Can add my one tell me what kind of a place is Portsmouth?

I live just outside Portsmouth, but work there.
What I love about living in the area:-

The sea & the beach
So many places to eat
Music/arts/theatre
Great attractions
Free events
Gunwharf Quays
Good sports
Several great Cities/market towns within 40 minute drive.
Beautiful countryside just over the hill.
Europe available from the town's continental ferry port (nothing better than catching the ferry home from France/Spain and only having a 5 minute drive home)
The Isle of Wight just a hop over on the ferry ( the most relaxing time warp)

A bit of everything right on your doorstep.

The only thing lacking is a major concert venue.

I’ve lived here since Uni.
The city hugely varies by where you live.
Southsea - lots of bars, coffee shops, quirky and eclectic in places and generally a ‘nicer’ area
milton/eastney/baffins etc all nice family areas

Buckland/Somerstown/paulsgrove all quite deprived and not so nice.

Beach is lovely (when it’s not being polluted with sewage!) close to lots of nice countryside, lots to do.

downsides - parking! Hardly any houses have parking and it can be a nightmare especially if you’re anywhere near the football ground on football days.

I wouldn’t want to move away now

I grew up in Portsmouth and often wish I lived in Southsea now

That's the 2 places I lived growing up 😂

Born in Portsmouth and lived there for years.

Live in a town just outside now but I go in twice a day 5 times a week as ds swims with their club!

Like all cities there's areas to avoid.

There's areas that are very expensive.

Milton and southsea area are my favourites.

I can't comment on the commute apart from saying that the London trains take at least 90+ mins on a good day.
I can say that my children have both gone to state schools here and my dd did very well academically, my son isn't doing quite so well academically but enjoys school which is the main thing for me. Primary school was lovely, really nurturing
. The south of the city is lovely imo, there are areas of deprivation but, to me, that's part of city life. It's not 'posh' but it is interesting, historic and has a beauty to it. There is a really strong emerging culture here I'd say.
The one thing that is terrible is the shops, all decent stores shut down about 5 years ago and you have to go to London/Brighton to get any decent shops. I sort of miss that side of things.

I like Portsmouth as a regular visitor to someone living in a nice bit, never lived there though. i think that commute by rail to London would be long and expensive, would rule it out if you’d need to do that more than once a week. (i’ve done a range of commutes myself and done portsmouth to London by rail a lot of times)

I grew up there in the 90s, I liked it but going back there to visit I found it quite run down

Agree that Southsea is a nice area, we lived in Southsea for 5 years a while back. Enjoyed picnics on the green with a sea view, Gunwharf Quays for a special occasion night out, everything we needed was in walking or short bus trip distance including the train station for longer days out.

For commuting, I'd stay off the island.

I assume you'll go by train? From the harbour station it's 1h45m - 2h15m by train to Waterloo, depending on which train you catch. Petersfield would knock half an hour off each way and is a lovely place for example.

Which school are you looking at?

I lived there until recently on £35k a year with no partner or parents to l subsidise me. You can still buy a flat on (or off) the island in a decent location for £100k or less.

It is a great city with lots to opportunities. It has the same disparity of wealth seen in any conurbation. It used to be (probably still is) the most densely populated city in Europe.

Your recollections from the 80s are very very out of date not least of all because of the lack of "squaddies" and even Naval sailors these days.

If you're daughter's son left uni because of bad accommodation that is a shame, but one crap house or bedroom isn't a reflection on an entire city.

Like what? More investment and decent housing notwithstanding students living in dumps?
Not convinced.

Might be great for those with money. It's poverty stricken whilst wealth is abound I'm sure it you live in the countryside.
A bit like other port towns.
Investment for the already wealthy

I’ve lived in central Portsmouth since I was 16, I’m 61 now so seen a lot of changes . I also work in a main central Supermarket as see it as it is .
Theres good and bad here, areas to avoid and areas that are nice.
Depends what you like and what lifestyle you aim for ?

Nice Bits:
The beach area which has recently been undergoing a complete facelift . Lovely to walk along any time of year .Its stones ,no sand but still nice for a bit of sunbathing , or a deckchair and book .
very much a summer place and the areas of grassy land just beyond the beach is nice for BBQs , get togethers etc .
Gunwharf Quays , nice if you like outlet shopping and loads of pubs and bars .Lots of visitors there in the summer so gets busy.
Great football club Play up Pompey, even if they aren’t doing so great at the moment .
Not so Nice bits :
Be very choosy as to where you live. If you are planning on buying or renting a house in Portsmouth , the central parts are terrible for parking . If we go out in the evening we always get taxis as there’s never any parking anywhere .
Best to look at properties with dropped curbs, garages or a designated space . It will drive you insane trying to park .
High crime rate here , again the central areas , North End /Fratton the worst . Lots of shoplifting .
HMOs going up everywhere , mostly for overseas hospital staff as we have one of the largest hospitals in the South here .
No dentist spaces unless like me your private , I had no choice .
Doctors not great either but I think that’s everywhere .
The main town shopping area . It’s awful , no nice shops, full of homeless people which is sad , very very run down, seems to me all the money is pumped into Gunwharf Quays . If I want to go clothes shopping I usually go out of town to Havant or Southampton .
Nice areas to live are Milton, parts of Copnor where you can park, and small pockets of Southsea but equally Southsea is full of student bedsits.
Just outside of Portsmouth is better to live as easy to travel in.
If you want to know anything specific just ask .

It changed a lot in the 90's. For the better. A lot of investment. A heritage to be proud of now.

Or Gospit as I call it, it winds my mum up so much! I used to work at the
police station so have seen the shitty underbelly of the place.

It depends what you like. I remember it as a run down town with squaddies from the marines. Circa.1980s.
My dds bf went there to uni and very quickly dropped the course and went back to London. Circa 2013.

It's a great city. Always something going on. The traffic on and off the island is a nightmare but the coast is beautiful. Or you can live on the edge of the southdowns and enjoy the beautiful countryside and be a taxi ride away from the nightlife and fun Pompey has to offer. Diverse, busy, fun.

I live just outside (Fareham) but the only reason we didn't buy in the city was the nightmare of getting on and off the island at peak times. Having said that, both kids go to school there (by bus) and I do my hobby there so I've ended up driving into the city at least 3 times a week.

Areas I'd consider are Drayton, Farlington (both on the outskirts) and Southsea, Old Portsmouth in the city proper. Everywhere else tends to be terraced, narrow roads with nightmare parking. Southsea is awful too but a lot of roads are now resident only which probably helps.

With what my memories or visiting friends or like a lot of the UK is isn’t what it was in the 90s

because it is still one of my favourite places

Gosport dweller here - don't kid yourself 😆

@Tinysarah1985 I do - it has changed a lot though I do miss the nightclubs on the harbour front many evenings spent there

love the fact it is an island thiugh which given I was born on it took me a shockingly long while to realise!

I was born, bred and live in Southampton and have relatives in Portsmouth.

It's like any city, has great and awful parts. Southsea is fabulous but parking is a nightmare!

Wonderful promenade along the seafront (hence the parking problem) and a great mix of old and new.

As others have said, Portsmouth is a big place and the areas vary tremendously. I love it here, it is very friendly and sociable and lots of entertainment most nights.

If I was moving into the area id probably look at Milton or Portchester which is slightly north.

It depends on the area you choose. Southsea/Albert Road area has a cool, vibrant vibe. If you decide that you don’t want to live in Portsmouth itself, there are loads of beautiful rural villages in the nearby Meon Valley or quieter costal places like Emsworth. Chichester is also lovely.