where would you live?

[Elmer Fudd]

Well according to a survey publicised by the Beeb on the breakfast morning show, Beverley is deemed to be the best town in Britain. I have lived there for about 2 1/2 yrs and can concur it is not a bad place to live.

Smug Bastard !!

 

[Dayvo]

Well according to a survey publicised by the Beeb on the breakfast morning show, Beverley is deemed to be the best town in Britain. I have lived there for about 2 1/2 yrs and can concur it is not a bad place to live.

I've heard about waking up at the crack of Dawn, but living in Beverley must be rather pleasant, too!

 

[Big Bren]

Beverely is a lovely place - it's main drawback however is its proximity to Hull.

Bren

 

[Chris James]

Wrong!!

London has its faults, absolutely,

I agree

but it's the most amazing, vibrant, fabulous city in the world!

That rather depends on how you define 'amazing', 'vibrant' and 'fabulous'

Travelling there for work when you don't know your way around, everything is overwhelming and alientating is not the same as finding your place, learning how it works and falling in love with the endless possibilities available to you. London rocks!

I know my way around London, don't find it particularly overwhelming in size, in fact when travelling on foot rather than the tube I am usually surprised that it isn't actually that big. I still think it is a dump. People who dislike London don't necessarily have those feelings because they are bemused yokels who can't understand the big city life!

I can appreciate your comments about lack of culture, although Manchester is only a short distance away and is much better in that regard. I think that in many way Leeds IS the London of the North in that its residents tend to delude themselves that the place is much better than it actually is in order to justify to themselves the high houses prices they have to pay and the bad congestion they have to suffer.

To the OP, your decision should simply depend on what you want out of life. The major benefit of most industrial Northern cities is that there are some nice places only a short distance from them for outdoor activities and the cost of housing is not so high. We have a four bedroom detached house in a semi rural location, but only ten minutes from the M1 for only slightly more than my best friend's 2 bedroom terraced rabbit hutch in Chessington. He has a 50 minute commute in the mornings and I drive for just over five minutes. I have day rides in the Peak District and Pennines from my doorstep and can go to the North Lakes in 2.5 hours, Snowdonia the same time. Glencoe takes about 6 hours. If you like outdoor pursuits then the North is great. If you want a high density of publically subsidised arts then obviously the capital is the place to be.

You just need to consider what is important to you. I am amused by my wife's best friend who justified staying in Reading wherre she could not afford a house as it was near London and the museums etc. Except she never actually went to the museums! Funnily enough she has now moved to Australia!

 

[Cathryn]

Oooh sarky!!
I grant you Reading is an armpit!

 

[Arch]

I'm also interested to know why live in Harrogate to work in Leeds - I assume there's a practical reason? If you don't want to live in Leeds and were going to commute by train anyway, you could live in York - more going on than H'gate, less blue-rinsey, prettier (to my mind), and on the mainline..

As for whether you can leave London for parts north, I don't really understand the idea that you can't live away from a place, I guess I've never been so attached to one city. I mean, I'm planning to stay in York, but if circumstances (job, love etc) made a move attractive, I'd just go, and make a new place home.

Really, there's not so much you get in London these days (food, culture, multiculturalism) that you can't get anywhere else, and if you do need to go back, Yorkshire is only two/two and a half hours away on the train..

 

[Disgruntled Goat]

Beverely is a lovely place - it's main drawback however is its proximity to Hull.

Bren

An it's back o'beyond.

 

[ChrisKH]

Whilst not a fan of London (it's bad enough working there), I fail to see how Manchester can be more diverse from a cultural perspective than the Capital.

 

[Lefire]

I lived in London for 8 years and loved it right up until the time that I left.
I would never go back though. Every time I go there for work (rarely) I find it to congested (walking and driving (and haven't ever ventured on the bike there))
Before that I was in Kent but now in Essex.
I'm moving North but very slowly.

I'm close enough by train to London for a night out but far enough away to enjoy the cheaper housing, cleaner air and white stiletoed ladies.....

