A Brighton Future Hoves into view.

October 26, 2018 3:17 AM

Like all people who live in London I'm thinking about selling all my london stuff and moving to somewhere near Brighton. Is this a good idea? If we do this where should we live? Who will be our friends?

So, my job is moving offices to the other side of London changing my commute from 20 minutes to an hour and a bit.

It occured to me that if I'm commuting for an hour anyway I could sell my current London property and buy a bigger brightony place (with more bedrooms, and a garden?)

If I had more rooms I could work from home more and then in the medium/long term could maybe find a more local job.
I have previously visited brighton to play games with mefites and since visited Brighton once, but with a small child so we just went to the beach and the pier. That didn't help much for looking at houses or neighbourhoods.

So, where is best in the Brighton area for commuting to London Bridge, having a garden and maybe 3 or 4 bedrooms and generally being nice?
Where should I completely avoid?
Is this a dumb plan?

posted by Just this guy, y'know to Home & Garden (14 answers total)

Depending on where you are living in London now, I don't think it's that much cheaper. I have a friend who lives in Preston, which is I think one stop from Brighton. It's pretty residential, but her place is right by the rail station so can get to her work (basically London Bridge just like you, she says her commute is more like 1.5 hours) or to Brighton pretty directly. She has a lovely house (3 bedroom, garden), which they were able to afford because it needed a bit of modernisation. My other friend has a flat in actual Brighton but he bought that years and years ago.

I think the biggest risk commuting-wise is the dependency on Southern Railway, which from I understand is still very unreliable for the forseeable future, so you may want to factor in how flexible your work can be about those kind of disruptions.
posted by like_neon at 3:41 AM on October 26, 2018

This all totally depends on what your budget is. Brighton is pretty much London-on-sea and won't be that much cheaper, especially including commute costs. If that's not such an issue you could try renting an air bnb for a couple of weeks to get more of a feel for the place and how the journey would work for you.
posted by freya_lamb at 4:02 AM on October 26, 2018

Brighton is awesome but has got really expensive, and the train ticket will be a bit more than £100 per week including a railcard for the tube. Southern Rail are also the literal worst rail company in the UK.
posted by ellieBOA at 4:24 AM on October 26, 2018

Yeah, I keep hearing Brighton referred to as not just London-on-Sea but SHOREDITCH-on-Sea, so don’t expect to save tons of money. And the commute will be awful.
posted by diffuse at 4:28 AM on October 26, 2018

I have just bought in Worthing as Brighton is ridiculous for house prices. This does now mean that I am at the mercy of Southern Fail for getting to work in Brighton but now I actually will have outdoor space and no upstairs neighbours and have managed to get a house for less than a studio/one bed flat in central Brighton.

Bigger houses are generally on the outskirts of Brighton but also where you'll find a lot of the student HMOs (especially out towards Falmer end of things as you have both Brighton Uni campuses and Sussex uni.) and limited facilities. Also school catchment areas may be a factor. Out towards Eastbourne has limited rail connections or none at all. Also the pinch point of three bridges comes into play.

Worthing has connections to London Victoria (Southern Fail), for direct to London Bridge, you'd need to be somewhere on the Brighton Mainline for Thameslink (spitspit) services or willing to change. Both rely on the pinch point of Three Bridges.
posted by halcyonday at 4:38 AM on October 26, 2018

For what it's worth, I know someone who lives in Brighton and works in London and she's ended up renting a room in London for weekdays because she got so tired of the ridiculous unreliability of Southern Rail. As others say, Brighton is also pretty expensive.

But there are a lot of other seaside towns east of Brighton that people are fleeing to from London, from Hastings and moving east to places like Ramsgate and Margate, which have not yet been gentrified into unaffordability.
posted by tiger tiger at 4:51 AM on October 26, 2018

I've recently done a similar reverse - move from a commuter town outside the London to zone 2. Although the commute was in theory only an hour door to desk, it was often longer when trains were late. Just a really depressing start to the day compared to being able to go on foot.

