The best of London: where to rent on the Jubilee line, from smart urban villages to hipster hangouts

The Jubilee line brings renters the best London has to offer, stretching from Stanmore in the suburban north-west to Stratford in the gritty east by way of smart urban villages, hipster hangouts and regeneration hotspots.

The least expensive option is Kingsbury, in Zone 4, where an average two-bedroom home costs £1,357 a month to rent, according to data from Rightmove.

But some places are cheap for a reason and while there is nothing offensive about this faceless suburb, it is not ideal for friends clubbing together to rent, or young couples who still like their nights out.

WILLESDEN GREEN

Perhaps a better option is Willesden Green, where an average two-bedroom flat comes in at £1,671 a month and the Zone 2 location makes for a swifter commute than Kingsbury, about £50 cheaper per month for season ticket holders.

Willesden’s streets are lined with period homes, from large Edwardian villas to neat Victorian terraces, plus plenty of period conversions and 20th-century purpose-built blocks.

As well as the takeaways and pound stores on the High Road, there are local gems such as Japanese eaterie Sushi Masa. “Some very nice cafés and restaurants have been popping up but it is still a bit rough around the edges,” says Philip Johal, head of lettings at Camerons Stiff & Co. Willesden is low-key for a Zone 2 location, but Johal says it is being discovered by renters squeezed out of nearby Queen’s Park by high prices.

Unsurprisingly, homes on Willesden’s border with Queen’s Park tend to be posher and more expensive. A two-bedroom period flat in the leafy Mapesbury conservation area would cost about £450 a week, while a two-bedroom Thirties flat nearer Dollis Hill would come in closer to £360 a week.

“There is a huge range of prices, which means the area is very mixed and not quite gentrified,” says Philip Johal. “I think that makes it more interesting.”

CANADA WATER AND NORTH GREENWICH

Beyond north London, renters who work in Canary Wharf and want the shortest possible commute could pay an average £2,388 a month for a modern two-bedroom flat.

But travel a single stop in either direction and prices drop. In Canada Water a two-bedroom flat rents for an average £2,322 a month while in North Greenwich in SE10, a typical two-bedroom flat is about £2,105.

Graham Lawes, director of residential at JLL, says that for these prices renters can expect a flat with great water views.

He finds both areas attract mostly young professionals working at Canary Wharf, and both have their pros and cons.

Canada Water is also on the East London Overground line, making trips to Shoreditch and Dalston incredibly easy, and Surrey Quays has a cinema plus a slowly improving range of shops and restaurants.

Southwark Park gives a rare spot of greenery in this built-up area, and it is possible to get to work using the Hilton Docks to Canary Wharf ferry.

Each summer Street Feast’s weekend pop-up bars and food stalls in Canada Street thoroughly enliven an otherwise rather dreary area.

North Greenwich has the 02 Centre, plus its range of chain restaurants, although developer Knight Dragon, which is overseeing an £8 billion reboot of the area, is starting to bring in better options including the excellent Craft London, as well as events such as the Urban Village Fête, a one-day music and arts festival which attracts up to 25,000 visitors each year.

Lawes of JLL feels that right now North Greenwich has better amenities than Canada Water, which is also in the early stages of regeneration.

However, what both areas lack, according to Lawes, is any sense of community. “They are very much towns of renters, because when most of the area’s new flats were built they were sold to overseas investors, and it has a very transient feel because of it.”

‘PEACEFUL NORTH GREENWICH HAS ALL I NEED’

Tom Gardiner was an early adopter of North Greenwich, moving there eight years ago as a student.

His initial decision was made more through necessity than design. He was at Ravensbourne University which moved campus to the area while he was mid-degree. But he liked the district so much that he stayed on.

Now 28, Gardiner shares a modern two-bedroom flat with a university friend, paying £1,800 a month in rent to live in the area’s original major development, the Millennium Village. He finds the area both practical and peaceful.

“I have all my needs within a stone’s throw and I am really close to the river,” he says. “There are four supermarkets and a retail park, so in terms of convenience it is great.”

Going out involves walking along the river into Greenwich where there are plenty of bars, pubs, cafés and restaurants, or making the slightly longer stroll across to Blackheath.

But Gardiner, senior sales and lettings consultant with Harrisons estate agents, says the pay-off for this is peace and quiet and freedom from tourists and day-trippers. “The whole area is very, very calm compared to other places,” he says.