Has anyone ever worked/lived in the UK and preferred it to Ireland

susieball

I am on holiday again in UK. I went to college here 22 years ago, and only returned to Ireland 19 years ago, as I didn't want to bring up my children here at the time - at that time, you had to buy a house in an expensive area to get a half decent State school - I don't know whether it is still the same. However, I have spent almost 20 years missing the UK. Every time I come back on hols, I still miss it. My career really flattened when I went home. It felt that a lot of the time, though I had really good qualifications and experience, that it was someone who knew someone, who knew someone that got the job in Ireland. I also made some good friends in UK. Hard to get to know them, but once you made friends in UK, they were long-lasting. Much less begrudgery also. Am I seeing it through rose tinted glasses. I still have job offers here. Would like to return when my children start college - both will be gone to college in less than 2 years. Bit scared though about the pension stuff etc. Has anyone else felt the same for many years after moving back to Ireland. Am I seeing it through rose-tinted glasses?

EmmetSpiceland

Yes and no. Thank you.

Yes and no. They’re a world apart from most of us, and not for the better.

The English especially are extremely thick in a common sense type of way. In my younger years I often heard it said that someone working in a bank over there wouldn’t be fit to work in a shop here and there was never a truer word spoken.

listermint

Aye yes a fine country.

So fine they elected a right wing Tory racist government that really is a reflection of the electorate.

And your concerned about begrudgery....

It's a mad kip and going to go to the dogs over the next few years. Especially the NHS. Steer a wide one.

jetsonx

OP, looking at your post from a deeper perspective, its possible you're missing that time of your life when everything was optimistic and bright. A time when the world was your oyster.

If you had been in Angola at the time, you might still be missing Angola now.

You have to separate the place from the feelings.

JPCN1

Did live there 25 years ago and spent a good deal of time there last year. Had changed a lot and not for the better.

Much prefer living here.

kravmaga

susieball wrote: »

I am on holiday again in UK. I went to college here 22 years ago, and only returned to Ireland 19 years ago, as I didn't want to bring up my children here at the time - at that time, you had to buy a house in an expensive area to get a half decent State school - I don't know whether it is still the same. However, I have spent almost 20 years missing the UK. Every time I come back on hols, I still miss it. My career really flattened when I went home. It felt that a lot of the time, though I had really good qualifications and experience, that it was someone who knew someone, who knew someone that got the job in Ireland. I also made some good friends in UK. Hard to get to know them, but once you made friends in UK, they were long-lasting. Much less begrudgery also. Am I seeing it through rose tinted glasses. I still have job offers here. Would like to return when my children start college - both will be gone to college in less than 2 years. Bit scared though about the pension stuff etc. Has anyone else felt the same for many years after moving back to Ireland. Am I seeing it through rose-tinted glasses?

Sorry OP, your post is a bit confusing, are you living in Ireland or England?

I lived in London for 6 years, made good friends, had a good career with excellent future, NHS medical, Doctors, Dentists, all seemed more advanced than Ireland.

I was on the housing list in city of London and was near enough to being offered a council flat in the City of London district / postcode.

That said , was very homesick, missed friends and family in Dublin.

Like the Wicklow mountains for hiking, the Sea, plus did not like the crime /terrorist stuff going on in London , plus the pace of life was frantic.

To me London is a young persons city, live there for a few years, then get out before it too late

I moved back to Dublin when I was 35, bought a property here immediately, got back in touch with old friends, Im happy being back here in Ireland , life is good,

Thelonious Monk

London is amazing, but moved back and bought a property at 35 like the guy above. I miss the transport and the buzz of the place and all the endless things to do but I feel more at home here and I guess I just don't like the feeling of being an immigrant at the end of the day!

branie2

Nope

Church on Tuesday

Yes and... yes.

I'm back living in Ireland now but I've always found it to be small time. Beautiful country, mostly decent people and a great and proud cultural history but run horrifically badly for the most part in nearly every single way.

