Life in Preston (or where can I live?)

[QuestionableMouse]

I've been offered a place on the MA I really want to do at UCLan. I currently live in County Durham so it's going to mean moving and I'm freaking out a tiny bit 😂

My wants-

-flat/house of my own. Currently living on my own and don't think I could cope with a house share. Needs parking but not bothered about a garden.
-ideally less than 45 mins to the campus.
-rural/semi rural would be ideal but smaller towns are fine too. I'm assuming housing in Preston will be at a premium due to the uni so happy to live further out.

Any information will be greatly appreciated! 😀😂

Oh for goodness sake, Preston isn't a shit hole at all. And it's a damn sight safer than the likes of London and Manchester. 🙄

For what it's worth I found Lancaster a lot tougher, the city centre is a no go area at night unless you want to be harrased by addicts pestering you at the cash machine. 💁🏻‍♀️

Preston is not a 'shithole', it has good and less good areas like many other towns and cities, and a struggling high street but again that is typical of many other places. There is not a huge amount of money around and that is reflected in the choice of restaurants, for example.
I can only recall one major flood in Lower Penwortham in 20+ years and that only affected properties near the river. Much work has been done on flood defences since then.
The university has expanded dramatically and there is a lot of purpose built student accommodation now, and lots of international students.

It's not a shithole at all. UCLan is perfectly fine too.

Have a look at the flats in Sandown Court on Avenham Lane. Walking distance to uni and the blocks have car parks.

The city centre in Lancaster isn't a "no go area at night"

We lived in Fulwood when we were first married. That's over 20 years ago admittedly and things may have changed, but it was a pleasant enough area with easy access to the town centre and close to the motorways. I enjoyed living there and it was a friendly and safe neighbourhood. No idea about rental costs sorry.
I am also at the idea that Preston is a shithole and Lancaster is preferable. Lancaster city centre has nicer architecture, more historic places and looks prettier maybe, but definitely not a place I would choose to be on a Friday or Saturday night!

Preston is a fairly typical large Northern town which has good and bad bits, but there are definitely worse places to live. The transport links are very good and the countryside in the surrounding area is lovely.

"It's the county town of Lancashire so not short of facilities."
No it isn't. Lancaster is the county town of Lancashire.

MAFAIL I think what you would most notice is that the traffic between Fullwood and city centre or M6 is horrific

UCLAN isn't a "great" university in general but if it offers a specialist course then it may well be one of its areas of strengths.

I think most towns and cities have their good and not so good points/areas 🤷🏽‍♀️

Preston is a very large area of suburban sprawl and I guess a lot is commuter belt to Manchester? Pentwortham is more of its own distinct area with some lovely shops IMHO

I suppose it depends what you are comparing the traffic to RandomMess and at what time you are travelling.
Bad traffic is an inevitable part of modern urban life I would think. I can well believe it is worse than when I lived there, but Preston is probably still less bad than bigger cities, though obviously worse than many rural areas or smaller towns.
I commuted from Preston to Manchester city centre for several years and then we moved to the outskirts of Manchester as DH also got a job in Manchester and it seemed mad for us to be driving that far. I only got to stay in bed for about an extra 10 minutes thanks to the move though, despite more than halving the distance to work. And my siblings who were working in London at the time still thought I had an easy journey - its all relative really.

If you want life as a single person and a apartment/muse house on Preston docks would be great. I lived there in my single post/uni years. Lots of young professionals and divorcees!

Then moved to south ribble. Naice area ( voted no one place to live in the country). Higher Penwortham, longton, new longton, Hutton. All lovely and semi-rural but still close enough to town.

@MAFIL very true but I did live just outside Greater London where it was rush 3-4 hours twice per day 😂

Bloody hell, there's some hyperbole here! Lancaster city centre is absolutely fine at night. Preston is not a shithole. Lancaster is the county town of the palatinate. Preston is Lancashire HQ.

I'm another who lives in a part of Preston that has a bit of a reputation, but honestly, I've had no problems and I've been here 10 years.
It's a regular old city.
Not a shit hole as people say

Hi Op. Preston born and bread here and I have lived in 3 areas. I would recommend Fulwood and cotton, longsands and parts of ingol and Ashton.

Fulwood and cotton is your upmarket place and houses are expensive
Parts of Ashton are ok but some places to avoid. Again I know which bits
Ingol and Tanterton are cheaper with some really nice bits. Fab bus routes into the city. I lived in ingol for a long time in 2 different bits (one dodgy bit and one good bit) and am on the local council so I know for sure what places to avoid and what are fine. It’s a weird area with mostly nice bits and a few pockets of dodgy bits. I don’t want to offend anyone on here by mentioning street names so please feel free to PM me.

