To move to Plymouth?

[PaintingOwls]

I'm sick and tired of my job in London. Someone said getting up every day was like a cheese grater to the soul, and that's exactly how I feel. I don't have time to do things like I like (without sacrificing sleep) and I live in a mouldy flat with DP. Every stereotype you can think of.

DP was looking at jobs (NHS) and saw a hospital in Plymouth was advertising and is thinking of applying for it. I'm not sure how serious he was, he said it in a kind of, fuck it, let's pack it in and live by the sea kind of way.

I've been looking at houses and they are SO AFFORDABLE! In theory we could survive on his salary alone, which is very exciting. Obviously I will want a job, but the idea is still incredible, given that we can only afford a tiny shared ownership flat in London if we were to buy.

Only trouble is, I've only ever passed through Plymouth in the train and coach to Cornwall, so I have no idea what it's really like. I don't know where to look, which areas are nice, good for schools, etc etc. No DC yet, but definitely in the pipeline for the next 5 years.

Can any MNtters (especially if you relocated to Plymouth) shed some light on what it's like to live there and which areas to avoid, etc?

Exeter over Plymouth - yes, definitely.
Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust over Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust (Derriford) - yes, definitely!

I knew Coventry pretty well at one stage and nothing, nothing, would induce me to live there.

As waterjungle says, Plymouth has SO much potential, but the actualité is still very gritty. Beneath the picture postcard bits of Cornwall (and Plymouth is more akin to Cornwall than Devon), it is the poorest part of the UK, with the lowest productivity rates according to today's Times. There are massive social problems and drugs are an issue, but tell me where they aren't.

@scaryteacher Totnes is so local to Plymouth! Its the main communter route for work ect. You haven't been to Totnes or Plymouth for a while have you? I was in Cornwall a few weeks ago, as I said, mother lives there....shudder.

The train in one stop direct from Totnes to Plymouth and is always packed both ways (there is one that also stops at Ivybridge, oh the glamour)

Totnes and Plymouth are very linked and a 20 minute direct train journey, plus other then Torbay you are often referred to hospital in Plymouth. You clearly haven't lived round those parts for yonks. After commuting for 5 years from Totnes to Plymouth I can assure you, it's considered a very close link and people go backwards and forwards all day.

Waterjungle, I can't remember the names, but I may have been!

@scaryteacher totnes a bit odd

Your a scream. Talk about stating the obvious. What the man with no shoes on who walks around with an owl not seen normal to you did it?

Enjoy your retirement @scaryteacher Cornwall is definitely the place for you

Went to Plymouth once... Never going back.

Exeter over Plymouth any day, and the RD&E is an excellent hospital

I live in Plymouth and it's the arse end of the world. It's geared up to students and not much else. The top end of the city centre is doing ok because of the mall ( don't get excited, it isn't exactly Trafford centre!). The bottom and mutley are like a third world country.
I may get flamed for this but, the people aren't very friendly and veiw strangers with suspicion. It's not a bit like London, and are not very tolerant of "outsiders". There's no airport, can't afford to buy a house because wages are so crap and Derriford Hospital hasn't got a very good reputation

Thank you for you perspective Pottery it has given me food for thought especially I was debating living on or very close to the High Street, don’t think I would relish junkies on my doorstep! I do think I have rose tinted spectacles on where Totnes is concerned, I just love the architecture of the town and how central it is to so many other places and of course my many happy memories growing up there! Oh the heady days of an Elizabethan Tuesday! Sadly not in my 20’s anymore so my age would probably help me fit in again, might be a good idea for me to rent there before I commit to it I think, did not realise Cranks was now owned by Nando’s is nothing sacred anymore! Will look into Ashburton!

I came on to defend Plymouth as I was a student there and then remembered that was 32 (THIRTY TWO!!!) years ago and it has possibly changed a bit since then

I was there the night the Academy opened (sadly can't remember much about it with the free drinks and all! In fact, many of my memories are nightclub related!

The academy is now almost derelict, mainly because the owner is locked up in drugs charges!! So, the only place to go for a night out is the Barbican and it's a bear pit

To me Plymouth has SO much unrealised potential

This, with knobs on. A charity I work are with are thinking of getting involved in a project run in local schools by the Devon Wildlife Trust. There are children who live in the deprived areas Plymouth, who have never seen the sea, and had no idea that they lived in a sea port! That is shocking.

I acknowledge there is plenty of work to be done in Plymouth, but in my lifetime the same could have been said of quite a few places in London, places which are now very desirable.

You can either reject somewhere out of hand, because it doesn’t live up to your exacting standards - like potty, sorry, potteryprincess. Or, you can roll your sleeves up and contribute your efforts into helping to make a poor and deprived area better.

I haven't read all 6 pages because there's way too many comments..
I can't believe how much people are speaking badly of Plymouth. It's actually not that bad! I lived there as a student and then a few years into my working life. My wage was fine. Obviously lower than London wages, but it wasn't crap like people are making out. So that obviously depends on career.
It's not my absolute most favourite place to live (I live in a more lively place now)
However, the hoe is lively. And beaches are a short drive away. When the weather was hot we'd be at the beach as much as possible. Evenings too. It's doable! The moors are lovely. Plymstock has a fantastic school and is nice for families. There are some lovely areas. Everywhere has it's downsides. I really don't think it's as bad as people are making out. The aquarium is fab whether you have children or not. And I loved heading to the barbican on a warm summer evening listening to some live music and drinking ciders . You can also catch the water taxi to mount batten and have a fab roast!
Also Cornwall is literally so close..they also have amazing beaches!
Ah it is making me miss it.