I found in England you always know where you stood with people and there was no ****ing around, which I like. On the other hand that bit of common decency was sometimes missing.

It's a very different country to the one you left all those years ago OP. The shutters where starting to come down when I was there and it's a shame because it's a happening ( well was happening because Brexit is going to bite fairly hard) place full of opportunities you mostly don't get here.

Anyone who calls a house or a flat a property probably belongs there anyway.

uch

Lived in London around 1990, Absolute **** hole, still is, The North of England however is a beautiful place with lovely genuine people

Rufeo

I hear you about career flattening. Mine's gone a bit pear shaped. I want to try and change for something a bit more satisfying. I think the good thing about the UK is there is a lot more interesting opportunities and people aren't as fear-blocked by someone who wants to change career. People here have a bit of tunnel vision to be honest.

elperello

Lived there a good while and regular visitor.

Met some lovely people, ignored some nasty ones.

Big regional differences.

Some things I prefer there but mostly prefer it here.

Wildly Boaring

Really enjoyed a few years in oxford.
Nice part of the world.
Tip into london on the train for a Saturday or whatever.
Never felt fully on same wavelength as the real southern english.
My workplace had a lot of Welsh, Scots and brummies. Got on great with them all. Keep in touch after a few years.

Prefer it here but by here I mean, Ireland outside dublin.

road_high

As a much bigger country it has way more career opportunities than Ireland can offer, though I think we’ve improved a lot on that score. Never lived there but the biggest thing for me would be missing the Irish sensibility and general ease we do have with people. There’s more of a hard edge to the English in some respects. Oddly I find them a lot more nosey than Irish people in a work environment? Via social media etc where as here we are more private on work life mixing with personal lives. Only my experience of U.K. teams, I didn’t actually live over there

Graces7

JPCN1 wrote: »

Did live there 25 years ago and spent a good deal of time there last year. Had changed a lot and not for the better.

Much prefer living here.

So true. I am English and came here about 20 years ago. Before that as the country changed beyond belief I moved further and further from the main parts of it. First furthest Cornwall, then to an Outer North Sea island.

Now watching programmes from the UK I do not recognise it as the land I was born and raised in

One small point also; you cannot assess a country from holidays. Many US folk make that mistake.. Living is very different

El_Duderino 09

I went to uni over there in a North East England town as a mature student. Worked in pizza shops and mixed with working class folk who were so parochial and small minded it was incredible. Loads of potato jokes as they knew fcuk all else about Ireland or the rest of the world. Class is a real thing over there. People feel really limited by their class.

Then I moved to Newcastle or work in a middle class job with middle class people and the difference was incredible. The people were really interesting and interested in the world.

What I'm saying, OP, is that England and the English are so diverse that you could have a completely different experiences depending on what job you're looking to take and where in England you are thinking of moving. The regions are genuinely different. I've only really experienced the North East and I work in London occasionally. Newcastle is great. People are sound, made great mates, always something to do. You still need to buy in a nice area to get a good school. School catchment areas are a premium on house prices.

London is like another country entirely. I've an aunt who lived in London for 20 years and she wouldn't say she knows anything about England, just London.

It completely depends on what you're looking for but there's a good chance England has it for you somewhere. It's a pretty big country with lots of opportunities. Hope it works out whatever you decide to do.

razorblunt

Yes, still here.
Yes and no.

I live in Edinburgh so it's pricey enough but still cheaper than Ireland.
Live in a beautiful house that would be massively over priced in Ireland, I pay less tax and my cars are cheaper too.

Now we've started a family though I think we will move back at some stage but we've both said.
Home is home and our Scottish hame is still our hame. I know for a fact we'll miss Edinburgh but right now we miss home too.

PommieBast

London and the home counties are OK but overall England has gone down-hill a lot over the last decade or so.

