Please tell me about Living in Redditch? 🏠

[TellMeAboutRedditch]

We are relocating and Redditch looks like the best place that's affordable and close enough to where my partner will be working. We can't afford to live in the town where his job actually is.

Neither of us has ever lived nor visited Redditch.

The housing market looks great there, almost too good, which makes us wonder what the catch is?

We currently live in the West Midlands in a city not known for being...super classy and across the street from people committing crimes daily so our expectations aren't that high.

We figure Redditch can't be any worse or can it? 🤔

I think like everywhere it has good areas and bad areas. I always find it a bit uninspiring, but it's handy for the motorway and lots of other places. No idea on the schools, all my friends who live there live in Webheath area.

I think what we're most concerned about is unwittingly moving into a bad area. We have a small baby with plans for more.

We kind of learned the hard way about which areas are to be avoided After we moved to our current city.

Schools you need to be careful about: catchments are strict, and they're moving from three to school school system vso middle schools gradually going.

The Astwood Bank and Studleigh side is nicest I think

My experiences of Redditch are that everyone lives in cul-de-sacs that are hidden behind hedges, just off dozens of identical dual carriageways.

Beautiful trees on the dual carriageway though, loads of green bushes.

Webheath, Astwood Bank or Studley.

The catch is it’s Redditch! Think carefully and visit before you get seduced by low prices.
It was built as a new town with lots of living areas joined by a god awful ring road. There are nice areas but you will be cheek by jowl with very rough areas too. There is not a fat lot to do, shopping centre is pretty dire and public transport is not brilliant.
If you do decide to take the plunge be very careful about the area you choose and make sure you are in catchment for a decent school.

I have a friend in Webheath too and that’s nice.
Don’t know Redditch that well, but I did work there occasionally.
I hate driving around it, it’s a nightmare with endless dual carriageways and ringroads. Town centre is looking rather sad now, although 30 or so years ago before out of town malls were a thing, it was the place to go.
On the plus side it has nice countryside nearby, a couple of decent parks, and is handy for Birmingham, Stratford and Worcester.

The main concern for me is the lack of paediatric facilities at the A&E meaning Worcester is the nearest for children’s emergency care.

Webheath, Astwood Bank and Studley sound like the go to areas.

@Bostin

"The catch is it’s Redditch!"

😂 I appreciate the honesty.

Now I'll be honest and admit we're in Coventry...surely it can't be worse than Coventry?

@IncredibleSulk

Oh that's something I hadn't considered. Makes me wonder what the hospital is like overall. 🤔 We are lucky that the best part of Coventry has been the hospital with my pregnancy I was under consultant care and the perinatal psychiatric team, my pregnancy and birth experience were very good.

Webheath, Studley and Astwood Bank are the nice areas. my friend who's from Redditch told me to avoid anything on the east side of the town. :-)

The hospitals in Worcestershire aren't great. They don't perform well as regards a and e waiting times. DS has had a lot of treatment at Redditch and Worcester and it's generally been very good though. I live in Bromsgrove so it's easier to get to Worcester for paediatrics than it is from Redditch.

You really need to go and have a look around. There is a good range of shops up town and lots of supermarkets etc. Good rail connections into Brum.

District wise, Astwood Bank is nice. Used to work in Studley and not keen on it as a place. Avoid Woodrow/Matchborough. But each district has a range of areas - Lodge Park has some really nice bits and some crap ones, for example.

Just seen the comment re: hospitals - have a look on FB at the Save the Alex campaign. Worrying that the hospital is being run right down - FIL was in there a few times and couldn't fault his care.

@DrDreReturns

Bromsgrove is where my husband will work so we considered Worcester, Rubery, and Droitwich as well but the houses didn't look very promising.

I'm wondering if we're missing any hidden gems of places to live in the area? Hopefully with okay public transportation since I don't drive, my husband does though.

We need a 3+ bed for a max of 190k, that doesn't need renovations.

@YoureAllABunchOfBastards

That page is frightening, a woman said it took doctors almost 9 hours to see her husband who went in with metal in his eye.

You could look at Stourbridge, which has excellent public transport, not far to Bromsgrove, and generally good schools. And a nice town centre. Not many chain stores but lots of independent coffee shops etc.
Or Kidderminster which has a good range of shops. The High St area is dire but there’s a nice development called Weavers Wharf with M&S, Next, Debenhams etc, plus a short distance away is Crossley Park retail centre with The Range, Smyths Toys, PC World etc. Again though some medical needs would require a trip to Worcester hospital.

Have you considered Kiddie? 15 mins drive from Bromsgrove and good train links.

Webheath is ok otherwise I wouldn't recommend. The town is grey and dull and it's well knows for drugs. Studley is nice also and only down the road.. people literally call it "The Ditch"

We're in Kidderminster and it's an easy drive to Bromsgrove. There are some unpleasant parts of the town (like any town) but good shops, supermarkets, some good schools and nurseries etc.
Houses are pretty cheap, certainly it's cheaper to buy here than it is in Droitwich or Worcs. Have lived in Droitwich and wouldn't really recommend it as there aren't enough facilities/amenities.

Looking at Stourbridge and Kidderminster now, both look really promising.

Oddly my husband grew up in Stourbridge and seemed to think we couldn't afford to but maybe things have changed since he's been gone.

Because of the hospital situation alone I think Redditch is getting thrown off the list.

I'll require CVS testing, consultant care, and the perinatal psychiatric team for additional pregnancies and it doesn't look like the hospital in Redditch can even offer basic care and has lost its maternity ward.

I live there, its fine!

Plenty of supermarkets, decent bus services around the town, train services to Birmingham, roads are fine (I really don't understand the confusion people have with them). Hospital fine every single time i've needed it. Schools mostly good and I don't know anyone who has had problems getting into there nearest school. Nice lake for walks and also Morton Stanley Park and Forge Mill.

Sadly childrens services/centres have pretty much disappeared over the last 5 years and there is very little on offer atm.

People here have recommended Astwood bank which is a nightmare road wise, especially around the schools, we moved away from that area purely because of the hideous traffic, Webheath is nice but expensive, Studley is in Warwickshire and has issues with people who live there not allowed to use certain facilities in Redditch (eg the tip)
Avoid Woodrow. Batchley, Southcrest and Lodge Park have good and bad points. Try Matchborough West, Winyates West, Winyates Green, Oakenshaw, Beoley, Headless Cross and Crabbs Cross.

I've lived here for almost 40 years, never heard anyone here call it "the ditch" and very little crime, its quite dull really....

Maternity services in Redditch are still available, the hospital can still do scans, bloods and consultant appointments etc just not deliveries, I had DS2 last year (high risk) and had all my check ups at the Alex, the midwives were fab. Redditch is also well placed for a choice of where to give birth, your pretty much within the same distance of Worcester, Warwick and Birmingham Womens.

@TotallyKerplunked

I was hoping someone who has lived there a long time might offer some more insight. Thank you. That's given me more to think on.

Especially since my husband said he's not fussed about the hospital, I thought he was because of a conversation we had recently about Coventry's hospital.

Hunt end, Headless Cross, Crabbs Cross, webheath are all good. Oakenshaw south is ok. Avoid Churchill, Lakeside and Woodrow.

Sorry didn't see the post about maternity services that are still available until just now. That makes me feel way better. We are still going to look at Kidderminster and Stourbridge but will continue to look at Redditch as well.

Any of them should be an improvement over Coventry. We're not fussed about the city centre of any place we move to, having both been converted to Amazon and eBay long ago.