These are officially the 11 best towns to commute to London from
Rail fares may have gone up today, but that doesn't mean moving out of London is out of the question: a new ranking has revealed Luton is the best place to commute to the capital from.
Yes, despite having been voted the worst place to live in the UK last year, Luton has taken the top spot, thanks to its bargain basement average house price of just over £250,000, and relatively snappy train journey time to the capital, which is just 24 minutes.
However, at £5,256, the cost of annual train travel to London is rather steep, compared with £3,464 for Slough, which took the third spot in the ranking.
Following closely behind Luton was Dorking: although house prices are a rather steeper £500,000 and it takes just under an hour to reach London by train, the average travel card was just £3,536.
The research also factored in the cost of parking: while Luton was the cheapest, at £840 a year, Reading (number eight on the list) was the most expensive, with a £1,806 annual car parking cost.
| Area | Average property price | "Cost of an annual travel card to London | Fastest journey time to London station | Do you get a seat in the morning? | |
| 1 | Luton | £252,896 | £5,256 | 24 | Yes |
| 2 | Dorking | £498,742 | £3,536 | 54 | Yes |
| 3 | Slough | £343,566 | £3,464 | 17 | No |
| 4 | Tonbridge | £406,378 | £4,928 | 44 | Yes |
| 5 | Weybridge | £801,211 | £3,824 | 34 | Yes |
| 6 | Woking | £521,599 | £4,040 | 27 | Sometimes |
| 7 | Basildon | £262,964 | £4,088 | 34 | Yes |
| 8 | Reading | £357,411 | £5,300 | 26 | Sometimes |
| 9 | Chelmsford | £341,475 | £5,008 | 35 | Yes |
| 10 | Redhill | £368,360 | £3,652 | 29 | Yes |
| 11 | Oxford | £519,332 | £5,932 | 56 | Yes |
"For those moving within the London commuter belt, and families moving out of central London, location will be key," said Nick Leeming, chairman of Jackson-Stops.
“Luton has prevailed, shaking off the reputation perpetuated by that 1970s Campari advert.
"The town is set for further expansion with £1.5bn of inward investment promised over the next couple of years, including a £110m investment into London Luton Airport and £300m into nearby mixed use development Napier Gateway."
Missed the Campari ad? Here it is…