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?

@mindproject what a brilliant idea. If they all have houses lined with books I'm in (though worried they are all leaving town! Seriously - that is so simple and clever. Thank you.

Tring , Thame , Wallingford , Marlow?

I wouldn’t recommend market harborough- I grew up there, have family there now - all of whom like theatre film and music, but culture means travelling somewhere else - Leicester, London, Northampton. And the trains from London mean it’s difficult to see evening theatre in London as the last train on Saturday is too early for a lot of theatre.

And whilst it’s improved a lot, it isn’t the most cultural of places to live so if this is important to you, you won’t necessarily meet likeminded people easily. Basically if you think culture is important to you, you will need to travel.

Look at Wiltshire towns... Lots of Market towns Bradford on Avon is lovely Outskirts of Trowbridge Devizes ( on Kennet and Avon Canal) Malmesbury still has the old market cross( and the WoMaD festival)
Further afield is Salisbury Also close to Bath( my place of Birth!) London 1 hr9m to Paddington

Worcester. Fab place to live.

That's a great idea from Mind, but not flawless.

I formerly lived in what might be considered the most 'bookish' small market town in the UK, if you took that formula and looked on RM, many of the interiors would look exceedingly and eclecticly appealing, however, never such a bunch of homogeneously narrow-minded tossers have I met.

Much better to have a diverse community that looks outward than a moribund self-selecting cultural 'elite' that many of the suggested locations are prone to.

You lived in Hay, did you @ILikeyourHairyHands?

Might have!

@ILikeyourHairyHands - also, I do agree with you. I want somewhere diverse. Not full of people like me. but I wouldn;t mind a few. We've been living in an absolutely gorgeous village - love the walks, love the fresh air, love the easy reach of London but so tired of the only conversation being about new cars or kitchens, skiing holidays and IronMan training. I'd just like to meet people who are happy to discuss the wider world, ideas, the arts, anything other than their own small, well-funded lives.

Salisbury, just been voted a top place to live in one of the supplements.
I don't like Frome but very popular with folk moving from London who want a cultural vibe.
Bruton is nice but very small.
Bath and surrounding areas like Bradford on Avon if you have a bit more cash to splash but still way cheaper than London and surrounding areas.
I love most of Wiltshire but wouldn't call much of it diverse.

but so tired of the only conversation being about new cars or kitchens, skiing holidays and IronMan training.

Maybe you just need to be more open minded and widen your social circles though? I would say Wiltshire is not a cultural place at all if you don’t want that kind of conversation.. to be honest I am probably one of those people myself on the surface!

How about Bristol? Clifton area?

I understand completely Millie, lots of the places listed are lovely, picturesque, and have lively cultural lives but many of them are stuffed to the gunnels with 'people like us', I've nothing against the white middle-classes, I am one myself, but en-masse, especially when they've colonised an area (I've lived all over so take no issue with 'incomers', hence my familiarity with many of these places), it can be very stifling, and I can understand the hostility felt by locals when their town is overrun by vanity businesses and 'creative types', completely changing the demographics and character of an area and pushing house-prices up. I lived in the West of Ireland before Hay and saw many similar problems.

I think diversity is key, somewhere that has a strong local community that's large and confident enough to welcome incomers and for it to be mutually enriching rather than a land-grab!

Good luck with your search, there's lots of great places I'm sure you'll find an excellent life, but chose wisely!

@ILikeyourHairyHands - have you found a place with the right balance for you (I promise not to muscle in and set up a Beansmith indie organic coffee roasting service next door.)

Faversham ticks lots of your boxes. Excellent train links to London, but possibly will be expensive

a strong local community that's large and confident enough to welcome incomers and for it to be mutually enriching rather than a land-grab

That brings me back to places like Stratford and Bath where the strong local community is already arty because the local economy depends on the arts.

Ahh, Millie I've just seen your reply. It's a tough one I think. I wouldn't go for Bath or Stratford. They're too imbued with the arts. I'd go for a less 'arty' place.

It really does depend what you're after.

Woodbridge is worth investigating. Both cinema and pool covered.
Berkhamstead possibly.

Some odd answers. Bath is not a mini London, and if you want a nice house in a nice area it’s as expensive as oxford and Cambridge. Berkhamsted did London prices.

My vote would be Taunton.

Worcester is bloody awful

I would vote battle but you need some serious dough

I love the idea of Worcester (family links a couple of generations back) but thought it might be too Daily Mail. Like the OP I wouldn't fancy that.

We live in Salisbury and love it - ticks all your boxes!

How about north of Liverpool? Somewhere like Aughton/Ormskirk or Formby. They are nice areas with easy access to Liverpool and that’s got loads going on.

Worcester is very daily mail very up itself and has an exceptionally high crime rate

Also public transport is horrendous and the hospital is in special measures for about the fifth year running