Question on England

That depiction of Sheffield is one of the funniest things I have ever read. I'd certainly feel far safer living there than most US cities of a similar size.

 

80-90% unemployment?

Someone was lying to you

http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/facts-figures/2001-census/economic-activity

 

You should be able to find something reasonable in most areas of the country for less than £250k. More comfortably in some areas than others, and certainly can go cheaper. Whilst small areas do exist where you would need a million to live, they are only small and nothing that you couldn't commute in to.

And most areas of the country have a League 1/2 club nearby. Furthest you could get would be Cornwall or possibly the far North East, but even those are n't too long of a drive.

And safer than London

 

Indeed. This link is for South Yorkshire - in which Sheffield is by far the largest city.

http://www.southyorks.police.uk/districts/

And this indicates a total of four (yes, four) murders in Sheffield between April 2005 and March 2006:

http://www.crimestatistics.org.uk/tool/Default.asp?region=7&force=24&cdrp=239&l1=6&l2=1&l3=27&sub=0&v=36

 

I'd recommend Cambridge. It's not nearly as socialist as Sheffield and these other dodgy Northern places, and you can get an ok house with not too much mold for just over $500,000. Also, your kids can go to a nice moderately expensive school with very little gun crime and only mild bullying.

 

Sheffield - small cosmopolitan city that was built on the steel industry. When that went down in the 1980's the city had a hard time for a fair few years and did have unemployment. Recently there has been a complete revitalisation of the city centre with lots of brand new apartment blocks springing up. Google "Royal Plaza" or "West One" for an idea of these. I owned a place in Royal Plaza for 4 years which had footballers, bankers etc etc. The city has a good student feel to it and a good shopping area which has been re-built. A huge mall called Medowhall is also near. It's easy access to great countryside like the Peak District and is only an hour on the train from Manchester. Drawback is that employment is generally service oriantated. There are a lot of call centres etc.

London - Has everything that you would want and a lot you don't want is the best description. Very expensive to live and go out in, but if you are on a decent wage should be fine. Property is unaffordble to buy in reality unless you have a sizeable deposit and are on a wage of about £60,000 ($120,000) or more. Thats a minimum for a ok area. Average price in London for say a 3 bed house in a suburb in an ok area is about £300,000 ($600,000). That won't get you a driveway. It is a mix though and some love the place. I have lived here all my life and can't stand it and can't wait to leave. Everyone is different.

There is plenty of middle ground. Manchester is middle ground, any of the counties around London are middle ground. But if you are working in London your commute gets longer.

 

I'd love to know where you got your impression of England from.

Why settle for middle ground? There are plenty of places in Northern England that can offer you an excellent standard of living without having to resort to living in London. Newcastle is a great place to live, not to big and not to small. Yes you aren't going to get as well paid here as you would do in London but fact that everything is considerably cheaper here that isn't really a problem. Newcastle has some of the best hospitals, schools (both state and public) and below national average crime statistics. You can get a 3 bedroom with garage and big garden within 20 minutes of Newcastle in a village just outside of Newcastle where Alan Shearer lives for around £300,000.




[This post was brought to you by the Newcastle upon Tyne tourism board]

 

Yeah but he said he wanted to be where there was a good football team...Oh actually I suppose Sunderland isn't far.......................

 

Yes but that's only because Alan Shearer living in the neighbourhood means the property prices go down.

 

Actually the house prices in a small area did go down when Tino Asprillia was living up here. That guy was nutty as a fruit cake

 

Heh. Keep in mind (original thread starter) that for someone who's occasionally going to be homesick, London's by far the best city in the UK since its so fully of expats from all over the place. I couldn't begin to imagine making friends in a small city in England - its not an easy task.

 

That really depends on the small city though. Cambridge (and I assume also Oxford) are even easier than London, as you run into the same people all the time. But then again, more than half of our friends are also expats.

In general, I find making friends in the UK very easy, definitely far easier than in Switzerland and Belgium. Almost everywhere there are lots of opportunities to do social things (sports, language classes, wine tasting sessions, etc.), which helps a lot. And most places are fairly mixed to start with, which also helps. Then again, I've never lived in a small place without a university.

Anyway, In general I can really recommend living in the UK, apart from the ridiculous property prices and the sub par health care. But if you are healthy and don't earn below average, it's great.

 

I agree with this. Even all bar one of my English friends in London aren't Londoners. So everyone is in the same boat as it were and more open to making friends. My friend moved to Bristol as her boyfriend moved there and she said it was much harder there as a lot of people are 'natives' who have their families nearby.

 

Reel 'em in.

 

I can't believe no one has mentioned British dental care.

Here's a horrifying reminder!!

 

Arthur, that's true - but Cambridge isn't a typical town, and I assume your work involves the university, which is a natural conduit for meeting people. University towns are also much better at organising events. If you move to, say, Bristol (as Ash mentioned, for example), you'd be moving to a place of people with settled lives.

 

How about Exeter or Plymouth.