To ask if you live in Belfast, do you like it?

[BeagBoo]

I'm from there but haven't lived there since a teenager. I've lived in London for my entire adult life but we will never be able to buy here, and we're just surviving really. Me and DH have been thinking of moving home with our DS (1). But I can't imagine living there. I hated growing up there and worry about raising a kid there.

But all my family live there and that would be nice, to be near them. I just struggle to visualise myself there. If you live there and like it, why? Thanks in advance.

Yes! It's amazing. I have two young kids and we love it. I'm not from Belfast but have lived here for 17 years since uni. I have seen so much change since I've been here. It's not the same place it was 20 years ago. Like everywhere it has its problems but honestly there is more and more happening all the time - festivals, restaurants etc etc. And so many beautify green spaced. Love it so much.

Beautiful green spaces

I often wonder the same, but when I go back home ( smaller town in the country). I do find same old attitudes.

... Especially as I have an English sounding accent after being away for 25 years.

I love Belfast. It's changed a lot in the past 5-10yrs, loads of nice bars and restaurants, a decent arts scene and lots of activities for families. I don't live there currently though, I lived there after uni then moved further north when house hunting as my £££ went further outside the city.

I love it and hate it (helpful). I lived away for 10 years and came back a few years ago. In lots of ways it is entirely different to the city I left. The cathedral and titanic quarters feel almost continental, there's much more happening than now. As pp says there are lots of beautiful green spaces. You're fairly close to the coast.
Down sides-I still encounter fairly provincial attitudes that make it feel like a 1950s village. The politics (oh the politics it's almost like we've stepped backwards).
But I'm buying a house at the minute, I'd never have managed that in England.

I've just moved out of Belfast after 20 odd years there and I really loved living there. I've only moved to be closer to family now that we have DC.

DP's sister moved out of Belfast 10 years ago and is now trying to move back as its changed massively in the intervening years and she realises she wants to be part of it again.

Yes, I'm in Newtownabbey but there's a bus to the town centre from just outside my door. I love that that nowhere is too far away, in 15 mins I can be in the city centre, in 90 minutes I could be on Portstewart strand!
I think attitudes have moved on in some areas more that others. We live in a new development which is very mixed and where most of the children go to integrated schools but I suppose it depends where you live!

I live 30 minutes from Belfast- I love living here.

It takes me 5 minutes to get to work (sometimes 10 if traffic is busy). I live 5 minutes from Belfast City airport, yet not under the flight path. Even if we fly from the International it is only a 25 minute drive away.

Schools are good, and preps cost a fraction than they do in England (c £4k per year).

People are generally friendly.

Great restaurants & bars. Loads of events on, although I don't generally get a chance to go.

Housing can be cheaper than in England, but it depends where you are buying.

1& 1/4 hour drive to the North Coast, which is just beautiful. In fact most of NI is absolutely stunning, Fermanagh, Co Down, Co Antrim are the ones I know best.

IME sectarianism generally correlates with social deprivation. Most of the middle classes just don't care (or are too polite to discuss it if they do).

Where are you thinking of living. I love belfast

I'm English, lived in NI for several years, though back in England now. I would absolutely love in Belfast, I love it! Such an awesome city.

The Clonard monastery church is just absolutely amazing.

Downsides:

Public transport infrastructure is a bit crap, so we are very reliant on cars.

Pub licences are really expensive, which in turn means most pubs pack people in with live music, late licences etc. Binge drinking is a problem. You don't get the village pubs / locals like you do in England. Cafe culture is developing, but a lot f socialising still revolves around packed bars.

A very influential bible belt, so that, for example, abortion is still illegal in NI. That boils my piss.

Stephen Nolan.

It is very rainy and colder than England.

The politics are just too much.

Following because I'm in London and wondering about exactly the same thing......

Percy I'm also in Newtownabbey area >high five<

OP, for your money you'd get great accommodation, whether renting or buying. Have you looked much at Property News, or Property Pal? These are 2 great sites with places to buy or rent throughout NI.

Like others on this thread I love how close everything is: train service is getting better, buses still bit meh.

Keep your options open re location. You say you are thinking Belfast, but ask yourself if you want to be right in city centre in an apartment, or more within commuter distance, in countryside or suburbs.

I live in newtownabbey too. I love being close enough to nip into Belfast but have a very decent garden and green spaces.

waves to Percy hoping she's not my horrible neighbour

I hated it.

People are not friendly by rural standards. Traffic is woeful. Jobs are scarce. Interesting nightlife/bookshops similarly scarce IMO. And a surprisingly high number of sectarian events, even if it's just bomb scares creating more traffic mayhem.

It's not beautiful.

You have to love it for some other reason...then be motivated to search for the good stuff and make the most of what little there is. Like Leeds.

People talk about the energy because there isn't much else to mention. Unless you love murals.

But then I don't like city life.

Oh, and delivery costs from online shopping. Some sites are ok, but others are prohibitively expensive. It would be nice if we could get John Lewis in.

And yeah, the weather can be a bit crap. DH lived in the SE England for 12 years before we met, and he always talks about the lovely long warm summers there.

On the plus side, there is generally just much more room. I can't stand the busy-ness of the tube, driving in London, elbowing my way along Oxford Street, or through Selfridges.

I love it, despite my moaning on the election thread.

It'seems a great place to live for so many reasons.

I'm not from here though. I think you judge the place you're from differently.

Ithe took me a while to settle, but it's home now. ☺

When was the last time you were in Belfast gone, the seventies? you sound like the typical, judgemental people I grew up with in the country side.

I went to the Festival of Fools on Sat then to Vegstock, a meat free festival, on Monday. Had lovely food and listened to some brilliant live bands.

I'm annoyed that I missed the vegan festival, at the ulster hall, as there was over 2500 people at it.

I pick my wee girl up from college and we often go into Belfast to sit in one of the loads of nice cafés or good restaurants.

Yes, there can be tribal attitudes in certain areas but you can get that anywhere in the uk, but it's usually race or religion. My boy's friends, in their 20s, are of all religions and backgrounds.

We looked into moving back to Belfast, but there are just no jobs. Or at least none that compare to where we are now. I'm public sector, my husband is private & we both would struggle to find anything like the wages we're on now. Visit regularly. Actually - on a recent trip read in the flybe magazine that Belfast is a great place to start a business as you can pay your staff less - wtf??
Love the place but sadly don't think we'll be able to move back there

I live in knocknagoney area. I like it but I'm a country girl at heart! Buses to city centre are a breeze and Belfast has become so much more than what it was. Loads for families to do and a great nightlife . If only the politics would drag itself into the 21st century everything would be ideal. My piss is boiled too at the abortion law and the gay marriage laws but that's my view.

I pick my wee girl up from college and we often go into Belfast to sit in one of the loads of nice cafés or good restaurants.

And when was the last time you lived there? Easy to be dewy eyed about somewhere you stop in for long enough to have a nice coffee...

It's pretty, belfast is nice - no match for London City wise.

Hate the huge emphasis on religion and what religion you are