sommerset

Hello
I am an xpat who has lived in Hamilton for over 30 years now. I was wondering if there is a place where xpats from the U.K. meet up either in Hamilton, or surrounding areas.

old.sparkles

Hi there sommerset and welcome to BE

If you head over to the Canadian section - http://britishexpats.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=56 - there may be some members from your area that can help you out.

Dorothy

I think there are regular meets in Burlington. Like OS says; check out the Canada section.

bakedbean

Hi and welcome to the forum

sommerset

Found them
Thank you to both yourself and Dorothy for the lead. I will be joining the group, and am looking forward to the next meet.
Regards
Sommerset

Cooeydingers289

Hi Somerset. Just curious to find out what you think of living in Hamilton. Is there any other areas there that you would recommend looking in to?

sommerset

Hello Cooeydingers289
The answer to your question would depend on your tastes and needs. Hamilton is a large sprawling city, about the size of Birmingham. It has a lot of facilities, including fine arts, lots of large, well equipped hospitals, and universities. Houses are cheap in comparison with Toronto, about half the price, and it has a good number of the jobs available in the area. With all that said it is still a large and in some places a very dirty city, as it has two large steel mills. They are improving the place however, but slowly. Crime is here, but not a lot different to most cities back home. If you want a more rural setting, and as I am country born and bred, I really have nothing good to say about large cities, except that, jobs are there, and everything that you need is at your fingertips. It’s a trade off. If you need information on more rural setting, let me know.
Regards
Somerset

Cooeydingers289

To be fair I'm a village guy born n bred and my wife is from a village too So a decent sized town or suburb would be what we'd be looking towards. I've heard Burlington or oakville would be a nice area to locate to, as well as being close to Hamilton. Any advice on what these areas are like?

sommerset

Both are very close to Hamilton. I commute to Oakville every day for work, not a bad trip, and I have been doing so for 35 years. Prices of homes are about 60% higher than Hamilton, but both towns are a lot smaller in size, and have been formed by a more educated, and affluent body of people than are the general blue collar workers in Hamilton. Being so, I would live in Burlington, rather than Oakville, as Oakville is becoming more industrialized every year. Much too close to Toronto, and Mississauga, not to be. Depending on your trade, or profession, there is a very good chance that you would be commuting to work also, as do most people from Burlington.

Siouxie

If you want a village feel then Dundas would probably suit you better - or Ancaster old town (not the new part, it's all subdivision cookie cutter houses).

Siouxie

We generally try and get a meet up or two organised in the late spring and summer, we usually meet up in Burlington as there are not many of us from the 'Hammer'. The usual meet up is at The Poacher on Pearl Street as it's a typical English pub run by an English couple.

We have tried a couple in Hamilton, but not many turned up as the majority live Burlington and further afield.

Keep an eye on the 'meet up' calendar as we usually post them there and also will be posted on the main Canada forum - probably late April.