Paging Tippimit

YUCK

I actually want to cry every time I go there.

built mostly after WW2. First pedestrian precinct, y'know.

and to be honest I'm not expecting a hugely fun-filled six months. But I was just wondering if it's so soul-crushingly horrible/expensive/dull that it would be worth commuting from London instead - apparently it's only half an hour and 7 quid on the train. And I'd actually get to live with friends, and in a decent city. Then again, might be a huge luxury I can't afford to be a London commuter for six months.

Avoid Jumping Jacks. Avoid Harlow town centre after dark. Don't go on to work in local newspapers.

Buy the teeline shorthand book now and start working on it, or it will take you forever to pass the exam.

Good luck

Harlow is cheap, especially for a town on a train route right into London. There’s a reason for this. It’s a hole. There is nothing to do there whatsoever – it’s worse than Stevenage. Wherever you live in the town, you’re likely to be a 30-minute walk or bus-ride from the station (as everything is so spread out), and the trains do not run through the night. But it’s only for six months, and if you’ve got friends that will occasionally lend you a couch when you do come into the city, it’ll be a lot cheaper to do that rather than pay London rents and daily train fares, so you might actually have some money to go out and enjoy yourself. Living in Harlow for six months might help you save up enough money to afford the deposit on a rented place in London when you finish too.

If you have a car then Epping and Debden aren’t far, and are both on the Central Line, with parking. And Bishop’s Stortford and Sawbridgeworth aren’t too bad, plus Cambridge is dead easy to get to.

Harlow always get a bad rep locally. It's a bit more run down than Bishop's Stortford, my home, but it's a lot less sterile.

The local venue (Square One) has just reopened, so at least you can go to gigs. Stortford is snoresville, nothing but "acoustic" nights etc.

Commuting there is no fun at all. Although admittedly I had to get up at 5am to go to work. Very bad times.

I don't think it's that bad a place personally but I never really hung out there at all. I think Harlow rents would be cheap enough to warrant living there then popping into London every so often. So basically what marckee and mollymauk said.