To think Bournemouth might be a s***hole?

Lilliput is a lovely place to live and you’re close to Ashley Cross, lots of nice cafes and pubs etc.
Poole will be your closest town. The centre is pretty rough but has managed to hold on to lots of the main shops H and M, Next etc.
If you get the right time, The Old Town/poole quay can be very nice.
You will be very close to the chain ferry to get you to the beautiful Studland/Purbecks and while, in the summer the traffic is bad, you will have the luxury of off season/early morning/evening trips to the beach.
You can cycle or walk to the beach, no problem at all and there is the beautiful Evening Hill, which looks out over the harbour, for fish and chips.
Lilliput School is fab.
We can’t afford to live in Lilliput but I definitely think about it.
I don’t work for the Lilliput appreciation society, I promise.
I would say that Bournemouth is a bit of a shit hole, such a shame but I hardly go that way. It can be nice when the Art by the Sea or the ice skating in the gardens is on. Wimborne isn’t far away as a pretty town to visit.
So there you go, I do love living down this way, there are some dodgy areas but I think the sea and all its activities (paddle boarding, sailing, windsurfing, kyacking etc, all very accessible) make up for the shit bits.

Bournemouth is ok - I grew up there and now live in Newcastle but still have family there and we have holidays down there. It has changed a lot but it's no worse than other places that I've lived. Like almost every major town in the country, it has good people and not so good people - nice parts and not so nice parts.

I grew up in Bournemouth and agree with @NeverForgetYourDreams and @LuckysDadsHat . It used to be a lovely town centre but sadly not now. There are many great areas nearby, though.
One advantage to living in a holiday town is if you want to go out of town for the day you are travelling in the opposite direction to the day trippers 😁

Sandbanks is my favourite uk holiday place, weekend in traffic is very bad. Very envious of you

I concur. We always go to West Quay or Castlepoint for shopping. Never ever Bournemouth town centre. The shops are shit now.

Bournemouth town centre is a shithole. Lived here most of my life. I now live 5 miles from the centre and it’s lovely and open and trees and parks. We go into town centre not that often. Over priced parking. Beggars. Drugs. Gangs of migrants put up in hotels. Teens roaming. It started to go downhill a while ago but Covid finished it off. Not a safe place to be after dark. I remember the days I could walk down from Westbourne to the centre without a care in the world. I won’t let my teen walk anywhere after dark and certainly not through the gardens from dusk. Shops are leaving. Vape shops and coffee shops mostly. Big department stores all gone. I used to waste a whole day shopping in town. Now we go to Southampton to clothes shop.

however Lilliput is not Bournemouth so don’t worry. Just live at least 5 miles from the centre if want a better time is my advice

i would never move closer to the town again.

and it’s just so so sad what my town has become

Public transport is pretty crap also, so you need to drive but then the traffic is hell

Slight de rail of thread but oh so interesting.

My DB got clean and sober in Bournemouth, 8 years ago.

He left to come back to Herts a year ago as now has a young family and wanted to be near us. Still attends AA/NA 12 step program.

He has ALWAYS said, Bournemouth is the best place to get clean and sober but the easiest place to relapse.

.... oh and goes without saying that the traffic is so horrendous, massive traffic jams are just normal now - Sunday night queue heading out of town normally stacks from across the forest at Pickets Postback into town

As PPs have said Liliput is definitely a 'nice/posh' area, and I would think of it as Poole really.

Bournemouth has got worse over the last 10 years, the rise in knife crime / fights in general in particular are worrying, but are generally in and around Bournemouth itself.

My DC do go there, but if they go to the beach they mainly go west of Bournemouth to Branksome Chine & Sandbanks (or east to Southbourne & Hengistbury Head) to essentially avoid the crowds by the pier.

@OttersAreMySpiritAnimal I just find the whole area horrific for traffic. It matches or even exceeds the traffic and aggressiveness of London drivers. I experience so many cars up by backside when I drive back home.

I live/ grew up in Lymington and Bournemouth does have a reputation for being a bit rough. Like I would only go there for a night out. Lilliput is in a better area though. Personally I would want to live in one of the villages near Bournemouth and not part of the conurbation. Depending on the commute you might want to look at Avon beach or Lymington for coastal or burley/ brockenhurst/ beaulieu if you like the forest. Renting is a good shout x

Yes there are lots of homeless people around the town centre and like many towns too many empty shops. On the plus side Bournemouth has beautiful gardens and miles of Sandy beach. Southbourne and Westbourne are lovely as is nearby Christchurch. Lilliput is super posh and very near to the lovely beach at Sandbanks. Surely a whole lot nicer than most of the UK.

Lilliput is nice, very close to the dead posh Sandbanks. However I agree with pp. BCP local authority is on the brink of bankruptcy, congestion on the roads is dire, bloody cycle lanes, drug problems, over riding stench of weed being smoked on the beach, bail hostels galore, run down town centres, vibrant (?? ) night economy, etc etc etc.
So if you stay put in Lilliput and never go far it will be fine.
Where is your husband's new job? If possible move to outside BCP, the Purbecks and West are lovely.
I've lived here for nearly 40 years and have witnessed its decline.

I lived in Christchurch for a few years recently. Tourists and traffic to get anywhere in and around the Bournemouth area both negatively affect the area. Poole is ok but not my cup of tea, I liked Christchurch/Mudeford better.
If I was moving back I'd be more tempted to live in the new forest or possibly Ringwood area. Easy enough to get to the coast if you want to but away from the hordes and the traffic. Totally depends exactly where the job is though and how much time spent commuting.

One of my children goes to school in Bournemouth and its fine. Not really different to a lot of other places in terms of homelessness imo and Ive never seen any violence and spent a lot of time there. Maybe Ive been lucky. I will say it has detoriared, a lot of shops have shut due to costs but generally its okay. In summer I think it has a nice busy vibe with good beaches etc.

I have lived there hence my confusion. It just goes to show we all experience places differently.

Interesting. I have found the opposite that people there are really friendly and open. As an outsider I was expecting it to be more difficult but I found that lots of people were in a similar situation so were keen to make friends. I also feel very safe when I'm there although I admittedly don't go to Bournemouth town centre a lot.

Lots of drug use and homeless people in pool and Bournemouth town centres, and boscombe beach and town. Adds to crime. Lots of rehab centres where people travel all across the country to go to and often relapse.

Unless you've lived there it's hard to explain it. I moved 10 years ago and it's got worse since

@Bumpitybumper I live in sw London and feel much safer walking about late here than in Bournemouth and it's not a posh area. Some of the beaches are nice yes, but apart from that it can be quite a deprived area and doesn't have a particularly friendly vibe. When I moved there as a young child I remembered hating it as a many people seemed quite rude and unfriendly compared to where I lived up north. My nan said they can still be a bit weird about her being from London even though she's lived there decades. Houses are really overpriced compared to employment

Bournemouth is our nearest sandy beach so I've gone there a lot over the years both in summer and winter as they do a lovely Christmas event.

I was shocked when I took DC on the train last year and walked in through the town centre how run down things were. Lots of shops closed down for quite some time, a lot of homeless people etc.

The seafront etc was fine, lots going on and people about. I don't think it would be as nice out of season though.

Out of interest where do you live now? I have lived loads of places and really can't get my head around how you can call such a lovely area with such beautiful beaches and chines as boring or depressing.

Lilliput is a world away from Bournemouth town centre. Near beautiful beaches, a great patisserie and coffee shop at PMB ( Patisserie Mark Bennett) and you are a stones throw from the Purbecks and lots of beautiful countryside.