Also made it hard to go out after work - trains aren't just unreliable and expensive but often only every half hour or so. And don't run very late. So I think even an hour commute within London with the benefit of regular tube and alternatives like cycling or running is vastly better than a commute outside even if theoretically the same time.

So spend some time in Brighton to see but only do it if you'll really appreciate the extra space and sea air as a lot of downsides. I mean it's probably the best of British seaside resorts but there's so much on offer in London that doesn't really seem a good swap.
posted by JonB at 5:40 AM on October 26, 2018

So, where is best in the Brighton area for commuting to London Bridge, having a garden and maybe 3 or 4 bedrooms and generally being nice?

I mean it really depends on your budget... I will PM you where I live though, which I think is a good combination of decent-size houses/lower prices/access to transport.
Commuting-wise, Brighton is not that big so most places are within a 20-odd minute bus or bike ride of the main station.

I live in Brighton and it's great, especially for families, but I hear so many horror stories about the Brighton-London train commute I can't say I'd recommend it. (But move anyway and get a job down here! :)

Brighton is pretty much London-on-sea and won't be that much cheaper

Brighton is cheaper than London but more definitely still expensive than the surrounding areas.

Rightmove data:

Last year most property sales in Brighton involved flats which sold for on average £292,630. Terraced properties sold for an average price of £481,821, while semi-detached properties fetched £445,517.

Last year most property sales in London involved flats which sold for on average £563,410. Terraced properties sold for an average price of £667,457, while semi-detached properties fetched £648,859.

posted by EndsOfInvention at 5:47 AM on October 26, 2018

Echoing Hastings as a cheaper option, and I commute sometime from Battle to London Bridge and it is a 1hr.15-20mins (I think the fastest is 1hr 10) although as people previously said Trains can be iffy. I am allowed lots of homeworking and flexitime so I can avoid much of the commuter pressure.

Hastings has changed a LOT in the 16 yrs I've lived here, there's a distinct population of people priced out of business in Brighton and these generally LGBTQI businesspeople have engaged with the local authorities and have driven a lot of really good stuff, improved the regular carnival, Jack in the Green festival, etc., and also created new opportunities/celebrations/events.

Evenings and weekends there is a really lovely vibe in the old town, people are open to you getting engaged with their events, friendly , laid-back. But quite simply, there is nothing that can compare to a weekday evening sitting with a sea view watching the sun go down, or walking from the amazing newly reconstructed Pier into old town and hearing the crashing waves. It may just be me, as I grew up in a coastal town, but EVERYTHING about the sensory experience of the sea is better than prozac. Feel free to memail me if you need advice on specific areas?
posted by Wilder at 5:51 AM on October 26, 2018

Don't commit yet, but shop.
posted by theora55 at 8:31 AM on October 26, 2018

A colleague just bought in Shoreham as Brighton was too expensive, it adds about 10 mins into the train journey from Brighton to Victoria, so probably similar to London Bridge.
posted by knapah at 10:02 AM on October 26, 2018

I'm definitely interested in knowing the various reputations of other nearby places.
Your Shorehams, Peacehavens, Lewess and so forth.

I am not well versed in the surrounding geography.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 11:24 AM on October 26, 2018

Lewes is lovely, decent schools and an excellent high street. Your commute will be longer, and really you’ll need a car. Hurstpierpoint, Hassocks, Burgess Hill all pretty nice places to live.

I haven’t lived in the area for a while (though my Mum still lives there so I go back quite a lot). But reputationally, Shoreham and Peacehaven are a bit shit. There will still be nice roads, but they aren’t as desirable places to live. Rottingdean is nice. Newhaven is a shithole, Seaford is ok. Going west, Lancing and Worthing are fine - Worthing is actually pretty nice these days.

If your job is moving to London Bridge have you considered looking at places like Forest Hill and Sydenham? Far cheaper than North London, super-easy commute to LB, and great family areas.
posted by tinkletown at 6:03 PM on October 26, 2018

Echoing yes to Lewes & Rottingdean, no to the others mentioned for either a bit shit (think Brexit style shit) and otherwise wonderful Worthing is just too far.
posted by Wilder at 2:50 AM on October 27, 2018