Anyone from Glasgow? Wondering where to move to

[CuppaSarah]

DH has had a job offer, which is great news for us. But it's in Glasgow and we've never been to Scotland, let alone Glasgow. We're all really excited about the move, for so many reasons. We've been desperate to get out of our overpriced, overcrowded area, but we're only going to have one weekend to look at rental properties before we go. The plan is rent for a bit, then buy a house once we're settled into the area.

Of course one weekend isn't enough time to choose where to settle, since DD will have to start school when we move, I don't want to rent in Paisley, but end up buying in Clydebank and have to move her school.

So if any of you live in or know the area, whereabouts up to an hour's commute from central Glasgow would you recommend looking at for a young family? DS and I like rural, DH and DD like towns and cities. So something with the best of both worlds is perfect.

Hi OP.
We moved to Glasgow on a similar budget to you.
We went for Maryhill/North Kelvinside and snapped up a three bed maisonette for £50,000.
The market has picked up a bit since then and you'd get the same sort of thing now for between £75,000 and £90,000.

The area is poor but respectable.
Its on a main arterial road into town with plenty of buses. Good facilities that have seen recent investment. Nice little library, small leisure centre, shiny new health centre.

Its a pleasant river walk to the West End with its chi-chi little cafes, museum, vintage shops and so on.

It doesn't have its own school but that's being put right. A brand new one is one the way. It looks like it will have a socially mixed catchment area.

In the meantime the catchment school is Parkview but you can probably get a placing request to Kelvindale or Dunard.
Kelvindale is considered the "good" school and its catchment covers the West End.

There's also local Catholic Schools but we're Proddies so I don't know a lot about them!

Ours are in Gaelic medium education- so that's an other option.

In general, finding a school is a more relaxed affair than in London (for example).
You register with the catchment school and then put in a placing request if you want somewhere else.
Placing requests seem to have a quite a high rate of success with the exception of certain very sought after schools (Hillhead High School- I'm looking at you!)

One peculiarity is that Catholic and Non-denominational schools operate parallel systems and it can be difficult to change between primary and secondary. So if you send your kid to Catholic primary school this will feed into a Catholic secondary school and you may be turned down for the Non Denominational School, even if you live in the catchment area.
Again, not generally too much of a problem unless your looking to get into a very sought after secondary. But worth knowing about because people have been caught out!

Cuppa Sarah
My Scottish husband calls that render "harlin" because you hurl it at the house and it sticks!

Poor but respectable is exactly what we're aiming for! That's basically the tagline for our lives

Me too!

definitely west dunbartonshire, especially nearer dumbarton / balloch

Its cheap. On the banks of Loch Lomond so you've got the rural aspect. In between Stirling and Glasgow. Lots of good trains and buses straight to Glasgow.

You could definitely get somewhere to rent for £300 pm here.

@Hopefullysmart what @Delurkingnamechange said. The new Dargavel housing estate had as part of its planning permission a clause that they had to put a slip road onto the M8 in....waste of time as you are 5-10 minutes from the M8 really.

Good luck OP! We are looking for pretty much the same as you outside Edinburgh for a slightly higher budget and having an absolute nightmare. You have to view the house before you can put in an application but everything is going like absolute hot cakes so we haven't been able to get anything before it goes. We're actually properly panicking now. My DW starts her job in Sep and it looks like she's just going to have to go and stay in temporary accommodation first whilst she looks .

I wouldn’t call Ayrshire an easy commute for the city centre. It’s a nice place to live but it’s at least an hour’s drive to town and that’s assuming traffic is decent and no accidents on the notoriously dodgy road.

I’m from Dumbarton and you can get some great new builds there, and Balloch is also nice for the local amenities especially the loch. Lenzie, Torrance, Kirkintilloch etc also great schools and housing lots of young families and nice areas. Easy links for town.

