Where's cheap to live?

[DelphiniumBlue]

I was looking at another thread about adult children living at home, and some people were saying how theirs had saved up for a few years for a deposit and were thus able to move out and buy their own place in their 20's.
I am a Londoner, as are my sons. One of them lives in a University town that costs 800 pm for a room in a shared house, in the SE, the others live at home.
They all want to get their own places but with rent at that level, it's really hard to save. But now that working from home is becoming such a thing, it strikes me that they could live almost anywhere, if the wfh continues.
So where is pleasant to live and affordable, either for a starter home or rent? Near public transport and and not too rural - they are used to be able to easily get to cinema/pub/cafe etc.
Because here it's just not an option - DS1 ( living at home) has saved several thousands this year , with no fares etc, but it will be a decade at least before he has enough for a deposit for anything. I'd like them all to have a an acheiveable 5 year plan, especially for DS1 who is already late 20's.
Any suggestions?

Newcastle is a good shout (you can the use his home as a base for travelling to Scotland etc).

Check your local airport and see which UK cities they directly fly to.

I do like Norwich, and it is a possibility, but I just want other ideas.
I'm beginning to think Manchester, Liverpool or Newcastle would be nice, but they just feel so far away!

Where do they want to live though? Just because you think a northern city is too far away doesn't mean they don't want to move there.

Where do they want to live though? Just because you think a northern city is too far away doesn't mean they don't want to move there.

They don't really know. I'm trying to think of somewhere that would be nice for all of us eventually, not necessarily the same place but near enough to easily visit for for the day/evening. I'm trying to find a way to ease DS1 out tbh, he needs to be more independent. We do all get on though, and going forward would like to be able to spend time with each other without it being a big deal, like meeting for dinner/a drink/cards etc.
That's why I'm thinking decent transport, to give as much flexibility as possible. Currently they work about 90 mins apart but that won't always be the case.
Of course they can move anywhere they want, but if they have a yearning to move anywhere particular they haven't mentioned it!

Margate and surrounding areas.

Hastings/St Leonards.

High speed from Margate, reasonable travel times into London from Hastings etc.

With more and more WFM i do see a mass exodus from London & the SE to 'oop North'.
While i can completely see their reasons- we have some beautiful towns & cities, much better standard of living for the cost etc.. it's ultimately going to drive the prices up for everyone.

So please do believe the stereotypes its soooo grim up here

If you are looking for affordable house prices within realistic commuting distance of London, try Northamptonshire. Kettering & Wellingborough are reasonably large, if nondescript towns on the Midland Main Line, and less than an hour from London. They are not fashionable or posh towns in any way, but they are affordable.

Newcastle or North Tyneside, can get a really good 4 bed for £250k in a nice area. I own a 3 bed in a not so nice area, although still lovely, would be £120k to buy now. Great transport links, coast and countryside, vibrant nightlife, good shopping, friendly...I moved away for uni but came back as no place better!

Up and coming parts of Glasgow, such as Dennistoun (once a byword for poverty, now a conservation area) :
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/Dennistoun.html

Grimy and scruffy but lovely Victorian buildings, fab restaurants (Celinos, anyone? www.celinos.com/ ), Kurdish and Ethiopian veg shops, Polish bakeries and many other little shops - from local Glaswegian designer start-ups to long-established tailors. Within walking distance of the city centre -world-class culture - and Glasgow Royal Infirmary. Glasgow Central (also within brisk walking distance) is under 5 hours to London; the 16.30 back home is super fast - first stop Preston - and gets you back to Glasgow in time for a late-ish dinner. Probably no more crime than central London, with the inestimable benifit of gallus, witty, strongly opinionated (their view really is as good as yours, and you must honestly believe that) and profoundly humane Glasgow neighbours. Perhaps a few wrong 'uns, but in getting on for 30 years experience, they really are the minority.
Soon to become very desirable, IMHO.

Reading back what I just wrote, it sounds rather odd. All I was trying to do was forestall people - and I've met quite a few - who assume that the east end of Glasgow is some sort of no-go land. On the contrary, the neighbours I've met there are some of the nicest and kindest I've ever encountered - and I've lived in a lot of places. Yes, they often have very strong opinions - but why not? So do I !

@florascotia2

Ive been up to Glasgow a few times, absolutely loved the place, got on like a house on fire with everyone the city is beautiful too!

Yes I was mighty impressed by Glasgow too, would love to live there (Scottish weather more to my liking too!) Had some really amazing food there.

I am east mids. Yes it's cheap. Can manage on 1k a month me and ds if I had to but spend more as a rule. Mortgage v small

But East Mids (which admittedly is a large area) featured to a huge extent on at least two recent threads on places you've lived that you absolutely hated. I lived in Leicestershire, having lived in several places in England, as well as Europe, Ireland, the ME and the US, and it's the only place I have absolutely no residual affection for.

@Knocka but that's you though. Mumsnet is not representative of real life. Thousands of people live in the east Midlands and love it, myself included.

Just saying it's come up over and over again spontaneously on these threads. I was surprised too.

@Knocka what specific reasons though? East mids is a big area and plenty of families make the likes of Corby, Kettering and Wellingborough, which you slagged off, work. I know Corby the best out of those 3, it has a train line to London, excellent schools, a ton of investment over the last 10 years and good amenities, it's one of the fastest developing places in the country. Yep lots of people will hate it, it's not pretty, but as a military family I know we can make anywhere work because we too have lived in lots of places none of which we get to pick, so long as it's safe, we can make it work. Those towns, like anywhere, have their good parts and bad parts. You can't tell someone they shouldn't live there, for no specific reason, just because you didn't like it. As someone who has lived in the polar opposites of rural wales (beautiful but limited career prospects) and London (good career prospects but too expensive!) East Mids is a fantastic compromise for me and many other families and it's so well connected it's not hard to go to lots of other places.

I mean they don't sound appropriate for the Op who appears to be looking more for cities, but speaking generally in response to what has been said.

The north isn't massively cheaper, certainly not everywhere. Like for like (house & type of area) the costs are very similar here where I am to parts of London (as I say, similar types of area).

Most of Coventry is cheap. It's a bit grim though, very grey.

Crikey Trashtara, which parts of London are you referring to?

@MikeUniformMike

Crikey Trashtara, which parts of London are you referring to?

It’s not the London in my universe, that’s for sure.

Newcastle seems a long way but it's less than 3 hours on the train from London - I've commuted to London from there 2 days a week before! I moved away for work but I WISH I could move back. We lived on the metro line between the city centre and the beach at Whitley Bay. It's a fab place to raise a family if they're thinking about that.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-72234636.html

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-80229460.html

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-82762270.html

I’m in outer London and have friends in posh bits of Manchester and Cheshire and it’s certainly more expensive there.

@JoJoSM2, you are not comparing like with like.

@Trashtara where are you in the north that it's similar prices to London?!

My 4 bed detached in a not bad area of Newcastle was £250,000. According to rightmove there aren't any 4 bed detached houses in London under £400k!

Southern parts of the West Midlands. Worcester, Solihull, Leamington, Warwick all spring to mind for places with good connections to London and lots to do.