Living in Oxford

Oxford can't be as expensive as London! (no other city in Europe is as expensive as London).

I heard that Oxford is a very nice city with a lot of students

For a shared flat have a look to moveflat.com or gumtree.com (I used those websites to find an accomodation London, they might be usefull for Oxford as well)

Thanks for the answer, I took a look at these websites and they seem usefull .... the links you gave are for London but it is easy to find for other cities.

On the University website ... they tell that you should expect to pay between 300 and 450 euros per month (almost all included if I remember well) for sharing a house or a flat
.... compared to 500 euros for my big two rooms here in Italy, I should cry

Let see, I think I will ne helped to find an accomodation ... it could be worth, I already have the job

The Daily Information is a great Oxford resource, and includes flat/house shares:
http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/

It is a great place to live, an easy city to get round on foot, bicycle or public transport, and near enough to London to have a day or night out, with 24 hour bus service to get you home to Oxford.

Lots of green areas, parks, meadows, rivers and canals. Beautiful college gardens, good shopping, food and culture.

Nice parts of the city include East Oxford, Jericho, St Clements although these are sought after and more expensive.

Anyway it's several years since I lived there so things might have changed. (91-99).

Thansk a lot Chiri.

I appreciate to know where are the nice parts of the city ... but could you tell me what part of the city should I avoid ... it is better to know before than later, especially when I look ads on the internet ...

see you

OK, the 'problem' areas include Blackbird Leys, Barton, and Botley ('the three Bs'). Some parts of Cowley, although the lower stretch of the Cowley Road is happening. Not so great either are Wood Farm and Rose Hill.

Please bear in mind that any of these places could have experienced a renaissance since I lived there.

Florence park is OK but boring, same Kidlington which is quite a way out of the centre. Summertown and Banbury Road area is expensive. Some parts of South Oxford (off Abingdon Road) are not bad. Headington and St Clements are on the road that goes out to London which is great if you want to go into London by bus and stagger home at any hour.

Why not post the names of the places you like the look of, and I'll give you the verdict.

Hi,
I am new to this blog side.
Can someone inform me how i can see the message again in near future, as i am not able to see any message numner etc to search for it... Is there any way to search any particular message again. Please reply me at [email protected]

I am planning to move to Oxford from India for work... Can someone help me by giving some information, which places can be good to live.. I will look for an studio....
App. How much can be cost of living per month for daily needs i.e. food etc...
Thanks for reply...
Raj

You just have to click on the "subscribe to this topic" link

Oxford is GORGEOUSLY full of history and culture! The architecture is incredible and there is just the most incredible sense of calm... They have excellent markets with all sorts of arty, crafty things for sale --- and it attracts the most intriguing people from all over the world! The coffee shop/cafes are a great place to relax alone with a good book or just to people watch. I've heard from friends who lived there that it is fairly pricey in terms of accomodation but nowhere NEAR as expensive as London... Good luck!
Lisa
http://contemplating-my-navel.blogspot.com/

Oxford is pretty, but also expensive - housing can be pretty pricey. Jericho is a great place to live, but again - pricey. Summertown, a little farther out, is also nice.

You can find some deals down the Abingdon Road to the south, but there's very little "neighbourhood" feel. The areas around lower Cowley Road and Iffley Road are cheaper, although also pretty crowded with students - definitely a better area for restaurants and pubs and things than south of town.

Hi everybody,
my name's Luca. I'm kind of new to this blog thing, so I'll hope to understand how it works! :-)
I am currently living in New York City but I'll be moving to Oxford next May since I got a job there, and I would like to ask for suggestions on how to find a studio/mini-apartment to rent in a nice area of the city. I'm 28 so I am searching for a lively area hopefully not far from the train station.... But I am open to pretty much every suggestion, included the price that I should expect to pay! :-)

Thanks a lot for your help


Luca

Hi try dailyinfo.co.uk and rightmove.co.uk.
Prices vary Most expensive would be Jericho v close to town centre(5mins walk)Nice community feel shops bars and resturants and near to port meadow and the canal.very trendy part of town prices are too!!Summertown is nice too has nice shops and a few resturants a bit further out (20min walk to center).East Oxford is the multi cultural/student side of town.Busy day and night.Lots of pubs/resturants/cinema/gigs/clubs etc.Places here are a bit cheaper..but still has a premium as its popular and close to town(10mins)..

Hope that helps and good luck..Kevin

Hey everybody!

firstly, glad you seem to like Oxford life - it almost makes me want to move there even though I am living in Berlin - which is the best place eva;-) and even cheap. Unlike oxford (sigh) - I get that, however,  there are suspiciously few numbers(prices) named in the above posts,:-)

so, here is my question:
what kind of Oxonian living standard would a net salary of 1500+pounds/month (exactly £1,577.83 buy in your opinion?
I am a male single, in my thirties, i.e. no student, but univ. affiliated so, could use the univ.canteen (mmmh, english canteen food!), etc.... (well I am still a student in Berlin, but finishing my phd now:)

The above salary is what  Brookes university would offer me for a postdoc position and... I am shocked to have calculated that it corresponds to the buying power of some 1400 EUR in Berlin (assuming that living costs are 25% higher in oxfd.) wich is barely above a typical phd-students salary there - and I actually had a better one.

