One of the most common questions asked by those moving to London is what are the best London neighborhoods to live in.  Obviously there is no exact answer as every family values different elements of neighborhood life differently.  There are, though, some London neighborhoods that are quite popular with Americans moving to London.  One of them is Notting Hill.

Made famous by the 1999 movie starring Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts there is good reason for this lovely neighborhoods to be adored by all who live there.  Americans love Notting Hill because it embodies all that we have come to think of as British. There are lovely Victorian homes lining roads and beautifully appointed and maintained gardens throughout.  Even within the city it is considered one of the most beautiful of London neighborhoods.

While Notting Hill is, by all means, beautiful the price tags for houses is outrageously high keeping all but the very affluent from purchasing them.  Those who cannot afford one of the most expensive London neighborhoods can still enjoy a day spent at some of Notting Hill’s famous locations.

As one of the largest antique markets in the world every American moving to London should take at least one day to visit Portobello Market.  With hundreds of vendors Portobello Market is thriving and almost anything can be found for those with the patience to look.  Every Saturday vendors bring their goods to sell to the public.  For the rest of the week shops are open for business. Portobello Market puts Notting Hill on the map of one of the most visited London neighborhoods.

Notting Hill is also home to high end fashion boutiques and quaint restaurants lining the streets.  Residents living there these days are thought of as quite cosmopolitan.  There may not be a more picturesque area of London as seen when walking the streets of one of America’s favorite London neighborhoods.  After a stressful move from the States a lovely spring Saturday spent wandering the streets of Notting Hill, one of the best loved London neighborhoods, is just what one needs.

Author:  Colleen

Welcome back if you’re planning an international relocation to the UK and wondering where to stay before you officially move into your London apartment rental. In my previous two posts on the topic, I’ve been discussing how before you can actually live in London in a fixed location, you need to spend some time here while you look for said property. In Part 2 of this series, I listed off some value London hotels to consider if you only need a few days of temporary accommodation (which the London Relocation agency makes absolutely possible given their one-day guaranteed flat-finding service!)

You might, however, be considering a longer stay here before letting a long-term London apartment. Your London Relocation agent will help you find a London flat to rent in only one day, yes, but perhaps you’re also looking and/or interviewing for jobs in London.  Or maybe you simply want to make a proper holiday of visiting the city in advance of your London move. In that case, here’s a few serviced apartment options that you can rent for one or more weeks:

Apartment Services (Bloomsbury) – www.apartment-services.co.uk
Grand Plaza Serviced Apartments (Notting Hill) – grand-plaza-apartments.h-rez.com
Presidential Apartments (Kensington and Marylebone) – www.presidentialapartments.co.uk
Studios 2 Let (Bayswater, Notting Hill, Bloomsbury, Euston, Kensington, Fulham, West Kensington, Pimlico, Hampstead) – www.studios2let.com

Other services for finding short-let London apartments include:

The Apartment Service – www.apartmentservice.com
Book Apartments in London – www.bookapartmentsinlondon.co.uk
Check-in-London.com – www.check-in-london.com
Prestige Apartments – www.prestigeapartments.co.uk

And for even cheaper rates if, rather than a serviced apartment, you’re willing to rent a bedroom in a shared apartment, here are resources for searching London flat shares:

Flatshare.com 
Spareroom.co.uk

The obvious perq of renting a serviced apartment in London versus a hotel is having a kitchen, laundry facilities, and basically all the amenities of a London apartment that you’d actually live in long-term (and some are probably even better if they include housecleaning services!). If needing temporary housing for over a week, the cost might prove a better value than a hotel’s nightly rate. It’s up to you to gauge time frame and budget for your visit. These London apartments and hotels are also just good to know about for when you have visitors to put up after your relocation to London!

Related articles

• Relocation to London – Accommodating for Your Accommodation (londonrelocationservices.com)

Author:  Colleen

Finding temporary accommodation for searching London apartments - London Relocation Services - Image via Wikipedia

Hope your weekend has been fun but also productive as you plan your relocation to London. As I mentioned in my previous post on finding London accommodation for before you actually move into your new London apartment, a lot comes down to timing your trip over to find London apartments to rent and how long you can afford to stay in temporary housing.

