Get a job there. Cost of living and lifestyle is mega cheap.....really cheap.
Quite a few British have done just that and the first time i was there i met a couple who left Kent, snapped up two large properties and retired. One they turned into a Camping site which their son runs, the other is their home (the son lives on site).
He learnt Bulgarian and is pretty fluent and neither him nor his parents have set foot back in the UK in nine years now.
What towns, villages, cities etc are the worst places to live?
I'll start with Bradford, I was going to start a course next there but chose to stay at Newcastle because Bradford is apparently the capital of crime.
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I don't believe you. You started a thread saying that you were thinking of going to bradford College, and no one said that Bradford is the 'capital of crime' (which it isn't; almost all the top 10 areas for crime are in London, but Central Newcastle is in there, and not Bradford); what post after post DID say is that Bradford has a lot of Muslims. You then started a thread about Muslims, then predictably you have gone off Bradford (which you said had the better course) and in favour on mostly-white Newcastle, in spite of its higher crime rate. Hmmmm.
Why? A lot of Southall is very pleasant. Lots of attractive Victorian/ Georgian houses, a big park, two golf courses, a green with a nice historic pub, an exceptionally vibrant high street full of thriving independent shops...There are areas of deprivation, but you really could do worse.
Anywhere near London if you earn a normal wage, because you will live with your parents until they die.
Yes, there is definitely something in that. My daughter and her boyfriend seem destined to live with us forever. I haven't actually seen them reading books on untraceable poisons, but it is surely only a matter of time.
I find Cambridge a very over-rated place. It's cramped, extremely overpriced, very over-rated and full of snobs and chavs. The local TV news thinks Cambridge is the centre of the universe. It isn't.
I love Cambridge. I grew up there and my father is still there, so I visit all the time. Apart perhaps from Harrogate, I don't think there is a town in the UK with so much open green space in the centre - it has miles and miles of parks, gardens and commons right in the middle. And it is just so full of life. Look at the railings in the market on any day of the year and there will be 30-40 things to go to, a lot of them free: concerts, recitals, plays, exhibitions, you name it. And the Burghley St Oxfam shop is possibly my favourite shop anywhere: it had a huge book department with loads of squashy sofas where you can just sit all day if you want reading until you are ready to buy something.
I'd hate to live in London. You either have be dirt rich and live in a pokey little house that costs £900,000 or be a knife wielding chav who lives in rough council flat.
i`ve lived here for 50 years, it`s gone downhill enormously with the rise in tourism, foreign language students and the smack and crack trade.
Tourism was always suffocating in the summer. When I was in the sixth form (which was many years ago) we all used to wear badges or tee shirts saying "I'm not a tourist, I live here". Still, they are easy to get away from. Since I live in London I am probably immune to foreign students, and I am not sure what the signs are of the drug trade that I am missing: it's not as if anyone has ever tried to fill my pockets with the stuff as I walk back to my father's place any evening.
Even those places in the north that are traditionally viewed as dodgy places at least have nice countryside around them. Cambridge is just in a flat wilderness. The architecture down the backs is lovely, but that's about all it has going for it. People live there because of the jobs which arise from the university, not because it's a nice place to live. It's expensive (because of the above), the shopping isn't great and unless you like pubs or students, there's not terribly much going on.
Oh my. No one likes Cambridge. I can't imagine why you would say 'there's not terribly much going on'; I think there is more going on than any comparable place in Britain. Imagine living somewhere like Eccles and fancying a free classical concert one night. And I am a late convert to the fenland countryside, having grown up believing that mountains are the only good kind of countryside. The countryside north of Cambridge is full of huge vistas, innumerable sparkling rivers, and an astonishing variety of birdlife. http://www.rexslyinthefens.com/images/MainSlides/fenRain.jpg
Bad areas tend to be those that have been taken over by immigrants. I challenge anyone saying any different to name a couple of areas which have improved due to immigration?
How can anyone possibly prove why an area has improved? I could suggest areas with very high numbers of immigrants that are affluent and peaceful, but you would just say that they would have been affluent and peaceful anyway.
Jesus, Jaywick Sands looks like some shantytown out of somewhere like South Africa or Brazil! Unbelieveable! How could a seaside town in the United Kingdom got in that state for years?!
My usual nomination in these threads is Hattersley. A drab, deprived overspill town near Manchester, its only claim to fame for years was the Moors Murders. Then two years ago it got another one when two policewomen were shot dead there.
Not all of it is, it is still vibrant and is a good place to go out. Just thought I'd mention it for people who think it's a shithole. I have fun there anyway.
But the question is about places to live - not visit. There is a bar a few yards away from me that has a late licence, in the summer when my windows are open I can't get to sleep due to noisy drunken patrons of said bar ambling home.
