A grand a month for Tube delays and no nightlife to speak of, what’s even the point of living in Zone 2 nowadays, asks Matt Kenyon in today’s Notebook

Zone 2 has become openly hostile

I have spent an unhealthy chunk of 2025 wandering, longingly, around picturesque parts of West London. I’m talking about far-flung extremes of Teddington or Hampton in which I’ve whiled away my weekends. The kinds of places with only one train connection, three times an hour at best.

That used to feel like a drawback, but now I’m not so sure. Last week, a signalling failure at Stockwell took out the whole Northern line for four days. On Wednesday I got on a bus at 06:30, and there were no seats. Christ, I envied the people who got on at Streatham. It was a counter-intuitive feeling, and it got me wondering why I live in Zone 2. When I moved to London in 2020, rent was £650. Now, it’s £1,020, and that’s on the cheaper end.

There has always been an unwritten social contract: live more centrally when you’re younger, pay more for the privilege and splash your hard-earned cash in its pubs and bars. In return, you get better access to better work, more fun and the opportunity to jump........

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