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Original poster

Move to Bridgewater - any opinions?

92 replies

CrochetNut · 18/04/2021 13:46

Afternoon

DH & I are considering a move to Bridgewater area - combination of both our jobs moving to WFH permanently and wanting to move away from the SE.

Does anyone have any opinions on the area? Good or bad, we’ve literally just stuck a pin in a map and have never even visited!

Thanks Smile

OP posts:
Anotherlovelybitofsquirrel · 18/04/2021 20:01

Mmm, it's not great, crime is pretty high. Much nicer areas in Somerset.

Musmerian · 18/04/2021 20:03

I wouldn’t. I live in Taunton about 20
Mins away and Bridgwater is pretty rough. I’d go for Bristol or Taunton if you prefer something more rural. Taunton house prices are pretty low.

Bearnecessity · 18/04/2021 20:11

Sorry I have got to wade in a bit for WSM ...it is a bit desperate and run down in places but I have always found the people there to be lovely, noticeably friendlier and kinder than in other areas.

Banksy did Dismaland there because he loves WSM....not for the reasons mentioned upthread. You like it despite the run down nature of it, if you get it ''tis not for everyone.

mateysmum · 18/04/2021 20:18

I live between Bridgwater and Taunton and would agree there are nicer places than Bridgwater. I think it's a bit unfair to call Taunton a dive. It's high street has suffered in the last couple of years but show me a town that hasn't. Like all towns there are some lovely and some not so nice areas. Loads of lovely villages, that's where the county excells. Frome and Bruton are becoming ridiculously trendy and expensive.

MaverickDanger · 18/04/2021 20:25

Really surprised at people calling Taunton a dive, we must live in the nice part of it Grin

Litthefirealready · 18/04/2021 20:30

Bridgewater is not great, Taunton is much nicer- had a lovely dog walk there today along the river.

Langport, Somerton, Ilminster even nicer but quite villagey

Letsallscreamatthesistene · 18/04/2021 20:32

I used to live in Enmore, which is a village about 10 mins out of Bridgwater, and 20ish mins away from Taunton.

Bridgwater is a dump. Taunton is a lot nicer. Id move there.

Miiaaoow · 18/04/2021 20:33

Oh no, OP. You musn't.

I grew up in Taunton and Bridgy was unanimously renowned as a shithole. I remember this meme being passed around when I was a teenager.
imgflip.com/i/1741w5

I wouldn't suggest a move to Taunton either. There's not a lot there. The town is full of charity shops, pound stores, and drug addicts. It's gone downhill fast. Good rail links to Exeter, Bristol and London but that's about it.

WeatherwaxLives · 18/04/2021 20:37

I only clicked because I wondered where you could possible live that Bridgwater would be an improvement! Grin

As for Burnham On Sea. MIL lives there, we go every few weeks. Honestly if I never had to set foot in the place again I'd be delighted. It's horrendous. I had a thread on here asking if there was anywhere that I could go for lunch that wasn't a complete dive and no one could come up with anywhere actually in Burnham.

A major thing for me is that that stretch of the Bristol channel is not really 'seaside' in that you cannot go in the sea. Burnham literally has massive signs along the beach warning of danger of death. The beaches are flat and the tide very very fast, and there's mudflats that people get stuck in and then the tide comes in.

2 or 3 towns (definitely Burnham, possibly Weston) on that stretch of coast were voted the worst holiday destinations in the UK a couple of years ago.

chipsndippy · 18/04/2021 20:39

Glastonbury is weird, there was a whole thread a couple of months back about it and nobody had a good word to say, I'm surprised people are recommending it now.

Crabwoman · 18/04/2021 20:41

Christ no

Figgygal · 18/04/2021 20:43

Grin seems to be a no from the locals then

cormorantes · 18/04/2021 20:44

WSM has some small (tiny) pockets of niceness and variety. Bridgewater doesn't.

Hedgesfullofbirds · 18/04/2021 20:46

Oh come on now! Bridgwater is not that bad - it does, after all, have a museum dedicated to the history of brick and tile making, an important local industry, once upon a time. What more could one wish for?

