I’m sure you’ve considered this, but how close is your office to where the train takes you?
And what is a student HOMO?
It's been said. Consider full door to door time - where in london is your office? Consider peak train costs, parking at station etc. Our calcs when we've moved is you need 3+ years to make finances make sense to buy housing.
If the job in London is 'worth it' - very personal / subjective - can you do 4 days in office every two weeks? Fly or train on a Sunday, stay 4 nights in hotel and then home? I do Cambridge to Bridgwater (4 hours) at 1-2 times per month, it's not great but for me at the moment it's a nice job.
At this point in time, you are asked to go in for 2 days. Do you have absolute guarantees that you won't be asked to go back 5 days a week ?
I only mention it as it's becoming a bit more frequent than it was.... and that could affect all sorts of work-life-balance...
I’m in a not dissimilar position as just changed jobs to one in Leeds and I live in Sheffield. I’m eyeing up properties in West Yorkshire as I get free travel on the train within WY but the cost of moving would cover my current rail costs for about 5 years (and I hate moving house).
if you do go for it, places like Tickhill are nice (got a couple of friends there) but places like Maltby a few miles away are horrible (see point above about recovered pit villages or those which haven’t).
Sheffield is of course always the answer too and I’d happily stay here until my last days but the point about door to door is important. I’m at about 90 minutes to Leeds but rely on a connection which can easily push that to 3 hours if I miss the hourly train.
There is no way you are getting to London from Doncaster in 2 hours
Not read all of the thread, but I live near to Macclesfield. I've had to travel to London twice recently for work. The two trips cost well over £400. Both times the train was late arriving in London, and the second time the train home was late too. It's an utter shit show ime. 2 x per week to London.....I just couldn't do it.
There is no way you are getting to London from Doncaster in 2 hours
The longest options are just over 2hrs and the quickest (Grand Central Railway, non stop) is 1hr37min.
House of multiple occupancy.
thanks
I live in Macc and would recommend it. Not just for the MTB but it’s definitely a 15 minute town which somewhere like Leeds or Sheffield certainly aren’t, everything you need is pretty much walking or a short bike ride away. We have nice pubs now (we didn’t when I first came here 28 years ago).
I used to go to London once a month with work and the London end of the commute to Borough was much worse than the journey down to London. However trains are far worse these days you could easily end up paying £400 to sit on the floor by the nonfunctional toilet and rammed train but that’s the same everywhere.
We have good mountain biking as stated also gravel and the road riding is great as you can go into the hills or ride for miles on the Cheshire plain. Also it’s a short train ride to Manchester for some culture I was there twice a week for gigs before Christmas packed in Ideles, Fontains, Prodigy, Nick Cave amongst others. We also go to Buxton, Stoke or Crewe a lot to the theatres especially for Comedy.
Its also full of Scottish folk, including my mrs, though that might influence you either way.
I guess if you are a very, very good roadie, Doncaster has the redeeming feature of the Donny Chain Gang.
I'm in Macclesfield too. It does have great transport links for road and rail, but the rail service is an expensive shit show. As already stated decent MTB on the doorstep or a short drive away and everything is in easy reach. The monthly Treacle Market is great and there are a few good events on throughout the year. I'd be happy to stay here for the rest of my days.
Bloody hell, how many of us on here live in Macc?!
The longest options are just over 2hrs and the quickest (Grand Central Railway, non stop) is 1hr37min.
that might be what the timetable claims. In the real world……
How many live in Macc? It's no different to any "what's it like in the SE" thread where it turns out that we all live in Redhill.
Lived in London for seven years and originally from Stockport, now "back home" and so would recommend trying to rent a room in London on an informal basis if possible through estate agent contacts. I worked with people who lived with a two hour commute to London and it just ate into their working day. Watford or similar might be an option if you want to stay north. If you do choose Macc then please visit the salvage yard near the football ground and the excellent fish monger in town.