I am OK with flatshare but at least living in a nice flat would be nice, in a student/young neighbourhood, as well as to be able to afford a simple restaurant meal once or thrice a week, a bike/bus ticket - plus the occasional trip home (budapest) - however, from what I calculated that salary doesn't really buy that. What do you think?

Specifically about flatshare - the biggest chunk of the budget:
Is there a marked difference btwn. prices for furnished and unfurnished rooms? (I couldn't see that from the classifieds so far).
My hope is that the cheapest long.term living option is to open a flatshare myself, i.e. rent a 2-bedroom-flat unfurnished, get my furniture from Berlin (my boss might pay), and rent out a furnished room - I guess millions of students are looking for those...

- still, I am afraid that total costs per person (tax, electricity, internet...) would be more than GBP 500 p month. (as a phd student in cheap Berlin the above scheme got me a nice room for ~ 350 EUR per month!)

thanks for your opinion!

fireroller wrote:

Hey everybody!

firstly, you guys seem to like oxford - it almost makes me want to move there even thou I am living in Berlin - best place eva;-) and even cheap.
Unlike oxford, sigh - however, there are suspiciously few numbers named:-)

here is my question:
what kind of Oxonian living standard would a net salary of 1500+pounds/month (exactly £1,577.83 buy in your opinion?
I am a male single, in my thirties, i.e. no student... (well technically I am, sigh, but finishing my phd now:)

The above salary is what  brookes university would offer me for a postdoc position and... I am shocked to have calculated that it corresponds to the buying power of some 1400 EUR/month in Berlin (my assumption:living costs are 25% higher in oxfd.) wich is barely above a typical phd-students salary there - and I actually had a better one.

I am OK with flatshare but at least living in a nice flat and area would be nice, as well as to be able to afford a restaurant meal once or thrice a week, a nice bike/bus ticket - plus the occasional trip home (budapest) and - god forbid - some savings...from what I calculated that salary doesn't really buy that. What do you think?

About flatshare:
my present opinion is that the cheapest option is to open a flatshare myself, i.e. rent a 2-bedroom-flat unfurnished, get my furniture from Berlin (how?), and rent out a furnished room - last step should be easy...
- still, I am afraid that total accommodation costs (tax, electricity, internet...) would be no less than GBP 500 p month. (as a phd student in Berlin that scheme got me a nice room for < 350 EURos per month!)

thanks for your opinion!

I loved living in Oxford, but I cannot recommend you go to Oxford on that salary.  Your lifestyle expectations, which you seem to regard as modest, would be rather flash for someone working for a living in Oxford. 

Fot that much, you can live in a room in a shared house in a non-rough working class area.  You can have fun, but forget about eating out every week.  If you have a family, you would not be able to pay for them, if you are single, you would not be on enough money to attract a wife.

That said, I had a great time on less - but it is not easy.  Living standards in Berlin would be much higher for those living off a wage - as an Englishman, I was shocked by how much better I would live on mainland Europe.

Steve Davy wrote:

I loved living in Oxford, but I cannot recommend you go to Oxford on that salary.  Your lifestyle expectations, which you seem to regard as modest, would be rather flash for someone working for a living in Oxford. 

Fot that much, you can live in a room in a shared house in a non-rough working class area.  You can have fun, but forget about eating out every week.  If you have a family, you would not be able to pay for them, if you are single, you would not be on enough money to attract a wife.

That said, I had a great time on less - but it is not easy.

Thanks for your opinion - it seems a bit pessimistic though, especially the "you would not be on enough money to attract a wife"...:-/ Hey thats personal - I am still young and muscle-packed (I just had to photoshop them off in the picture because of lack of space) and with a huge family fortune (which I cannot talk about for tax reasons) :p
Seriously, I am still naive enough to think that some women do not only look at the size of my... momentarily income (not that poverty would be one of my future goals, and I would not be happy to earn a bit more).

A major aspect of quality of (social) life is whether your 'peer group' has a similar dispensible income - otherwise its hard to socialize with them. How this exactly happens is of secondary importance.
There should be tons of phd students in ox. in their mid-to-late twenties earning half my salary as well as young postdocs who make slightly more than I would (damn you oxford brookes payscale), I assume they make a living somehow, and there are typical neighbourhoods to find them, with housing, cafés, etc. for this salary range. - or not?

Hello! Has any of you gone to Oxford, then? I am considering to move but is 32.000 £ gross salary a good one? I saw a one room flat would cost 1.000 £ per month, but I don't feel like sharing I am applying for a job as administrative and I am in my 40es. You made me laugh about actrativness for a partner and well I'd love to have a hope