Which English city should I go live in?

Revelation Joe

r3nu4l wrote:

I have two Irish friends teaching at a school in Dagenham. It is quite a rough area but there's no saying you have to live there

Ilford isn't too far away, not a bad place to live and has a very good, friendly and more importantly real Irish pub, owned and staffed by Irish people Trains from Ilford take you into London Liverpool Street in 15 mins, so you're never too far away from the city

Dagenham used to be the world's biggest council estate. And almost everyone worked for Ford. Barking is OK, Ilford is the best of the three (or Seven Kings which is next door). They used to say if you can't buy it in Ilford High Street, it doesn't exist! Think about Manor Park, that's also nearby.

gary the great

Revelation Joe wrote:

Runnymede is a good area. Rents might be high though

Thats what ive been hearing, it seems a perfect place except theres no premiership grounds that close that I could just pop down to on a midweek evening when ive nothing better to do!

Do-more

Fratton Fred wrote:

Nottingham...There are also rumours of there being three times more women than men there;)

Revelation Joe wrote:

Nottingham - it used to be four women to every man

Jaysus lads, back in my day it used to be six women to every fella!

JimmyK

I've lived in Scotland for the past 7 years and love it.
Dundee for 4 years at uni and working in Glasgow for 3
Very popular with the Irish.

gary the great

Just for an update, doesnt look like ive got the job in runnymede, but theres a few other places on the cards - Barking, Lambeth and Nottingham. If I get a job in London I will most likely be living in Bromley as I have a couple of friends there.

Ruu_Old

My sister lives in Dagenham and I've been there before, not too bad at all. Best of luck wherever you go.

iguana

gary the great wrote:

Just for an update, doesnt look like ive got the job in runnymede, but theres a few other places on the cards - Barking, Lambeth and Nottingham. If I get a job in London I will most likely be living in Bromley as I have a couple of friends there.

Bromley or Bromley-by-bow? Bromley is very far out and it's very suburban. It's one of those areas I'd think about moving to if I got fed up of urban life and wanted to trade my three bed terrace with a little garden for a five bed semi with a big garden. (Though since one of my dogs died the little garden we have looks too big for the other one).

Lambeth would be my first choice. It is an inner London borough of which Brixton and Clapham are part of. I dislike Brixton, I worked there for a little while and I hated it, but some people love it. It's also home to Brixton Academy which is a nice venue, where I got to see the Pixies a few years back.:D And there are quite a few good club nights in the area.

While the transport in south London is mostly crap, Lambeth has two tube lines, the Northern line (also known as the misery line) stops in Clapham and the Victorian line (one of the better lines as it was built in the 60's so it goes in straighter lines and connects to both Victoria and Kings Cross stations. Plus Tottenham Hale which is good for Stanstead) stops in Brixton. They both stop in Stockwell. Those three areas would be the most expensive to live in. Streatham and Norwood are two cheaper areas of Lambeth, but the transport in South London really does suck, even the buses are much more unreliable there as the roads tend to be narrower.

walrusgumble

i have a mate who leaves in barnsley, he was originally from down the road in huddersfiled. he is trying to get all us (me and me mates) to head over soon, which we will eventually, but are not really exicted as i hear they are not great, although huddersfield have a good rugby league team. whats the score with these towns? are they nice place. night life any good, male:female ratio?

was north london like, mainly islington home of arsenal fc?

gary the great

Thanks for that Iguana, im heading over in a couple of weeks for some interviews and im going to stay the weekend with some friends and check the areas out and see what i think.

iguana

walrusgumble wrote:

was north london like, mainly islington home of arsenal fc?

Islington is an inner London borough which incorporates areas such as Highbury, Holloway Road, Angel and parts of Finsbury Park and Kings Cross. The area of the borough that generally gets referred to as Islington is Upper Street which runs from Angel to Highbury and Islington tube stations. Upper Street has the most cafes and restaraunts per meter than anywhere else in the world and is very popular.

The nearer you get to Upper St the more expensive it is to live. Islington, though highly desirable has quite a high crime rate and was listed something like the 3rd worst place in Britian to live by Channel 4 this year. But imo it's no more dangerous than any area of London, you just have to be very self-aware when you are out.

The transport is very good, the Northern, Victoria and Picadilly lines run through Islington. And the buses are very comprehensive.

