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.

The flouncer was Tee- think she was American, she was always entertaining. I'm from NW England, been here since 2005, lived in Belfast for 5 years, now down in Tyrone where DH is from. I loved living in Belfast, we lived in the holylands then just off Ravenhill. It's got even better since we left too, there's loads of bars / restaurants opened since I left and I miss it! I think NI is a great place to bring up kids, I am so happy my DDs were born here. As an English person married to a Catholic and living in a very GAA dominated nationalist rural area I have never experienced anything but friendliness.

I live near Lisburn and work in Belfast. My job is in two different sites, one in a mostly Catholic area and one mixed mostly Protestant...and everyone has been nice to me. I think immigration has helped- there are quite a few Polish people around and I think they have injected a bit of energy and can-do attitude into the place. I like that I can go to the park or decent places to eat at lunchtime. Plenty of stuff to do within easy reach. I went to the garden show today, will go to Balmoral next week. Good experiences with the health service here (recently had first child -at Ulster hospital- they were ace). Dunno what people are like with older children but the general public are all going nuts for the baby and falling over themselves to help.

In a bar right now in the place with the castle. Ownies. Just showing fellow castle dwellers this thread

WAVING

But did you start in spoons Keith ? Ownies is a nice wee spot, the most refurbed pub in that place :)

Hey Carrick/Newtownabbey chums and a big yeeeeoooooo! to you all.

Not sure if this is helpful OP, but Citibank is a big employer for IT skills.

BeagBoo, I've been back about a year. We paid around 2 grand in the end to move all the stuff from a two bedroom flat with a company called Dixon Line but some of the English companies (Pickfords, for example) were quoting closer to 7!!

Don't work for Citi, you'll have no work life balance at all.
I can give you a bit of advice via pm if you're serious about IT work in Belfast.

IT isn't exactly my field, I work in digital in a charity but it's online engagement and social media, not techy stuff.

Ah ok no good to you then :)

There are things I love about living here. here is a great sense of community, it feels safe, it's great for children, and the education system seems much less meddled with than in England.

But I would leave NI in a heartbeat if I could, due to the employment situation. There are so few jobs, the pay is so poor and the recruitment process so awful, and the opportunity to progress is so rare. You find so many businesses refusing to allow staff to attend formal training and yet at the same time complaining that they need to recruit from the mainland because no one here has attended the relevant training. I feel so conflicted because on the one hand I'm encouraging my kids to work hard at school and on the other I'm having to explain to primary school age children that if they want to stay in N Ireland, they have to face the fact that being educated will mean very little, that job opportunities are few and that they will have little choice or control because jobs are so scarce.

I love N Ireland but I also curse my misfortune at having been born here and that circumstances dictate that I stay here.

Beagboo I'm originally a westie too, you couldn't pay me to live in West belfast now though or raise my kids there. We are in Lisburn now and love it. So curious about who everyone is and where exactly we all are!

Yeah on the whole it's a good quality of life. Plenty of buzz. Most people I know hate the politics and moan about it but it's getting better. Love being near the coast and so many beauty spots. Weather is a pain but typical UK. Love weekends in Donegal or Dublin or Fermanagh or Portrush or anywhere really!

Hi mrsryangosling15 waves

Fellow lisburnian here!

Hello Lisburn MNers!

A disclaimer - I have never lived in Belfast - but a good friend of mine who is originally from England has lived there for a number of years. She and her husband now have a child and they say that while they have a great network of friends there, they are wanting to move away. The husband (European) regularly faces racist remarks, and job opportunities are slim.

Personally I was shocked (maybe naively) to realise how segregated the educational system still is. There are integrated schools but the vast majority are still Catholic or Protestant, and in fact a number of people are against integrated schooling, which I can't fathom tbh. So, from what I gather, the majority of children are still growing up in a community where you are either Catholic or Protestant (which doesn't leave much room for any other religions, or atheism!) and this is one of the things that my friend wants to avoid for her children.

We've been facing the religion in school issue recently. My children go to local schools where they are taught Christian mythology and pray in assembly.
The adherance and intensity with which RE is taught depends on the teacher. Interestingly there is an Indian child in my older son's class who doesn't have to do RE because his 'Gods are different'.
The RE seems mostly harmless, we counter it with explanations at home.

By the way, our local state primary schools make a lot of effort to counter sectarianism and racism. It started even at the nursery level.
I do think there is a growing community of people who don't support tribalism, but integrated education would go a long way to help this.

Hi puppydogmummy

Sorry to hear about your friend's dh lollipop

That's something that annoys me about here too. That religious education is part of the cirriculum and not just restricted to faith schools as it would be in other places. I'm an atheist and firmily in the dc can make their own minds up as they get older yet they're taught it at primary.

I went to a convent school but I'm an atheist, I would not want to send DS to anything but an integrated school.

I went to a big grammar school and my experience was the same, not much religion outside of the Christian Union.

My dcs primary school is a state school, not a faith school, but they do have a broadly Christian ethos, and they are very clear about that in the 'about the school' part of the website, so anyone who doesn't want that for their child is free to choose a different option. The parents are generally happy enough with it, because we all know what we're getting. There are no integrated primaries in my area though.

There is only one integrated secondary in my area and it's a great school, good reputation. But ironically it is very difficult for local children to get into, because of the demographics. They aim for a 50/50 intake of Protestant and Catholic but it is situated in an area where there are only a couple of local Catholic primaries and about a dozen state primaries, so the Catholic kids come from miles away whilst the Protestant kids are turned away in droves. Then the knock on effect is Protestant families don't apply for the school because if they get turned down, then they can't get into their second choice school because they didn't put that one first. So on the face of it you might say 'well, local Protestants don't want integrated schools, because they don't apply for that one' when actually they might apply if they thought they stood a good chance of getting in.

I know that's just the way it has to be to get even numbers though, so I'm not sure what the solution might be.

Beagboo, I think we went to the same school!!