Sunny Disposition

Long time ago when I lived in London, but I loved it then, probably because there was so much possibility there compared to Ireland of the time.
When I started pushing the 30 mark I was in a good position financially and felt I would be better off coming back to the west of Ireland and have really never regretted it. There's good and bad in both countries, but I'd definitely prefer Ireland. Hard to say this, it sounds very condescending to the English, possibly even a bit racist, but here it goes; I find people here are a bit more grounded. To be fair wen I'm talking about England I lived nearly all my time in the UK in London and I know it's very different away from there.
Still have loads of English friends and it is a great country for sure.

kravmaga

kravmaga wrote: »

Sorry OP, your post is a bit confusing, are you living in Ireland or England?

I lived in London for 6 years, made good friends, had a good career with excellent future, NHS medical, Doctors, Dentists, all seemed more advanced than Ireland.

I was on the housing list in city of London and was near enough to being offered a council flat in the City of London district / postcode.

That said , was very homesick, missed friends and family in Dublin.

Like the Wicklow mountains for hiking, the Sea, plus did not like the crime /terrorist stuff going on in London , plus the pace of life was frantic.

To me London is a young persons city, live there for a few years, then get out before it too late

I moved back to Dublin when I was 35, bought a property here immediately, got back in touch with old friends, Im happy being back here in Ireland , life is good,

Just out of interest, how does someone who loves hiking and had money to buy a house in Dublin get offered a gaff in the city?

Stevieluvsye

Depends. All about the area you located yourself.

Yes for the following
Chester
York
Bath
Parts of Herts
Most of Sussex/Kent

No for pretty much the rest.

London is great, but for a short hop only!

Millicently

I lived in the UK for a long time and there are pros and cons just like there are with Ireland. I preferred the North to the South as people seemed more down to earth up North, I don't like even passing through London. I think you are missing your times when you didn't have the responsibility of children etc. Would I return to live there, no way, but then again if I could leave Ireland tomorrow and live somewhere else I absolutely would. My husband is English and we never had any problems over there can't say the same about Ireland as we've had Sinn Fein knuckle draggers shouting abuse at us a number of times over the years.

Mad_maxx

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

Yes and no. They’re a world apart from most of us, and not for the better.

The English especially are extremely thick in a common sense type of way. In my younger years I often heard it said that someone working in a bank over there wouldn’t be fit to work in a shop here and there was never a truer word spoken.

You think the English - British lack common sense?

As a people, they have always been known for it. Very practical and hard headed, the Scots even more so

Johnny Sausage

Lived in Liverpool for nearly 5 years, still go back every few weeks

lovely place, lovely people

AlphabetCards

listermint wrote: »

Aye yes a fine country.

So fine they elected a right wing Tory racist government that really is a reflection of the electorate.

And your concerned about begrudgery....

It's a mad kip and going to go to the dogs over the next few years. Especially the NHS. Steer a wide one.

Lol. We don't pay to see our doctors over here, no charge for A&E and prescriptions are limited tona certain amount of pounds a month. What health service are you comparing it to?

Stevieluvsye

AlphabetCards wrote: »

Lol. We don't pay to see our doctors over here, no charge for A&E and prescriptions are limited tona certain amount of pounds a month. What health service are you comparing it to?

Agreed

NHS pis!es all over the shambles we have and they have a leader who gets things done unlike the pr!ck we last had

AlphabetCards

I have lived here a good few years, no intention of returning unless the partner gives up her job for kids, her qualifications are UK specific and won't travel well.

The people have a lot in common with the Irish, in terms of family, friendship groups. One huge thing is that so many Irish have come to the UK, liked it and raised families here. So a lot of Irish descended here who can't understand why so many people in Ireland hate the English - rather than lets say, hating the governments of the day who carried out past atrocities. I can see some of this in this very thread.

