To think that Easton, Bristol is better than it used to be?

[fierypepper]

DP and I are considering moving to Easton. We are TTC and need more space, ideally with a garden, and can't afford anything like that in the area we are in at the moment. Easton has some nice terraced houses with gardens which would be ideal, and in our budget, however I have obviously heard horror stories about the area in the past but it does seem to be getting better. Can anyone who lives/has lived there share their experience?

I spent half of my childhood in Easton as my grandparents lived there and I have always loved it there... but you do need to be very careful around lower Easton, especially Stapleton Rd area. Personally I would look around the Greenbank area which is lovely.
Good luck and welcome if you move to Bristol.

Sorry, I see you already live here! 😊

It used to be nice but it's become very expensive and full of middle class types.

Don’t forget that Stapleton Rd was officially the most dangerous in Britain a few years ago, I’ve no idea if it has improved much since then.

It's definitely nicer than it was but I read recently that it's the area in Bristol that has seen the sharpest increase in house prices over the last couple of years so might not be as good an investment as it once was. What other areas have you considered?

I grew up in Easton (near St Marks Rd) but moved away ten years ago so following this thread with interest. In my experience it wasn’t a nice place to grow up because we had multiple break ins/ car thefts, and there were several incidents where I felt threatened from just walking about. For example, walking through Stapleton Rd to get into town in the middle of the day as a teenager and having some random guy try to drag you down an alleyway. The schools are pretty awful too. It wasn’t until I moved out of the area that I realised how bad it was, I just thought that was normal. But this was all ten years ago so it might have changed.

My husband and I bought in Easton, lived there for three years and left a couple of years ago. We had some really lovely neighbours (and some horrendous ones) and we loved the Greenbank pub and some of the shops on the St Marks Rd. But overall I hated my experience of living there and it's only now I've left that I recognise how depressed it was making me. I never once felt unsafe, nor was I ever a victim of crime, so I think fears along those lines are unfounded. But the whole neighbourhood was just so grotty. There was dog poo, litter, nitrous oxide canisters and fly tipping everywhere. There was constant drug dealing on our street. There were clapped-out, rusty camper vans, motorhomes and trailers on every street. If we went away for a weekend, my heart would literally sink as we arrived home, thinking "What am I coming back to this time". Every day when I walked to work, I'd be depressed and angry by the time I arrived because of something I'd seen on route. A friend who still lives there has her kids at Bannerman Rd school and confirmed that lots of people have done the same as us - lived there for a couple of years, realised the area wasn't improving, and moved, taking their kids out of the school. I think you have to be realistic about what kind of person you are and how much the things I've shared would bother you. Some people love Easton, but lots are like me and find it breaks them.

You could move slightly outside the city. Cheaper house prices, more space. Nailsea, Yatton etc. Both those are on the train line into Bristol if you are working there. Better schools there than the Easton area as well.

Thanks for your replies everyone! I know that moving outside the city would be cheaper and have more space but that just isn't us - we love living in Bristol and being close to all it has to offer. We have also looked at Horfield, which seems ok but doesn't seem to have much going on. My DP will be working at Southmead hospital and will be cycling to work, so going south of the river would be getting a bit far for him to cycle really. Horfield would be better location-wise from that point of view, but I can't help but feel a bit 'meh' about living there.

Thanks for the recommendation about Greenbank @Helendee, it does look lovely from looking at it online!

Fishponds is lovely and has an amazing park (Oldbury Court Park), which you can walk around and along the River Frome for hours. It feels truly wild (for a city). Maybe look there too.

If you are going to spend Easton sized money, look at the roads off right of Muller rd - Crowther etc. You get garden AND parking space and Purdown on your doorstep plus easy to get to st werb /Gloucester rd /Aldi. I know where I'd rather live!

There is a beautiful road in Fishponds called Thingwall Park, beautiful houses.

Not sure where in Horfield you are looking it as it's a varied suburb - £££ bishopton prices at bottom and gets cheaper towards Filton.

Look at downed road/ downend park/Crowther rd as on right side of Muller rd price wise but have most /more benefits than more expensive houses further down Gloucester rd.

Another shout out for Fishponds. It's a lovely place to live and very easy for Southmead.