What's it like to live/work/grow up in Oxford or Cambridge

[ItsAStarManWaiting]

I'm asking what it's like if you are not at all related with the Universities at all?

Are Oxford and Cambridge dominated by the university, it's staff and it's students?

Do the universities do things for the locals?

Just curious that's all.

Cambridge is very, very beautiful, and a lovely place to walk around - but don't try to walk around the centre on summer weekends because it is so packed with tourists that walking along a street is difficult. It's small - rather more a market town with a lot of colleges than an actual city. The absolute best thing about Cambridge is Jesus Green lido, which is huge, and open all year - fantastic if you like cold-water swimming.

The traffic is horrific, and it makes it hard to get anywhere. It's all too easy to end up gridlocked. Cambridge is in the middle of some incredibly boring, flat countryside, and there aren't many interesting places nearby - actually the nearest interesting place is London. I've always thought of Cambridge as a beautiful island in a big sea of nothingness.

It's not a particularly friendly place. It's quite hard to make friends there.

A dd lives about a 15 minute bus ride from the centre of Oxford. To me it’s a great city - small as cities go, but with lots of lovely open green spaces, as well as beautiful buildings. And some of the Gdcs’ extra curricular events (they go to a state primary) take place in wonderful locations - one of Gdd1’s was in Christchurch Cathedral, with the dining room from the Harry Potter films upstairs - yes, they were allowed to go and see it.

It’s also very multicultural - the universities and hospitals attract professionals from many different countries - the Gdcs’ schoolfriends come from all over.
Housing is expensive, though!

Hills Road?

When I was in my 20s (so late 90s early 00s) I did know a few people that grew up in Oxford. One from Blackbird Leys estate ("a shit hole"). Headington was interesting because of the shark. I knew someone who grew up in an area I think was called Marston Ferry (?). Typical post war council estate. The school system was 3 tier back then in Oxford so I was quite curious by the idea of them having gone to a "middle school".
Out in the suburbs I don't think the university was anything to do with people's ordinary everyday lives. Someone I knew rarely went into the city centre. Did all their shopping at the shopping centre in Cowly (spelling?).

I grew up in Cambridge. There's pros and cons for sure. My family were not connected to either the university or the hospital, but most of my friends parents were. So I spent time in a very academically driven environment despite going to a normal state school.
I was musical growing up and had lots of opportunities because of the university to perform and play that I don't think I would have had elsewhere
However, it did mean I couldn't really live at home to go to uni, as I didn't have the grades to go to Cambridge but was able to get into a better uni than the ex poly. And I never lived back with my parents after uni as the employment opportunities were not in line with what interested me and I knew I would never be able to afford to move out if I did! Live in the north of England now.

I lived in Cambridge in my 20’s and loved it. There was always free stuff going on in the parks, fairs & fireworks and bands, and a rich and varied cultural scene. I rented bedsits or rooms in shared houses in the less salubrious areas but it was vibrant and safe-ish if you were sensible. Excellent book shops, punting was fun, loads of pubs, lots of green space.

My friends were mostly people working in jobs unrelated to the university and there wasn’t much mixing between town and gown, but of course the beautiful buildings were all around us. I went to musical performances in some of the colleges which felt really special and I did date a postgraduate for a while and got invited to a college dinner and a May Ball.

@FlowersOfSulphur lol yeah. HRSFC was 2 fantastic years in my life.

I grew up in Cambridge and don’t remember the colleges doing anything with local schools. In fact I can’t even remember being encouraged to go to Oxbridge at all! The only thing we did was rowing on the River Cam while I was at sixth form, we even took part in The Bumps. I agree with the person who said Town and Gown stay very separate. Different bars, pubs, etc. It was useful as a student I worked in a few colleges to earn money. Generally I found Cambridge an amazing place to grow up. But it is very different now - way more congested and house prices are insane. Even the shops have really changed - there are far more chain shops and luxury stores as opposed to independent shops. But still a fun place to be I think.

I went to Hills Road too and so did my husband! Good times 😍

I live and have lived in Cambridge for most of my life. It's horrible! House prices insane, the gap between rich and poor is absolutely huge, parking and traffic infrastructure is competely appalling, shopping g is dreadful and the students and 'academics' really don't like the locals.

Good schools so me and my kids have been lucky there but otherwise- ugh. And yes, we are finally moving!

Ditto , and all three of my children. I went in 1980 and loathed it - ds loved it and the dds 'coped"!

Clarendon shopping centre.

I remember the ice rink. Saturday afternoon disco!

I still absolutely love the covered market, especially round Christmas. Hope it's still thriving as it's been a while since I've been there.