Well, obviously the next important consideration is where to stay, and while it’s essentially impossible to provide you an exhaustive list of all the London hotels available to you in this huge city, I thought I could at least give you a list of some good values (you know, in case you’re reluctant to go the Ritz Carlton or Dorchester route):

Easy Hotel (Earls Court, Paddington, South Kensington, Victoria, Heathrow) – www.easyhotel.com
Enterprise Hotel (Earls Court) – www.enterprisehotel.co.uk
Hotel Bluebells (Notting Hill) – www.hotelbluebells.com
Imperial Hotels (Bloomsbury) – www.imperialhotels.co.uk
Mayflower Hotel & Apartments (Earls Court) – www.mayflowerhotel.co.uk
Pavilion Hotel (Hyde Park) – www.pavilionhoteluk.com
Sanctuary House Hotel (Westminster) – www.fullershotels.com
Tune Hotel (Westminster)- www.tunehotels.com
Umi Hotel (Bayswater) – umihotellondon.co.uk

While Easy Hotel is available in a few different London locations (and Imperial London Hotels offer six different hotels in Bloomsbury that range in price), lest we forgot some of the bigger, well-known chains:

Best Western – www.bestwestern.co.uk
Holiday Inn Express – www.hiexpress.com
Premier Inn – www.premierinn.com
Travelodge – www2.travelodge.co.uk

To expand on what you see above, you can also search for good London hotel rates at the following:

Superbreak.com
Travelocity

Stick with me for another follow-up post on London accommodation to consider if you’re interested in visiting London for more than a few days prior to your official international relocation.

Related articles

• Relocation to London – Accommodating for Your Accommodation (londonrelocationservices.com)

Relocation UK- Notting Hill Festival 2011 - Image by The Style PA via Flickr

Each year Europe’s biggest street fair takes place right on the west side of London in the streets of Notting Hill.  With Caribbean flair and thousands of elaborate costumes, the streets of Notting Hill come alive.  The festival that runs August 28th  and 29th is the biggest street fair in England.  With many vendors (hundreds literally) selling tropical and ethnic flair food, parades, and up to 40,000 volunteers the Notting Hill Festival of 2011 will be going strong this year.

The street fair runs the full twenty miles and boasts over 40 major sound systems to keep the music flowing and inspire a positive atmosphere for the festival. A sort of musical backdrop if you will.  It is expected that like years previous London with produce over 1 million street fair attendees. Your London relocation agents can give you more information on the festival and the best ways to attend so that you hit all the major highlights of this year’s event.

Started years ago as an Indian event, it has morphed over the years into a true Carribean flair that begins with the musical events on the Saturday before Monday’s bank holiday, August 27th.  The steel drum musical competition is held on Saturday, with kid’s day being on Sunday, and Monday reserved for adults.

The streets will close by 9:00 am and the festivities end each night around 9:00 pm.  Previous years have shown that the northern entrances are quite busy and it is advised that participants enter in a southern point.  Starting on the  Great Western Road, the parade then will pass by Chepstow Road, and follow along Wesbroune  Grove, and then on to Ladbroke Grove. Later in the evenings there are quite a few activities to attend.

Around adult only after hours times, one will find many all-night party clubs and celebrations. In the evening, the floats leave the streets in procession, and people carry on just continue to party at the many Notting Hill Carnival after parties. Relocation UK is so much fun in attending the local London events.

Relocation to London – Fabulous Food - Image by Cam Pervan via Flickr

Relocation to London is not just about work, finding an apartment and opening a bank account. If you’re really smart you’ll let other people organize those details for you, so that you’re free to explore the city when you arrive.

Food and Cuisine are an important part of living in London. Many people in the city choose to eat out a couple of times a week. There are hundreds of top restaurants and eateries in the city and you can sample food from every corner of the globe in one weekend.

Instead of rushing through a quick meal at your local restaurant, plan your culinary tours carefully. Spend some time over the weekends exploring different parts of London and a range of restaurant types. During the summer there are a number of food festivals in London and you’ll have to keep a good look out for restaurants hosting special events.

On Sunday 14 August 2011, 69 Colebrooke Row will be hosting a traditional Italian festival called “Ferragosto” Billed as “50’s Italian meets Coney Island Cool, this is an event not to be missed. Families are welcome until 7pm and there is something for everyone to enjoy. Food, music, aperativo drinks and a whole lot of Italian style in a modern London setting.

The end of august and the beginning of September are just about the best time of year for food lovers. It is the start of a season of sorts. New chefs are being launched, new winter menus are created and of course Grouse is beginning to be seen on the menus of the top London restaurants. The start of the game season is the chance to really enjoy the start of autumn and the coming of the winter months.

August may be the perfect time to enjoy London. It is hot and sunny during the day, and yet the weather is starting to turn just a little during the evenings. It is a time of change and you will be able to enjoy the lowering of prices from the tourist traps of summer.

