A city worker who swapped sky-rise living in the cramped capital for a three bed in a \u201cfriendly\u201d Kent town – without having ever stepped foot there – says he\u2019s no regrets.<\/p>\n
Ravi Sharma, 39, left his rented flat in London Docklands in January 2023 after his landlord upped the monthly rent suddenly by more than 50% from \u00a31,450 to \u00a32,200.<\/p>\n
From left to right: Hinesh, Hannah, Ravi and Amy enjoying a summer festival near the castle<\/p>\n
Faced with just ten days to find somewhere new, he widened his search and spotted a three-bed house in a historic town of Rochester<\/p>\n
He had never visited the Medway area before, but with time running out, he was willing to take a risk.<\/p>\n
After speaking briefly with the letting agent, who sent over a video tour of the property, Ravi decided to go ahead with the move despite not seeing it in person.<\/p>\n
He paid the holding fee the same day and began packing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were quite anxious,\u201d he told KentOnline. \u201cWe didn\u2019t know what to expect, but we told ourselves we could always move again in six months if we didn\u2019t like it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ravi with friend Annie at Rochester\u2019s farmers\u2019 market<\/p>\n
Ravi works in change and transformation for the Greater London Authority.<\/p>\n
His partner works in product development at a company that designed electric toothbrushes for children.<\/p>\n
Despite commuting into London, they said the pace of life felt calmer and more connected.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople smiled. They said hello, they stopped to talk,\u201d Ravi said. \u201cWhen I went running, other joggers gave me a thumbs up or wave.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn London, everyone was in a rush. It was tunnel vision.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ravi says he hasn\u2019t found the \u201ckind of friendliness\u201d he\u2019s encountered in Rochester anywhere else.<\/p>\n
Their first few days were spent unpacking, furniture shopping, and catching their breath.<\/p>\n
Ravi, pictured right, says he has no regrets about moving to Rochester<\/p>\n
A quiet drink at a high street pub changed everything.<\/p>\n
His partner started chatting to a woman outside named Amy who works as a teacher at a local school.<\/p>\n
She introduced them to her friends, and those strangers quickly became their new inner circle.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t know anyone in Rochester, and suddenly we had a whole group of friends thanks to that one night,\u201d Ravi added.<\/p>\n
They soon threw themselves into local life, from evenings at pubs to enjoying the annual Sweeps, Dickens and Cocktail Week festivals all held in the town.<\/p>\n
The high street in Rochester hosts many different events<\/p>\n
In April 2024, they launched an Indian street food stall called Chutney Street at the town\u2019s monthly farmers\u2019 market, held opposite the station.<\/p>\n
The menu included samosas, onion bhajis, chilli garlic chips, sandwiches and masala chai.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople who\u2019ve lived here all their lives might not realise how special it is,\u201d Ravi said of the town.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut for us, coming in fresh, it felt genuinely special.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ravi says they now plan to buy a home nearby with his partner and has no intention of returning to London.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A city worker who swapped sky-rise living in the cramped capital for a three bed in a \u201cfriendly\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":277770,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,393,4884,609,495,257,607,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-277769","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-human-interest","12":"tag-kent","13":"tag-london","14":"tag-medway","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114886465689535128","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277769\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}