I would avoid Clydebank/Yoker etc, avoid Alexandria/Renton, avoid city centre’s east areas. Avoid Paisley (worked there for years, the town centre is on the decline).

I’m not a southsider but lots of friends live in Giffnock/Clarkston type areas and the schools are brilliant there.

If you want to be close to town and the west end on a budget then Scotstoun is a great spot.

If you like the sound of Bearsden but need to consider budget then look at Westerton or Killermont. Avoid Anniesland.

You’d probably get something where I live for that, it’s in Renfrewshire and we’re really happy with the schools. My eldest son is going into s2 in high school and performing brilliantly, couldn’t be happier

I would recommend Bridge of Weir or Houston - both have excellent primary schools that feed into Gryffe High school in Houston, which also has an excellent reputation.

You can drive into the centre of Glasgow in under half an hour, and it’s about 15 minutes on the train from Johnstone, or approximately 40-45 minutes on the bus.

Given your budget, Springburn/Bishopriggs but if you can travel, Kilmarnock?

My first thought was dumbarton/balloch/helensburgh area. Helensburgh is quite expensive but there are a few ex-ministry of defence estates where you would get something for your budget.

Maryhill/NK is definitely a shout as per @unlimiteddilutingjuice. Someone also mentioned Drumchapel - there is a lot within budget but I think you could get nicer. Old Drumchapel is lovely but prices are high, more like Bearsden.

Strathaven is nice. It has a hot air balloon festival every year and is fairly quiet. About 50 mins commute by car I would guess.

kilmarknock is an absolute dive now and the town centre is just full of jakeys. Horrible place.

If you are going Ayrshire Kilwinning is the best for commute to Glasgow, theres a train every 15 minutes and if you manage to catch a direct train it takes just over half an hour. Places like Kilbirnie are cheaper but you still have a bit of a drive to get to the train station otherwise trains aren't particularly frequent.
I can certainly advise you more on places to avoid but they tend to be quite specific streets/areas within each town so maybe better to message than post publically!

Hi OP, I live in East Kilbride and am very happy here. You'd definitely get what you're looking for within budget.

The town has great amenities, plenty for kids to do, some decent restaurants a few good pubs, decent shops and every supermarket under the sun.
Primary schools are all generally good. There are 3 high schools, one of which (the catholic one) is good, the other 2 are ok.

I work in Glasgow city centre and my commute in rush hour is roughly 30mins by car.

Outwith East Kilbride, I'd maybe suggest looking at Hamilton?

You and your family will be very happy up here, I'm sure. Good luck!

I would suggest Govan, Renfrew, Linthouse or Erskine to balance budget with convenience travel-wise.

Or Cardonald! Croftfoot would probably tick boxes but south-east, rather than south-west.

just full of jakeys

I think you're going to have to translate "jakey" for the OP!!

"Scottish slang, dialect, derogatory
A homeless person or tramp, especially one who habitually drinks large quantities of cheap, strong alcohol."

Somewhere like Bannockburn in Stirling is close to the motorway and easily less than an hour from Glasgow. Close to some great countryside. Or Cambusbarron has a nice semi-rural feel

Yeah but kilwinnning isn’t very nice either! The town centre is decimated.

In Ayrshire go south, not north.
Irvine, Kilwinning, Ardrosaan, Stevenson- all quite ropey. Pockets of nice streets. Town centres almost no existent any more.

Kilburnie, Beith, Dalry- no!

Largs, Troon, Prestwick, maybe Ary yes.

I'm not hugely familiar with the area but Renfrew appears fine any time I've been through it. Decent high street, close to Glasgow and Braehead, but cheaper as there's no direct train link.

Stirling or Bannockburn would be a nightmare commuting to the south side of Glasgow though.

I’ve been mulling this over and I really feel like you’d be better being in one of the little burbs within Glasgow. Like Denniston, Polloakshaws and so on.

Much better for the travel, a bit more cosmopolitan. The towns along the west coast and so down at heel.... well many of them are.