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.

I'll keep an eye out as I'm job hunting myself at the moment :)

*bogies? ??
Meant bigots

*bogies? ??
Meant bigots

Hahaha. I thought that was a term I hadn't heard before.

Love The Cosy Chair for scones and tea.

Well if you're from ballybogey you could be a bogie

I grew up in Belfast & now live in Lisburn - moved back here a few years ago after living in England for 10 yrs. Took me a year or two to settle back in properly but love it now. You can have city life, beautiful countryside, mountains and beaches all within 30 minutes. The politics is backward but religion or bigotry doesn't really feature in my day to day life

P.S some of us on this thread are bound to know each other in RL

P.S some of us on this thread are bound to know each other in RL

That's what I was thinking worrying about.

Waves to Sirona - weve chatted on the election thread! Think we live closeish. Not living in Belfast but not far outside. Pluses - cheap housing, nearness to beach/country etc. I've found that the mumsnetters from NI tend to be refreshingly open minded compared to many of the stereotyped attitudes we see on the local news.

We need a group outing - maybe to OnGoldenPond's show at the The Lyric!

Hi again madcatters, my fellow protest buddy :) I believe we do live fairly close, I'm only five minutes from that.

I dare say some of us either know each other or we have friends in common. I have actually come across a friend on MN before

There used to be meetups arranged through the local pages but last one I remember was a few years ago and I couldn't go. Haven't check the Belfast page in yonks though.

Sirona I used to live opposite the cosy chair, it's lovely though I'm never in it now. DS would destroy it.

I like the area there Pinocchio, The Glen is a nice place to go for a run on a sunny day. I worked in the Glenavna house hotel many years ago before they knocked it down for houses showing my age here

I grew up in Belfast but spent 20 years living all over England. I then moved back and whilst there are many advantages to being 'home' (house prices, education, great local restaurants), I do slightly regret it. All my adult life was spent in England too, all my friends, work contacts, knowledge of great plumbers/hairdressers/ mechanics is over there. It feels a bit like starting all over rather than coming home. I haven't been back very long so maybe I'll feel more settled in a while. Good luck if you choose to do it and I can recommend a great local company that does removals if you have a lot of furniture etc, they were much cheaper than the other quotes I got!

Hi OP.

Belfast has changed beyond recognition. I'm from North Belfast and there are plenty of safe neighbourhoods and some of the best value housing stock in the city.

Malone area is horrendously overpriced imo. Traffic is dreadfully busy there as well. I dunno, I think there are an awful lot of things to consider , not least your quality of life etc.

I'd happily live in most areas of Belfast tbh!!

there used to be a great Belfast based mner who flounced after the NYE debacle a few years ago. does anyone remember her name? I miss her posts!

I'm English but moved to Belfast almost 10 years ago from London. I won't lie the first few years were really hard and it took me ages to settle, but I love it now and feel really happy for my children that this is where they are going to grow up.

Wages are lower but the cost of living and quality of life we have is much better than we'd have if we'd stayed in London not least because we can afford to live in a nice house near good schools close to our jobs.

I've learnt to ignore the politics though, and we picked a fairly mixed area to live so are quite unbothered by flags & murals.

Just wanted to wave at the fellow 'place with the castle' dwellers!

Thanks everyone! I hope a big Belfast meet up comes out of this thread!

MadeinBelfast, I'm sorry you're feeling like you haven't settled yet. How long have you been back? Also if you don't mind sharing how much did it cost to move your stuff? I really have no idea even as an estimate!

I lived in Belfast for a year in 1993, it was err, different! The Good Friday agreement had just come in so it was still very sectarian. But saying that I loved it, the night life was amazing and there was plenty of jobs and cheap housing. My now ex husband wanted to move to England and I was gutted as I loved our flat and my job, I haven't been back since about 1998 and I would love to. I never had any trouble when I was there, I lived in East Belfast.

Waves at the Newtownabbey-ers, I'm just a bit further north than you all. Commute to Belfast daily though.
Agree that politics here is something else but there is a real air of change about. I believe we will have a referendum on marriage equality sometime soon. The sectarianism exists of course, but to say you wouldn't live here cause of it is as strange as saying you wouldn't live in England due to issues with racism.
I used to (and still do actually) watch location, property ladder, etc and feel so, so lucky that I live in a region where house prices were so affordable in comparison, and that no matter where you lived, you could be within amazing scenery within 30mins.

We've lived in every region of UK bar Wales and this is by far my favourite.

Was she the one who arranged the Belfast meet ups viciousstarling ? Her name began with T I think.
I love Belfast. I went to school there, lived just outside, worked there for a while in the Wild West. I now live in the ass end of nowhere somewhere near Coleraine.
The opinions I heard about Big Bad Belfast whilst training in England were hilarious. My boss referred to it as 'that hellhole' (he'd never been) and was distraught at me moving back.

The politics are ridiculous, of course, and the village idiots tend to make a bigger splash than they deserve simply because the pond is smaller, but it is a lovely place which is finally finding its feet again.

So how do meet ups work? Do you confess to your MN name? I'm sure I probably have lots of embarrassing personal details in my posts over the years.

You can set your name to a different one for the local page Beryl so no-one knows your usual name, or you could nc for that thread if it was on the main forum.