Preston Vs Edinburgh

[PrestonVsEdinburgh]

Hi NC as potentially outing. Looking for advice. I currently work in Edinburgh and absolutely love it here, trying to buy at the moment but the housing market is very active and it seems almost impossible to get anything without significant additional savings when flats are going for 20k over the home report I work in a job that I love but it is very stressful and i’m Struggling at the moment due to leadership/management problems.

I’ve been approached by another employer based in Preston and am considering a move there to improve my overall quality of life. Now I know nothing about Preston except that it rains a lot (hate wet weather). I’m going there to visit in a couple of weeks but would like your thoughts on Edinburgh vs Preston as a place to live. I have dogs so good walks/green space is important (brilliant in Edinburgh) I like beautiful architecture, big open skies, and easy access to countryside. Plus city comforts - bars, cinemas etc. I’m also quite active so a decent climbing wall, running club etc would be good.

so wise MNetters if you know Preston/Edinburgh at all can you tell me what you think? And which bits of Preston are nice?

I'm with you Bodicea. South Ribble here too, but only just over the river.
Yes, Lancaster is a bit more historical and if you like Edinburgh, I can see why it would appeal, but there isn't all that much there. Nice pubs but it always feels a bit isolated to me.
It's good for a day out though.

Let us know if you plan a visit OP and we'll give you some pointers of where to look for the things you want from the area.

Hi,

Not posted in ages, but felt I'd chuck in my tuppence worth.

Was born in Edinburgh. Left when I was 32. Lived in Preston for the last 30+ yrs. Edinburgh rocks. Preston doesn't. But it is on the up. It most definitely owes new found wealth to large international student population. Many of them Chinese & very very good examples to our young. It is evolving into a cafe culture. Short on theatre etc. That's what I miss, culture!

Clitheroe is pretty, but commuting needs careful thought. Preston station can be a nightmare at times. Too many people and the facilities are limited.The roads are a nightmare at times. If something goes wrong on the M6 or M55, then Fulwood (where I live) becomes gridlocked. Lytham & St Annes are fantastic. Not as sedate as you'd think. Plus you have the added bonus of living on the coast. If that appeals?

Massive building projects going on. Buoyant property market. Living around the docks is quite trendy for young professionals. Lovely apartment living on or around Winckley Sq. too.

An hour's train ride to Manchester or Liverpool. 2hrs straight into Euston. 2hrs. 45mins to Edinburgh. Its got merits on that score. Excellent bus service here.

Blog Preston on Twitter is very informative.

HTH.

I live in a lovely village 12 miles south of Preston. You really can't compare the two cities. It depends what your lifestyle is and what's important to you. Walking distance we have a craft ale bar, 3 pubs, countryside walks, and 2 cafes. We can be in Ambleside (Lake District) in 1 hour 15 mins if there's no major issues on the M6. However, if you have friends and a good social life in Edinburgh then I personally wouldn't give that up.

Saying that, we lived in the SE for 6 years and would never have afforded to buy a house down there.

I'd definitely look at moving. Yes, Edinburgh is lovely, but people don't realise how desperately expensive it is (or they can afford it) and how absolutely shitty it is to be renting in your 40s. Hope you can get something nice near Preston.

The thing I like about living in Edinburgh is living in Edinburgh.

Just don't do it. It won't compare, you can convince yourself that taken individually all the elements like nice parks and gin bars are comparable and you can get all the 'things' you like in Preston too. And that's technically true. But it just isn't comparable, not a tiny bit. We did this, different cities, but roughly the same thing, and I regret it.

Preston is an utter shithole and it's so unfriendly. I lived there on 2 separate occasions, couldn't get out of there quick enough.

Avenham park? Really not gonna compare to Arthur's seat .

Lancaster is better, much friendlier. If you speak to a stranger in a bar in Preston they look at you like you're odd. Or they answer curtly then turn back to what they were doing. Lancaster isn't like that at all.

There is no architecture to speak of and although it has a uni it's not very studenty at all. Lancaster has loads of history. Shopping is crap in both Preston and Lancaster. For those saying culturally it's on the up . Every town has gin bars etc these days but the Guild Hall has just announced it is closing. They are issuing ticket refunds.

Lancaster is close to the lakes and the coast and only a 10/15 min train ride. Look at the developments on the Quay to be close to Station or Scotforth/Bowerham areas are good too.

I'd go on google earth and have a walk around.

The picture someone posted with pizza express on a sunny day is the ONLY pretty street in Preston city centre and the sun is shining. Talk about misleading 😂

Just don't do it.

This.

Edinburgh is a bustling European capital city.

Preston is a small post-industrial town in the north of England.

Just don't do it.

She said she's stagnating at her job, taken for granted and in a field where you have to leave first to be promoted. She's sick of private renting. It seems rather silly not to make what might be a temporary lateral move to further her career and potentially be able to stop private renting over one town where you can, you know, move back. People move out of London and are advised to 'go North' all the time because it's so expensive there. This is no different.

The comments on Blog Preston FB page are quite revealing of how far we still have to go with integrating some communities

I don't think you can compare the two at all. As a pp said, Edinburgh is a capital city. And a very attractive one, in terms of the cityscape but also its size etc.

