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Central London - just back 15:55 - Jan 26 with 10102 views

Cycled along Portland Place, Oxford St, Regent St, Piccadilly Circus etc this morning. Utterly deserted, post-apocalyptic city. Made me sad.

Half expected to see dozen or so Daleks coming up the Strand.

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Kitchen threads or polls?

Central London - just back on 18:18 - Jan 26 with 2043 views

Northernr

Central London - just back on 18:11 - Jan 26 by joe90

I work in the civil service and we're all working from home. We coincidentally moved office last year and have purposely downsized. That was actually decision to made before the pandemic. In addition fewer jobs are going to be advertised as London based.

I use to really enjoy working in central London. There was a real buzz about it, especially in summer. I use to really enjoy having a few pints after work and going to see Rangers mid-week. I know being in a crowded city isn't for everyone, but I didn't mind it, that said I don't miss the commute!

Well yeh I can't say I'm sorry that the idea you could just charge people £6,000 a year to get in from Reading in a crowded, old, sht train, and put that up 200, 300, 400 quid every January, and that would just sustain and people would swallow it forever has come crashing down around them.

I did love all those Murdoch paper thinkpieces in August and September about how "your commute is part of you" and "you miss it really". Fck the fck off fck you very much and when you're done fcking off you can take Great Northern Rail with you.

Central London - just back on 18:22 - Jan 26 with 2029 views

nix

Central London - just back on 18:07 - Jan 26 by robith

Our contract on our current place has expired - the landlord says they do want to renew, they're just having a beef with current letting agents and wants us to renew but doesn't know who they'll use yet.

But as probably a renter for the rest of my life, it feels like the pendulum has swung back to us ever so slightly. I cba to move, but for the first time I'm not afraid cos rents are down everywhere. Some of my pals' landlord told them they wanted to put the rent up mid last year and they just told them to sling it, and got a bigger place for the same cash. Original landlord was begging them to stay by the end. It's amazing to not be in total fear of your accommodation being wrought from you and having to pay more

That's brilliant news. That landlord was mad to give up a reliable tenant in a pandemic!

Especially for small scale landlords it doesn't make any sense to risk having a break between tenants, with a possibility of no rent for a couple of months while you advertise, and probably having to spend on redecorating to make the place desirable. You're better off having a good tenant for a couple of hundred less a month in my view. It's good to hear there's at least some upsides to the pandemic.

I work from home anyway, and while I do miss the company of colleagues, I don't think I could do five days a week commuting any more. It's soul destroying. I'm sure most jobs would work just as well with someone coming in two or three days a week.

Central London - just back on 18:47 - Jan 26 with 1969 views

Northolt_Rs

What about office shagging though?

Scooters, Tunes, Trainers and QPR.

Central London - just back on 18:56 - Jan 26 with 1946 views

Paddyhoops

Central London - just back on 16:54 - Jan 26 by Antti_Heinola
After all this, at the very least i actually think all companies that can should be telling people to work at home minimum one day a week (not everyone on Fridays!), preferably two or even three. It will make everywhere a better place to live. And as you say - no excuses at all.

The question I've been asking is . If everybody is working from home in future, how do we train up future employees? Do we do it from there homes, our homes..where?
If somebody applies for a job. Where will they be interviewed??
Lots of questions but not many answers!!
In fairness I'm a plasterer so it won't affect me .
I can see people doing half their time in offices and half at home.
Sad to see some of those wonderful pubs lying empty in the city though.
Had some wonderful Fridays afternoons/ evening/ nights back in the eighties and nineties where the city suits would collide with the construction industry .
Oh for those days off heaving public houses.
We will get there..some day.

Central London - just back on 19:07 - Jan 26 with 1924 views

davman

WFH is way, way better for a number of individuals, but it will kill the economy long term as no-one will be spending any money during their lunchtime and post work.

Can see gvmt incentivising companies to bring staff back to the office for that reason.

And what about those of us actually involved in making real stuff as opposed to you Charlatans playing with money or peddling words? Can't build my company's products at home, so can't see everyone staying away when we get out the other side.

Certainly a great talking point though; we hope to keep a semblance of WFH, but on top of the Brexit many voted for, this could murder our economy and with it our comfortable way of life.

