Visiting London In A Few Weeks......

Kardashev | 12:36 Thu 03rd Apr 2025 | Travel

76 Answers

We thought we'd have a look around at potential places to live in UK. Any suggestions? We are getting on a bit and what's happening in the US at the moment is very disterubing to us.

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youngmafbog

Beware, Londonistan is not typical of the UK. Sadly many places are going that way though :-(.

Prudie

You need to list far more criteria - city, town, countryside, near to transport links, near to big cities, budget for cost of living, rent, buy etc???

jackthehat

The south coast is very nice - especially the Dorset area.

DDIL

Really depends on what you are after.

If you want a small city with easy access to the countryside, then Norwich in Norfolk is great and is easily accessed from london by train in under 2 hours.

Belfast is an amazing place to live, cheaper housing, good access to NHS.

youngmafbog

No it isnt, try the North. Very friendly people, just avoid the likes of Rochdale etc.

THECORBYLOON

Where are you living at the moment?

youngmafbog

Who are you talking to?

BTW, I was referring to @12:51 in my previous answer, not DDIL.

Kardashev

Question Author

We are what you'd call an average family, just me and my wife left at home. House about $500k, average income, in fact pretty average generally. We'd like something south coast though not too far from London and not very busy.

What's the process for being able to retire there? I'd sell the house and I have a pretty solid pension.

bednobs

where are you now - Many countries use$ and the process would be I guess different depending on which country you are coming from

youngmafbog

Quickest route in is via Calais in a dinghy. You will be ferried by the RNLI or Border Force to your 4 or 5* hotel, fed, clothed and a new mobile plus UK driving lessons. And of course some pocket money and first in line for the NHS including dentists.

Any other route is likley to be quite lengthy and to be honest you probaby are not rich enough.

Kardashev

Question Author

bednobs, Philadelphia, US

Kardashev

Question Author

youngmafbog, ??

DDIL

I would probably suggest renting for a year and travelling around a bit to visit different places to get a feel for them.

ynnafymmi

An added plus to the posting at 13.00,is,if you come into the UK as youngmafbog suggests you will never ever be deported,even if you carry out the most heinous of crimes.

naomi24

Southend is nice - and not far from London.

jackthehat

Playing along......have a read of this;

https://housinganywhere.com/United-Kingdom/moving-to-uk-from-us

You may also be confronted with Brits speaking a sort of cod-English, it's known as mockney, these are the sort of people who believe themselves to be 'proper Geezers'; but this is generally confined to the southern Counties of the Country.

youngmafbog

Yes DDIL, renting first is always the best idea before commiting to a new area.

Kardashev, not sure on the ?? but getting into the UK is not easy unless you enter illegally. As a US citizen you should be aware of the problems of illegal immigration. Differencr here is the UK Government (or UK tax payers to be more precise) pay all of that for them rather then your Government that is sending illegals back to where they came from.

So slightly tongue in cheek, but thats the way it is currently. Sadly we are bound by the ECHR which overules our elected officials aided and abetted by Judges (also unelected here).

To be honest the grass is not always greener. You may find a move to a State more befitting your beliefs more suitable in the long run to coming here.

youngmafbog

//Playing along.//