Re: Best relocation areas in the UK?
 

Is Northern Ireland considered a part of Great Britain?

Re: Best relocation areas in the UK?
 

Re: Best relocation areas in the UK?
 

Thanks.

Re: Best relocation areas in the UK?
 

Well a BIG thumbs up for daring to mention Manchester :lol: Most British ex-pats would have been horrified at such a suggestion not many years ago. I come from the Lancashire / Cheshire border area just half an hour from Manchester and altho i found it a fabulous area to grow up in .( Lake District / Derbyshire,Southport ,Morecombe and Blackpool all within spitting distance ) Even though it now has the BBC in Manchester ( good as dammit , over the bridge in Salford ) Best shopping mall in the country at the Trafford centre Even though it has two of the worlds top football teams . Man U and Man C... It still retains the stigma of a century of disdain from London and the southern counties. It still retains a myriad of disadvantages against the south. which this couple will have to contend with for their children.
The best schools are deemed to be in the south( apart from some private schools) ie thats where the money is ,so thats where its spent. These schools have 'fast tracks ' into higher education A far higher proportion of kids from the south make it into Oxbridge, which belies the higher population in the Northern conurbations . etc
Do they want their kids 'picked up' on their northern accent all the time. ? Might seem a small thing, but it drove me mad as an Ex-pat in the Netherlands. Every single southerner I met, picked me up on it over the 30 yrs I lived there. (Something a Northerner would never.
dream of doing. as its ill mannered)
Job prospects would most likely be far higher in the south than the north.For them and for their kids. in the future. ( Altho that changed for the first time this year .More IT jobs offered in the north than the south)
Believe me i HATE to say this because having family in both the north and the south of the country I know the north is far superior in quality of life ,work / life balance. than the south .which is now grossly overcrowded ,making travel on the roads and rail a nightmare for many.
They have so many things to take into account. then. Its going to be a matter of making a list of what is really important for them( including weather )
As the guy comes from Scotland but can work from home I would seriously consider the Lake District. It's a wealthier area of the north though so housing is expensive. in which case I would rent for a year .As the Kids are young this won't matter so much. It is deemed the most beautiful area of the country by many, close to motorways and all amenities .Manchester less than an hour and a half away. road and rail links to London.
In any event I would seriously suggest renting wherever they go. It will give them a chance to settle without commitment and take a good look around the country before they decide if its for them.Good luck to them

Re: Best relocation areas in the UK?
 

They have a lot of choices, but going to a better school also doesn't mean anything these days. You end up paying more for housing/education and then there's still no guarantee you'll end up having a better quality of life. As you say, probably better to stick to an area with less people and you don't have to go to Oxbridge to get a job.

Re: Best relocation areas in the UK?
 

Believe me, they would. I've lost count of the number of times a Northerner has sneered at my 'posh' accent.

Re: Best relocation areas in the UK?
 

Hi, What a lovely informative and accurate post , I am a born and bred manucunian and very proud of where I am from. Having travelled the globe and lived overseas I am still always picked up on my accent (although I sound nothing like Liam and Noel Gallagher lol) and usually by southerners. I find the British to be some of the nicest people I have met and "us Northerner's" to be some of the friendliest. North Lancashire and Cumbria have some excellent areas, superb scenery and all at very reasonable prices compared to some areas mentioned in previous threads.

Re: Best relocation areas in the UK?
 

Re: Best relocation areas in the UK?
 

What a thoughtful post and thank you for your input. My friends are very excited looking forward to the change in culture. He is for sure the driving force behind this move she is happy about it as well but mostly because it's his dream to raise their children in the UK. She is also a UK citizen but has never lived there as an adult so this will be more of a cultural change for her and their kids.They don't strike me as the kind of people that would be overly impressed with status. Both of them are self accomplished and hard working, and they are the types to be fully aware how fortunate it is to be alive. Being here and having your health makes you a very wealthy person. Everything in addition to that is a plus.

And I don't think they get too caught up chasing after the Jones. Liking a particular area or town because it has more status is such a trendy thing which as you mentioned can change over time. That is very true here in the States as well. Figuring out what area to call home might take a few visits. They definitely don't know which area is going to be the best fit. He and she are very down to earth people and enjoy nights out for the adults and that usually includes music. And now that their kids are a bit older going out on the town is not so problematic. But at the same time they do want a town which offers excellent schools and health care.

