I moved to Australia after my London home was burgled – life is better here

A British man who left the UK to move to Sydney has described how Australia’s pro-entrepreneurial environment has helped him to build a global business.

Jim Groves, 53, and his wife, Sarah, were living in south London with their one-year-old twin boys in 2007 when their home was broken into. The break-in came amid reports of shootings and stabbings in their local area, and they began considering leaving for good.

“We were getting a bit sick of London,” said Mr Groves, who was working in banking at the time, told The i Paper. “My old boss had moved to Australia and I told him if a role came up in Australia, we’d be interested.”

Months later, his former boss rang and offered a company transfer within the investment banking business he had been working for over the past decade.

“I said yes – it was only going to be for a year or two,” he said, adding that his greatest hesitation was moving away from their family support system. “With it being a transfer within the company, it made everything easier. The company paid for the relocation costs and sponsored us for our visas. We didn’t sell our property in London – just planned to rent it out.”

His first impression of moving to Australia was the sun. “We arrived just after Christmas, going from a dark, cold, and wet London to the middle of the Australian summer,” he said.

The following year, the global financial crisis hit, and he considered moving back to the UK, ultimately deciding against it.

“The crisis didn’t seem to be felt in Australia as much as elsewhere,” he said. “A lot of my colleagues were losing jobs in London and I had a job in Australia that came up after my transfer expired. Rather than relocate back to the UK and battle to find a job, we decided to stay and get citizenship.”

They sold their house back in Britain, put a down payment on one in Sydney, and did not look back.

Within 10 years, Mr Groves decided to pursue his dream of starting his own business, spurred on by the “have-a-go” attitude in Australia.

“It’s a pro-entrepreneurial environment, full of innovation,” he said. In 2016, he founded Rubberdesk, an office search business.

The advantage of launching in a small, enclosed market was that he could perfect his product and company before launching globally. It’s a “small, addressable market” where he could identify his customers and establish his business before springboarding overseas.

“But the challenge is that to get scale and growth, you need to get off the island,” he said. “And when you do that, you realise you’re a long way from everywhere. Timezone wise, we’re close to Asia, but far from the rest of the world. My days are book-ended with meetings.”

When he is not working, Mr Groves and his family most enjoy being outside, and while his children were at school, they signed up for surfing on Wednesday afternoons. “Aussie life is being outdoors,” he said. “Walks and hikes are on our doorstep. It’s idyllic.”

With no language barrier, the family were able to quickly integrate into the community.

“Living in a country with no support network initially forced us to make friends and create our own network,” he said, describing how he and his wife were intentional about meeting people through work and everyday life when they first moved.

The cost of living in Australia, Mr Groves said, was on par with living in the UK, aside from housing.

“Housing is very expensive,” he said. “But food and fuel feel a bit cheaper.”

The healthcare system is different and, arguably, better than in the UK, he said.

“It’s subsidised,” he said. “You pay for it, but are partially reimbursed by the Government. I’ve never struggled to get a hold of a doctor’s appointment. There’s a large focus here on preventative care. Having just turned 50, I now get a yearly healthy heart check.”

Although he and his wife still feel an underlying guilt for living so far away from extended family, they make an effort to fly back to England once a year.

“It’s really expensive to fly four people back,” he said.

Despite being so far away, Australia is one of the top destinations in the world for Brits leaving the UK.

Mr Groves can see why. “The language isn’t a barrier, visa access is easy, and the weather makes life more appealing,” he said.