Living and working in London

As the writer Samuel Johnson famously said to his biographer, James Boswell, in 1777, 'Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford."

This is still as true today - London remains one of the world's great cities, from its fascinating history and architecture to its international population, tremendous cultural and entertainment offerings, variety of restaurants, and wonderful parks.

It is indisputably Europe's financial capital, as the City is an essential stop for many investment bankers and fund managers on their climb up the ladder. 'Afford', however, is the operative word. London is one of the world's most expensive cities.

Housing, transport, clothes and food are all toward the high end of the scale, and while taxation may not be high by European standards, for American financiers, whose income will almost certainly attract the top tax rate of 40%, it will seem a squeeze.

Housing

Expat packages are not as generous as they were in the 1990s. Nonetheless, negotiating some sort of housing subsidy is a must. Although rents have came down somewhat in the past year or so, they will probably still cause shock, particularly for Continental Europeans - New Yorkers won't be as surprised.

Rents in London are generally quoted by the week, which makes for a more difficult comparison. To get the monthly figure, multiply by 4.3. According to figures from the Mayor's office for the end of 2003, a one-bedroom apartment in an reasonably central area averages 250 per week, while 350 gets two bedrooms and 500 three.

Unfurnished rentals are less common - the legal structure makes shorter-term, furnished lets more attractive for landlords. While that means expats have to bring or acquire less in the way of furniture and appliances, it makes flat hunting more difficult when not only location and space but also taste in décor has to be taken into consideration.

Figuring out where to live in London can be tricky, since it seems more like a collection of villages, each with its own character and ambience, rather than a city with a definite single centre. It is far more sprawling than many cities, with fewer high-rise buildings. Where you choose to live will depend not only on price, but on your personality as well.

Many expats gravitate toward Kensington and Chelsea, particularly the French, who congregate around the Lycée Française in South Kensington. It's very nice, very expensive, and considered rather snobbish - although the influx of expats has changed its character somewhat. Increasingly, the upper-crust English have pushed further southwest into Fulham, Parsons Green, Battersea and Wandsworth.

Around the same price bracket, also in west London north of Hyde Park, are the ultra-fashionable Notting Hill and Holland Park, popular with the fashion, music and media set. Primrose Hill and Belsize Park in north London are also in favour with the who's who of

the entertainment in-crowd.

The more intellectual and left-wing go for wealthy Hampstead - where many American expats have chosen to settle - and Islington, former home to Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Transport

It is wise to consider the proximity of your job to where you choose to live. Public transport in London is less and less reliable. After a lengthy political battle between Gordon Brown, the UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London, a 15-year multi-billion pound programme to repair and upgrade the Underground under a public-private partnership is in place. But it will be many years before improvements are noticeable.

The Tube, as it is known, suffers from overcrowding, frequent breakdowns, strikes by workers concerned about safety and service reductions due to staff shortages. The service on privatised commuter railways to suburban areas is even worse. It is difficult to get a seat most of the time and trains are liable to grind to a halt due to 'the wrong kind of leaves' on the line.

Livingstone has spent money to improve the bus service, but London's snarled traffic makes bus travel slow - despite the relative success of the 5 daytime congestion charge for private cars and trucks entering central London that went into effect in 2003.

A commute of 30 to 40 minutes is considered fairly good, while journeys over an hour are not unusual. The brave get a motorbike, by far the quickest and cheapest way to get around.

Another solution to is to live near your work. Many expats end up working in the historic heart of the financial industry, the City of London. Centred on the Bank of England north of the river Thames, the City has the best transport connections, with a convergence of Tube lines, commuter trains and bus routes.

It also has the biggest concentration of traditional financiers' restaurants and pubs in which to build those all-important connections. Lovely architecture, ancient churches and lots of quirky passages and alleyways that date back to the Middle Ages combine to give the City an extra charm. The soaring halls of the medieval London guilds, with their stained glass, carved and beamed ceilings and massive portraits of officials past make tedious business functions bearable.

Northeast of the City are Hoxton and Shoreditch, up and coming trendy neighborhoods. Home to artists, galleries, and increasingly, fashionable bars and restaurants, these areas are gaining reputations as the places to live for City workers, not least because they can walk to work.

Many financial groups such as Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse First Boston and Citigroup have deserted the City, however, for the much more sterile Docklands, further east.

Canary Wharf, now the hottest address for banks in that area, is home to newer skyscrapers that offer better technology infrastructure and larger trading floors. Though amenities and transport have improved a great deal in the last several years, for most, it is still a long and tough journey, using either the Docklands Light Railway or the newer Jubilee Line on the Underground.

The entire Docklands area has been redeveloped with scores of modern apartment complexes, usually built to a fairly high standard, and priced somewhat below comparable residences closer to the centre. Those who cannot stand a lengthy commute may consider living there.

Commuting is easier for most of those working in the private equity and hedge fund industries, which tend to cluster in London's West End, particularly in Mayfair, near the city's main shopping and entertainment districts.

Culture

Wherever you end up working, it's important to absorb the special culture of London's financial world. Although it has become less leisurely and more cutthroat in the past 15 years - read The Daily Telegraph's Alex cartoon to get the flavour - London still has a certain bonhomie that some other financial centres lack.

Colleagues often decamp to the pub together after work or at lunch. Banks, brokers and fund managers do a great deal of business entertaining, taking clients out to dinner, the theatre, sporting events - and lap-dancing clubs.

Then there is the endless round of charity fundraising dinners and industry awards ceremonies. Getting involved in charity work is one way to meet the people who matter in the City and to feel part of London life.

You should try to wangle tickets to some of the fixtures of the London social 'season', such as the Henley Regatta (rowing), Wimbledon, Royal Ascot (horse racing) and the Chelsea Flower Show, and you should go watch the annual Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race on the Thames. They are all worth experiencing at least once - like London itself.