Talk to me about Wolverhampton

[1981fishgut]

Talk to me about Wolverhampton looking to move in 3-4 years time when older one buys a home

We’re a mixed family so want to move to a diverse but nice area we will have about 300k to spend

I live in Wolves, I sort of ended up here but I have stayed.

It IS VERY MIXED. I've lived in the north of England where there is an invisible dividing line between areas that are, ''white' or 'asian'. I've lived in London and I've livedin Oxford which is one of the least diverse places in the UK.

The way in which Wolves is mixed is ifferent. Yes there are areas like Blakenhall that have mainly shops selling saris sweet centres and Indian jewelers but when I go to my favorite sweet centre to buy samosas I may well be queuing behind a couple of people speaking polish.

I like to cook (when my health allows) and I like that there are shops selling Caribbean ingredients as well as Indian and Chinese.

I'm not totally obsessed with food.

There is diverse housing, yes some areas you would not choose to live, but there are also some very nice areas not far out of the city centre.

I'm not a huge fan of the city centre, but I can get a train, bus or tram to Birmingham and London is only 205 hours away.

There is some lovely countryside near by.

West park is huge, a great place to feed squirrels and there are various events there through the year, fair, shows, Versakki, Divwali.

And again the parties/festivals are welcoming to everyone.

You do have to get used to fireworks though, they start for Divwali and continue until bomb-fire night.

Another vote for come and have a look.

It appears there are a few of us, so maybe we can have a mini meet up.

I visit often, we live about 10 miles NE of the city (like an earlier poster?).
On the whole I like it, there's a mix and the people are friendly. Like all places, there are good and bad areas but you should be able to get a decent house in a good area for your budget.

There's a good range of shops in the centre, music venues, an excellent theatre, parks and you can be in Birmingham by train in under 20 minutes. There's also a lot of lovely countryside nearby.

The only downside to the city is that there seems to be a number of beggars, I don't mean homeless people sitting quietly in doorways with a cup in front of them but on many occasions, and particularly near to the university and civic centre, we've had people come up to us and ask for money and on a number of occasions they've followed us repeating their request which makes you feel very vulnerable. Having said that, I'll go back to my comment of all places having good and bad areas.

I moved to Wolverhampton years ago when I met dh and he worked there.

We sold a few years later in negative equity as we didn't realise we'd picked a dodgy area.

There were things about the area I loved though. Excellent transport links for example. Bus from the end of my road to Wolverhampton town centre, Bilston or Walsall and the tram from Bilston into Birmingham was great. I could walk to a great pub and cinema complex, we were a few minutes drive from Ikea and Junction 10 on the M6 which was good for DH working all over the country. It was ver culturally diverse we had Sikh neighbours and Jamaican neighbours and the ones opposite looked like the cast of shameless and ran a tattoo parlour from a caravan on their drive. The old coal mines meant the soil was good and my beetroot and rhubarb was delish.

Towns were soul-less though, very difficult to make friends, didn't feel safe, terribly low wages and extremely miserable people.

We looked at the villages around Telford at one point and wish we'd gone there.

Ive lived in Wolverhampton for 17 years. Yes there are parts to avoid but there are some nice places too.

Tettenhall, finchfield, penn have already been mentioned.

Avoid Heath Town and Willenhall.

I wondered how many posts in someone would make a comment about the accent. Three. So boringly predictable.

Hello op. One thing you will find in Wolvo is friendly people. Not lived there myself for 30 years but still consider the Black Country to be “home”

I’m not sure there’s much city centre living in Wolvo but I hope you find somewhere that you’ll be happy in.

Bearwood is a good shout as is West Bromwich or maybe Bloxwich for a mixed community

Bearwood is a village in the way Brixton is!

It's part of the Birmingham sprawl now, and there are lovely houses there, and it's a decent place to live... but I don't really rate any of the schools, and it's under Sandwell council.

Redditch might be worth considering, if it's not on the 'wrong' side of Birmingham for your requirements. It has quite a young and diverse population and is probably best thought of as a 'Little Birmingham'. Although Redditch itself has plenty to offer, the locals pretty much all refer to Brum as 'town'!

Be prepared to learn a bit of Polish ...

I agree about the friendliness of the Black Country - and for the purposes of this thread I will let Wolverhampton be in the BC 😉
You won't find a friendlier community anywhere. People will strike up a conversation with anyone and go out of their way to help each other.

Is the "Polish" comment on Redditch actually necessary?

I was born and bred in Wolverhampton and hated every single second of it. Left to go to uni in brum, wasn’t much better, I’m now in London.
It’s very drab.
The city centre is bleak, lots of closed down shops and lots of pound strechers and pound lands.
The university isn’t up to much so lots of students leave.
I would never return.
I go and see my mom and grandad and fre stiffled and have to leave.

There's an obvious answer here - Handsworth Wood.

Close to the city, nice houses, very BME.

If you want somewhere cheaper then look at Handsworth. I know what people say about it but I've lived here for years now and I like it. Lots of young families and the schools are really good.

Polish comment...racist much?

Sluj I lived in Fordhouses and then Portobello. I rarely experienced any friendliness.

Tettenhall was top of our wishlist but out of budget. We considered Wellington.
Maybe the other side of Walsall towards Lichfield would be good for OP?

Polish comment...racist much?

Oh, go away with your faux outrage. At least I could understand some of it - unlike the people that complained about it when I worked there.

sluj I agree about Wolvo not really being in the BC. But that’s an unpopular opinion nowadays I think.

I’m from Sedgley.

Crikey, why have you picked Wolverhampton? It's a vile place!

Birmingham would be much nicer as is very diverse.

Is the "Polish" comment on Redditch actually necessary?

I don't know. I was there yesterday, and heard a lot of Polish spoken. Maybe I should stick to reporting on things I make up, rather than happen ?

Any Redditchians care to comment ?

Redditch is not great either. It's just estates and roundabouts and has no heart.

If you want mixed then Gloucester is very diverse.

Or if you're stuck on Black Country then Halesowen or Stourbridge are smaller and quite mixed.

I visited Wolverhampton last year, after being away from the place for over 25 years, when I lived there for a year. I was surprised at how little it had changed, and I don't mean in a good way. Very depressing. So many pleasanter places to live in WM or beyond, and culturally diverse and tolerant, so why the appeal of Wolverhampton?

I'm working in Coventry currently and it seems to be a massive shithole

Coventry is a massive shithole. You know that phrase about WWII? The Germans lost the war but won the peace? They were probably talking about Coventry.

Back to Wolverhampton, it has an enormous Waitrose and Penn is nice. I like the accent FWIW.

I don't know. I was there yesterday, and heard a lot of Polish spoken. Maybe I should stick to reporting on things I make up, rather than happen ?

I lived there for two years, and worked nearby for five.

Sorry to hear you had to endure listening to a foreign language in Redditch. Since OP is actually seeking a culturally diverse area, perhaps your comments are a little misguided.

You daft racist.

LetticeFortescue

We love the accents u alllllllllrighttttttttt😬

It’s fecking cheap and the prospect we could be mortgage free in 4 years has peaked our interest but we can’t move to far from ds

Sorry to hear you had to endure listening to a foreign language in Redditch. Since OP is actually seeking a culturally diverse area, perhaps your comments are a little misguided.

Presume much ? I might be able to speak Polish. I might have enjoyed a chat - especially with the couple who had an adorable little lad in the "Savers" store in the Kingfisher.

Also, you need to work on not confusing "race" (whatever that is) and "nationality".