A few times in the past I've waited at night for a bus in Brixton, there were people openly dealing drugs & I did not feel comfortable.
i`ve lived here for 50 years, it`s gone downhill enormously with the rise in tourism, foreign language students and the smack and crack trade.
I went to Cambridge a couple of times in the early 90's to see a Polytechnic friend. I liked it. Maybe things have gone downhill since then (or maybe before then, but I didn't notice).
Alll places I have been to have lovely/horrible parts. I once drove through Milton Keynes and thought what a sh**hole, however its no different to East Kilbride on the outskirts of Glasgow or Easter Road, Edinburgh
Alll places I have been to have lovely/horrible parts. I once drove through Milton Keynes and thought what a sh**hole, however its no different to East Kilbride on the outskirts of Glasgow or Easter Road, Edinburgh
A point I made earlier - you really cannot call describe one whole town or city as good or bad. They may have bad areas, bad housing, bad development yet, but no place is all bad.
It's also clear many people base their opinions on places they have either just visited a few times, maybe worked there briefly or even never actually been there, just have preconceptions based on popular but usually factually inaccurate myths.
Astonished at some of the comments about London and some of it's towns and districts...you really need to spend some time living in an area to have some knowledge of it...and not just one single part of it either.
I don't believe you. You started a thread saying that you were thinking of going to bradford College, and no one said that Bradford is the 'capital of crime' (which it isn't; almost all the top 10 areas for crime are in London, but Central Newcastle is in there, and not Bradford); what post after post DID say is that Bradford has a lot of Muslims. You then started a thread about Muslims, then predictably you have gone off Bradford (which you said had the better course) and in favour on mostly-white Newcastle, in spite of its higher crime rate. Hmmmm.
I did some research elsewhere on Bradford and all I found were negative views on the city such as 500 people getting murdered each year, theft higher than most places etc. It has nothing to do with the Muslims.
I chose Newcastle because it has a better student life and night life.
A point I made earlier - you really cannot call describe one whole town or city as good or bad. They may have bad areas, bad housing, bad development yet, but no place is all bad.
It's also clear many people base their opinions on places they have either just visited a few times, maybe worked there briefly or even never actually been there, just have preconceptions based on popular but usually factually inaccurate myths.
Astonished at some of the comments about London and some of it's towns and districts...you really need to spend some time living in an area to have some knowledge of it...and not just one single part of it either.
True. Some fancy Notting Hill town houses have a view of social housing across the road. There's a big council estate in Chelsea near Cheyne Walk. A few large houses in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea have tattered St George flags at the window and a fridge in the front garden.
That's one of the things I like about London. The back garden at Buckingham Palace is overlooked by an exceptionally grotty-looking terrace with shops on the ground floor. Impossible to accurately sum up a borough by its worst or best.
Wrexham's villages are known for being rough areas.
Caia Park (Formerly Queens Park) is a rough council estate where crime happens on a daily basis and people get murdered.
Llay is a large village which has a nice side and a bad side. My friends used to live there and it was amazing how much happens there and I've even been attacked by a chav once.
Johnstown is another village and is full of junkies and criminals.
Yes it's great that we have some of the wealthiest people in the world rattling around in gold palaces whilst the scum of our society sleep in the gutters.
I got a bit lost driving through Basildon last weeknd, ended up driving through some of the estates in Craylands, Vange and Pitsea. It felt fairly grim.
I did some research elsewhere on Bradford and all I found were negative views on the city such as 500 people getting murdered each year, theft higher than most places etc. It has nothing to do with the Muslims.
I chose Newcastle because it has a better student life and night life.
500 murders a year in Bradford. Bull. That's close on the total for England & Wales.
You're not going to do well as a student if you can't check your research.
Worst place I've lived is Slough. It just exists to service the massive industrial estate
500 murders a year in Bradford. Bull. That's close on the total for England & Wales.
You're not going to do well as a student if you can't check your research.
Worst place I've lived is Slough. It just exists to service the massive industrial estate
It's not pretty. Then again, it used to be true that if you drove at a certain speed and timed it just right, you could get through all the traffic lights on the main road without stopping.
That's where my knowledge of Slough ends. Apart from the fact that the rail links to London are good so it exists as a commuter town too.
It's not pretty. Then again, it used to be true that if you drove at a certain speed and timed it just right, you could get through all the traffic lights on the main road without stopping.
That's where my knowledge of Slough ends. Apart from the fact that the rail links to London are good so it exists as a commuter town too.
Ah, the A4 west out of the town centre. Yup, if you hit about 38/39 on the 40 mph stretch you could hit all the lights at green.
