Glasgow - where to live (and where to avoid)

[Azandme]

Hello lovely people!

Two friends of ours are moving to Glasgow from overseas, and they're looking for somewhere to rent for a couple of years before buying. He's a doctor, his wife is a physio.

Which areas are "nice", and which should be avoided please?

• not everyone's experience

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/113791589#/?channel=RES_LET

Excellent location for easy commute to various health boards, lovely town.

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/A-map-showing-the-location-of-the-eleven-NHS-health-boards-in-Scotland-with-acute_fig1_351971422

We moved to Glasgow from York (16 months ago) and have an amazing huge flat in the west end (Dowanhill) just off very popular Byers Road. I totally recommend it for childless professionals as there is so much to do and I love the area.

They've certainly been chucking up the newbuilds at an alarming rate there.

Whitecraigs :)
which is Southside of Glasgow but not under Glasgow City Council, it's under East Renfrewshire.

or
Newton Mearns
Mearnskirk
Giffnock
Newlands

lots of new builds have sprung up around the ' Mearns ' area tho

Not Castlemilk.

We lived in Strathbungo (Queens Sq then Regents Park Sq) for years which we absolutely loved. Great area, fab neighbour's, very creative place.Then moved to south ayrshire, still commutable distance to glasgow. If we moved back I'd choose Newlands. We like an older property. I find Newton Mearns very beige.

I totally concur.

Is there really any need to be so NASTY, @Puffalicious ? Ok, you're happy where you live, that's great, but you haven't actually said what's great about it, or where it is to give the OP's friends any sort of steer. You've just banged on about snobs, and middle class hothouses, and bland beige boxes, and "east dumbartonshite" and how people don't want their children sitting with free school meals children and all the rest of your bile about people who live in places you don't.

If the OP's friends don't have kids - and I'm assuming they don't as she didn't mention - then opinion on schools is totally irrelevant. Where they want to live as a young professional couple with no kids is entirely different from where they may choose to live with teenagers, or as a retired couple. Planning on renting for a bit and then making a choice of where to buy is a wise move.

If you like beige & parents hassling teachers because little Cressida hasn't teacher 4th level in Maths yet. My friend teaches in one of these areas.

My boys' favourite victories on the rugby pitch are against Whitecraigs...draw your own conclusions.

@Puffalicious

If I were to live in the Glasgow area, and if I had the money - I would choose to live in Whitecraigs.

If you like I could even name the roads I would be happy to live in :)

Erm, I think you need to pipe down with your CAPITALS & accusations of being nasty. I've given opinions, last time I checked those were allowed on MN. Sheesht.

I have many friends all across Glasgow/ East Dum/ East Ren, & that's my take. I already said I'm no doubt biased by a monster ex-MIL who lives in one of the areas I mentioned: I was very open about that.

There's no need to mention where I live. I've already said I think the OP should advise her friends to look in the West End. I'd be there if I could afford the house I'd like in that area. My DS is in a student flat in the West End & it's still as great as it's always been.

I thanked you earlier for the SIMD link- very useful indeed & illuminating.

Calm yourself.

If you like beige & parents hassling teachers because little Cressida hasn't teacher 4th level in Maths yet. My friend teaches in one of these areas.

And there you go with the nastiness again, you just can't help yourself. I do actually live in one of these areas. I'm not that fond of beige and despite having had three kids go through the school system am yet to come across a Cressida.

That's grand for you. I'm sure you'd be very happy there, as many are It's not my bag. And that's okay.

I love Devon- my dad was from there- & I know where I'd like to live there too.

I think there are very few people who would turn down a nice big house in Whitecraigs if they could afford it and could afford the lifestyle.

Of course, people who haven't got a spare several million will say it's dreadful and they'd never want to live somewhere like that.

My friend teaches in East Dumb & teaches a Cressida. It's wild the stories I hear.

Different stokes for different folks. I'm pleased you're happy where you live, it's just not my thing, and that's okay.

I'm very comfortable, but I don't have a spare few million. Believe me, if I did have a few million you wouldn't find me in Whitecraigs/ Bearsden/ Lenzie. I have a different set of criteria than others. That's okay. And I'm sure the folk in Whitecraigs love it there. Grand. We can all live in harmony with our own opinions!

