newbie in london

I wouldn't say it's the nicest place in the world but you're a student and you're not going to be living in the best places with that budget (in fact, 100-150 pounds a week for a double studio will be VERY hard to come by). I assume you knew that to begin with though.

Any chances of getting student housing? It usually ends up being much more convenient and you will have to factor in the amount of money you'll spend on transport as well. Otherwise, you're doing the right thing by coming and staying in a hostel first as looking at places firsthand will give you a sense of where you might want to live and what your budget will get you. Is shared housing an option? It may help you widen your options.

The only way you would get a place for £100-150 per week including utilities is to find a room in a share house, prices range but you should be able to get two rooms for £75 per room quite easily.

If you want a decent two bedroom flat in that area of London (NW10) you should really be looking at £180 per week utilities council tax. I did a quick search on Ludlow Thomson and there are a few (furnished) properties around that price, but nothing less than £175.

For share house you can try looking on Gum Tree and Loot.

Cheers

Harlesden's pretty horrible to be honest.

I used to live by Harlesden. It is full of real atmosphere and a real city place, far away and almost untouched by lots of the rest of the city. Or it seems that way. It is extremely multicultural and I like it very much for a while usually. There is not much to do however. Drink, I suppose. The place has bars of course but there is not much else there now. Wormwood Scrubs park is twenty minutes walk away. That's it, I think. There is a nice, quieter bar along from Willesden Junction station, going away from Harlesden, about five minutes walk. It is around fourty minutes in to Oxford Street by underground train, which seems a lot but is only round about ten minutes or a few more more than the average if you stay in London and don't pay the ridiculous prices of the most central areas. Queen's Park is a stop or two away on the train line and that is better for bars and cafes. Just over five minutes walk from Kensal Green underground station is the William IV bar which is nice and a great place to eat (more expensive than most bars, but a lot more ambitious than just "pub grub".)

I think it is possible to get your own room for under £150 per week.

Try the London Hostels Association accommodation on this link:

http://www.london-hostels.co.uk</a><BR><BR>This may help, also, my London budget rooms page which has a few youth hostels included:

London budget accommodation

If you want your own private space, not in a hostel, there are quite a lot of small agencies which charge around 150 pounds per week or not too much more which advertise on Studios 92. The link is in the London Budget Accommodation page above (select Appartments / Studios and most agencies hace a price if you click that part of the pages which come up for each listing).

I am coming over with my boyfriend so we thought we could find a studio apartment cos the school's hostel is pretty costly and we can't share a room so we were thinking of looking for a small studio to bunk in together and hope to save more. I know its impossible to find a place with my budget. So after some calculation with transport fees and all... we were thinking to live in zone 3 and travel to central london. We hope to rent a studio for like 6 months and after we get to know some new friends in school we would probably do flatsharing... that's our plan for now. And we heard swiss cottage is a very nice place and we hope to go and see the area.. I read online that harlesden is a place of yardies, drugs and guns.... so i was wondering if its all media hype or what... anyway thanks to all for your advice!!!!!!

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<hr>There is a nice, quieter bar along from Willesden Junction station<hr></blockquote>

newone, is that the Lodge. It's pretty nice

OP if you;re thinking about zone 3, try and get something on the outskirts of Zone 2.

Travelcards are either Zone 1-2 or Zone 1-4 and you may end up saving more on this than the price difference in a flat.