Talking of West London, I spent a week staying at a friends flat in Colnbrook quite a few years back. Planes practically touched the rooftops and landed every couple of minutes. I hated it.
Thank you for confirming my fears. I'm right now in the waiting room for a group interview in Brixton but moments before passed through and saw a bike person crash into another. The victim cried in agony and couldn't move her leg. The other biker? He just pissed off like la, la, la. I kind of hope I don't get the job now.
Nothing wrong with Brixton unless this thread has suddenly taken us back 20 years.
I am not a city person at all, much prefer a quieter and less hectic lifestyle. It's just far too busy for me to want to ever live there. The houses are far too expensive (my 4 bed detached house with large garden would buy me a 1 or 2 bed flat) and I would miss having a garden.
I did some research elsewhere on Bradford and all I found were negative views on the city such as 500 people getting murdered each year, theft higher than most places etc. It has nothing to do with the Muslims.
I chose Newcastle because it has a better student life and night life.
Over 90% of the total murders in England and Wales last year were in Bradford? Blimey, may have to avoid going there then... :D
ETA: Sorry Watcher#1 - I was a bit late to the party there...
Comments
I admire people who do that kind of thing but I'm not brave enough!
That does look bizarrely awful. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2303489/East-Jaywick-Life-seaside-deprived-village-England.html
My usual nomination in these threads is Hattersley. A drab, deprived overspill town near Manchester, its only claim to fame for years was the Moors Murders. Then two years ago it got another one when two policewomen were shot dead there.
But the question is about places to live - not visit. There is a bar a few yards away from me that has a late licence, in the summer when my windows are open I can't get to sleep due to noisy drunken patrons of said bar ambling home.
A few times in the past I've waited at night for a bus in Brixton, there were people openly dealing drugs & I did not feel comfortable.
I went to Cambridge a couple of times in the early 90's to see a Polytechnic friend. I liked it. Maybe things have gone downhill since then (or maybe before then, but I didn't notice).
2.Blackpool
3.Blackpool
Looks like the sort of place people get raped in.
A point I made earlier - you really cannot call describe one whole town or city as good or bad. They may have bad areas, bad housing, bad development yet, but no place is all bad.
It's also clear many people base their opinions on places they have either just visited a few times, maybe worked there briefly or even never actually been there, just have preconceptions based on popular but usually factually inaccurate myths.
Astonished at some of the comments about London and some of it's towns and districts...you really need to spend some time living in an area to have some knowledge of it...and not just one single part of it either.
I did some research elsewhere on Bradford and all I found were negative views on the city such as 500 people getting murdered each year, theft higher than most places etc. It has nothing to do with the Muslims.
I chose Newcastle because it has a better student life and night life.
True. Some fancy Notting Hill town houses have a view of social housing across the road. There's a big council estate in Chelsea near Cheyne Walk. A few large houses in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea have tattered St George flags at the window and a fridge in the front garden.
That's one of the things I like about London. The back garden at Buckingham Palace is overlooked by an exceptionally grotty-looking terrace with shops on the ground floor. Impossible to accurately sum up a borough by its worst or best.
Caia Park (Formerly Queens Park) is a rough council estate where crime happens on a daily basis and people get murdered.
Llay is a large village which has a nice side and a bad side. My friends used to live there and it was amazing how much happens there and I've even been attacked by a chav once.
Johnstown is another village and is full of junkies and criminals.
500 murders a year in Bradford. Bull. That's close on the total for England & Wales.
You're not going to do well as a student if you can't check your research.
Worst place I've lived is Slough. It just exists to service the massive industrial estate
It's not pretty. Then again, it used to be true that if you drove at a certain speed and timed it just right, you could get through all the traffic lights on the main road without stopping.
That's where my knowledge of Slough ends. Apart from the fact that the rail links to London are good so it exists as a commuter town too.
Ah, the A4 west out of the town centre. Yup, if you hit about 38/39 on the 40 mph stretch you could hit all the lights at green.
I'm glad that's still true. There's not a whole lot of interesting info on Slough, but that's long been a favourite bit of trivia.
Why do you say that?
Yes they do, but randomly asking if they were from Florida still makes no sense.
Nothing wrong with Brixton unless this thread has suddenly taken us back 20 years.
I am not a city person at all, much prefer a quieter and less hectic lifestyle. It's just far too busy for me to want to ever live there. The houses are far too expensive (my 4 bed detached house with large garden would buy me a 1 or 2 bed flat) and I would miss having a garden.
Quite agree. 653 intentional homicides in UK 2011, mostly not in Bradford.
Over 90% of the total murders in England and Wales last year were in Bradford? Blimey, may have to avoid going there then...
ETA: Sorry Watcher#1 - I was a bit late to the party there...