Pls Help Me Choose Between Leicester, Coventry, Worcester and Bristol to Live In?

[foreman38]

Hi, could anyone give me comments / suggestions based on this: I have decided to move with my family (3 teen children) from N. Ireland to England and these are our shortlisted places: Leicester, Coventry, Worcester and Bristol.
Keeping children in mind, our aim is to avoid the big cities while staying around and enjoy all that sort of things smaller cities may have to offer - good choice of entertainment and culture, shopping, days/nights out, handy countryside, parks; For our children we want good Schools and Univs around, low rate of crime... the usual things for a family to enjoy life safely.
I understand that the perfect place does not exist. I also have to think about housing prices (rent). I've included Bristol although I suspect housing prices are high down there. True?
I will really appreciate your generous comments and suggestions. Thank you!

[VHG]

Personally I would not move to Leicester or Coventry.

Leicester is due to become the first city in the UK to have over 50% ethnic population (many of those from the Indian sub continent), which may not be a problem to you but would be to some.

See in Wiki that while 9% of the total UK population are foreign born, over 23% of the Leicester population are foreign born, with 30% of the population being Asian.

However according to Wiki a lot of Irish have also moved there so that may suit you.

I believe Leicester does a lot of work in its universities regarding the various space projects (Hubble etc) and they do have the Space Centre there.

http://en.wikipedia.o...ter#Post_World_War_II

Coventry is a city which, I am afraid, has passed its sell by date and is going nowhere.

It was once a very rich city (in the middle ages) and before the 2nd world war had some wonderful old churches and historic buildings.

But the Germans bombed most of that and it was re-developed during the 1960s to have a hideous concrete city centre. Much of the industry has gone (Peugeot, Jaguar cars etc) and anyone with any get-up-and-go leaves Covenry to live elsewhere.

There are plans to redeveop the city centre (again) but this has not started yet.

Very good university nearby, Warwick University (the university is actually in the suburbs of Coventry but they thought it sounded better to call it Warwick University.

http://en.wikipedia.o...oventry#Postwar_years

Stand by for complaints about my append from people living in Leicester and Coventry.

[VHG]

Worcester is more like it. Lovely city, with a great Cathedral, and still has that "small town" feel, with an old fashioned "high street". Great part of the country.

It is on the River Severn which makes it an attractive city, but it was badly flooded during the last floods so that could be an issue.

Picture here (the bottom left is the cricket ground)

http://www.webbaviati...floods-aerial-ba1.jpg

And this was the Worcester racecourse

http://www.webbaviati...rse-flood-ba18036.jpg

[David Black]

Worcester is much the nicest place. A great place for children to grow up in plus its a traditional English town without the divisions of the other three.

Having said that Leicester has great food! If you like curry as I do.

[cazzz1975]

I would choose worcester, I have been to coventry and it wouldnt be my choice of place to live.

[mccfluff]

there are some lovely towns on the outskirts of bristol, not that i'm biased :-) but clevedon was a great place to grow up, by the sea but not sea=sidey if that makes sense as in the main holiday makers would go to weston

[VHG]

You say avoid big cities but Bristol is actually the 6th biggest city in England by population (Leicester is 8th and Coventry is 9th) so although you have avoided the "big ones" (London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Leeds and Sheffield) all 3 are still in the top 10 (in fact Bristol in 6th and Manchester 7th which surprised me).

http://en.wikipedia.o...England_by_population

I actually like Bristol. It has a lot of history (the docks, Brunel, Great Eastern, Clifton Bridge etc), and like a lot of English cities it is reinventing itself by redeveloping areas and bringing them up to date.

It is also in a good poisiton, right on the M5 motorway going North (to Birmingham and the Midlands) and South (to Devon Conwall and holidays) and on the M4 motorway going East (to London) and West (into Wales).

Lots of industry around the area (hence jobs)

http://en.wikipedia.o...#Economy_and_industry

[Androcles]

There are some great smaller towns around the places you have mentioned. Go into google maps, put in the place you have mentioned and look at the smaller places round about. You can then ususally get more data by plugging in the name and going to the local authority website.

You can look at local crime statistics by logging into http://maps.police.uk/

[mollykins]

Its up to you, we don't know every part fo your life and what suits people like vhg and cazz, might not be what you're looking for.

[VHG]

If you can give us a bit more info we may be able to narrow your choice down, or suggest other places.