Relocation to London in August leaves you  a few weeks before the schools start the year in September, and everyone has to go back to work again. It’s a breather and a chance to discover a little more about your new home before the dark days of winter arrive.

Moving to London – Think about Where you want to Stay.- Image via Wikipedia

If you’re moving to London and your London relocation agents are on the hunt to help you find a place, then it’s always handy if you have a basic idea of what you’re looking for. That’s assuming that you haven’t gone over to get a firsthand view of what’s available. There are a number of areas for you to move to move to suit your needs.

Notting Hill is a start. Largely because of the movie, obviously. But the area also has more to offer besides the locations featured in the movie (though Portobello Road would be a likely first stop for many Americans given how prominently it is featured as a location). Notting Hill also has many things to do during the day, it has a vibrant nightlife, and you can also visit Kensington Gardens to take in a fresh air experience if you just want to get away from the hustle and bustle of it all.

If you’re looking for something that will allow you an easy access to London’s nightlife, look to the West End. It’s certainly a more upmarket location, but if you do live there, you would have your choice of restaurants, theatre shows and other aspects of the London nightlife.

As an American, St John’s Wood might hold special appeal for you seeing as it does have an American School (the only American School located in the city of London). St John’s Wood already has an established community of Americans living there, so moving there should be particularly attractive given that the presence of your countrymen should help you to acclimatize.

Moving over with your family means finding an area to accommodate your needs. Barnes, situated right across the River Thames from Hammersmith is a suburb that has a growing community of young professionals. There are primary schools, nurseries and London city itself is easily within reach given the convenience of public transport.

That’s only four areas, but we’ll be exploring some of the most popular neighborhoods that have been identified by expert relocation companies to consider if you’re moving to London. Regardless of you final choice, always remember that you and your London relocation agents should always consider your situation and your best interests when moving.

Moving to London offers a range of lifestyles, from the prudent to the extravagant. Image via Wikipedia

Author:  Colleen

When my husband and I planned for moving to London, we’d have never anticipated that we could live in walking distance from where once upon a time lived two princesses before they were princesses. Where we would walk down the road and drop our jaws at the Aston Martins and Bentleys just parked casually along the curbs. Where a reality TV show about young socialites would be filmed. Where a major music awards show would be broadcast a few minutes away and we could attend. Where if we walked a bit further we’d arrive at a palace that housed even more princesses that became Queens.

We’re middle class folks, nothing special where income is concerned, but such is the juxtaposition of classes in London that makes it such an interesting city of new experiences. Everyone of all walks of life are intermingled here (recall the ease of spotting stars that I wrote about last week: “Relocation to London – The Secret to Celebrity-Spotting in London“); one need only walk a block or two for the dynamic to shift. And it isn’t all about being posh; for as much polish as London has, it has grit, and the diversity across the economic spectrum adds a lot of flavor to your every day once you, too, have made the London move.

In any case, if you are looking to feel a bit posh as you emerge from your London apartment and get about town, it’s as simple as taking yourself for a walk in the nice locales of London’s west side neighborhoods like Mayfair, Soho, Marylebone, Notting Hill, Knightsbridge, Sloane Square, Chelsea, and South Kensington. Bop into the shops on Regent Street and around Knightsbridge and Sloane Square. If you can’t afford a meal at some places, you can still treat yourself to an inexpensive coffee, tea, or cocktail at any number of opulent dining options—five-star hotels that you’d perhaps never stay at like The Dorchester or Claridges can be fun for afternoon tea or cocktails at their bars, Harrods has a surreal food court, and there’s never a shortage of trendy cafes and restaurants that attract the socialites in these areas.

Not being able to afford a certain postcode doesn’t mean you’re forbidden to share in the glamour; sure, maybe you can’t get on the list of some super exclusive clubs or get to sit to tea with the Queen, but otherwise London’s venues are open to the public, remember. An international relocation to London makes you a resident here, so the city is yours for the taking, and London relocation agents like London Relocation Ltd. can situate you as closely within the posh places as possible while staying within your budget.

Living in London - Summer in the City- Image via Wikipedia

Heading straight into June and with the glorious days of July, August and September ahead, we find ourselves with Summer in London upon us. As an American moving to London, you may very well find yourself comfortably sitting  with the illusion that London (and England as a whole) is a drab and colorless city, with summers as cold as many cities’ winters. If so, you’re in for quite a surprise once London’s summer swings around.