I like Manchester because it feels like a place that has it all. City life with suburbia just on the outskirts and several cities nearby. And it doesn't come across as a stuck up place ,"look at me I am extremely important".But again that is my opinion of the place one which they might totally disagree with once they arrive next month to see for themselves. A tame quiet village will definitely put their feet to sleep. Going to be interesting to hear their thoughts once they've truly checked out various locations. Think their stay is for nearly one month that should be more than enough time to figure it all out.

Re: Best relocation areas in the UK?
 

Lol..so funny...I will show this to my freind in otley.

​​​​​​

Re: Best relocation areas in the UK?
 

https://media.rightmove.co.uk/dir/cr...ax_476x317.jpg
Just another reason to like Manchester.

Re: Best relocation areas in the UK?
 

GeniB

Two things are obviously apparent. You have a great deal experience living in the UK and knowing the culture, and I don't. I stayed there for a handful of years before my wife and I realized it wasn't the best fit. I mentioned to my friends that are moving to the UK about your thoughts of the north versus south bias in GB and he totally agreed with it. But he did say there were some other differences. May I ask you a few questions?
Between the north & south UK, which in general is more friendly, progressive thinking, and more diverse? If jobs are not a concern when deciding where to live in the UK what three cities would be your top choices?

Thanks GeniB

Re: Best relocation areas in the UK?
 

Ooooo. This will be interesting.:eek:

Bit like the accent/dialect thing. I've had plenty of UK northerners be a bit unpleasant over my UK southern accent & that's here in New Zealand for goodness sake. No idea why the need but it can be tiresome. I wouldn't dream of making comment.

Given the movement of people - South/North & North/South within the UK over the past few decades , I'd be surprised that there is any real divide as such these years. Decades ago perhaps but not so much so now. At least only for those that make it that way.

BEVS
Bournemouth born and bred.
South West England.

Re: Best relocation areas in the UK?
 

Thank you BEVS

I have a feeling my friends will meet a great many people like yourself once back in the UK.

Re: Best relocation areas in the UK?
 

I'm not sure you can divide North/South like that, you could maybe compare London v a northern City, but IME our village 'down south' is as friendly as you can get despite the north having a friendlier reputation. Maybe you'd say the south is more diverse, but again it depends on if you're comparing like for like or not, certainly a small village in Hampshire won't be anywhere near as diverse as Manchester etc.

Not sure how long ago GeniB left the UK, but some of their opinions seem to be from quite a while ago! Things have changed a lot IMO.

Re: Best relocation areas in the UK?
 

Not "North and South UK" but "North and South England"

Re: Best relocation areas in the UK?
 

True Scot47. My error . I did mean England.

Re: Best relocation areas in the UK?
 

christmasoompa

What factors do you think has changed the most about the class system in the last 15 years which would demonstrate less of a north versus south bias? Do you think diversity is embraced as much in smaller cities in the north versus the south? And has Brexit made diversity less acceptable in smaller cities in the northeast(York-Grimsby)-northwest(Blackpool-Liverpool) versus the southeast(Dover-Brighton)-southwest(Bristol-Reading) regions?

May I ask you what's your thoughts on Reading, Watford, and St Albans in terms of friendliness, diversity, and community spirit? My friends mentioned to me tonight that they are open to increasing their housing budget. I think they've come to terms with the reality that quality housing + good schools + entertainment = more money lol. They want to hit the ball out the park the first time so they don't have to move but one time in the UK, from the rental to a home purchase. Their new budget is 700K.



I'm still trying to figure out where can they actually have it all for their budget. Moving to a interesting area with fun music venues plus friendly people that will knock on your door to welcome a new person to the neighborhood doesn't happen everywhere. Very soon they will be on holiday and will hopefully feel a connection after viewing several places.

Re: Best relocation areas in the UK?
 

Your kidding ? right ? NEVER ever heard of that and i have met hundreds of ex-pats during 30 yrs in the EU....:lol:

Re: Best relocation areas in the UK?
 

