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?

There's no reason you couldn't live somewhere like Lancaster if you want a more city vibe. Lancaster has lots of trendy bars and restaurants and is really benefiting from having two universities.

Preston itself is still a bit blah, though it is improving slightly. But the area around it is lovely. I grew up in Lancashire and really love the Fylde and Trough of Bowland areas, as well as around Lancaster. So much countryside, the M6 runs through there to get north and south, Preston is 40 mins on the train to Manchester or Liverpool. Not far to the lakes, Yorkshire dales and a couple of hours drive to Scotland. Fairly cheap place to live too.

Oh dear Rock how on earth did you cope standing for a few minutes on Preston train station. You poor thing.

Oh ffs. Of course I know it's not called pizza express street. I just can't be bothered to google it and I don't know the name.

If the op wants to walk down all the side streets off the main shopping street, including the street in which you can find a pizza express (is that better? ), she will see that it is pretty much the only street that looks like that.

The rest are pretty grim but obviously, there are good points to Preston too. You like it and that's great.

I feel that it isn't very suited to the OPs wish list and I'm trying to help her out . She basically described Lancaster out of everywhere that is within a reasonable commute of her potential new job.

Like I said, the area you provided a photo of was extremely unsafe and unsettling the last time I was there. And I think that is unfair to use to sell the area to the OP

To be fair pentago, the only time I've ever been to Edinburgh we sat having dinner in a beautiful street with a drugs deal going on in plain sight maybe 100 yards away. Drugs are not unique to Preston and I've never felt unsafe there. It's all perspective.

Nah Pentago you sound awful. You’re trying to suggest all streets in Preston are full of pizza express type restaurants. Perhaps you’re a little lazy and can’t walk too far.

Only on MN is dislike of a place taken as a personal insult

my DD is at UCLAN in Preston and loves it. it has a thriving international student population, and enough nightlife to keep them entertained throughout the week.

i don’t know anything about Preston apart from the Uni (open day in the summer, taking DD up last September) but it seems to be a safe, lively place to live.

I think you have misunderstood.

I like pizza express and the street it is on!

But if you look further up thread you'll see that a pp has used a pic of that particularly (rare) pretty street (including the branch of pizza express that you don't like but I do ). That is the only reason I referred to it. After another poster put a photo of it up!

My point is that the two pictures that poster has offered the OP are not representative of the city centre in general. Handpicking two pretty spots doesn't give the OP a true feel.

If anyone doesn't believe me feel free to have a wander round on google earth. Litter ridden 🤷🏽‍♀️ like many cities unfortunately.

Re the weather - I don't find Preston quite as wet as I'd expected. (I think the stats say Lancaster is wetter, actually). The rain doesn't tip down in earnest till the clouds reach the hills. And, having moved here from North Yorkshire, it's noticeably milder than the eastern side of the country.

Anyway, there's no such thing as bad weather, only insufficient Goretex.

And genderfree, you'll notice that I managed not to insult you despite you causing me lazy and awful.

Told you OP, friendly folk in Preston.

Would you care to share what is wrong with "pizza express type restaurants" Gender?

Agreed @pisspawpatrol it is perspective. And there are drugs everywhere. It wasn't just the drugs. Coming out of the Guildhall at that particular time it wasn't simply druggies, it was the whole feel of the situation. Edgy. And I'm about the least nervy person I know.

The only reason I mentioned it was the use of a pic of a building directly next to it. Misleading.

You don’t know the street name, how odd? Tell me Pentago, no drug pushing in your town/ city? Do you live in a miss marple village? Get a grip.

Just thinking about the Dickens reference -DH read a local history book which described the Ribble in Preston in the 19th century as an awful polluted thing - outlet for dye works etc iirc. Well, similar time to the 'great stink' of the Thames, of course. Nowadays, pretty much right in the middle of town you will find many fish-eaters - herons, goosanders, cormorants, egrets. I've heard there are otters not far upstream, towards Brockholes.

Best sighting I've ever had of a kingfisher was on the canal where it finishes quite near the centre of town too. (Having walked from yet another of the parks, Haslam, which also has a nature reserve in it.).