My father lived south of Preston for some years (near Charnock Richard services for locals). I was not that keen on the area, seemed a bit grim to me - we lived in Woodplumpton when I was a very small child and my mum hated it though that was partly because our house was so isolated, don't know what it's like now. I would prefer living in Liverpool but that is a trek if you have a job in Preston.

People have already mentioned Lancaster - I've never been there (not since I was about 2 anyway) but it sounds nice.

Saucery you really can’t go off local news commentators on social media. It’s well known that’s where the worst trolls hide.
You get racists anywhere. Preston is very integrated. Also not sure which posts you’re reading as there are always loads of positive comments when for example a local mosque has an open day.

I think the job is really important here. I’d love to live in Edinburgh - it really is gorgeous, but I wouldn’t stay somewhere if my job made me miserable. And if the alternative was to be happy in Preston I’d choose that any day. Edinburgh it’s not, but it has plenty going for it.

One other thing, if you plan to go back to Edinburgh a lot, don't understimate the distances. We used to go to Scotland on holiday and use my dad's place as a stopover. It used to take about 2 hours just to get to the border, and 4 hours to get to our B&B on the other side of Glasgow. It may well be a lot faster by train.

Unfortunately, NC4Now I’m not just going off local news sites. Blog Preston is pretty reasonable, that’s true but others I have joined for local info (and left pretty sharpish) are just drowning in casual racist filth. That’s before you consider comments in rl from business owners, AA Recovery personnel, councillors and colleagues. It’s pretty much everywhere round here, only a short way out of the city, but the attitude towards BAME people can be breathtakingly nasty.
Maybe that’s a ‘city’ thing, especially one with major pockets of deprivation, I don’t know, but it’s definitely part of living and working in the Preston area.

I grew up in South Ribble and went to to school in Penwortham. I moved down south 20 years go and not have kids here. If they weren’t settled in good schools I’d move back north in a heartbeat. The best thing about Preston, aside from its proximity to the coast and the Lakes and it’s very reasonable property prices, the people are brilliant. They’re friendly and warm and will welcome you as part of their community. That’s what I miss the most.

I’ve never experienced any racism in Preston, despite what others here might have said. In fact, there are very established, third gen Asian and Caribbean populations who bring so much to the city.

Preston city centre is ok too. It’s attracting investment (slowly) and has some lovely buildings.

I'd look at this differently. If work is stressful just because of 1 individual, have you taken this up with HR? It sounds like there's a push to get a new job (which happens to be in Preston) rather than a pull to Preston itself.

WRT a flat, what can your budget (taking £20k off) stretch too in Edinburgh. A studio flat, maybe not ideal with a dog admittedly, would at least start you off.

Back in the day that's how we all started house buying, gradually moving up in size; but I appreciate with stamp duty you want to reduce the number of steps to get there.

I wouldn't give up the Edinburgh dream yet. Good luck.

I live a bit north of Preston, quite near a motorway junction. So, apart from on bank holidays when the roads can get jammed, there's great access to the Lakes, the western part of the Dales (Ingleton, malham etc). Bowland, Pendle, the West Pennines, Silverdale and Arnside....

Easy to get to Lancaster (dukes) or Manchester for the theatre.

Loads of parks, in the centre and elsewhere in the area. People have mentioned avenham and miller parks, but just across the river there's a local nature reserve ... counted over 30 bird species there one day.

No, it's not Edinburgh, but Preston has positives, it has improved significantly in the ~25 years we've lived here. It's not grim like various Lancashire towns (any beginning with B probably...).

Well Saucery I’ve lived in Preston for many years and I’ve no idea what you’re talking about and what are these major pockets of deprivation you’re talking about? Preston is not a hotbed of racism, which is what you are suggesting. What nonsense.

Agree with the others. I am really proud of the way the different cultures integrate in Preston. I've lived here all my life (apart from moving away to bigger cities for university) and have a job which takes me into all corners of the community.
You'll get casual racism in any walk of life and it's up to you to challenge that, but I don't think there is racial tension in the way you see in other areas.

Blog Preston is a really good example of the local enterprise that's here. It's run as a community enterprise by established and well respected journalists who do it alongside their day jobs. You get proper local news by people who care about the city.

This video is a couple of years old now but it still makes me smile.

Yes, casual racism. I don't believe it's a hotbed of racial tension by any means. Some amazing community building projects for sure.
How lucky you are, GenderFree

Jesus, my husband is from Edinburgh, I'm from N. England myself, we are both of Asian descent and some people are super snobby about Edinburgh. It's a place, a really nice one (with some pockets of extreme deprivation and its own real problems) but it's hardly Shangri-la and very expensive even for studio flats to buy . You do get more for your money in other areas and it's hardly a prison sentence. The way some people are painting the entire area is really unfair and pretty rude. too.

Charles Dickens based 'Hard Times' on Preston, aka Coketown, just saying....

Yeah, and he set a lot of his novels in London, too, Rock, but no one's saying that's one big shithole to be avoided at all costs . Edinburgh has some properly dire areas, too, it ain't all The New Town and Abbeyhill.

Anyway, FB open to everyone to look at and decide for themselves. Lancashire Police page also good for reading the tone of an area if the story involves a person who isn't White British. Blog Preston could perhaps moderate their page a little more actively as it can make a very bad impression. The vast majority of the people in the Preston area live in harmony but there can be the odd surprising and disheartening occasion when some think they are speaking to someone who shares their views. Always challenged, of course