Gonna be interesting where we are in 4-5 years...

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Central London - just back on 19:11 - Jan 26 with 1913 views

Northernr

Central London - just back on 18:56 - Jan 26 by Paddyhoops

I've just hired two new reporters onto my team, whole thing conducted remotely, and am yet to meet them in person.

It is not ideal. We're pleased with who we've got, it's going ok, but we need to get them among their team and back in the office to a certain extent.

Central London - just back on 19:11 - Jan 26 with 1911 views

izlingtonhoop

Central London - just back on 18:47 - Jan 26 by Northolt_Rs
What about office shagging though?

Zoom Christmas party

Special invite for Mrs Palm and her five lovely daughters.

(Thank you for having me and being oh so kind.)

And finally Esther...

Central London - just back on 19:14 - Jan 26 with 1901 views

Silverfoxqpr

Central London - just back on 19:11 - Jan 26 by Northernr
I've just hired two new reporters onto my team, whole thing conducted remotely, and am yet to meet them in person. It is not ideal. We're pleased with who we've got, it's going ok, but we need to get them among their team and back in the office to a certain extent.

Yep, I had 5 Zoom interviews re: my previous post. Met half a dozen in the flesh since prior to lockdown and the other 200 or so remotely via a monitor. It really hasn't felt all that weird but I'm knocking on a year at home, I guess its amazing what you get used to.

Central London - just back on 19:28 - Jan 26 with 1879 views

Juzzie

Central London - just back on 17:24 - Jan 26 by BklynRanger
These completely fair replies also highlight a major issue: our work has become our life. Laptops lying around, desks in the bedroom, people replying to emails at all hours of the day and night. Whatever new ways of working we end up with something has got to be done about that. It's fcuked.

People need to be disciplined to maintain a traditional 9-5.
We already have had people at our place working late, working weekends (even if just for an hour or so) and it then raises expectations of the bosses and puts pressure on everyone else to do the same.
Last Spring we already had our boss casually say that as we no longer commute we can start earlier and finish later, akin to when we would normally leave home and then get back home.
I made it clear that is not going to happen. The commute is in my time that I do not get paid for so why should I do 2 hours extra per day unpaid, unless they want to pay me. I had the support of my immediate boss and as time has gone on we have even had the very top, top people (basically 2nd in command of the global company) saying they don’t want to see people do this. Everyone must maintain the usually working hours in order to basically keep sane.

Central London - just back on 19:31 - Jan 26 with 1873 views

thame_hoops

Not everybody has a spare bedroom to work out of. Lots of people I know were working from the sofa, the kitchen, the bedroom/ the kids rooms. It was a novelty at first, so I can see a lot of people wanting to get back in an office environment. I’ve always pretty much worked from home as I work all over the country but I still like to go into the office once a week. The notion that all these big London offices will close is nonsense. I have clients that are letting agents and big firms are still paying rents. They are fully expecting people to come back to the office once the vaccination program is rolled out

Central London - just back on 19:42 - Jan 26 with 1857 views

Harbour

Yes I worked in Canary Wharf for 9 years commuting from Harrow every day 15 hours a week on the tube hated it . Then changed jobs worked from home for 7 years up to 2020 when I retired. I used to go into the office during that 7 years about once a month you soon get used to doing online meetings never regretted it saved a fortune in commuting costs plus reduced my working week. Heard CW like a ghost town now.

Central London - just back on 19:53 - Jan 26 with 1833 views

ManinBlack

I was in Stratford last week and that was busy as usual but no idea what it is like in Piccadilly.

There are definitely less people on public transport but where I live the traffic is still heavy. I am curious about these huge skyscrapers in London if they don't contain workers. If people don't return to these towers they will look like a great waste of money as they will never be full again. Maybe a job for King Kong and a giant kitten to pull them all down.

As previously pointed out on here I do have concerns it will be easier to hire in cheaper labour from abroad if we all stay at home working. They could sack me in the coming months and get someone in Lithuania to do my job at half the salary.

One thing that has miffed me is using my electricity to operate my copier for work purposes, using my lighting and heating and continually charging the work mobile and laptop. I don't get any extra pay for all this energy use so gas and electricity bills going up.