Have you or your partner got a job already or do you have an industry you want to work in?

You mention schools/universities, do you expect your children to go to university, and if so what do they want to study?

All the places you have listed are in the midlands or south midlands (roughly). Any reason for that? Would you consider anywhere else?

Do you need to be near anything particular (airport, motorways etc)?

[bibblebub]

Well done VHG for assuming that the OP is not one of the "foreign born" or "Asian". They're not clever enough to use computers like you Aryans.

[mrs_nordling]

Well I am Worcester born and bred, and personally think it's a nice place to live and raise a family. To go through your points: we have a selection of cinemas and theatres, a nice shopping centre with newer parts and old black and white building shopping streets, two nice big parks in the city, with a countryside centre on the outskirts of Worcester, plenty of countryside nearby, the Malvern Hills are around 15 miles away if you're feeling energetic! There's a choice of good schools, and as for house prices, I would say an average sized 3 bedroom semi detached would be around £170,000 to £210,000, with a terraced house anything from £130,000 to £160,000. A good thing too about Worcester, if you're keen on sport, is that we have the Worcester Cricket Ground in the shadow of Worcester Cathedral, and a racecourse next to the river.

Finally, as Worcester is fairly central in England, it's easy to reach places - London is around 2.5 hours on the train, Birmingham an hour away, and you can have a nice day shopping in Manchester and Leeds which can be reached by car in 2 to 2.5 hours.

Hope this helps in making a decision - if you'd like any more information just let me know!

[VHG]

>Well done VHG for assuming that the OP is not one of the "foreign born" or "Asian". >They're not clever enough to use computers like you Aryans.

If you read my append carefuly I said nothing derogatory about any race or religion, I just stated the facts. I did say "which may not be a problem to you but would be to some".

It would be to me, but may not be to them.

I also acknowledge that if he moved there he would be probably foreign born as well so may feel more at home than in a city with no immigrants.

I am trying to give some information, so maybe if you did the same (instead of just critisizing my appends) he may be able to build up a better picture. Note I gave my comments on all 4 cities, where are your comments?

[chelle7272]

Hi, I live in Bristol and absolutely love it here. the only thing that may let it down for your is schools, I don't have a very high opinion of them in Bristol, but for all I know they are pretty equal to other cities. House prices don't seem too high to me, again I'd need more comparison and depends what you're used to.

There isn't too much unemploylemnt here at the moment, as has been mentioned there is a lot of new development still happening.

VHG talked about Bristol not being small by population, but it really seems smaller than that would suggest, and there are planty of green areas just a few minutes away and along the river there are some really beautiful spots.

Worcester is really a lovely place too! Didn't like Coventry the few times Ive been and never been to Leicester :-)

[bibblebub]

I have no comments about those cities; my comment was about your contribution and it appropriate to post it in this thread where your guff has appeared.

[janbee]

Definitely Worcester.

[bushbaby_de]

I concur with everything Mrs Nordling has said. I am Worcester born and bred but now live in Reading and Worcester definitely has a more gentle way of life and stunning scenery.

[saxy_jag]

Well, I'm biased, being 7th generation Leicester/Leicestershire, but ... Leicestershire county has a history of being at the forefront of progressive education, especially in the field of the arts and sport. In the city we have a fantastic multi-cultural community, if you choose to embrace it - Asian, Polish, Somali, Irish, Chinese to name just four. You will also have a library service that performs on a par with Oxford and London in terms of the services it delivers (and offers a two-vehicle, mobile library service for children that is unique, as far as I know).

The countryside is wonderful - you'd have everything from rolling fields and meadows in the south of the county to the wild wilderness in the north that was the inspiration and setting for 'King Lear'. The city has some fantastic parks - Abbey Park is a gem - and history/heritage in abundance.

Crime, I suppose, is average, although lower than Nottingham. House prices, I wouldn't know too much about, not being a house owner, but the more expensive properties tend to be in the south of the city/county. And of course, you have three universities to choose from.

Contrary to what people may think, we're not cold and miserable. We're just polite and a bit reserved. We mind our own business. Speak to us (well, the natives, at least) and we'll speak back. We don't generally go in for all that living in each other's pockets, but we're happy to have you living alongside us, we'll help you out in a crisis and we'll leave you to live your own life as you please.

Cons - can't think of any. But then again, I love my city.

[craft1948]

York's nice..............

[yelenots]

Dont go to Leicester!!