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Possibly moving to Birmingham - places to live?

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    TheFirstCutTheFirstCut Posts: 7,306
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    lofichic wrote: »
    que?

    The bird from Fleetwood Mac who wasn't Stevie Nicks is from Bearwood.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alison_Hammond

    I knew her from when we were kids.
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    Dante AmecheDante Ameche Posts: 20,694
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    I even posted myself, there are good and bad parts in the same areas, and even Erdington has some nice parts, it's just if you rely on public transport you may have to go through the bad parts.

    I was half way between Erdington TC and Gravelly Hill, which was better than other parts, Gravelly Hill being my closest station, however you wouldn't want to go into the TC later on in the evening if you weren't of the type who could handle hassle, though even I wouldn't be able to overcome a blade which most people who hang around there did and still do.
    There are a lot of flats around Gravelly Hill, areas like that usually have a mix of decent and not so decent people. A bit like parts of Edgbaston.
    I wouldn't want to live on Gillott Road but five minutes away in Woodbourne road would do very nicely.
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 3,053
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    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alison_Hammond

    I knew her from when we were kids.

    Ah ok. Is she from Bearwood? Never knew.
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    TheFirstCutTheFirstCut Posts: 7,306
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    lofichic wrote: »
    Ah ok. Is she from Bearwood? Never knew.

    Not originally, spent most her childhood in Kingstanding and was from there she'd go to work as a child / young actress long before going on Big Brother. We couldn't believe it when she told us she was going to go on there, always has been bubbly.
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 768
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    3500 wrote: »
    No offence but IMO Birmingham is an absolute shithole, a complete and utter dive. I would never move there if given the choice.

    totally agree, i lived in Kings Norton for 3 years and worked in the city, and its the worst place ive ever lived and never intend going back there
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    B3atenB3aten Posts: 4,108
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    LOL @ better council services - Birmingham has better council services than Solihull, that's why most people in Solihull complain they pay a lot for council tax but don't get as many services than those in Birmingham do!

    The council roadsweepers come almost weekly to get rid of the leaves in the road and the one occasion when something was dumped in the trees opposite where we live, it was removed the next day. It's probably a perceived thing.
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    anna42hmranna42hmr Posts: 2,803
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    Most parts of Kings Norton aren't great, very deprived area,

    Though there are some nice parts in those areas and really nice houses.

    it depends where you are in kings norton, where i am is a lovely part, however yes there is really bad areas such as the 3 estates (,the fold, primrose hill, hawkesley, pool farm) etc and unfortunatly those areas give kings norton a bad name,

    however there is pleanty of nice areas that come under kings norton, mainly near the green, and along rednal road, redditch road, whychall lane, and near kings norton park etc

    and kings norton statition (though kings norton station is actually on the border of kings norton and cotteridge) is on the same train line as the op mentioned they want to be
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    TheFirstCutTheFirstCut Posts: 7,306
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    anna42hmr wrote: »
    it depends where you are in kings norton, where i am is a lovely part, however yes there is really bad areas such as the 3 estates (,the fold, primrose hill, hawkesley, pool farm) etc and unfortunatly those areas give kings norton a bad name,

    however there is pleanty of nice areas that come under kings norton, mainly near the green, and along rednal road, redditch road, whychall lane, and near kings norton park etc

    and kings norton statition (though kings norton station is actually on the border of kings norton and cotteridge) is on the same train line as the op mentioned they want to be

    Yes, I've lived in Kings Norton as do some of my family, thankfully in the nice parts.

    The reason Kings Norton train station is in Cotteridge is because Kings Norton used to cover a large area at one time, it's just that since Birmingham grew and many towns and villages were taken into Birmingham control, Kings Norton was split into the smaller areas we know now. Kings Norton Green was the centre of Kings Norton.

    They are going to redevelop the Three Estates (Pool Farm, Primrose and Hawkesley), knocking some homes down and rebuilding and doing some homes up. OK some has started, but so little you'd not notice.

    The chip shop at Hawkesley make some lovely chips and the fish they sell is massive, though a new fish shop has opened on the Redditch Road.
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 6,741
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    Well I've got several houses to look at and I'll be popping over Monday for the viewings. I'm excited!:D
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    TheFirstCutTheFirstCut Posts: 7,306
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    PDJames wrote: »
    Well I've got several houses to look at and I'll be popping over Monday for the viewings. I'm excited!:D

    Where are you considering? Don't have to answer if you feel you don't want to.
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 6,741
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    I'm looking at Bearwood, Hagley Road area and Sutton Coldfield.
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    TanequilTanequil Posts: 367,254
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    Yes, I've lived in Kings Norton as do some of my family, thankfully in the nice parts.

    The reason Kings Norton train station is in Cotteridge is because Kings Norton used to cover a large area at one time, it's just that since Birmingham grew and many towns and villages were taken into Birmingham control, Kings Norton was split into the smaller areas we know now. Kings Norton Green was the centre of Kings Norton.

    They are going to redevelop the Three Estates (Pool Farm, Primrose and Hawkesley), knocking some homes down and rebuilding and doing some homes up. OK some has started, but so little you'd not notice.

    The chip shop at Hawkesley make some lovely chips and the fish they sell is massive, though a new fish shop has opened on the Redditch Road.

    Nortons the chip shop is a real selling point for those that want to move to Birmingham. :D
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 174
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    Bigears wrote: »
    I would avoid Selly Oak unless you are looking for a studenty area.


    Depends which bit of Selly Oak you are talking about. If you mean the bit from the Train Station down the A38 to the University (i.e. Bournebrook) then it is studenty. Alternatively if you head in the opposite direction towards Northfield, then it isn`t.
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 275
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    Solihull may not be in Birmingham, but if I had to work in Birmingham, Solihull is where I would live. It has a nice villiage feel to it.
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 700
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    3500 wrote: »
    No offence but IMO Birmingham is an absolute shithole, a complete and utter dive. I would never move there if given the choice.

