SWMBO shared a flat in Brighton with another Monarch flight attendant, and it seemed to be a popular location for crews to rent. They could make Gatwick from there in 30 mins or so - I think Monarch have some rule about how quickly you need to be able to get to the office when on standby so that governs a lot of your choice over location. Horley and Crawley are other obvious places where a lot of crews rent accommodation.
FWIW she was on the 757/300/330 fleet at LGW and quite enjoyed it for the most part. I certainly enjoyed a very pleasent week in Varadero with her an ten other gorgeous women for the price of a standby ticket, can't argue with that
One reason she left was that the ethos for promotion seemed to be on time served rather than ability - I think that's something that changed not long after she left. It certainly seemed like a reasonably good company to work for.