Great place, I have lived all over the UK and I have been treated wonderfully. Don't mind the BREXIT and government elections, unless you have lived here for a while you might miss out on the underlying causes of people turning against left wing causes and Labour, which is primarily due to the individualistic liberal movement... Which in all honesty, is pulling any Tory opposition apart.

beazee

AlphabetCards wrote: »

Lol. We don't pay to see our doctors over here, no charge for A&E and prescriptions are limited tona certain amount of pounds a month. What health service are you comparing it to?

he said:

... is going to go to the dogs over the next few years.
Especially the NHS

AlphabetCards

beazee wrote: »

he said:

It would have to fall verrry far to fall beneath most health systems, globally. I have gone in for surgical consults on a thursday, and been operated on the next day under GA. FOR FREE.

turbbo

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

Yes and no. They’re a world apart from most of us, and not for the better.

The English especially are extremely thick in a common sense type of way. In my younger years I often heard it said that someone working in a bank over there wouldn’t be fit to work in a shop here and there was never a truer word spoken.

Yet all the research show Irish people to have lower average IQs.

turbbo

razorblunt wrote: »

Yes, still here.
Yes and no.

I live in Edinburgh so it's pricey enough but still cheaper than Ireland.
Live in a beautiful house that would be massively over priced in Ireland, I pay less tax and my cars are cheaper too.

Now we've started a family though I think we will move back at some stage but we've both said.
Home is home and our Scottish hame is still our hame. I know for a fact we'll miss Edinburgh but right now we miss home too.

I think this sums up living abroad in general had a very similar experience when I lived in New York many moons ago. I loved it at the time and really felt a loss when I moved home. But now when I visit it - it's not the same to me - home is always home but I think the longer you stay in one place the more it becomes home - it makes sense really.

CrankyHaus

razorblunt wrote: »

Yes, still here.
Yes and no.

I live in Edinburgh so it's pricey enough but still cheaper than Ireland.
Live in a beautiful house that would be massively over priced in Ireland, I pay less tax and my cars are cheaper too.

Now we've started a family though I think we will move back at some stage but we've both said.
Home is home and our Scottish hame is still our hame. I know for a fact we'll miss Edinburgh but right now we miss home too.

It's interesting that the person living in Scotland seemed to have the most positive opinion of living in the UK so far in this thread.

By most formal measures it should be a worse place to live than England, particularly the South. Yet I also quite like it. For instance Glasgow West End is quite pleasant, with lovely scenery in the hinterland, and far more affordable than the Irish or London equivalent.

El_Duderino 09

turbbo wrote: »

Yet all the research show Irish people to have lower average IQs.

I wouldn't worry too much about that. The difference between the working class people I worked with in the pizza shops and the Middle class people in the public service, was stark. They take class much more seriously than Irish people. The working class shun learning in a way that Irish people would never do. They see learning, education and curiosity about the world as being for 'posh' people.

Even watching a documentary on BBC4 is completely alien to them because thats a channel for 'posh' people. I couldn't believe how rigidly they enforce their perceptions of their own class. And needless to say those people were really uninformed.

But the middle class ones were curious about the world and we're great company.

It was genuinely fascinating to see people completely close themselves off to things because of their own perception of their class.

razorblunt

CrankyHaus wrote: »

It's interesting that the person living in Scotland seemed to have the most positive opinion of living in the UK so far in this thread.

By most formal measures it should be a worse place to live than England, particularly the South. Yet I also quite like it. For instance Glasgow West End is quite pleasant, with lovely scenery in the hinterland, and far more affordable than the Irish or London equivalent.

Scotland really is fantastic, how could you not like living in Edinburgh!
The Scots are great too, for all their faults, just like the Irish.

If anything I've been more impressed with them post Brexit, they've really gone on the offensive for "you're always welcome here" even though I've told them I'm unaffected by Visas.

irishguitarlad

I have lived in three countries and in this order I would put them. 1. Spain, 2. Ireland, 3. England. I lived in England for 3 years, it was a shíthole. Funnily enough I have nightmares about the place and how I can never escape.

Hoop66

I'm from there, and fuck no I wouldn't rather go back*

I've felt more at home in Ireland since almost the first day I came here nearly 20 years ago.



