Well the startups weren't doing too well (two failed) and I was getting paid a relatively low salary... I could probably have found another job but I didn't wanna burn up the little money I had saved up just being 'between jobs' in a really expensive city.
My experience as a developer in London right now is that there is a huge shortage of talented developers, compared to demand. You shouldn't have had trouble finding a well-paid job, especially if you have experience with a front-end framework like Angular.
Out of curiosity: Why didn't you try to get hired by a bigco in London? Wouldn't it compensate for months of shitty pay at startups?
Would you travel in to London for work or are you totally away from the city now?