Central London - just back on 19:57 - Jan 26 with 1828 views

charmr

Great debate

I always could never get my head around sending mass populations out to be somewhere by 9 and all leave together at 5. Put that alongside the mad cost of property in somewhere like Ruislip because it Is near 5 tube stations (but with nothing to do) Seems someone is taking the piss.

I 95 from Baltimore to Virginia around DC is known as the angry road. It’s fing mental with the locals all undertaking, swapping lanes just to get 10ft ahead without indicating, leaving a safe breaking distance space in front of you only for someone to cut in and you end up up on their arse, driving at different speeds (not keeping up with traffic) On their phones, driving like nascar drivers up your arse with f all consideration or thought for any one else using the road. That’s what 9-5 does in bringing out the worst in people. Makes the North Circular look like a country road. So stressful and literally fearful for your safety. Unhealthy.

[Post edited 26 Jan 2021 20:04]

Central London - just back on 20:07 - Jan 26 with 1801 views

Konk

I think it will totally depend upon peoples' circumstances.

If I was commuting into the City from the Home Counties, doing £4k pa on travel, leaving home before the kids were up, and back just before they went to bed, and spending 3 hours a day travelling, then I'd be looking to work from home as often as possible.

If I was sitting in traffic for an hour each way driving to an office on a business park outside Watford, I'd probably work at home as often as possible.

If I was 25 and living in a small flat or a house share, then I'd be looking to get into the office as often as possible. I worked on-and-off for 22 years for the same company, principally because of how much of a laugh I had pi ssing about with my colleagues most days, how much of a laugh I had drinking in great pubs with colleagues and friends, at lunch and after work, and because I loved how many amazing pubs and restaurants there were within a 30 mins walk, if I was meeting-up with friends after work.

If you're trying to establish yourself in a new job, or move on in a company, it is so much easier to do that when you're physically working alongside other people/teams, socialising with them etc. And an huge number of people meet their partners at work too.

Until Covid, my wife had been doing an overnighter in London every week, at a cost to her business of about £400 a trip. She wouldn't see our son for those two days, and never got to do the school run on the other three days. She won't be going back to the London trips, but wants to do a 2/3, 3/2 split with WFH and going into work, partly because of the nature of her work (food industry - can't really try recipes WFH) - but equally because she thinks it's important for her working relationships. I expect most people will want to do something along those lines. Flexibility.

Pre-Covid, quite a few people I know who work in finance were working for companies operating hot desking, so I think it was on its way, anyway, for certain sectors. The sad thing about hot desking, is of course, that you don't form relationships with the people who sit around you.

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Central London - just back on 20:08 - Jan 26 with 1799 views

Superhoops2808

Central London - just back on 16:53 - Jan 26 by robith
An addendum to that post though Clive - in essence my work have offset their rent, internet and utilities costs off onto me for a year. Now I'm a big boy, but a lot of younger staff I've spoken to are really struggling with bills ballooning

A lot of these people forget that they are no longer paying out the extortionate commuting fares that our rail companies and Mayor charge. Thats a huge saving on its own

Central London - just back on 20:09 - Jan 26 with 1798 views

joe90

Central London - just back on 18:18 - Jan 26 by Northernr

I think they were hoping we'd formed Stockholm syndrome.

Central London - just back on 20:19 - Jan 26 with 1776 views

Paddyhoops

Still a few cabbies knocking about.
You can tell who they are straight away. They're the ones standing in a cafe with no masks on complaining about the lack of businness.
Not all of them I may add.

Central London - just back on 20:23 - Jan 26 with 1768 views

hantssi

Central London - just back on 20:08 - Jan 26 by Superhoops2808
A lot of these people forget that they are no longer paying out the extortionate commuting fares that our rail companies and Mayor charge. Thats a huge saving on its own

You can claim tax relief if you HAVE to work from home at £6/wk, so at basic rate you can claim £1.20!!

Central London - just back on 20:25 - Jan 26 with 1765 views

NW5Hoop

If you think it's empty now, you should have gone into town in the spring, during the first lockdown. Seriously, it's like, errr, Piccadilly Circus compared to how it was then. One day in April, at lunchtime, I walked the length of Oxford Street and didn't see a single person other than homeless people in doorways. Went past Kings Cross at 6pm and didn't see a single person. Obviously, you wouldn't call it busy, but there are definitely more people in town than there were in the first lockdown.