*Except on a visit to sample their many fine beers.

El_Duderino 09

irishguitarlad wrote: »

I have lived in three countries and in this order I would put them. 1. Spain, 2. Ireland, 3. England. I lived in England for 3 years, it was a shíthole. Funnily enough I have nightmares about the place and how I can never escape.

Where in England? Was it a leafy, middle class suburb of a city?

I liven in the town centre of one of the poor towns for uni. It was genuinely terrible. But there's no need to live in a place like that unless you've no choice as I had when I needed to be close to uni.

LollipopJimmy

I've never lived there but have spent quite a bit of time going back and forth. I was only ever in one place where I thought I could live and that was a small seaside village in the North East.

Places I've spent a good bit of time in for work are

Newcastle - grand for a night out, depressing kip outside the centre
Manchester - Same
Liverpool - Same
Birmingham - Depressing kip all the time
London - I hate the place an unfriendly kip with a massive socio economic divide, much much more than Dublin where at least you can find a middle ground.
Bradford - Actually a third world place that is falling down
Leeds - Probably the soundest people I met over there (Geordies a close second but a lad tried to punch me in Newcastle when he heard my Irish accent)
Northampton - Depressing kip
Derby - Depressing kip

turbbo

turbbo wrote: »

Yet all the research show Irish people to have lower average IQs.

I said common sense. They just always come across as massively thick who can’t function without something telling them what to do. Airheads, if you will.
IQ wise NI seem the worst of the uk. Most of them can’t even spell.

Stevieluvsye

LollipopJimmy wrote: »

I've never lived there but have spent quite a bit of time going back and forth. I was only ever in one place where I thought I could live and that was a small seaside village in the North East.

Places I've spent a good bit of time in for work are

Newcastle - grand for a night out, depressing kip outside the centre
Manchester - Same
Liverpool - Same
Birmingham - Depressing kip all the time
London - I hate the place an unfriendly kip with a massive socio economic divide, much much more than Dublin where at least you can find a middle ground.
Bradford - Actually a third world place that is falling down
Leeds - Probably the soundest people I met over there (Geordies a close second but a lad tried to punch me in Newcastle when he heard my Irish accent)
Northampton - Depressing kip
Derby - Depressing kip

I have been to all of them above and agree with everything you said, especially about Leeds. Great spot. Another dump is Nottingham. Fcuk me

I have friends from Bradford who are sound but it is a terrible rough kip

irishguitarlad

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

Where in England? Was it a leafy, middle class suburb of a city?

I liven in the town centre of one of the poor towns for uni. It was genuinely terrible. But there's no need to live in a place like that unless you've no choice as I had when I needed to be close to uni.

Birmingham and yes it was quite middle class.

Stevieluvsye

irishguitarlad wrote: »

Birmingham and yes it was quite middle class.

Birmingham is just a big fcuking ball of greyness. Depressing

irishguitarlad

Stevieluvsye wrote: »

Birmingham is just a big fcuking ball of greyness. Depressing

Yeah it was grim, I had a shíte job as well, working in the video games section of a department store where chavs hurled abuse at me for having sold out of super mario on the nintendo ds.

weemcd

Wouldn't live in England if you paid me tbh.

Never lived there but been back and forth over the years with work and to see people.

Newcastle - love it, one of the few places I'd probably consider living in if I had to.
Liverpool - same.
Bristol - same.
Manchester - never liked it, which is disappointing as I'm a United fan.
London - not been there much but wouldn't fancy it.
Glasgow - liked it there, very different to England.
Dundee - alright but wouldn't fancy it, very dull and grey but I hear it's on the up as an area.
Swindon - absolute kip.
Birmingham - nice people but wouldn't fancy it at all.

But for all those English places above, Brexit has ruined them entirely. It's becoming a nasty, horrible place and it's getting worse.

For reference I live in Belfast and I fùcking love it here and hope to buy my own place here this year.