 

[Chris James]

Whilst not a fan of London (it's bad enough working there), I fail to see how Manchester can be more diverse from a cultural perspective than the Capital.

Not sure if this was a reply to me, but I meant that Manchester is better than Leeds. Not better than London. I agree with you.

 

[MarkF]

I live just outside Leeds but work a lot in London, I agree with (whoever it was) Leeds calling itself the London of the North is a big fat joke. It's got more to do than say, Bradford or Sheffield but that's not saying much. You have too look for culture, its not like London where you are spoilt for choice about what to go and do every day of the week. I mean, Starlight Express has just arrived in Bradford...............

The pro & cons are the obvious ones, I like the space ooop North but I miss "life" and London has it all. If I lived up here and worked up here, I would go mental. The quality of life thing is all relevant to how much you earn, IMO if you can afford to live in a good London area then ther is no better place in the world. However if you are stuck on the breadline in Tower Hamlets then you'd be better of high tailing it to Leeds, no doubt about it.

I can't afford to have the lifestyle I enjoy ooop here in London, if I could then I would be down like a shot.

I have looked for City that meets all my requirements and am selling up and moving to Gijon next July.

 

[Chris James]

The pro & cons are the obvious ones, I like the space ooop North but I miss "life" and London has it all. If I lived up here and worked up here, I would go mental.

....

I can't afford to have the lifestyle I enjoy ooop here in London, if I could then I would be down like a shot.

I have looked for City that meets all my requirements and am selling up and moving to Gijon next July.

I am interested in your comments above. What are the your requirements that would make you go mental living and working in the North?

From your posting about London then I would have taken it to mean that you like living in a metropolis, the fact that things are open 24 hours a day, the good public transport and loads of museums, gigs, shows etc. So it the seems strange that you should say that you are moving to a small city (pop 275,000 - approx the same size as Hull) in northern Spain.

From the web, I think Gijon looks lovely, a port, near the Pyrenees etc, but it could scarcely be less like London!

 

[MarkF]

I am interested in your comments above. What are the your requirements that would make you go mental living and working in the North?

From your posting about London then I would have taken it to mean that you like living in a metropolis, the fact that things are open 24 hours a day, the good public transport and loads of museums, gigs, shows etc. So it the seems strange that you should say that you are moving to a small city (pop 275,000 - approx the same size as Hull) in northern Spain.

From the web, I think Gijon looks lovely, a port, near the Pyrenees etc, but it could scarcely be less like London!

Hi Chris, I hope I haven't offended you I am lucky to have the best of both worlds but if I didn't work regulary in London then I wouldn't know what I was missing would I? However there is more going off in London than in the rest of the UK put together, ten times over! Yes, I do like a metropolis and if I had the money I'd like to live in London, New York, maybe Madrid no question. I love the space oop north, I certainly appreciate it when I'm cycling, but it aint got much else and I hanker after some life after a few days back home. I'd like the impossible, the best of both worlds.

Gijon, look on Google earth, yes it's about the size of Hull population wise but it is physically the size of of 50,000 UK town! It's very compact, a handful of houses, the rest apartment blocks as the spaniards like to live like bloody hamsters, it's got a great vibrant friendly outdoor lifestyle, the place still buzzes when the UK (apart from London) has gone to bed. A temperate climate, three beaches and cracking football ground helps as well.

 

[Chris James]

No, you haven't offended me. I just wondered what exactly it was that you felt was missing in the North. There have been quite a few commments in this thread about how there is lots going on in London, but I am still left wondering exactly what goes on that you can't get elsewhere, or what vibe is missing elsewhere.

I think I am just turning into an old misanthrope though and like living in more and more remote places. In fact me and the wife would like to move to Northern Scotland but not sure how we would make ends meet.

 

[Intelligenthamster]

I've spent a lot of time in Germany, including getting about by public transport, staying in local houses and doing food shopping etc, and it knocks spots off the UK as far as I am concerned. This has more to do with the godawful state of the UK nowadays than anything else (insert Soapbox rant here). Let's just say if my firm decided to go over there I'd be nummer eins in the queue.