Leaving London: How one former Londoner swapped job-hunting from a flatshare in Tooting for her own business by the sea

Room with a view: Charlotte Ashcroft has left London behind for St Leonards-on-Sea

(Picture: Handout)

At the start of the pandemic, the life Charlotte Ashcroft had been building in London evaporated. She was put on furlough at her job in sales and made redundant in May 2020, a “coromance” that began during the first lockdown fell flat and she was paying £750 a month for a room she didn’t particularly like in Tooting.

“Finding a new job during a pandemic was really hard,” said Ashcroft, 34. “I was going on dates and it was all a disaster. The final straw was when I got stood up by a man called Nigel, that was a real low point. It was a Friday night and I just went home to my crappy room and started googling places by the sea near London.”