    Ignore this idiot. I've lived in and around Birmingham for 25 years and it's undergone massive redevelopment in that time.

    These days it's a great place to live - there's a huge variety of restaurants, an excellent public transport system and a great city centre. There are theatres, concert halls, convention centres and museums, several football teams, Moseley rugby and the Edgbaston cricket ground.

    There are parks and greens everywhere, miles of canals and, best of all, the people are just about the friendliest bunch you could wish to meet.
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    plateletplatelet Posts: 26,387
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    If you are interested in something a little less suburban it might be worth you looking for apartments being built around Digbeth as part of the regeneration, which with a few years to run means property prices are likely to be good value at present

    Would also put you in the Irish Quarter, which you may or may not think is a good thing.
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    mattwoodfieldmattwoodfield Posts: 6,036
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    I can tell you a few areas that you may want to steer clear of. Weoley Castle - sounds posh i know, but i can tell you its completly the opposite. I lived there for 15 years and its not a very nice area. Also i wouldnt touch Northfield. I wouldnt touch parts of Kings heath either, neither druids heath!!

    I now live in Solihull which is a nice area, but the nicest parts are near the Shirley areas. I do agree with Bournville though, that is a really nice area which was built for the cadbury workers a long way back. there are some nice and quiete streets there. PM me if you need any info and i will try and help you.
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    Joy2286Joy2286 Posts: 28,344
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    Erithacus wrote: »
    Solihull may not be in Birmingham, but if I had to work in Birmingham, Solihull is where I would live. It has a nice villiage feel to it.

    I'm originally from Solihull (moved up to Uni in Sheffield 2 years ago) and it's a great place. Has absolutely everything you need- so much so that I used to very rarely bother going in to Birmingham City Centre unless I wanted a specific shop that was only in Birmingham like Selfridges
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    TheFirstCutTheFirstCut Posts: 7,306
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    I can tell you a few areas that you may want to steer clear of. Weoley Castle - sounds posh i know, but i can tell you its completely the opposite. I lived there for 15 years and its not a very nice area. Also i wouldn't touch Northfield. I wouldn't touch parts of Kings heath either, neither druids heath!!

    I now live in Solihull which is a nice area, but the nicest parts are near the Shirley areas. I do agree with Bournville though, that is a really nice area which was built for the cadbury workers a long way back. there are some nice and quiete streets there. PM me if you need any info and i will try and help you.

    There's some really nice parts of Northfield (the part I lived was beautiful, surrounded by green open spaces and fields and was really quiet and safe), however there are some really really bad parts, that have only been half knocked down and rebuilt and seemed to have stalled, so you've got nice new house inter-mingled with awful looking old houses.

    Weoley Castle is pretty bad in most parts, though are some nice parts too, however it's a place to buy cheap and wait for the new super-hospital to be completed and rent out to the staff there, prices are going to rise there even though it looks not a great area at the moment.

    Most of Sutton Coldfield is nice, however again there are some bad parts the further you get nearer to other suburbs.

    Bearwood, Hagley Road area is OKish, very busy, but the public transport is so frequent you don't have to worry about the times of the buses, there's one every minute or 3.
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    TheFirstCutTheFirstCut Posts: 7,306
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    I can tell you a few areas that you may want to steer clear of. Weoley Castle - sounds posh i know, but i can tell you its completly the opposite. I lived there for 15 years and its not a very nice area. Also i wouldnt touch Northfield. I wouldnt touch parts of Kings heath either, neither druids heath!!

    I now live in Solihull which is a nice area, but the nicest parts are near the Shirley areas. I do agree with Bournville though, that is a really nice area which was built for the cadbury workers a long way back. there are some nice and quiete streets there. PM me if you need any info and i will try and help you.

    They're doing up the Maypole, Druids Heath ain't that bad, just stay away from the tower blocks, Hollywood and Wythall are OKish areas too.
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 591
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    Every big City has its good and bad parts I mean look at Manchester and London.

    The nicest place to live is Solihull but to be honest it'd be to expensive to buy a place in unless you were earning a hell of a lot.

    A lot of the areas that sound bad actually aren't as harsh as they sound at all, for instance someone mentioned Weoley Castle, I drove through there last week and it looks a hell of a lot better then a lot of the more upmarket areas now.

    I personally would be wary of Kings Heath, when i was at Uni a lot of friends had cheap rooms there and found drugs were a big problem
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 6,741
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    Well I've had a look at a few houses and will be looking at some more this afternoon before flying back this evening.

    THIS was a nice on but pricey compared to what I am paying now. THIS one was fantastic. Brand new and really nice furnishings. But again the price is a bugger.

    I am seeing THIS and THIS later on.

    Oooh I'm excited! :D
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 387
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    Which one did you go for- I know a couple of those areas!!
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 6,741
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    All of them a lot higher than what I am paying currently (£425 for a 2 bed flat). I wanted to see for my own eyes what I could get for my budget and TBH I wasn't that impressed so I may leave it for a wee while to see if my finances improve. :)
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1
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    This thread has been very helpful. I am looking to move to Brum too. The missus lives around the Moseley area but I gather thats quite posh. I would want my own pad to start with.

    I currently work for the railways and would look to transfer in that industry. I am on around £25,000 inc. London weighting so have been trying to research what wage-drop I can expect coming to the midlands.

    I suspect I will rent for a year and get an idea of the city before deciding which area to buy in. I'm still brand new to the town but have visited there abotu a dozen times, I've only really experienced the city centre plus the surroundings of St. Andrew and Villa Park.
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