If you’re living in London in the summer, you’ll often see days climbing to 25 °C (77 °F) on the thermometer and sometimes even as high as 30 °C (86 °F). For the neophyte, it’s the kind of weather that  means seeing London and its environs in a manner befitting seeing any new city – on your feet and at a leisurely pace. Start off with a visit to the London Eye on a clear day. As well as giving you an eye popping view of the city and its surrounds, taking a ride on this popular tourist attraction will give you a bird’s eye view of the city. It could show you places you have yet to visit and help you sort out your ‘explore London’ itinerary.

As for drab, grey and colourless, banish these images from your mind. Places like Regents Park, Notting Hill and the open space of Trafalgar Square really do help to show off the colour and vitality that London has to offer. And nothing will help to clear the stereotype of a grey and dreary London from your mind quite like the Chelsea Flower Show, the unofficial kick-off to London’s summer.

London is a city that revels in its summer, with the season being a veritable riot of things to do and see. From music concerts to public entertainment to sports events, none are more exciting than the highlight of summer in June, The Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championship,  which will see the world’s top tennis players gather in London to face off for that tournament’s prestigious trophy. As an American moving to London, it’s an event which should go straight into your diary.

A drab and colourless London? Perish the thought.​

Living in London – London-Cheap, Cheap!- Image via Wikipedia

If there’s one thing that most people are prepared for when they are moving to London, it’s to spend lots of cash. This is chiefly because London is recognized as one of the most expensive cities in the world. Now that you are living in London, it’s no doubt something you’ve come across quite frequently. Moreover, even if you’re no cheapskate, it’s always a bit heartbreaking to see​ another few pounds go fluttering out of your wallet.

Fear not, for even in a city as terrifyingly expensive as London, there are opportunities to save something here and there, or to get something and not have to hand over paper or plastic.

Looking for a good night’s entertainment? Try The Tuesday Night Experiment, every Tuesday at the Comedy Cafe, and the open mic night, every Wednesday, no charge. Guaranteed laughs and an overall fun night out.

Given that you’re right in the cultural melting pot that is London, you really are spoilt for choice when it comes to music, with umpteen places offering a heady mix of styles to enjoy, all for the low, low price of absolutely nothing. Check out Proud Camden, Upstairs at the Ritzy, Dysart Arms and Favela Chic, to name a few. You’ll find everything from London’s up-and-comers in Jazz, traditional music straight out of Rio’s favelas, laid back Blues, indie-influenced Dubstep all the way through to psychedelic rock. And all free.

Festivals you say. Try the Notting Hill Carnival. With colourful floats and a melange of music and other performances on show, the festival runs from Aug 28-29 (a bank holiday weekend. Hurrah!). Add to that the Greenwich and Docklands International Festival with its open-air arts and performances running from Jun 23 – Jul 3. There’s also the Shoreditch festival, the Marylebone Summer Fair and the Thames Festival.

As for eating out, London has a fair selection of restaurants offering specials that will not dent your wallet. Bahn Mi Bay, Bi Bim Bap, Four Seasons, Golden Union Fish Bar, Koya and Pimlico Fresh have some excellent specials, especially in the summer. Beatroot, Comptoir Libanais, Maoz Vegetarian and Mooli’s will give you a top-notch meal that hovers at the £15 mark.

Living in London means that you could enjoy an entire day out of your new London rental and not worry about phoning your bank manager for permission first!

Living In London – It’s All About You Part I- Image via Flickr

The most important part of your search for that perfect new London rental is going to be your personal circumstances. You may be thrilled by the idea that you are moving to London, but the hunt for a neighborhood, will not just be determined by the fact that ‘everyone’ lives in Notting Hill! You cannot approach living in London by looking at the neighborhood alone. A better way to start looking for your new home is to make a list of YOUR needs. It’ll narrow down the search substantially and you’ll be able to find a London apartment that caters to all of your requirements.

Working It!

This is going to be the biggest factor in choosing an area and London rental home when you are moving to London. Where you work is the first item you need to look at. If you have a job lined up before you are moving to London, you need to look at how long you are prepared to commute each day. An average amount of time spent on a one-way journey to work is about an hour. If you’re prepared to spend more time getting to and from work then you may be able to live further out of London and enjoy some of the countryside. If you can’t stand the idea of spending an hour on the tube each morning, then you may have to live close to your work so it’s only a short bus ride away.

Simply Social

If you already have friends living in London then you may want to live close to your social circle. This is quite important if you are an American moving to London. You’ll want to be able to mix with people from your own country and it might be easier, certainly at the beginning, to rent a London apartment close to your countrymen. Remember that London is a massive city, and even if you do have friends living in London, the sheer scale of the place might make it difficult to get together regularly. If you’re friends form back home are important to you then you should talk to them before you arrive about finding a new London rental close to them.