Where you live in London as a student, and what it says about you

Warning to all Freshers: be very careful with your second year accommodation choices

7 years ago

Hannah Abrey, Pippa Vanderplank & Paddy Baker

We’ve all been lucky in first year; living close to uni, with all your friends and maybe even having a weekly cleaner. Maybe you even had an ensuite – domestic bliss. But when it comes to second year, we all start branching out and moving elsewhere – some people moving further away than others.

Considering the many perils of choosing the flat that you’ll spend one or maybe two more years of your life, we collaborated an article that reveals where you live as a student, and what it says about you.

Shoreditch

Nothing compares to you

“Ah mate, do you have any filters?” is the common greeting exchanged by native Shoreditchians. Bedecked in stetsons and uncomfortably tight trousers with fashionable rips, these guys love their street food. Renting a small bedsit in a fashionably abandoned warehouse, the lack of cooking facilities practically forces these guys to spend their loans on dolphin-friendly salads and ~~rip-off~~ fashionable coffee.

Money is always tight in Shoreditch, but it’s made easier by shifts at craft breweries and artisanal bakeries. Although things don’t always look bright, the close proximity of the city tempts many bourgeois bohemians to a cushy and high-paid desk job every year.

Clapham

One of the four stops on the Tube that Clapham has to offer

Full of City boys and Australians, you’ll be mixing with graduates who might have escaped the backwaters of Exeter and Durham, but definitely haven’t escaped their lads lads lads mentality. Saturday mornings playing rugby on the common, evenings at an arthouse cinema or drinking prosecco at a wine bar, you can’t decide if you want to be edgy or cultured.

Wood Green

As exciting as it gets in Wood Green

Is their Life On Mars? Who knows, but rumour has it there’s life at Wood Green.

Boasting the largest Cypriot community outside of Cyprus, students who live in the Zone Three area can often be found chowing down on taramasalata and moussaka. Living so far out means these guys spend half their existence commuting, but at the weekends they can still be seen hitting charity shops that have survived the onslaught of gentrification.

Hackney

Hackey; home to London’s graffiti

They were addicted to “Attack the Block” and “Top Boy”, fantasised over nothing else than concrete and chips in polystyrene and now live the dream in a flat near London Fields.

Replacing the Hollister with a black raincoat and fresh creps, they speak with a polished East London accent and roll their eyes when someone misunderstands “peak”. Living on a diet of burgers and pepsi, you may disapprove but ‘low it.

Peckham

Taken by a Peckham resident

You didn’t live this far out so to save on rent; if you were really concerned about rent, you’d still be living at home, (because lets face it, if you live here you might as well live at home), or live in a cupboard under the stairs. You live here because you want that label as a ‘Peckham boy’, or ‘Peckham girl’ for that matter. You just wanted to live somewhere really cool that would embody your free and hip spirit, duh!

You’re probably living with friends at uni’s south of the river, because no one else at UCL would ever want to commute as far as you do. Plus, it’s likely you’re in a band if you live here. Despite this all, we’re convinced you live at a mate’s place near uni; because we only ever see you there since you dread your own commute. We’ll spot you from a mile off thanks to your ‘trendy’ outfits; and it’s a good job we can, considering just how far away you live.

Euston

Bleak

You live in a high rise block and your rent is pretty cheap because your flat is tiny, mouldy and sad, basically. When your mum comes to visit, even her best fake smile can’t hide the light dying from her eyes. You love telling people how central you live as well as how good the stairs in your block are for your quads. In fact, you’ve got asthma from all the fumes from the Euston road but as you listen to the ambulances leaving UCH day and night, you know help is at hand.

Anywhere in West London

The words “budget” or “economical” are simply unknown to these aspiring fat cats. Having bought a nice Georgian terrace house with money from their trust fund, these guys while away the hours matching curtain to cushion fabric rather than doing their degrees.

Having blown their maintenance loans on a signet ring or a novelty ice figurine, in the day they’re necking G&T’s with their smoked scottish salmon and can often be found barfing bollinger champagne all over their D&G loafers in the evening- thank god for express dry clean eh?

Islington

I spy with my little eye; lots and lots of bars!!!

You convinced your parents that you live here because the rent wouldn’t be so bad – which is impressive since you can walk to uni in around thirty minutes or less. In reality, we know you moved here because of the endless bars; all to fuel your ‘low key’ alcoholism. You may have a Wetherspoons, but trust us; you’ll never actually find a seat.

Fortunately you’re not far from anything; Old Street is literally down the road, plus the 214 bus passes through Islington, so you’re never too far from Camden. Your main problem is that despite your best intentions to walk to and from uni, the Penton Rise Hill will catch you out by the end of second term, and you will inevitably start taking the bus. It’s okay, there’s light at the end of the hill: you have many places to drink craft beers and fancy cocktails.

Camden

Sunny Camden afternoons

You heard the hype about Camden long before you moved to London, and now your friends from home think it’s pretty cool you live here. In reality, you just couldn’t resist having not only one, but two Poundlands nearby. Pubs surround you, so pub golf is inevitable (it’s a shame that the end hole is always Proud). We all envy you for living near the Camden Food Market for the free samples you get to try.

However if you live nearer the direction of Chalk Farm you’ll be a commuter, something even the sight of those pretty pastel painted houses can’t overcome. We envy you though; you know how to properly experience Camden. You either end up at Dublin Castle or Elephant’s Head after everywhere else shuts, but you’ll just wake up confused the next day about why you were hanging out and dancing with fifty-something bearded rockers.

Dalston

Hip and cool!!!

You didn’t want to live in Camden because you think what Camden once represented has been lost, thanks to the endless market stalls selling slogan t-shirts and London memorabilia ruining Camden’s rock ‘n’ roll vibe. So, you ended up in Dalston, because it’s cool to say you live in East London, near good music venues like the Shacklewell Arms. You love the regular free entry there too.

You reckon that you aren’t bound by musical genres, but in reality you just see the same kind of indie bands at Birthdays most weeks; there’s nothing wrong with this, but you just can’t admit it to all your ‘cool’ friends. As much as your obsession with gigs annoys us all, we all end up spending time here too.

Brixton

Face it, you only lived here for the O2 Academy

Clapham’s cooler, edgier cousin, you’ll soon even have a David Bowie monument to brag about. You tell everyone it’s multicultural and the diverse food options are SO great – Brixton’s home to one of the best vintage, food and flea markets in London, you know? You still choose to sip G&Ts with the gals in the Prince of Wales and eat brunch in an independent cafe because they’re easier for instagram photos. Everyone who chats you up in a bar will work for a start-up and they’ll definitely have a beard.

Archway

One of the many Churches Archway has to offer

The rent is super cheap but you spend most of your time at your friend’s flats nearer to uni because everywhere is so damn far – it’s the last stop in Zone 2, for god’s sake. On the plus side, you do actually get to experience the night tube.

The council is trying hard to modernise it but it’s not really happening at the moment. That’s hardly what you tell everyone else though – no, no, there are Farmers’ Markets for your parents, loads of Churches for your religious aunt, Poundland knockoffs, and fry up places for your mates who like a nice cheap and greasy spoon. What’s more to like?

Hannah Abrey, Pippa Vanderplank & Paddy Baker