Let's make things easy for you:

* London't a brilliant place to live (plus a great springboard for visiting Europe)
* Can you get a job? Of course. The question is what you can do and what you can earn. Between you, you'll have to earn at least 50K a year to have a reasonable life (not a big hurdle - the average salary in London is about 25K a year and that's the average). If you can't earn above this, you'll struggle, especially as you won't be eligible for social security initially.
* your biggest cost, as you recognise, will be accommodation. First, (given your budget), don't think conversion buildings - might be cool for some but there aren't many here and they're over-priced. Similarly, don't expect to be a near tube. Nor do you need to be: some of the cheapest and most central property is south of the river and it doesn't have a good tube network (due to historic problems of tunnelling through clay). And don't do furnished properties for two reasons: a) it's cheaper to furnish it yourself (relative to the extra cost you'll pay for a furnished property) and b) your tenancy rights will be severely restricted by a furnished let (ie they can kick you out much more easily). Aim for a student area (which also tends to be more arts-oriented/liberal).
* All the other basic costs are comparable to other big cities, relative to the towns' earning power.
* Just do it - you won't necessarily live Hugh Grant's life in Notting Hill initially but you might get there - although it wouldn't be my choice of area!
* And, yes, London is very safe. And, no, it's rubbish that everyone gets burgled all the time. And under no account live in bleedin' Southampton or other provincial cul-de-sacs mentioned above (sorry guys!). You either live in London or you stay in Toronto. Mind you, wouldn't mind moving to Amsterdam. Now there's a fab city....

Sorry clgarbas,
Based on Musheds very narrow minded opinion that there is no where else in UK worth living or working but London, I suggest you stay where you are.
I would however like to add that next time you visit london, when you get back to the hotel at the end of the day, blow your nose into a white handkerchief and see how much black crap you inhaled in the last few hours, then ask yourself if this is the best place you enhance your health.
And hope to god that your nasel system filtered it all out and let nothing into your lungs.

Muck

Amsterdam, what a dump.

Interesting post, seeing that the first comment was written in 2004. Unfortunately the prices in the rental market have shot up in the last two years because more people are wanting to rent now rather than buy. For a 1 bedroom apartment in a central area you are probably looking at 1800GBP. However moving to the east end, will still give you the arts infrastructure but with much lower rents (say 1400GBP).

As per jobs- it depends if you qualify as highly skilled economic migrants.

Visit the home-office website for more info on VISA requirements.

http://www.ukvisas.gov.uk

For real estate agents. We went through London Executive. Excellent website and very good service for international clients.

http://www.london-executive.com

Can't find any mention of it, but as a citizen of a Commonwealth country you may be entitled to an Ancestry visa if any of your grandparents were British. I'd also look into the rules for Irish citizenship as they are more lax than the UK variety

See www.ukvisas.gov.uk for details of the hoops you have to jump thorugh

alanRow: The OP posted this nearly 4 years ago. The thread was topped by two first-time posters so my guess one or both are just advertising their websites