Where to live in Birmingham?

[Taskmasterlover]

Only post on here to get some responses. Looking to possibly move to Birmingham sometime next year - want to be within a 30-40 minute public transport commute ideally. Budget is £450k for a 4 bedroom house, want a nice family friendly area, happy with new builds.

Any suggestions of areas? Thanks

Have a look at Kings Heath. Huge park. Good schools and well connected to city centre by regular buses. You should be able to get something decent within your budget there too.

Family friendly area in Birmingham?

Heath [[https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/17-things-you-only-know-9454108]]

Lets try that again shall we

17 things you never knew about Kings Heath

@Aqua55

Family friendly area in Birmingham?

Why is that funny? Look in Stirchley/Bournville too. Load of good facilities, very up and coming, good schools, loads of green spaces and a lovely sense of community (right next door to Kings Heath too)

Harborne is lovely, as is Moseley but you would be hard pressed to find a 4 bed family home in these areas. I think looking at the outskirts of Bourneville or Kings Norton/Cotteridge/Stirchley would suit your budget and these areas are well served by a train line into the city centre. All very family friendly and access to good schools/parks etc.

Sutton Coldfield is nice and has good schools.

@Aqua55

Family friendly area in Birmingham?

What a pathetic comment.

Honestly the majority of the city is a shithole unfortunately

I wouldn’t move there by choice

The nicer areas are edgbaston (harborne side), Sutton Coldfield and Solihull imo

Sutton Coldfield. Good train connections to Birmingham new street. Wylde Green and Four Oaks is on that line too. Also good buses from wylde green and Sutton.

Please ignore Aqua- Birmingham has some lovely family friendly areas

I say that as someone in their early 20s who grew up there and left as soon as I could though, so my perspective is likely different from yours. None of my friends moved back after university either.

@wingsnthat

Honestly the majority of the city is a shithole unfortunately

I wouldn’t move there by choice

The nicer areas are edgbaston (harborne side), Sutton Coldfield and Solihull imo

I used to think that before I moved here, but there are some genuinely lovely parts and it is far greener than you would think. There are so many nice parks. The city centre has had a load of work done in time for the Commonwealth Games and looks brilliant.

It is no more of a shithole than any other big city with less nice parts.

I love it here and it has been a fab place for my children to grow up.

www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/58311290/?search_identifier=cf22b0a6ab4799276f53a258baee7a8f

Sutton Coldfield and boldmere are nice. Sutton park is beautiful

@Blueskythinking123

Sutton Coldfield is nice and has good schools.

Sutton Coldfield is indeed nice, but you have to watch with estate agents in the area. They’re very keen to define parts of Erdington, New Oscott and Great Barr as being Sutton Coldfield - and these areas definitely aren’t as good.

In the top parts of Sutton, you’d need to double your budget. But Hill Hook, Little Sutton and Weeford could all work. Very good train line into the city centre.

Thanks everyone, will have a look at these areas. Planning to go visit this summer and have a look at some areas, look around so these suggestions will be really helpful

Stourbridge or Hayley are 30 mins by train from Snow Hill.

Very family friendly, good schools if you pick the right catchment, near the countryside too.

The nice bits of Birmingham like Harborne tend to be pretty expensive.

Oh and Bearwood. Very much up and coming and good bus links into city centre. Its a bit further out but I think you'll get more for your money. My friend lives near Lightwoods Park its a lovely area.

I lived in erdington as a student. I never really felt safe and I've heard it's got a lot worse in terms of crime.

Many of my colleagues live in Birmingham and it seems that Stirchley, Cotteridge, Bournville, Harbourne, Moseley are all good options to explore, people seem happy with them. I'm not so sure about Kings Heath and Kings Norton, I think they have a mixed reputation.
30-40 minute commute gives you some options of villages in South Staffs, Warwickshire, North Worcestershire even.

I agree with the positive comments about Birmingham, please don’t let the negative ones put you off. It’s a fantastic city.

Slightly further out you could get a good 4 bedroom detached in Lichfield, it’s a lovely small city with frequent trains into New St, I think it takes around 30 minutes.

I think the city centre is beautiful and there’s interesting architecture and great parks, but I wouldn’t build my life there and settle down.

It’s a heavily working class city so the juxtaposition is apparent - you’re never that far away from a bad area. I still find areas like handsworth scary to visit and unsafe as a young woman - it’s almost like stepping into a different city entirely as the community tends to be insular too.

The nicer areas tend to be further out so definitely check your commuting times. There are trains but I think they have been scaled back since COVID and won’t resume their pre-pandemic frequency

Sutton Coldfield
Lichfield

Both have good train links to Birmingham.

It’s a heavily working class city so the juxtaposition is apparent - you’re never that far away from a bad area.

What an awful attitude to have - that an area is bad because working class people live there.