A while back I saw a post or comment by someone in the London meetup, offering help to newcomers; I can't find the thread, so I'm posting here in the hope that someone in London will see it. I've been offered a job in London, and would like to ask some questions about prices, commute times, and crime rates, so I can decide whether the pay is reasonable. In particular, the job offer is a postdoc at Imperial; what sort of apartments (for a family of three) can one get in an area that's some combination of

a) Close to the campus b) Not too crime-ridden c) Cheap?

What sort of food, utilities, and entertainment (utilons?) budgets do people in London have?