Places I would avoid as a rule are mostly of ribbleton, Brookfield, grange, gamell lane area, Callon estate, greenlanes estate, fishwick, Avenham, fishergate hill, Farringdon, Holme Slack and Plungington.

But having said that even the dodgy bits do have some nice pockets. So maybe someone can advise on those better then me.

I did a summer school last year and we took kids from all areas of Preston and those areas that i mentioned had bricks and other stuff thrown at the buses that picked them up and dropped them off. The worse areas by far were Grange and Greenland’s

See, I've lived in two separate parts.of ribbleton. One lovely, quiet little cul-de-sac, one a horrendous place with kids joy riding, smashing windows etc.

I've also lived in a couple of houses on deepdale. Never had an issue there.

Then I lived on callon. We.had a few problems there with neighbours, teenagers threatening to kick footballs at me when I was pregnant "and kill that fucking baby"

I now live on farringdon park.
Never had an issue, despite its reputation.

My dad lives on Grange. That's awful in my experience.

Also to the poster saying ingol is to be avoided we have some really nice areas and there is only one bit with higher then normal crime rates and it is literary one pocket you can draw a circle round. And I lived in this so called pocket of trouble for five years and had nothing at all.

Unfortunately ingol still has its past reputation from when it was just a few houses and flats that make up the council estate.

Anyone who thinks it is still all dodgy please visit streets such as the avenue and dukes. Meadow and Sheridan park. All lovely houses
Also the bits between Hillcrest, bexhill road and Woodplumpton lane are lovely plus everything on the left side of tag lane as if you are going into town is lovely.

They have lower then average crime rates and are great places to live.

The so called dodgy bit made up of Barry Ave, creswell ave and cottom Ave and also the houses just across ingol dip and also the houses outside both schools plus New a rough Hey in Tanterton have had a reputation for years they can’t shake off. We lived on Barry Ave for years and we loved it. We only moved because we needed more space.

Sorry just get annoyed when people slag off ingol without actually knowing about it.

newlifenewme2020

I've a friend who lives on Barry avenue. She's been there for years and years and never had any trouble.

And we moved to another part of ingol and it’s lovely so so so quiet. Won’t give away the name of the street Itself but it is to the right of what used to be tulketh school as you are going into town . It is so quiet, the most annoying think is the old guy next door who mows his lawn every Saturday at 8am. I just pop eplugs in I am having a bit of a lie in.

most annoying think is the old guy next door who mows his lawn every Saturday at 8am

My neighbour is always out faffing in her garden.
I don't complain though, she's put up with my squealing kids for the last 10 years!

She's lovely. Husbands a bit of a grump, but that's down to his failing health according to the wife.

HerRoyalFattyness
Nether did we but the amount of times I would hear people take a deep intake of breath when I told people were we lived.

My mum lives in the middle of Fulwood near Harris school and gets so much more trouble including petrol through the door and the top of her car dented when some little gits climbed up and jumped on it.
We had an issue with lads trying to get though a gap in our hedge when we first moved in but my husband went out and just politely asked them to not do it but they were more then welcome to walk up the drive to get the balk when it came in. They just said “oh thanks mate fare enough” and didn’t do it again
We even have a lovely group of kids who won an award for picking up litter and dog muck that was left on the street.

Preston is grim
however, Lancaster is only 15 mins away on the train, and UCLAN is only a short walk from the station (lots of UCLAN students do this commute)
Lancaster is deffo not a no go area at night. It's a small city surrounded by lovely countryside with a vibrant cultural life.

Sorry I meant get the ball, I can spell honesty

Yeah, I find if you're reasonable with people they tend to be reasonable with you.

The community centre here is absolutely brilliant.
Hosts groups for the elderly each week, cheap dance classes for kids if all ages, has a youth club each week, acts as a food bank once a week, provides residents opportunity to meet with the housing association, plans family trips and outings during the summer for just the cost of the travel.
It's absolutely brilliant.

Yet all I hear are people saying it's awful, full of crime, full of druggies etc.

Sorry but Lancaster is pretty grim and depressing. I went to uni there. I would never choose to live there. It is grey and miserable and cut off from the world and if you were moving to the area to go to uclan you certainly wouldn’t move to a separate town!!!
South ribble is close to preston ( a sort of suburb) and is extremely naked and leafy with all the nice bars, restaurants you need - Penwortham is having a bit of a moment.

Naice not naked!!!