This is an anonymous forum, folks, the idea is that we can express opinions. I have plenty friends who live in these areas, are very happy & I wouldn't share my opinions of the areas with. I'm not a social pariah!

I'd suggest renting for a short while, to find out what your friends like. Glasgow is a fantastic city but (a) it does have big problems - though I'd say that Edinburgh's were worse, in spite of its genteel image and (b) it is famously 'mixed' - very lovely houses and shops and galleries and restuarants can be just a short distance away from less advantaged ones or from horrid traffic/the motorway etc. However, in my experience, apart from the very wealthiest streets, the general attitude everywhere is friendly and egalitarian. If your friends were very poor, I would not advocate living there, however. As a previous poster has said, the city is up against it, financially. So many welfare services are stretched.

I agree that outer suburbs such as Newton Mearns are often very beige. Closer to the centre, the West End has fabulous 19th cent buildings and also parks such as the Botanic Gardens. The area round the University (a bit further south) has much of the same as also the hip foodie/arty hub of Finnieston. To the SE Mount Vernon has some lovely 19th cent big villas. The south (over the river Clyde) - Shawlands etc - also has some great family homes and family-friendly areas, and parks. (In spite of it's image, Glasgow is one of the UK's cities with the most green spaces.) Merchant City, mentioned by previous posters has some great flats and is very central but for me is just too urban. But it has shops, restuarants etc and is within walking distance of truly excellent theatres/cinemas/concert halls.

As others have said, where your doctor friends choose to live must sensibly be influenced by which hospital they'll be working at. If they'll be at the Royal Infirmary, for example, then Dennistoun (former slum with fab buildings, now being expensively gentrified) might be to their taste. Ditto for other parts of Glasgow that I don't know so well.

One other great advantage to Glasgow - and I don't mean this satirically - is that it's easy to get out of. Forty minutes or so will get you to really fantastic wild countryside. That is such a bonus.

Brilliant post. Sums it up beautifully. Finnieston is the latest chi-chi place to be in the West End. DS's gf is there & it's v happening.

Is Finnieston a bit like Edinburgh's Stockbridge (if anyone knows both West and East coast)? Central, family friendly, green space, loads of independent food shops and markets etc? We've been renting in Edinburgh near Stockbridge and love it there but will be moving to Glasgow area soon. DH will be working in West End but quite a bit from home and I wfh too. We have school age kids, so tempted by East Ren for the famous good schools, but not so tempted by the "beige" PPs are describing! Need to narrow down some areas.

No, not really. I mean, I love where I live and it's got lots of great places to eat and drink, and Kelvingrove Park's right there, but it's not Stockbridge.

Pretty grubby, more students, not so "artisan".

I'm very comfortable, but I don't have a spare few million.

Well exactly, Whitecraigs isn't an option for you, so saying urgh, no way would I live there is just your own prejudice.

(I don't live in Whitecraigs, so not invested in it by any means. Just don't like the unnecessary rudeness. I'd be very happy if someone gifted me a Whitecraigs house and would more than happily suffer the misery of living in such a boring place, driving one of my (obligatory) Porsches to Finnieston to have dinner in a nice restaurant, without sneering about how dreadful it is).

I've NC'd for this

I'm from England originally but have found myself living in Rutherglen, South Lanarkshire. It's not the nicest are of Glasgow/suburbs, but it does have excellent transport links, less than 10 minutes on the train into the city centre. That's pretty much the only good thing I can think of.

OP if your friends read this thread there is a fine example on it of the reverse snobbery that Glasgow is riddled with.

Ah, so Finnieston is more studenty, by the sound of it. Do any of the "family" areas in East Ren have their own high street or similar? We'd love somewhere that's still got a bit of a buzz, where you don't have to get a bus every time you want to find a nice cafe etc. Maybe the West End is a better bet than East Ren? We'll be coming over to look, obviously, but appreciate any pointers (not originally from the UK, so no local knowledge or friends in Glasgow to ask!)

@mrgrimblesgerbil I would say that the truly vibrant high street type areas concentrate around the west end and southside and are more urban, mostly flats or terraces.
Bearsden does have some nice little indie coffee shops etc though. Milngavie has a reasonable high street and a Waitrose.