Taking 4 Pets to London - Mad?
Mar 15th 2019, 3:00 am
#1
Just Joined
Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2019
Posts: 2
Taking 4 Pets to London - Mad?
Hello all.
Im a New Zealander with British parents (deceased), so have a UK passport but have never lived in the UK. Have been offered great job in London (yay!). Plan is for husband and I to move in July. We are around 50yrs and leaving our kids behind but they are all at university/working and keen to visit us and travel themselves. Husband will apply for Family/Spouse Visa. As we are leaving the kids behind we find it even harder to leave our pets. To my husbands horror, I want to take our 2 cats and at least one dog. Our dogs are a large Labrador (thats who I definitely want to take as she is only 3) and a small Jack Russell (he is getting old so would consider leaving him with a friend).
Would appreciate insight on being a pet owner - particularly dogs in London with regards to:
- Getting rental accomodation (given the added problem of having no UK credit history)
- Generally getting around with dogs (on public transport)
- How dog friendly is London?
And any other general dog-cat-living tips.
Weirdly this is the hardest part of deciding to move blind to other-side of the world!
Thanks in advance.
Im a New Zealander with British parents (deceased), so have a UK passport but have never lived in the UK. Have been offered great job in London (yay!). Plan is for husband and I to move in July. We are around 50yrs and leaving our kids behind but they are all at university/working and keen to visit us and travel themselves. Husband will apply for Family/Spouse Visa. As we are leaving the kids behind we find it even harder to leave our pets. To my husbands horror, I want to take our 2 cats and at least one dog. Our dogs are a large Labrador (thats who I definitely want to take as she is only 3) and a small Jack Russell (he is getting old so would consider leaving him with a friend).
Would appreciate insight on being a pet owner - particularly dogs in London with regards to:
- Getting rental accomodation (given the added problem of having no UK credit history)
- Generally getting around with dogs (on public transport)
- How dog friendly is London?
And any other general dog-cat-living tips.
Weirdly this is the hardest part of deciding to move blind to other-side of the world!
Thanks in advance.
Mar 15th 2019, 4:12 am
#2
Concierge
Joined: Jan 2013
Location: Western Australia
Posts: 21,139
Re: Taking 4 Pets to London - Mad?
Can't help with the pets in London questions, just to make you aware that if your husband is a citizen of a Commonwealth country, has a British grandparent and is planning on looking for work in the UK then he may want to explore the ancestry visa route. The ancestry visa application fee is a few hundred pounds, while the spouse visa fees are several thousands. Both visas are a path to indefinite leave to remain and British citizenship. https://www.gov.uk/ancestry-visa
Mar 15th 2019, 4:22 am
#3
Just Joined
Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2019
Posts: 2
Re: Taking 4 Pets to London - Mad?
That is fantastic advise thank you! I was going to do a whole other post on Visas once we get going on that (he realised his passport expired so step one is getting that sorted.... 
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Mar 15th 2019, 4:25 am
#4
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Joined: Jan 2013
Location: Western Australia
Posts: 21,139
Re: Taking 4 Pets to London - Mad?
Mar 16th 2019, 6:10 am
#5
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Joined: Nov 2007
Location: Scotland
Posts: 3,337
Re: Taking 4 Pets to London - Mad?
We moved from Oz in 2016 with our dog. We initially lived in Windsor which is effectively the outskirts of London (about half an hour from the city). Had no issues getting a rental.
The UK is very dog friendly. Far more so than Oz. Dogs are welcome on public transport and even in many businesses. Including a lot of restaurants and things. The first pub my dog visited was the Hinds Head in Bray. A Michelin star pub owned by Heston Blumenthiel. Where we live now in Scotland, he goes in all the shops except the supermarket. So butchers, green grocers etc.
The UK is very dog friendly. Far more so than Oz. Dogs are welcome on public transport and even in many businesses. Including a lot of restaurants and things. The first pub my dog visited was the Hinds Head in Bray. A Michelin star pub owned by Heston Blumenthiel. Where we live now in Scotland, he goes in all the shops except the supermarket. So butchers, green grocers etc.