El_Duderino 09

irishguitarlad wrote: »

Birmingham and yes it was quite middle class.

Fair enough. The leafy middle class areas are lively in the places I lived. I lived in both nice areas and town centre where there were regular fights outside the door, police zooming around, people having domestic rows and shouting down the street at each other. I'd never dream of raising children on an area like that.

theteal

I'll be here 9 years this May. Do I prefer it? As others have said, yes and no.

I like living in a fairly rural town and yet only 29mins (I happened to check yesterday) from Stratford with off peak trains every 20 mins, <10 at peak times. It's a grand town, not rough, not anything salubrious, covers the bases but could do with a decent pub - although unless you venture out proper rural, I find English pubs sh!t tbh (why 1 order at a time????? I'd have 5-10 on the go when I worked in a pub at 15 yrs of age!). There are lots farms, woods and beaches (albeit rubbish pebble-y types) within a 20 minute drive.

The sense of community here is fantastic. On the local FB group, you'll regularly see people helping each other out or staging a litter pick, fence painting etc. I'm sure you'd get it in some parts of Ireland but I've never seen it. All that aside, Mark Francois is the local MP so I'd consider moving just based on that fact - it's Brexit central!

While I'm not a fan of council tax, I am embracing the free child care. Not having family nearby is a bit crap and will be a bigger consideration as the grandparents get older.

I do like my trips home but I try to keep them reasonably short as I don't want to get under people's feet - maybe it'd be different if I had my own place. Also Ireland is so bloody expensive. Comp insurance for my 13 yr old car is just over £200 here, also in the last 6 months I've bought 2 * Michelin and 2 * Goodyear tyres for a sum total of £128 - I dare say that all of that combined would be significantly more expensive back home. I miss my Friday evening visits to Richmond Park, some of the lads here go to Dagenham games but I just don't feel the connection and it takes a lot more time. I miss going into Dublin city for a few beers and losing track of time, a taxi back out was only €15 when last done - a drink in London involves a lot of watch checking so the last train isn't missed, that took a bit of getting used to. I miss the lads at home but whatsapp, skype and even xbox live mean that you're always in nearly constant contact - we're all at an age now that the drinking sessions are few and far between so these things can be planned around trips away or my infrequent jaunts home.

Work-wise, I could get a job anywhere. I expect I'd get paid quite a bit more money in Dublin than London but. . . .mrsTeal refuses to work in the Irish health service. She has quite a senior nursing position with a fair bit of authority, I'm led to believe her role doesn't even exist in Ireland so that's a nonstarter. She has friends who have moved back telling her of policies and procedures that she thinks are just downright backwards and dangerous. On top of that, the friend network here now we've put some roots down is really good.

So, like I said OP, yes and no. Were we a smidge younger with no child or mortgage we'd probably still regularly toy with the idea of moving back but as said mortgage is at a rate of 1.26% and the childcare is free it just seems like it would be financially imprudent just now.

monkeysnapper

Holy feck no

I'm from uk ...well Wales....I looked into moving to a few citys in england before I moved to ireland .

Best decision I ever made .....

Fantastic country to live ....well on west coast anyway!!!!

Stevieluvsye

@theteal

Some parts of Essex around that way are really nice! I travel to stratford quite a bit and venture out on the train to different towns. Got to go and see some cricket in Chemlsford last time around. Lovely town

theteal

Stevieluvsye wrote: »

@theteal

Some parts of Essex around that way are really nice! I travel to stratford quite a bit and venture out on the train to different towns. Got to go and see some cricket in Chemlsford last time around. Lovely town

I've not quite brought myself to go to the cricket, a few of the local lads are into it and have invited me but there's just some inbred working class Dublin thing that makes me decline, can't explain it as it looks a decent day in the sun with scoops. . .never mind the boringness on the pitch (is it called a pitch??)

Chelmsford is a decent spot albeit one I'm not overly familiar with, there's an Irish owned pub near the bus station, had a few good nights in there.