Best areas to live for commuting to Liverpool Street

Liverpool Street sits on the eastern edge of the City of London, surrounded by the office towers of Broadgate and Bishopsgate, and it is the station for many workers in finance, insurance, law and professional services. It is also the gateway to Shoreditch and Spitalfields, so tech and creative businesses are within a short walk.

The station is a major interchange. The Elizabeth line runs directly from Stratford, Forest Gate, Ilford and Romford in the east and from Paddington, Ealing and Heathrow in the west, and its Liverpool Street platforms connect underground to Moorgate. The Central, Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines stop here, Greater Anglia trains arrive from Essex and Stratford, the Stansted Express terminates here, and Overground trains run from Hackney Downs, Stoke Newington, Walthamstow, Enfield and Chingford.

That makes east and north-east London especially convenient. Hackney, Stoke Newington and Walthamstow can be twenty minutes away by Overground, Stratford and Whitechapel a few minutes by Elizabeth line, and Bethnal Green and Mile End a single hop on the Central line. The Overground trains from north-east London are often crowded at peak times, and the Central line can be very busy between Stratford and the City. Many people working here walk from Shoreditch, Spitalfields, Aldgate or Whitechapel, or cycle along the main routes from Hackney and east London. The Elizabeth line has shifted the balance noticeably: a flat near an Elizabeth line station in outer east London can now beat an inner-London address on a slower line for door-to-door time.