Thus thinking laterally, bucking the trend and commuting in the opposite direction?

After all, employers don't just hire you just because you happen to be 'local' per se. They employ and bus in the candidates who tick all the right boxes in the essential and desirable columns of the person specification. The employer may be opposite your house, but if you don't have the experience they won't take you.      

All over the world there is always more pressure and competition trying for jobs in the capital city. More jobs exist, but more people are trying for them (both nationally and internationally) and in London, approximately half are temporary or fixed term contracts. It therefore evens out accordingly and is relative.   

Outside of London the average salary for the same role is some £5,000 - £10,000 less without the additional London Weighting Allowance to cover the train fares to get to work. 

However, although the role may pay less, there is a greater chance of getting it and a foothold in the market, and they are also more relaxed and friendly outside of London, being more country people and also not so pushy with the performance. Clear regional variations and distinctions in the UK labour market do exist.        

Therefore,

(1) If one lives in Milton Keynes, it is easier and less competitive to break into HR in London or Birmingham / Leicester;    

(2) If one lives in Swindon, it is easier and less competitive to break into HR in Bristol / Cardiff or London; 

(3) If one lives in Basingstoke, it is easier and less competitive to break into HR in Reading, Oxford, Southampton, Bournemouth or London; 

(4) If one lives in Northampton, it is easier and less competitive to break into HR in Coventry / Nottingham or London;    

(5) If one lives in Stoke on Trent, it is easier and less competitive to break into HR in Wolverhampton, Birmingham, Liverpool or Manchester.   

Personally and professionally, I found that living in the Greater London area did not automatically affect me on a personal level, immediately translate into or make it any easier to get a job, and I also commute in the opposite direction as well.  

Finally, Sheffield, Leeds and Newcastle upon Tyne has been highly successful in job creation as a city outside of the capital, having largely and boldly reinvented themselves as major post industrial regional centres.   

Head to the South West, the West Midlands, East Midlands, North West or the North East instead in search of a vacancy.