Born and bred in Oxford in the 1960s. My abiding memory as a child (having got a free place to a prestigious direct grant school in the city) was being looked down on by school children who were the children of university staff, and some of the staff members. First question I used to get asked was 'what does your father do'.
Fucking hated it and couldn't get out quickly enough.

We clearly need an HRSFC alum chat lol. I was there 2000-2002. Such a time to be a teenager.

I remember on Tuesdays having free, lunch, free so my friend and I would go to Pizza Hut for the £5 buffet. Even with so long off we’d still be running up Hills Road as we were late lol

Not really. Cambridge does have a university backed primary school though and a maths 6th form college.

As a city the University owns a lot of the buildings and make and keeps their fortune by being landlords.

The city is also known as Silicon Fen because if its large tech industry with ARM, Raspberry Pi, Microsoft, Apple and Samsung AI there.

It also has a big pharma presence with Astra Zeneca, Napp, Amgem and others.

Further it has Addenbrookes, Papworth and the Rosie Maternity hospital and allegedly a new kids cancer hospital (we'll see).

It is smaller than Oxford but the council, GCP and central government want to destroy the city and make it a soulless place so I fear for its small, safe city feel it currently has.

Forgot about that

When I took my ABM theory exams as a child, they were all held in the university examination rooms which was a very intimidating setting for someone so young.
After that, GCSE's in the school hall were a bit of a let down.😆

@LadyMargaretPoledancer Clarendon ! I was trying to remember the name. I don't remember what shops were in there - other than Littlewoods.

Nice pub and theatre called Town and Gown...

In Oxford, yes. Several colleges* have outreach programmes that work with local schools and/or charities, and a lot of the local schools use local resources to supplement what they do (trips to the museums or the botanic garden, first aid courses run by the local hospital, field trips to the nature reserves or parks).

*The uni set up is a bit weird to get your head around - there is the University, which is one organisation divided into departments and divisions. They run the courses that the students sign up for. Then there are the Colleges. Each one is technically an independent organisation but they all work with the university so that every student gets a department to study in, and a college that oversees their learning and offers extra support. Seems like a pedantic distinction but if you're asking around as to whether schools work with the University, it's worth asking separately if they work with the colleges or with the museums or divisions as they may well think of working with the college as separate to working with the university.

I seem to remember Athena was in the Clarendon shopping centre back in the day. Bought many a poster from there.

Did anyone go to Culpepper's? my mum loved that shop.

I loved the Nosebag restaurant and Past Times.

@LadyMargaretPoledancer I remember the excitement of going to Oxford to go to Athena but I can't visualise the shop in my memory at all !

I lived in Cambridge aged 9-18, 22-30, and moved back a couple of years sgo (40s). Growing up it was very much felt the university had the best facilities (huge change now) - no bowling for example, my school organised a coach to the American airbase for bowling once a year! My state secondary school was excellent, but I couldn't wait to leave the city and never planned on coming back.

I enjoyed it in my 20s, great pubs, arts cinema, theatre, lit festival, book talks, museums etc.

The area I live is so much more international now, and a huge number of children at my daughter's primary have English as an additional language. My mother's street has a far more community feel in recent times than it ever had when I was growing up - families play/hang out on the grassy bit, we all met up on the green on Christmas day. I almost never go into the city centre, though I enjoy it if I do.

Locally Ely is lovely, and also enjoy trips to St Ives, Norwich, and Saffron Walden.

We’ve got family on the outskirts of Cambridge and spend a fair amount of time there. They are in a small commuter belt new build development. They have great transport links, good schools close by and are happy.

There isn’t much in the way of community events, and they only really know the neighbours either side.

They chose it as being better value for money than the equivalent property in outer London, so one works in central London and the other in Cambridge itself. Guess who has the easier commute?!

But the house prices are insane and they freely admit it’s probably only a great place to live if you have money. Neither are academics.

Outside the academic world I’d say Oxford isn’t the worst place in the country to live on a very limited budget - assuming you have somewhere affordable to live, and as long as you are not restricted to cash for everyday transactions. Some of the nicest places to eat on a budget only take cards - which can be crushing. I’m very aware that within the academic space (once beyond undergrad) an impecunious life can feel very cruel indeed, with every conversation relating to meetings and conferences and even meals that might be beyond one’s reach.

(Edinburgh is, or at least used to be, the best city for an enjoyable life on very little money.)

Cambridge is my county town. I haven't lived in it but go in regularly.

It has changed a lot since I was young in the last 15 years.

Traffic can be a nightmare but its very pedestrianised now. Plus points are it's so green and lots of green spaces, shops are hit and miss. It has a lot of science and tech money there now and subsequently VERY expensive to live there. I know Peterborough, Ely etc are becoming popular to commute to from it since the A14 was (marginally) improved.

One of the nicer cities in the south of England. The gown aspect makes it much more interesting and dynamic.