How expensive is living in UK/London for one person?

Hi, I'm thinking about moving to UK/London for a couple of months, maybe a year. Just wondering how expensive is living in London for one person right now? Ok, some more details... There are plenty of articles for Polish people about living there but most of them should be titled 'how much i have spend to survive in London?' :) Say i would like to live alone so i will rent some (typical for one person) flat, i will do shopping sometimes in hypermarkets and sometimes in a local shops.... sometimes i will go to the restaurant, pub, cinema and so on - normal life, nothing special. I won't buy a car - that's for sure.. .so i will use public transport. According to some web pages like jobserve.com i see that avg salary in my proffesion is 35k (from 25k to 45k) L / yr. I'm not asking for exact numbers, just for general calculation... how much i will spend monthly (ok, maybe better question: how much you spend monthly in London) for living including all the taxes and so on? Say i will earn 2,5-3k L monthly, then 1500-2000L would be enough for everything? I would like to save 1k L a month, is this possible?

TIA for any info.

in GBP - sounds good to me

Lol, you're fast :) That's good but living there in London isn't cheap.

wiem to ale, 2,5-3k GBP is not little

Just make sure you have the job and accomodation organised first. London can be a big and scary place to arrive in unprepared im sure. Youre lucky though with the ammount of Polish people there you will never be too far away from help. A lot more friendly than the expat I met in Torun. I got talking to him and he actually said how dissapointed he was that he is not the only English guy living here and drinking in that pub. That was a nice greeting.


but doesnt l represent Polish currency? or am i mistaken again
if thats in pounds that is plenty to live well

Not wanting to delve into what you do, because your potential earning is greater than mine! But I would advise anyone that London is the last place to live as a single person. If it is possible to find similar work in another city, then that is the better route to take.

But based on the figures that you are saying it would be perfectly possible to go with your plan.

I know this doesn't really help you, but wanted to say that other cities would be much more reasonable on your wallet.

Go to my town Reading!! Home of the mighty Reading football club. Also lots of big businesses there, so you should be able to find a good job.

ok, thanks.


thanks for advice... I'm sure that at first i will rent some room in hostel or sth (just for first days or maybe for a little longer) and then i will look for a flat.


I meant about GBP not Polish zlotys. Good to hear that this is not bad for 'normal' leaving.


It would be hard to find similar job in other places... I work in IT and most of companies are hiring there in London so that is the best route for me at the moment. What about salary... i just told that 35k GBP is average although i'm not sure if foreigners (especially non-native English speakers) are welcomed in English companies.

Only a stones throw from me then! Not so sure about the football club, but I'm not a follower of football, so will keep my mouth a bit zippy like from now on. Any major city should be good, but the cost of living is seriously reduced the further north you go.

slwkk... You are right that London is the best place for jobs and the pay that you get. Computers only speak one language, so don't worry. I hate London so I wont try and influence you about that choice. I am a country boy, fields and woodland is my thing. The previous post was meant for uk in poland by the way. Sorry if there was an confusion!

the average wage in northern ireland is approx £250 per week depending on what your tade is your weekly income could rise up if you are a trades person . you rent for a flat here would be £100-£120 per week thats why it's best to travel with friends or family it would make the cost of renting and living here cheaper that what other polish members do here in northern ireland they share accomadation etc and general expences would be approx £60 for food etc i hope this is of some help to you

Thanks for advices guys... what about being alone in big city - I got used... i'm often alone in Warsaw while I'm not from there and I know just a few people from W. I'm sure it's a big difference when we are talking about moving to another country, when you will be surrounded with foreign language all the time - but well... it's nothing to lose so probably i will try. I just have to finish some things here in Poland and i'm done.

Ok, gotta go back to work now...

When you have no Polish mate abroad and dont speak polish you learn foreign language fast as hell. Anyway this is most peoples opinion.

Well when you get to check back in, I think you will find London a lot more multi cultural than Poland. Mostly for the better. Everyone is alot more understanding in the 'City'. Suburbs... I'm not too sure about.

I lived in London before for two years and it doesn't have to be as expensive as you think.

You can probably rent a small room in a house share for around 300 / 350 a month if you shop around. Also in a house share you will meet other people.

Shop at places like Aldi etc which are as always good and cheap.
Don't use the tube just buy a weeky or monthly bus ticket which is a lot cheaper.

Manchester is a far nicer city than London, much friendlier and a cheaper and sarlaries are comparable - lots of southerners moving here because there is plenty of work and you get more for your money, plus the night life is the best :) Plus Manchester & Liverpool airport fly to a few destinations in Poland.

London is very expensive, you would be better to find somewhere just outside London and catch transport into the city.

Well, thanks for info, so I will also consider Manchester :)

btw, what do you think about moving to UK in winter? Some things has changed, and probably I will be thinking about moving somewhere (Warsaw or UK) at the end of a year or in first months of 2008 .... my friends keep telling me that this is bad idea to move somewhere in winter, because there aren't many jobs during the winter season. I'm not sure if they're right, because I won't be looking for season related job, and in IT (in most cases) it isn't important if we have summer, winter or whatever.

Your friend has a point to a certain degree - here is the reason.

After xmas is a good time the job market gets moving, people who have been putting off changing their jobs because of xmas start to move on... Nov & Dec are probably not a good time the job market is a bit stagnant, but thats not to say that there wont be any jobs, but there might not be the choice.

just drop me an email if you need any more info happy to help

as for salaries check out this website - its quite a good indicator and you can check all parts of the country

reed.co.uk

Thanks , I will if I have any questions :)


Cool web site, thanks once again.

Hi - the web site linked beow provides basic cost of living guidelines for London. I presume you have looked into our tax system and know roughly how much of your proposed salary will be taken away from you. If not let me know and I can work the numbers for you. IT market in the UK is pretty good at the moment so if you have the right skills you should be fine. Best of luck

workgateways.com/working-cost-of-living.html#accommodation

geeez... one of thoise loony english teachers you meet in bars all over the world...

Just as you asked me, you are not English are you? You too can not spell.

Well, yes, I've already made some calculations including taxes and similar things, but anyway thanks for your willing to help and another useful link.