best market towns with good cultural life in UK?

[milliefiori]

Where should we move to?
DTeens are nearly grown and we no longer need to live in commuting distance of London, so we want to free up some cash and move sometime in the next couple of years.

We want a market town that has a lively cultural life - independent cinemas, theatres, jazz/folk/indie music venues, bookshops, restaurants. A great sports centre with swimming pool and a library would be brilliant too. We both love walking, so good places to hike nearby would be great.

It needs to be much cheaper than London, so places like Oxford, Cambridge or anywhere close to London (Sevenoaks, Guildford etc) are not on the cards. About 2 hours away from London is ideal as we'd want to come back to see shows and exhibitions and meet up with friends.

I was wondering about Stratford-on-Avon but is it just TudorDisney?

We're happy to move anywhere that has its own lively buzz and isn't too Daily Mail.

Where should we look?

If you didn't want to be close to London I'd say Hexham or Keswick.

Second market harborough. It's close enough to london that a day trip doesnt feel like a big ask and has a lot going on. No cinema, but a 15/20 min train ride to leicester which has a good cinema.

Leominster, Malvern, Malmesbury. Monmouth. Hereford. Pershore. Just a few to choose from....

No indy cinema in Stratford but a picturehouse and an Everyman and a fabulous indy one in Evesham nearby.

Stratford is a traffic nightmare in summer and weekends though. I avoid!!

Leamington spa might fit? Warwick is tiny small really. Great eateries but less going on than it sounds like you want.

Another vote for Bury St Edmunds! Lovely market town, has a Georgian theatre, the apex which is a modern theatre, music, exhibition venue. Yearly festival, Christmas market. Has a library, museum, good mix of high street and independent shops. Also has the bonus of being close to Cambridge

Norwich.

Shrewsbury
Chester

Maybe a bit smaller than some of the others mentioned, but Thirsk in North Yorkshire has a good number of the attributes you’re looking for, it’s just over two hours by train to London, plus train to York, Leeds, Durham, Newcastle for extra cultural stuff.

Norwich: quirky, beautiful, good railway. Also a feeder for Schiphol.
Morpeth: handy for everywhere, good transport links, charming.
Stamford: as for Morpeth, very good culture.

My sister lives in SW. She says it’s nice but very very busy. Lots of housing developments, roads are busy and it’s very hard see a GP or NHS dentist. She moved to Bury St Edmunds which she loves. Have you considered going North?

What’s your budget OP? How about somewhere in the Cotswolds like Kingham or would somewhere like Malmesbury be more suitable price wise?

@berlinbabylon Chapter is still there.

I think you need to move to Hebden Bridge! Further from London but being so close to Leeds and Manchester make up for that.

Cheltenham. Loads of festivals each year, two great theatres, lots of restaurants and cafes, surrounded by the Cotswolds.

Not particularly cheap though!

Another huge vote for Shrewsbury!! Dp lives there and I'll be moving just as soon as I can kick my teens out my dc go to Uni.

Fantastic walks, the most wonderful thriving community full of independent stores. Beautiful period housing, friendly people. Love it.

Another vote for Shrewsbury!

Ticks all of your boxes.

Salisbury is beautiful, as are its surroundings! And you can get quite a lot for your money. Great theatre (the Salisbury Playhouse) and quite arty in general. Also if you do fancy a trip to London it's only an hour and 15 or so on the train.

We don't live there but when we were looking all around for somewhere to live we viewed some places in stamford and Lincoln and really liked them. No idea what they're like to live in but the towns were nice.

We now live near Chichester, which isn't as expensive as Guildford but has a similar feel. Trains are a bit shit though.

I agree with a pp, Norwich ticks all the boxes!

Melton Mowbray?

Lewes

Seconding quite a few on here:

Chester
Shrewsbury
Frome

Wildcard of Taunton

Chichester?

I see someone else has already mentioned Buxton up thread. If you're in that neck of the woods then Leek is also worth looking at too.

Stroud is lovely and about 2 hours to London, very liberal, near great countryside, interesting, lots of culture

Alternatively I see someone mentioned Malvern, it's quite small and might be too small for you but it's liberal, nice area, lots of culture, theatre, music, but also less than an hour to Bham and Bristol and 2.5 hours direct train to London Paddington