Other areas nearby outside of Islington are Camden, parts of Hackney such as Stoke Newington and Haringey such as Manor House, Wood Green and Tottenham. The latter three areas are some of the cheapest centralish areas of London and all have good transport.

stormkeeper

Mrbrianmolko wrote:

I have applied for a job in Dagenham and Barking in London, anyone any experiecnes?

I used to live at the (former) UEL campus on the Longbridge Road, which straddled the borders of Barking, Dagenham and Goodmayes (Seven Kings). As was mentioned before, Seven Kings is a nice area. Dagenham seemed alright, but I only started going around there close to the time I was leaving! Barking was fairly decent I thought, but I hated living in the university area, and yeah, Barking is a bit rough, but I never experienced any trouble, though I did witness a mugging on a bus to Barking going from Stratford, so I agree that the Newham area is a bit dodgy!

I kinda had a bad experience at UEL, so I don't look back on those 1.5 years extremely favourably. It wasn't that bad a place to live, mind. However, I do prefer Eltham (Avery Hill), where I live now, though as was said before, the buses are somewhat unreliable. The place is nice enough. I'm half an hour from Bexleyheath which has a 24 hour Asda, which is useful for me as I'm a university student. The nightlife is decent there too, as is Greenwich, where I study. Of course, being in Zone 4 (quite close to Bromley actually), it's quite suburban, but it's only 30 minutes to Central London (Charing Cross, London Bridge and Waterloo East) which is handy.

I've actually considered moving to East Greenwich at some point, as I like it here a lot. But yeah, I'm rambling, so I'll shut up now.

r3nu4l wrote:

I have two Irish friends teaching at a school in Dagenham. It is quite a rough area but there's no saying you have to live there

Ilford isn't too far away, not a bad place to live and has a very good, friendly and more importantly real Irish pub, owned and staffed by Irish people Trains from Ilford take you into London Liverpool Street in 15 mins, so you're never too far away from the city

Agreed.

susanna

I wouldn't count out Liverpool if I were you. Despite what some people on here say, it actually has one of the lowest crime rates in the UK. The majority of scousers are really friendly and good craic, nightlife is good, and as you say you can go to Anfield regularly. I have a lot of family and friends there so I go over a lot and I absolutely love it. I almost moved there myself to go to college

gary the great

Hey lads Runnymede is looking like a definite. Either there or Waverley (which is also in Surrey). Will be sharing a house with a few lads i know so hopefully rent/council tax wont be to much.

vawns

gary the great wrote:

Another place called Runnymede have contacted me, its in Surrey. I wouldnt mind living there, in the country but close to London and the south coast. Also a better climate. The money in that particular job is better than anywhere else ive been offered, so im going to apply for it.

Runnymead's a nice area - nearest places to rent would be Egham or Staines. Egham is gorgeous - just outside the M25 but is only a 20 minute train journey to London. Not much there though in terms of shops or pubs. Staines is one of the bigger towns within the Runnymead area - has lots of shops, clubs, pubs - from what I can remember I think there is an Irish bar there too. Rent is around £250 - 300 a month so much better than central London.

gary the great

Thanks for that info Vawns.

The lads currently live in Egham but are moving to Staines soon.

Was due to go over this morning, but due to the bad weather over there the flight was cancelled :mad:

Lookin forward to moving over, hopefully it wont be to much of a culture shock for a dublin lad!

Pythia

Anyone know anything about Surrey, Reigate in particular? I've accepted a job there starting in about 6 months time.

gary the great

Pythia, the areas we were talking about (Runnymede, Egham, Staines, Waverley etc) are all in Surrey.

In general it sems like a lovely place, one of the posher parts of the UK and not to far from London. Heathrow is near Surrey (or maybe even in it?) so flights home shouldnt be a problem.

gary the great

Lads got a job in runnymede, but am movign into friends house in Walton on thmaes in ELmbridge - Its lovely!

Faith

Congrats, Gary!

gary the great

Elmbridge were i'll be living is real nice. Was over at the weekend, our house is a bit crap but its dam cheap with a huge big back garden (which the gardener has immaculate). Our neighbours all drive Range Rovers and Porches and the area is just really nice. Can't wait now, say it will be lovely in the summer.