Roberto1980

Hi.

Has anyone on here any experience or knowledge of Newmarket in ontario?

Wikipedia States it ranks high in as a 'good' place to live.

I know it's a pretty vague question, so maybe focus on the usual stuff i.e.
Affordability/rental prices, Schools, crime , public transport, outdoor activities, family attractions/ things to do nearby, commuting realities to Toronto and Barrie ?

DandNHill

We live north west of Newmarket, about 30 mins away. It has some very good shopping... also from our experience the hospital is very good too. It's a typical north American town sprawled out with lots of stores and lots of subdivisions...

Depends what you call commutable... it would be a relatively easy commute to Barrie. Our neighbours used to live on the edge of Newmarket and could get down to Markham within 30 mins...

There's a 5 pin bowling alley if that's any help?

Roberto1980

Hi there, thanks for your reply. This is somewhere we (my wife and I) would like to check out, as a possible location to move to.
I see you live in Barrie? This is somewhere that also appealed to me. Would you recommend it?
My wife has extended family in wasaga beach, so having at least 1 familiar face 'close by' on arriving would be a bonus. I've not carried out a great deal of research yet. Would you say Barrie can provide a good balance of lifestyle with being semi commuting distance to large city like Toronto and the outdoors? Are house/rental prices affordable ?

DandNHill

I live a little bit south of Barrie. We used to live in Nova Scotia and moved here in the summer. I've recently been looking for jobs and had several interviews in northern Toronto. I was dreading the idea of that commute so am very relieved I eventually found somewhere five minutes from home.

Houses are cheaper in Barrie than Newmarket but personally if you can afford Newmarket or surrounding areas I would recommend going there as your commute will be so much easier.

As a reference, my neighbour, in Alliston, works in downtown Toronto. It takes her 2 1/4 hours in the morning and 1 3/4 hours in the evening to get to and from work. She hates and can't wait to find something closer to home.
For me the jobs I was offered in Vaughan/Woodbridge were 45 mins out of the rush hour and about double that in the rush hour.
Remember that the winters are not really designed for long commutes here...

dbd33

I work with a bunch of people who commute from Newmarket, they call their car pool the "China Bus", in contrast to another car pool, "Force India" which comes from Brampton.

I haven't been to Newmarket but guess that it must be the new Markham.

magnumpi

I've worked there lots and found it to be 90% white canadian folk, not very multicultural at all ? Nice place, gets plenty of snow when Toronto does not. shopping is ok, houses are ok, it's a ok place nothing to worry bout there.

DandNHill

Haven't really been to Markham other than to go to interviews on big soulless industrial estates!

Aurora, just along from Newmarket is quite nice I think. I know that's an easy commute to Markham for example.

All these places seem to be new characterless north American towns tbh!

From my recent experience Barrie only seems to have minimum wage jobs although I'm assuming there must be some better paying jobs there somewhere, I just never found them!

Roberto1980

Which areas / towns do you know of are not like this?

dbd33

The core of most towns is not like that. Typically there's an old commercial street and surrounding houses that were built for people of varying levels of affluence, then mile upon mile of godawful plastic sided tract housing built on farmland and so lacking any vegetation or landscape feature. Orangeville and Guelph are two towns I know well that follow this pattern. They're both attractive in that the original commercial area has survived (often, as in Barrie, the core is now a hellish mixture of fast food outlets and rough bars).
Orangeville has the better downtown as there are few beggars and less obvious drug consumption but Guelph is still nice and it's lively due to a large population of not very clever students.

Brampton is another case in point, the central area is nice, it even has horse and cart rides around to see the Christmas lights, there are some grand houses, then there are industrial estates and tract houses. Huge houses built to house the extended families typical of an Indian population on lots so small that the bathroom is bigger than the lawn. Brampton is an acquired taste, we go there to eat, but outside the few pretty streets, it's very much a place of poor immigrants.

This is tricky, people from the UK are usually moving from somewhere that looks nice with a bit of culture to it. If they move to the most attractive, most civilised, town in Ontario it's very likely to be a disappointment. It might be better to go for a vast thrown together McMansion in someplace like the bits of Mississauga or Oakville north of the QEW.

anglaisfrancais

We live about 30 mins south of Newmarket but I seem to spend quite a lot of time there (friends, kids activities etc). It is as others have described, I would say better shopping and sport facilities than where we are, and more white/Canadian certainly if that's of interest to you. More affordable to rent/buy than where we are also - I know people from Richmond Hill/Vaughan/Thornhill who have moved to new houses in Newmarket to get more space. Go train service reasonable to downton.
Aurora I feel has more character centered around the core 'old town'.
Barrie is nearer to escaping out to the great outdoors for country/skiing but gets more snow in winter, which can prove problematic for getting around.

colchar

Your ignorance never ceases to amaze.

dbd33

So you say, relentlessly.

Shard

Huh? I thought it was a very informative post, with a bit of light hearted humour to complete the picture. People on here that don't know the towns or areas actually prefer frank comments to sanitised ambiguity.

Teaandtoday5

Live about 15 mins South eastish of Newmarket, and mostly go there for shopping. Newmarket Main Street is a bit run down, but has some ok shops, and a nice paddling pool if you have youngsters! And a municipal outdoor pool, and tennis courts, and a park with a trail, etc that runs through for quite a way. There is an import shop which stocks a good range of british sweeties, which might not seem important now, but may do come April when you can't buy a proper Easter egg in a Canadian supermarket for love nor money. There are also leisure centres, and the Newmarket secondary school has a theatre attached, although I've only been there for school music festivals. I can't say I've noticed any particular racial influence, even when my son attended summer school there. It is certainly not obvious in the same way as in Markham, not that this will affect your decision anyway. All in ( what has ended up a very long-winded) all, I wouldn't either recommend or warn against Newmarket. Nothing wrong with it, nothing special about it. Which I think is pretty much what dbd said....

dbd33

I have strong opinions about places. I like urban. I like rural. I'm not good with suburbs. Given that, I try to compare places fairly and to say what I know. colchar plainly disagrees with my opinions but, and this is a warning about education in Canada, expresses his views by saying stuff like "your so ignorant". Given that he often tells us he's highly educated I find it more worrisome that he doesn't construct an argument (beyond sticking his tongue out) than that he seems never to have journeyed beyond Brampton and not out of the basement since 1987.

If there's a case that, for example, the Orangeville downtown is scary and that in Guelph is lovely, let's be hearing it.