TonTonMacoute
You can either reject somewhere out of hand, because it doesn’t live up to your exacting standards - like potty, sorry, potteryprincess. Or, you can roll your sleeves up and contribute your efforts into helping to make a poor and deprived area better.
Yes to this. It could really do with fresh blood and the optimism the could come with it!

Yukbuk. How long ago did you live here? I've been here for 30 years and it's really gone downhill in that time. There's no real industry here and the dockyard is now owned by a company called Babcock and the amount of jobs available are minuscule compared to before it was privatised.

My grown up children are desperate to get away. I originally come from the north west, I'd go back in a heartbeat

I was going to be tactful about Plymouth for the sake of the OP; I did not want to rain on her parade........ but others have got there before me and told it like it is. Huge drug problem I am sorry to say.

But....lots of lovely places to live that are not actually in the city.

If you really want lovely seaside and reasonable house prices, Pembrokeshire has a lot to recommend it. I am sure that all hospitals around Britain, including seaside, are in need of staff and there are better places than Plymouth.

There are children who live in the deprived areas Plymouth, who have never seen the sea, and had no idea that they lived in a sea port! That is shocking

Your really selling it there. I too have worked with charities in Devon, mostly with prisoners on day release @TonTonMacoute and I have actually lived there where as I see you are just contemplating getting involved in the community in a work capacity? This, as ethical as it is, is idealistic to suggest someone should move somewhere for such purposes.

It's all well and good suggesting being a trailblazer to bring fresh blood into a deprived area, but it's another thing actually doing it and not finding the experience hard work or depressing.

It's up to the communities to work together and community cohesion is the best form of this surely? Not encouraging middle class Londoners to gentrify the areas so they become 'better'

@waterjungle South Hams District Council have a hell of a lot to answer for, especially in and around Plymouth. They should be the ones rolling their sleeves up, the middle/working classes should not be expected to clean up their mess frankly

Pottery. Well said! We have loads of medical and dental students here, but when they graduate they fuck off back to the big cities!
The council needs to be way more forward thinking, not just geared up to students. Try and retain them after graduation ffs.

Pottery Local to Plymouth for me is West Devon, (Tavistock, where my Mum lives), SE Cornwall and the Tamar Valley, where my house is, and perhaps Ivybridge. Totnes is woo country on the road to Dartmouth. and somewhere to be gone through, rather than stopped in.

You clearly can't read, or perhaps they didn't do comprehension at the comp in Totnes? I was in Plymouth in December, so less than two months ago, doing some Christmas shopping. I went to Cornwall as well to see my house , and no shuddering, but a bonus wander around Waitrose.

I have lived there recently, in fact was back restoring my house in 2014. When I worked in Plymouth for a decade, Totnes wasn't considered that local at all - most of my colleagues lives in West Devon, the city itself, or Cornwall. If it was out past Marsh Mills roundabout, it was 'here be dragons' territory!

You can 'assure me' all you like; but as you have spouted a load of crap on here, why should I bother with anything you say? Fyi, I moved to West Devon when I was 20 in 86. By the time I was 26, I had lived in Plymouth and moved out to the Tamar Valley. I had ds at 29, in Derriford, where the excellent team helped him survive.

As someone who had their child in their late 20s in and around Plymouth, I can say that the area is an excellent place to have kids; lots of outdoor opportunities; you can sail, kayak, letterbox, hike, learn to fly gliders, ride, swim, and it's all on the doorstep. I would also have been happy had ds gone to Plymouth for his degree, as the History department was excellent at both the Open Days we attended, and the University was very proactive in putting on buses to get there as the line was down at Dawlish.

I am not retiring to Cornwall, but will find a job when I'm back. Had dh still been in the RN, we would have gone back there anyway, as I have no desire to live anywhere else, and he would have commuted, as he did when he was posted to Shrivenham and Northwood. I was not going to move, as my life was sorted to my entire satisfaction in Cornwall - nice house, gainful employment, ds in a good school.

Just one more thing - it's 'you're' for you are; not your (belonging to). If you can't even use basic grammar correctly, I am even less likely to take you seriously. The Cornish kids I taught all knew the difference by the time I'd finished with them.

By all means work in Plymouth but don’t live there. Commute from Tavistock or the Tamar valley.
Failing that Exeter is lovely.

Horses for courses.... like everywhere.

I grew up in Totnes, then lived in various places (uk and abroad) before moving to plymouth 15 years ago.

I love living here and have no plans to move anywhere else. Of course some areas are better than others but I’ve been in Mutley for 15 years and find it friendly and a good sense of community.

It really really annoys me when people are so negative about plymouth. I grew up there and moved away. It has it rough bits and great bits, but if you like the outdoors, it really is quite fantastic. It's not London, in terms of culture, but it really is lovely in so many ways

@mydogmymate that's so true. Nursing and psychiatric training, engineering, plymouth college of art for the artists/makers... the list is endless but they all leave don't they. It is really sad for the area I 100% agree but the council are completely useless and as for the local MP's...So clueless to what the communities need, they are starving those places of a diverse population by they way they operate. The cuts have obviously not helped at all in the South west, yet again and again the tories are voted in.

The older population rule the roost down there

I have never understood what's supposed to be so great about Exeter. It's just as much an urban sprawl as Plymouth but without the sea views or easy access to Cornwall/Dartmoor/Beaches.

potteryprinces Plymouth elected a Labour mp in 2017