Where would you like to live when you retire?

[Echobelly]

Having seen what life is like for elderly relatives, I reckon I'll want to make sure I live somewhere on or near a lively high street. Screw quiet and leafy, if I'm not going to be able to drive and/or not very mobile for years I'll wanted to be within shuffling distance of a number of shops and services so I'm not stranded in my home.

Ooh the baribican! I love looking at flats for sale there. But actually I’d like to move back to the Edinburgh New Town, on the proviso that the air b&b nightmare resolved.

Why do you all love the Barbican so much? It's a grizzly overpriced windtunnel. If you want a hideously ugly Brutalist flat in Central Lodnon, buy ex-council for a fraction of the price.
As a PP said (who baffingly wanted to live there) the old man she met had his nose to the ground, following coloured lines so he didn't get lost - that sounds like being trapped in a labyrinthe in hell. I was told musicians at Guildhall have a higher rate of depression because it's such a bleak place. And when a friend of mine sang there, a man in the audience had a heart attack. Ambulance arrived within seconds but then spent so long trying to find how to get in and where the auditorium was, because the hideous dump is so counter-intuitive, that the man died.

Why do you all want to live there?

I want two homes. A flat on Primrose Hill - lived there pre-kids and loved it. I plan to ride a pink Vespa round the west end, going to the matinées of any shows I fancy, and eating in nice restaurants.

And a house on a cliff top somewhere (not sure where exactly) with a big garden and sea views, in which I will spend my weekends, with a golden retriever and a couple of cats.

Obviously, I plan to be fabulously wealthy when I retire.

Have you seen inside them? They are very nice and beautifully designed.

Anyway - I’d live on a massive yacht and sail the seas (with a large crew).

We’d like to live in Northumberland by the coast.

I do love the Barbican, it’s just so central, got so much going on, so iconic, love the design of the flats and I’m a very urban person. It is a bit confusing, I’ll grant you that.

I presume Brexit will void any hopes I had to retire to Spain.
I've always thought in the city, right in the centre. On a good bus line to hospital & doctors!

My folks live in what is a holiday area with just a convenience store in walking distance, no bus service. My elderly stepmum is angling to get my dad to plan for when he can't drive. She wants to Uber instead.

London. Best city in the world with a bus pass.

I would like to live in a penthouse apartment (with a lift) in a city centre, where I can walk to anything and balcony so I can people watch.

But not in the Barbican! So grey and dreary and no shops.

Robin Hoods Bay, North Yorkshire 😍

Marylebone I think ...
Or possibly Bloomsbury.
But probably Marylebone.

There are some fabulous, quiet streets in Central London.

A girl can dream.

My Dm did have a friend who retired and lived in the Barbican, I also agree with Keynsham, it's a lovely town. However I will stay here by the sea.

San Diego.

Another vote for Robin Hoods Bay. I would say Whitby but the hills would finish me off before old age sets in.

Our plan is to retire either to London ( Highgate or Hampstead) or Saffron Walden if we fancy something more rural by then ( I love the common, shops, market and fabulous concert hall). DFIL split his retirement between Mayfair and the French Alps. Sadly can't afford the Mayfair bit but would love to have a small, easy to maintain apartment in the same town in France ( not a chalet, too big, too much to maintain) where we can spend summers.

Mayfair/Marylebone isn’t great to live in to be honest.

St David's.
DH also wants a flat in the Alps.

I'm retiring in 4 months time and haven't any plans to move house. We're quite settled where we are, have been in the same house for nearly 35 years, brought up our children here - and I have friends in the area and belong to a few local clubs.

However, the place where we live would be highly unsuitable for a frail elderly person who has mobility issues. So, we'll have to move somewhere more suitable if/when we feel we're sinking too far into decrepitude to remain where we are!

I wouldn't want to leave in Mayfair I don't think.

But there are some lovely homes off the busy roads in Marylebone, which I know pretty well.

I think a large, beautiful flat in a portered block ...

If I could afford a nice house that would be different! We had a flat.

I agree about Mayfair. When we stayed with FIL I could never sleep - it was either chucking out time at Annabel's or time for one clattering delivery or another. But FIL had 30 very happy years there and believe it or not, there is a community of sorts. But Marylebone is gorgeous and I know several happy retirees about there and I would cope well in a Farrow and Balled townhouse, swanning shoot like Nigel Slater.

Oh, I've just remembered Kew. That would be nice too.

In the middle of Soho with a roof garden and a lift.

More realistically, next to a hospital.

I lived in Marylebone years ago. It was amazing.

Don’t fancy the Barbican. Always get lost there and come out in a cold sweat.

Barbican would be fabulous. But similar to a PP I think a studio flat there would set me back more than my suburban semi.

I would love to retire in central London. Free travel, low priced afternoon concerts, education opportunities. Hope to be able to finance it.