Thats a huge question which I don't think it would be fair for me to answer anymore. I haven't lived in the uk for over 30 yrs ,altho I visit a lot. I love both parts of the North and parts of the South. My family contains both Southerners and Northerners. ( and no we don't divide on accents :lol: Only football teams) The North has the reputation of being the friendlier (I would say..less suspicious ;) ) of strangers to their area's but that I feel must have changed over the years in the larger cities. at least.
If I went back to the UK now I would avoid cities like the plague ,but that could be an age and experience thing. The only city I would want to live in now would be Antwerp. Not much help to you there then:lol:
It is still a case of try it and see for yourself. .London is obviously going to come up as the most progressive and diverse don't you think? However its pretty impossible to live in it now. My family from Cambridge and Oxford would say either of those university cities would be ideal ( and I would agree ) If your academic and prize that above all else ,and you have a pretty healthy budget live there .
Its a hugely diverse country I think you just have decide how you want to live ,then find the where .Good luck

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Damn Northerners BEVS :lol: Were they mainly from 'Gods own county' ? eeh by gum.. Yorkshire folk . If several of my northern family didn't come from that county I could .. Maybe Geordies? If my OH wasn't one of them... I could.
Lancashire born and bred
North West England

Re: Best relocation areas in the UK?
 

Nope, not kidding. Most of my family is from the Lake District/Lancashire/Yorkshire, and I don't think there has been a single time in the past 40 years when I haven't had the piss taken out of my accent when back 'ooop North' (we moved South when I was a toddler, so I have a very southern accent). 'Ill mannered' it may be, but plenty of Northeners are capable of bad manners too.

Re: Best relocation areas in the UK?
 

Now there is an understatement :lol:

Where I grew up (pit village in County Durham) one way you could tell the men from the women was that the women actually took the cigarette out of their mouth before spitting.

Re: Best relocation areas in the UK?
 

I'm not sure that any major town or city will be friendly in terms of neighbours welcoming them etc, but perhaps as a country girl I'm not best placed to recommend a town/city! In our village it's super friendly, but I just can't imagine the same in a big town. When I lived in Oxford & Birmingham, I'm not sure I even knew my neighbours names, here they'll pop a casserole or cake over if they know I'm ill. :lol:

Reading and Watford are pretty awful IMO, just not nice towns (St Albans nicer), but again I'm a country girl so there aren't many towns or cities I'd actually want to live in! For good schools they could look at Wokingham area, which is only a few miles from Reading and has some of the best schools in the UK - it's where I live. But it won't have the music scene they're after.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm not sure any of the places you've mentioned will give them everything they're after - perhaps diversity and music scene, but not friendliness and the great schools, or vice versa. It sounds like they want village life but with nights out, and I don't quite know how they can achieve that!

Re: Best relocation areas in the UK?
 

Ok I'm sure they are christmaoompa... It sounds like a bit of 'You left us and became a snob' rubbish. My own family were pretty miserable about our moving to NL and becoming B****y Dutch. They hate to lose one of their own...:huh:

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You ask a question on BE..UK Winds and Lo! it is answered
:thumbup:

In the Times Newspaper today ( Nov 29th I there is an article entitled

'Why you'll live happily ever after in... Leigh -on-Sea Essex'

It came top of a poll taken by the company RightMove ( a property website)
Tell your friends to go and look it up.. It might just help them :thumbsup:

Re: Best relocation areas in the UK?
 

I didn't mean it was my family, although they've also been known to ask why I've 'gone posh'! :lol: It's usually shopkeepers, waitresses, basically all sorts of different people I interact with up there that decide they're going to be rude about my accent. Sigh!

Re: Best relocation areas in the UK?
 

I was standing in a check out queue in Liverpool chatting to a lady and she said (very politely) 'you're not from around here are you'? No, I admitted, I'm not. 'Thought so', she said. 'I can always tell if someone's from down South'. First time I'd heard of an Aussie accent being mistaken for a southern English one, I must be a posh Aussie :lol:

Re: Best relocation areas in the UK?
 

I've noticed that there can be more jousting between Northerners than between North and South when it comes to accent.

When I was still in the UK, I went into the office early one morning, to encounter an unknown Yorkshireman bellowing into the telephone. A few minutes behind me, in comes my good mate and colleague - a Geordie - who muttered "Oh bloody hell, don't tell me there's a Yorkshireman in the office", to which I replied "This one doesn't appear to have a volume control", and I got back "It's the only version that they come in". :blink:

Re: Best relocation areas in the UK?
 

Good evening.

Your post are always purposeful and I appreciate that. May I ask what specific factors do you not like about Reading and Watford? I agree with you it's very difficult finding a city that has the feel of a village while being near outstanding music venues. Only a few of those locales here in the States. Very rare and most are in the southern United States. My friends(aka music junkies) might have to bite the bullet and do as most people and find a place and try to make it work. Or they could move back to Scotland where there are amazing places for live music.