Mind you...it does take some finding, hidden away in the heart of an industrial estate!

DobbyTheHouseElk · 18/04/2021 20:49

Have any of you been to bridgwater recently?

I’m not trying to promote it, but these ideas are outdated, it’s really improved. Anyway the @CrochetNut doesn’t need to live in the town. Plenty of pretty villages around it.

tilder · 18/04/2021 20:50

Am loving these as positives for Bridgewater:

The proximity to the M5

The proximity to the coast

The proximity to Exmoor

Quantocks, beautiful villages.

All things that don't appear to be in BridgewaterGrin

We go past Bridgewater on the way to Cornwall. That's about all I know about it. Other than very cheap houses on rightmove...

newnortherner111 · 18/04/2021 20:50

No comment on the area, but you need to look up the works of Half Man Half Biscuit and their album 'Trouble over Bridgewater'.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trouble_over_Bridgwater

bowchicawowwow · 18/04/2021 20:51

I'm not a fan of Bridgwater but thought it was looking up a bit yesterday when I drove through. It wouldn't be my first choice of place to live, there are plenty of villages between Taunton and Bridgwater I prefer. I remember the smell of the cellophane factory but that's gone now thankfully!

Thunderblunder · 18/04/2021 20:54

I was in Bridgwater today.
It’s still a shithole as is Burnham On Sea.

DobbyTheHouseElk · 18/04/2021 20:55

@tilder

Am loving these as positives for Bridgewater:

The proximity to the M5

The proximity to the coast

The proximity to Exmoor

Quantocks, beautiful villages.

All things that don't appear to be in BridgewaterGrin

We go past Bridgewater on the way to Cornwall. That's about all I know about it. Other than very cheap houses on rightmove...

Thanks for quoting me.

I think you missed the point...

tilder · 18/04/2021 20:59

Ok. Well. This is chat, right? Didn't think we had thread police round here.

Letsallscreamatthesistene · 18/04/2021 21:14

@DobbyTheHouseElk

Have any of you been to bridgwater recently?

I’m not trying to promote it, but these ideas are outdated, it’s really improved. Anyway the @CrochetNut doesn’t need to live in the town. Plenty of pretty villages around it.

Yes. Its a shithole.
IWouldntBother · 18/04/2021 21:16

I used to live in a small pretty village about 10 minutes from Bridgewater that ran parallel with the A39.
The centre of Bridgwater is a big no-no from me, but the surrounding villages, especially between Bridgwater and street a nice.
But that's all they are, just 'nice'. They have nothing else going for them, life is very dull and the people can be very insular.
I moved from a large city with DH for work, we lasted two years, it would've been longer but I didn't want to raise my child there.
What is your reason for wanting to move to the area?
At first it was great for us, it felt like a holiday, but after a while it because very dull so we used to spend our weekends away from Somerset.
Our village only had a pub, no shop and a vet at the other end of the village. That's it.

We moved back to the city we're originally from and I don't regret it for a second.

Cattenberg · 18/04/2021 21:24

Bridgwater doesn’t have a great reputation, but it seems to be improving as the investment/jobs from Hinkley Point start to materialise. It’s also home to the main campus of Bridgwater and Taunton College.

Taunton is going downhill, but there’s still hope for it. If the council/investors ever get round to renovating the riverside areas and build something innovative that will attract visitors, then it might turn itself around.

Frome is quirky, full of boutiques and attracts celebrities and steampunk enthusiasts.

Glastonbury is a strange backwater, full of woo-woo. I think it’s worth visiting, but I wouldn’t want to live there.

DobbyTheHouseElk · 18/04/2021 21:34

I wouldn’t live there, but I think it’s disingenuous to say it’s a shit hole and then say Taunton is great. Taunton used to be great, it’s the county town of Somerset, but it’s looking terrible and going downhill fast.

I’d choose Wells or Bath. I’d be happy to live in either city.