It’s Winckley Street. Off Winckley Square. I’ve just walked home through both.
The reason I have handpicked two pretty areas is to counterbalance the swathes of people branding Preston ‘grim’, ‘a shithole’ and having no decent architecture.
Those statements are also misleading.
Church Street at kicking out time is like any other city centre at closing time. It wouldn’t be my choice for a night out and it’s unlikely to be the OPs either.
But if she wants gin, you’ll be hard pushed to find a better gin bar than Plau. For nice food and drink and an interesting arty entertainment schedule, the Continental is ideal...
If you want to stay round the Guild Hall area, head to Wine Down.
Or if you want to see what a shithole it is, try Yates’s after midnight.

Trainspotting is set in Edinburgh. A modern classic. Luckily I’ve got enough gumption to know it’s not representative of the whole city.

Why is it odd to not know a street name?
I'm not a walking atlas.

You're the one that sounds awful now gender

Before throwing your insults around and being rude you could at least read my posts.

I've said there are good parts to Preston. And one of them was the street in question, where pizza express is.

You called me lazy yet you lazily misread my posts or didn't bother to read them. I'll quote myself for you to make it easier...

Me: "There are drugs everywhere"

Me: "The picture someone posted with pizza express on a sunny day is the only pretty street in Preston city centre"

Winckley street, thanks. Now I can stop behaving so odd not knowing the street name.

I'll be sure to check out the continental. Unfortunately couldn't avoid certain areas at that time coming out of an event at the Guild hall

The area around the bus station can feel edgy but it’s being renovated. Preston had a bad time in the early 00s when the Tithebarn scheme promised big investment then the economy collapsed and so did the plans for regeneration.
What grew from it had been incredible though. The council no longer looks outside for investment and has developed a self sufficient way of doing things.
Posters who think of Preston as grim and deprived probably think of it in those terms, but it’s often held up as an example of how to offset austerity and inequality.
If you’ve got a few minutes this is an interesting read.

My aunt used to live in the Lostock area near Bolton - easy to get to Preston by car or train. Didn't seem like a bad area where she was but not exactly hip and happening. Very close to Rivington which my aunt described as Bolton's mini Lake District - also near to Bolton's stadium and shopping centre.

Likewise Standish where my cousin's sister in law used to live.

I quite liked Ormskirk but wonder if that is too far out? My mum used to like Croston which is near an NT house (good for dog walks) and a big area of green (Croston Moss?) which might also be good for dog walks.

I think there are lots of places you could consider but in the end it depends on what is most important - city life even if it's not very pretty compared with more scenery and dog walk potential but less in the way of bars etc on tap (though not far away).

Do NOt do this. I loathed Preston. It was the unhappiest I've ever been in a place at, ironically, the happiest time of my life. It's a grim, miserable place and I really can't reiterate enough that you simply can't leave a lovely place like edinburgh for that.

Do you have to live in Preston?
Within 20/30 minutes drive there are some lovely villages that feel like they're in the middle of the country.

Wrea Green is a traditional village built round a green, St Michael's is beautiful with lots of countryside, Newton is most of the way to Preston but surrounded by fields, Freckleton is cheap and you have to not mind the military jets (you get used to them) but the marshes have endless dog walks, Woodplumpton is a nice place too...

I don't think you can directly compare Edin with Preston - they are 2 very different places, culturally, socially and architecturally. You cannot compare apples with pears.

If you were to relocate to Preston you'ld have to adjust your expectations and offset the downsides with the plus points.

What would swing it for me is how easy it would be to make new friends/start new hobbies etc.

Ah it’s ok please Pentago. You go making silly comments about northerners. Fill your boots

My mum used to like Croston which is near an NT house (good for dog walks)

The only NT house I can think of near there is Rufford Hall, which has a smallish garden which used to allow dogs in but doesn't any more. (But there are many other places to walk dogs)

St Michael's is beautiful with lots of countryside

But need to check flood risk.

I don't think Pentago has said anything about Northerners? Except that they lived in both Preston and Lancaster for a period. Tbh I think you got the wrong end of the stick as Pentago's posts didn't appear to be making a dig or unreasonable.