Bristol seem to be a good contender because of it's location near the Channel and Glastonbury is in shouting distance with great live music festivals.

I'm trying to think of what area of the UK with small towns with live music within 30 miles? This might be tougher than a Rubik's Cube.

Re: Best relocation areas in the UK?
 

GeniB

I will take a look at that article. If the same poll was taken in America advertising dollars might have influenced the results.

Re: Best relocation areas in the UK?
 

If I may jump in, I have experienced both Watford and Reading, and would say that both are tremendously unexciting. The only reason to be in either would be because one is already there, neither have any kind of 'pull' to make one want to to move there. The problem is London, both aforementioned towns are within easy striking distance, but at what price? Better to kick out further, IMO, Oxford is great (but pricey), Bristol and thereabouts would be better. Exeter is also a good place. The south coast is on the whole overpriced to my mind. I love Scotland, never lived there however, so can't shed any day to day information.

Re: Best relocation areas in the UK?
 

Frankly, they're both very unattractive run down towns with little in the way of redeeming features. Not somewhere I'd choose if relocating from abroad and had the whole of the UK to choose from.

Pretty much every town will have live music within 30 miles (remember this is the UK, distances are much smaller than they'll be used to!), but it doesn't sound like they want to live in a town at all from what you've said. Why don't they look at a village near somewhere with an exciting music scene? They could be within that distance of London for example, which would get them all the nightlife and music they'll ever want, but live somewhere smaller where they'll get the excellent schools and community feel they seem to be after.

I agree with the above suggestions of Bristol, Oxford and Brighton FWIW, all MUCH nicer towns than Watford and Reading.

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Just wondering if someone would consider Bristol, maybe Cardiff is an option? After all it is best relocation areas in UK and not just England:-)

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I LOVE that and it is so true. I have a Yorkshire man in my family and he is loud. I play golf with one and ditto. Love em though.:lol:

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Oh lucky you. We have a Time Share in the Lakes ( 40 yrs) Go every year for two weeks. I would live there in a heartbeat if only the weather wasn't so unpredictable. Got used to lazy sunny days in Portugal. :thumbup: I don't have a discernible Northern accent anymore ( never was strong) never picked up on it. In fact I come across far more southerners there now. It always was a favourite playground from the days of Beatrice Potter who was also from the South . You don't make the mistake of pointing out that your family come from there do you.? If you don't have Viking blood and go back at least 400 yrs you can forget it. :lol:

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Thank you for that. My friends certainly are benefiting from the well informed people on this site. In all honesty they probably need to rein in some of their expectations or maybe shift their original target areas. If they want the interesting town/village but prefer it within driving distance to music entertainment it's not apparent that they can ignore some of the biggest cities. Maybe their solution should be to live 45 minutes of London. That for sure would give them the entertainment factor without question. Quality schools options must be in abundance in that area. But the barrier in considering living near London is gonna be their budget because 700K will probably at best buy a very small property. They are going to need a serious reality check on their expectations or reconsider moving to Scotland. The best cities in the UK for great entertainment are Glasgow, London, Belfast, Manchester, Liverpool, and Brighton.
Am I leaving any place off the list for great nighttime entertainment?

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Very likely, but I've been gone far too long to offer any up to date advice, the others are better 'in the know'.

But there's a lot more to music and nightlife than London. At least there was 35 years back, I doubt that it's dried up. ;)

Re: Best relocation areas in the UK?
 

LOL, I just responded to a post and funny enough my thoughts amounted to the same as your exact suggestion. I think my friends must come to terms with the options that are available especially considering their budget which btw they had to increase in order to come close to several of their goals. Personally I think living within 45 minutes of London could be a great solution and there must be small townships/villages that are very family friendly. I get the sense from them after many MANY conversations that they are leaning more toward the entertainment + family friendly location because they don't think this move to the UK will be successful without that balance. Something for the kids and adults, and deleting the fun factor could negatively affect both of their happiness. I totally get that. There are so many expats that move back home feel nothing but euphoria about being in a familiar place but after a few years they start to compare life to the qualities that were left behind in the other country. And they become disenchanted. I know something about that firsthand. My friends are trying to avoid that merry-go-round. Hopefully they will chose well.

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Wot you mean .

The class system has always been and remains prevalent throughout the British Isles . That has nothing to do with location . Like other countries , it might have something to do with money old and new & ancestral heritage but it is still nothing to do with location.