I worry about the effect on city centres if working patterns change. If you've ever spent time in the once great American cities that got denuded by out of town malls, you'll know what I mean. Cities of the best part of a million people where the downtown is dead, even in the middle of the working day.

Central London - just back on 20:32 - Jan 26 with 1745 views

BlackCrowe

This. Got a load of grads and twenty-somethings, in shared houses/bedsits. they seem to be suffering considerably more than many of us older ones who are at a different lifestage with a bit more space. Some have moved back to their parents and the others I worry about....see them wobbling a bit and becoming progressively lucklustre.

Poll:

Kitchen threads or polls?

Central London - just back on 21:14 - Jan 26 with 1687 views

queensparker

I read an interesting stat that London has only just got back to its pre WW2 population in the last few years.

It’s definitely going to drop again now - round me in NW10 plenty of people who turned up in the last five years to “live in Zone 2” and spent a fortune to do so are bailing out and moving to to the home countries or back up north, but unless you’re all in on the London property market I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing.

Until the late 90s there were always plenty of empty properties to live in and cheap spaces to try and set up a business or a club night or whatever, and the city was a much better place for it. London will live on and maybe it will be cheaper and more accessible again.

Central London - just back on 22:37 - Jan 26 with 1597 views

Nov77

Central London - just back on 21:14 - Jan 26 by queensparker

Read somewhere 700,000 have left London since COVID hit, not sure how accurate this is. Presumably they sold their houses to someone, so population shouldn’t be affected too much.

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Central London - just back on 00:10 - Jan 27 with 1528 views

daveB

We were being told at work that when we return it will likely be 3 days at home and 2 in the office but that was when we thought we were going back in October, now it's looking more like the summer at the earliest the chance for companies to save a fortune in big offices is very appealing to them.

I've found it a lot easier to get things done, less pointless meetings and less hurdles in the way to change things, it's been good for me. I spent a few grand a year on train travel, would be stuck at Paddington at least once a month and I spent so much money, honestly It's mad how much I've saved by working from home and not going to QPR.

I used to see my daughter for an hour in the morning then she'd be asleep by the time i got home, I can now take her to nursery every day, have dinner together as a family, do bedtime with her and play with her, it's been life changing in a good way. If I could go to football every week I'd be in a state of bliss.

We were quite lucky at work that they brought in this smart working idea a few months before COVID so we ad already started doing this before we were forced to but it's certainly shut up all the doubters.

Central London - just back on 05:10 - Jan 27 with 1468 views

FredManRave

Central London - just back on 17:22 - Jan 26 by bakerloo8
If it is as profitable for companies to employ workers from home and work online and on zoom etc, then surely this is terrible news as what is to stop companies outsourcing all this WFH to countries where labour is so much cheaper. Bad bad road to go down in my opinion.

Very relevant and interesting thread especially, imo, this point raised.

I know somebody who is a Business Analist working in the City for a foreign bank. I think it's a fair summary to suggest that numerous banks/companies have realised the savings to be made by employees working from home.

Now it's going to stage 2. Companies have realised the amount of money to be saved by having employees working from home but why pay 500 quid a day for a City worker when somebody from Eastern Europe can do the same job for half the price.

The specific example is that said Business Analist is now training people form Bulgaria to do his job knowing that in the near future they will be doing his job at half the cost and he will be out of work.

It's ironic actually because I'm on the other side, so to speak. I recently accepted voluntary redundancy and whilst I don't actually reside in the UK I can work there bearing in mind I have a UK bank account with corresponding address and documents, it's just that the opportunities for non residents to be able to actually work remotely 100% from home for a UK company are very few and far between.

Any advice or suggestions from posters that work or understand the current UK Working From Home situation for people that reside outside the UK would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Fred.

PM me....

[Post edited 27 Jan 2021 5:14]

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Central London - just back on 08:39 - Jan 27 with 1357 views

Metallica_Hoop

Luncheon is a problem in Fleet Street.

If I get bored with sarnies of my own construction I have Tesco's or Dilletto (which is lovely but a heart attack in the making one isn't enough and 2 is too much). and erm.... that's it!

Cant be arsed to walk to Holborn MS and their food is mostly over priced toot anyway.

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