commute be from the Clapham area to Woking, UK?

2) How much are rents for a 1 bed flat in that area?  I see on a website that it is 1000GBP for that area.  That is too low to be a month, I'm guessing thats a week?

3) Any other suggestions on lively places to live that I can make it to work in Woking at a decent travel time?  I live in Houston and currently used to driving  40 min. to work

1000 pounds per month, not week.

1) How close to center of London can I live and also make it to the office in Working at a decent time.   I've read that Clapham is a good area for young professionals.  What would my commute be from the Clapham area to Woking, UK?

A train from Clapham Junction to Woking (Main) takes about 30 minutes each way. Of course it would depend on the location of your office as to whether taking the train is feasible. Driving would probably be trickier though because of the rush hour traffic in and around London - Google maps estimates a journey time of 50 minutes by car (I'm assuming that's with no traffic though).

2) How much are rents for a 1 bed flat in that area?  I see on a website that it is 1000GBP for that area.  That is too low to be a month, I'm guessing thats a week?

It is per month, although it seems like quite a lot.. I'm used to prices in the south west of England though, so it's probably quite reasonable for London (1-bed flats near where I live are about £500-600 per month). We're currently paying £725 a month for a 2-bed flat in Exeter and last year we paid £1050 per month for a large 3-bed flat in a fairly pricey part of Bristol.

3) Any other suggestions on lively places to live that I can make it to work in Woking at a decent travel time?  I live in Houston and currently used to driving  40 min. to work

The nearest large town to Woking is Guildford, with 66,000 people (but it's south of Woking and isn't in London) - it's only about 7 miles from Woking. Not sure how lively it is though or what other areas of London might work for you.

Maybe I won't need a car after all. 

The office is very close to Woking Rail station.  Google says 15 minutes to walk, but it is giving me what seems to be a roundabout way of walking to the office near Broadway and Duke in Woking.  Maybe i could get there quicker then what google says.  I will find out when I do a business trip to the office later this month.

Unless I am misunderstanding something, looks like there is nonstop rides between Woking/Waterloo and Woking/Clapham.  Do you guys have some good suggestions on a site that will give estimated travel times using actual railway schedules?

just use the tfl site. it gives travel time estimations.
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/

I can chime in on rental prices since I just found a place in Clapham (just north of the Common, so I'll have a lovely walk through the Common to the tube station every day). One bed flats are nearly impossible to find at the low end of the price range, but it can be done with some persistence. I lucked out and liked the first place I saw in Clapham, despite it being unfurnished. I'm paying £225 per week, which is £975 per month. (General rule of thumb is 4.3 times per week rent gives per month rent.) Shelled out about £1,000 at IKEA for furnishings (including home delivery) and will be going to get a television today for under £300. I'm here for two years, so the money I'm saving by having negotiated the landlady down since the place was unfurnished will cover the cost of buying furniture. Finding a place for £1,000 per month in Clapham is possible, but if you can spend more than that, you should have it pretty easy. Just be sure to find out what the monthly rail cost is to your job so you know how much you'll be paying for that. Probably less than having a car, though! (I work in Central London and my fellowship sponsor pays for my tube pass, which helps a lot.)

In London right now, you cannot believe the property listings. Everything is gone before it even makes it online. If you're interested in Clapham, use Rightmove and FindaProperty to find estate agents covering Clapham (I used Keating Estates but also talked to Bushells and Black Katz) and start calling them every day to see what they have. Know what you're looking for and how much you can spend (give them the weekly rate), and they'll tell you if they have anything. If you see something and like it, you need to put in the offer right away. I was going to see some places last Monday, but by the time I got to the estate agent, two had already been put under contract (from morning to afternoon).

Unless I am misunderstanding something, looks like there is nonstop rides between Woking/Waterloo and Woking/Clapham.  Do you guys have some good suggestions on a site that will give estimated travel times using actual railway schedules?

You are right.  There are frequent non-stop trains between Woking and Clapham.  Go to www.nationalrail.co.uk to see actual schedules.  A fast train will get you there in just under 20 mins and the slower trains will take just under 30 mins.   The bonus of your journey would be that you are going the opposite direction of almost everyone else, so the trains will not be as busy as they would be if you were communting INTO London.

Thanks everyone for the advice.  I've seen some travel times using http://www.travelinesoutheast.org.uk [nofollow] from Leicester square area that range around 50 min.  This might let me live in central London.  I'll just need to take the rail to Waterloo and then catch the Waterloo train direct to Woking.

How is life living around the SOHO area?  I few of my female friends are going to an art school around there and love the area.  Am I going to hate the extra 20-30 min travel time totaling about an hour every morning?

What is the rain like in London?  Anything like the Houston downpours where everything you wear including your shoes get drenched?

 Am I going to hate the extra 20-30 min travel time totaling about an hour every morning?

I would.

What is the rain like in London?  Anything like the Houston downpours where everything you wear including your shoes get drenched?

Certainly can be.


You also may want to look into the cost of the train tickets (as well as the cost of living in Central London).  The season rail ticket alone will cost you thousands.  You'd be traveling on Southwest Trains - here's a season ticket calculator to give you an exact amount. 

In my opinion the extra 20-30 minutes commute will eventually take its toll on you. I work in a town outside of London to the north, but live in North London, making my commute fairly easy (similar to what you would have from Clapham to Woking).

Some colleagues live more centrally, west and south in London and their journeys are nightmares because they have to cross London on a packed tube and often need to change to get to the overland train station that takes them to work.

The time and expense can be considerable. Whether that’s a trade off you’re willing to make to live centrally only you can decide but another factor to consider is your budget for rent.

Mtkeller offered good advice about finding a flat and as s/he noted if finding a decent flat in Clapham for £1000 is challenging (though not impossible), it will be much more so in Soho, unless you are willing to share or take a bed-sit (room with shared kitchen and bathroom).  Soho is prime London, busy, central with restaurants, theatres, bars and clubs, the equivalent to (though not exactly the same as) Times Square in New York.

Have you looked a Wimbledon as a possibility?  It is a lively part of London, and only 28 minutes from Woking with trains every 30 minutes.  It is well connected to central London by tube, train and bus.

A quick check at rentals found quite a few rentals for £1000 a month (or less!).  Because Wimbledon is closer to Woking, you would be saving about £7 a week on your train fares, which in a year could save you around £350...enough for a fun city break in Europe!

I also agree with the posters above about keeping your commute to a minimum...especially in the winter, when you will be going to work and coming home in the dark.