Live in Brighton...commute to central London?

Hey Everyone,
I'm not quite sure if this is the best place for my question..but any advice would be appreciated. I'm not from the UK so apologies is this seems really ignorant:

I go to uni in central london, but I'm thinking about living in brighton next year and commuting in. I've heard that some professionals do this..and that it's possible...but I'd like to hear some other takes on it.

If I wanted to do this: What would be the best area of central brighton to be in? What would be close to the station I need to commute?

Does anyone know how long the commute is? I heard it was about an hour from central brighton to victoria. Is it a nice trip? Or is it stressful and unpleasant during rush hour? How much would it cost daily? How late do the trains run? I looked at some webpages with ticket prices and times, but I was having trouble making sense of it.

Is this a horrible idea?

Again, sorry if this isn't posted in the right section, but any help would be great.

Cheers!

Reply 1

Clairface

As per cost, a return to London Victoria each day without any deductions of any kind will run you 18 GBP. Student railcard can help this, and I think you could buy some sort of frequent pass thing as well?

It would be a big chunk out of your day each day (52 minutes each way?), and not something I would be interested in.

Megabus is a cheap way to get into London for a day, but not really useable for a work commute.

Feel free to chime in and correct me on any of this, I've only been in this country a year so may be missing something. Cheers

Reply 2

dogtanian

16

Well, it won't be as much as £18/day if you go for the season travelcard option. YP railcard is no good before 10am too. It'll still be a hefty chunk out of your budget on top of normal costs in a city as pricey as Brighton..

Reply 3

hallucination

1

Apparently lots of people choose to live in Brighton and commute to central London every day..consequently the trains are overloaded and you'd be very lucky to get a seat. Saying that though, the trains that do run from Brighton to London are very nice, air conditioned with comfy seats but despite this, I really doubt it's a relaxing journey. There are plenty of nice areas to live by the station (and fairly affordable compared to London - around 70/80 ppw for a room in a shared house).

Reply 4

takeoffsandlandings

OP

hey! Thanks for the input. That's what I figured hallucination-- that the cost of the train fare would sort of be countered by slightly cheaper living expenses.

But even if it wasn't, there is something to be said for really liking the place you live, even if it takes an hour to get there. Although when it starts to get dark at 5pm again, I'm sure my outlook will be very different.

What I might do, is look for a super cheap no frills place in brighton while it's still nice out and then move again in the winter...?

But moving blows. ..

At anyrate.. thank you for the advice. I need to go write out some compulsive pro/con lists. Cheers!

Reply 5

SussexJo

1

Personally I couldn't do it.

My flatmate did it and she used to get up at around 5.30 and wouldn't be back until virtually 7. If you work near Victoria its probably fine but I think I'd rather live somewhere closer and cheaper rather than spend as much on transport as rent for a place that you only see during daylight at weekends and during the summer

Just my thoughts (I'm not a morning person can you tell?!)

Jo x

Reply 6

hallucination

1

takesoffsandlandings:

You may find this an interesting read, about a guy who commutes to London from Brighton daily:

http://www.nigelgordijk.co.uk/library_articles_commuting.html

Reply 7

SkinnyJeans

That's an interesting read, and freakishly appropriate to the posters situation!!!

Atleast its handy to know that even with a 12 hour working day, people still have time to sit down and write something as random as that.. :p:

Reply 8

Flicker

13

My brother does it backwards - commutes to Brighton from London! But he lives only 9 minutes from London Bridge and it's a 3 minute walk from brighton station. He can't do it in less than an hour and a half even so, and hates it being difficult to go to gym/out for drinks before or after work because the commute is so long.

But equally it's do-able. He obv goes from London Bridge and not Victoria though.

Reply 9

jointhedots

16

I think I would, and probably will consider it when I finish my degree here because I want to stay living in Brighton, but it seems a bit of a waste of time to do it when you're still a student...I don't really see how you could afford it easily :confused:

Reply 10

Alasdair

14

I guess you could do it, but also think about the social dynamic of living an hour+ on the train away from all the other people at your uni... Might not be the easiest way to make friends.

Reply 11

zziippoo

7

hallo guys,

what about living in central london and studying at Sussex? is it very difficult? I am thinking to apply for a master at Sussex University but I do not want to live in Brighton as I am already studying in London and I love me area, my flat and I have so many friends here.. What do you think? I would love hearing your thoughts about that..