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Having been in London for the last seven years I am baffled by the whole dress code thing, very old fashioned and small minded - judging a book by it's cover... Even the trendiest bars don't bother in London. In fact in some places it's almost obligatory to dress scruffily (in the right kind of second hand clothes - carefully messed up hair way of course). I think this is partly because everyone goes out drinking straight after work, so not dressing smartly is almost a status symbol ie you work in a trendy design, new media, advertising company etc and are not some wide boy/ essex girl who works in the city and has to wear a suit. Plus of course all the bars restaurants are wise to the fact that what you wear has no bearing on wealth or status - you could be a pop star just about to break into the big time for all they know. Another thing is you don't get small scale violence/lads looking for trouble, everyone is very careful to avoid it as you don't know who may be carrying a gun!

No I'm not in the business - I found out the hard way!

Yes they do exist! Its taken me over six months of looking (plus another two months of the actual legal process of buying) to move up here from London. Top tips: -don't look at anything at the top end of your budget (allow around 10% slack for bidding - more for very popular areas!) - check the property websites on a Thursday afternoon/evening - they usually are all updated by then (although Blundells sometimes has the odd property pop up on a Friday morning) www.vebra.com - Blundells, Saxton Mee, Haybrook, Spencers www.elr.co.uk www.reedsrains.co.uk www.winkworth.co.uk www.halifax.co.uk - try to arrange viewings that weekend or the next at the latest (popular houses quite often go within a couple of weeks) - if you find something put in a low (but realistic offer) to register your interest - try to find out from the agent if the vendor intends to go for sealed bids (this varies from agent to agent and whether there is a lot of interest in the property) - keep chasing the agent (they won't tell you anything - they are incredibly complacent at the moment!), but sit tight and don't raise your offer until the vendor has agreed a closing date or the agent has decided that there are no more parties interested and wants to close the deal. - if its sealed bids - don't disclose anything beyond your first offer and just offer what you can afford/what the property is worth to you - if there is an open bidding war keep your nerve and remember its just like an auction -don't get carried away! and set an upper limit also don't go up in big jumps(£500 - £100 depending on your price bracket). I saw properties where people were bidding in £10k increments - it was madness! - pray your vendor is not too eccentric (there seem to be a lot of them about) with strange ideas:not wanting to sell/ taking forever to make a decision/setting unrealistic completion deadlines/ignoring the agent and selling privately... Lastly good luck - because you'll need it!