SOLVED. 2 friends fall for same girl, modern, set in London or other British city, one is an English or French teacher (bit of a loser with no money) and the other is a finance guy who's not emotionally connected but has some cash. [s]

[Matt]

read the book in 2002 about.
quite modern story set in London or another British city.
one of the friends starts dating the girl and then the other has feelings for her and makes a move.

Spoiler Alert
The stand out scene from my memory is at the end. the teacher has become the girls partner and they have moved to France. they may have a kid, not sure but anyway things now are tough, they are fighting a lot. And because of his guilt for stealing his best mates girl and because the best mate was pretty low and not a confident guy, the teacher somehow has invited him to visit them in France and times it perfect that just as he pulls up in his car, the teacher and the girl have a big fight which spills out of the house and the finance friend in his car witnesses it and can finally have some peace in the knowledge that they are not happy

[Anna]

Matt wrote: "read the book in 2002 about.
quite modern story set in London or another British city.
one of the friends starts dating the girl and then the other has feelings for her and makes a move.

Spoiler ..."

This is Julian Barnes' Talking It Over; Stuart, who is slightly dull but reliable, and Gillian, a picture restorer, are married. Their friend Oliver, who teaches English as a Foreign Language in low-end schools, falls in love with Gillian - they have an affair and eventually move to France. Stuart follows them to see what their life is like, and witnesses the fight (manufactured by Gillian) as you describe.

The novel is written from all three characters' points of view, and is a masterpiece of unreliable narration. And if you wondered what happened to Stuart, Gillian and Oliver after the book ends, you might be interested to read the sequel: Love, Etc.

[Matt]

Anna, you legend! Was not holding out much hope. And bam, straight away! Thanks very much. Was it actually a decent novel or did my memory give it more credit then it deserves? Will have to re-read then check out the sequel. Many thanks again.