Would you prefer to retire to the countryside or city centre?

[Faciadipasta]

Inspired by another thread on here I'm just curious to see people's thoughts. I'm not due to retire for another 20 years or so but really hadn't considered doing so in the centre of London (or maybe another big city) but now after the other thread I'm thinking what a bloody brilliant idea!
I'd always just thought people tend to retire to the seaside or countryside before. So what do others think? City or countryside? And why?

In my 50s (I can dream) or 60s (oh yeah, I can dream that one too!) the countryside while I'm mobile and active. In my 70s and beyond city centre

Small city or large town. By the sea would be great but not a dealbreaker.

I like the small city I live in now and could see myself living here forever tbh!

PS Definitely NOT London (or Manchester, or Birmingham) or countryside, either!

I can’t afford to retire 😳😳

My dream would be to retire in the centre of london. I can just imagine lazy afternoons in St James Park, Afternoon tea’s, Theatre Matinee’s. I can’t imagine retiring in the countryside. I grew up in a small town in North Wales and now live outskirts of london, and I absolutely prefer the city.

I’ll be staying in London

Retiring to the country is a really bad idea, much as it seems idylic. In my job, pretty much every day I have to try and help patients who can't get to medical appointments because they no longer drive and the public transport is woefully inadequate. Or they are lonely and there are no social activities for them locally, and they can't get to the nearest place 5 miles away because of transport issues. Support services are few and far between, etc. You get the picture.

I've lived in the countryside and loved it, but it's no place for the elderly unless they have very supportive family, preferably who they live with. Retiring to a city or to the edge of a large town is much more sensible.

Coastal. Ideally lots of green space but too.

My ideal would be somewhere by the sea in a community large enough to have decent health services (GP, dentist, pharmacy) and a general store and pub in walking distance. With a cinema, leisure centre and large supermarket/shopping centre within 5 miles. Oh - and decent public transport. And a takeaway which does home delivery .

However - unless DS also planned to move there I will stay here in the middle of the country where my family and friends are, and where I have all the things above. I will prioritise my finances so that I get to go to the coast as much as possible though.

I wouldn't want to live in either a city or the countryside. I don't like cities and I hate the idea of having to travel miles to access basic services, especially when public transport is likely to be poor. No good as you get older .

For context we are late 50s and have had these discussions .

I live rurally. No amenities, no public transport. I think I would like to live in a town and be able to walk to buy a pint of milk etc but I'm not sure. I can't imagine traffic noise, people walking pst etc

Very tricky as I wouldn't want o love house and hate it.

The rural areas also have to pick up the tab for the elderly retirees moving to their area, often pricing out local young families in the process.

even if they are wealthy and can pay for their own social care they don't pay towards the increased pressure on GP surgeries, district nursing teams, ambulances, occupational therapy services and hospitals. All of which are underfunded in rural areas because of the low density of the population, but that population is increasingly made up of older people.

there's no buses or taxis so as soon as you stop driving you are reliant on NHS transport or the over stretched GPs doing house calls. Delivery services are patchy at the best of times and in winter people can't get in or out to you easily if it snows. So it often requires mountain rescue to drop in.

in many areas over a certain age you don't even have to contribute fully to council tax.

once you lose access to a car you lose access to a social life in the country.

and the younger locals who are still there will do everything in their power to help out in these situations but it's a bit galling when the local village school has closed because most of the young families can live there any more due to wealthy city retirees taking up the housing.

Sounds perfect @PuzzledObserver

@Scrowy Care to elaborate?

A small town or city at a push, I live in the countryside and as others have said its not the place to retire. I live in a rural area of the Highlands, its beautiful and lovely but it's not a great place for retirement, limited healthcare or traveling a long way to get it, no public transport amongst other things.

Centre of a small functioning town with decent facilities like a pool and theatre and with a railway station would suit me,

Yep! Just look two posts above yours

But selfish= only thinking of their own happiness and wishes and not about the impact a high influx of wealthy elderly retirees with no local family connections has on rua areas

Idiots = people completly clueless about the realities and limitations of moving to a rural area to retire and no plan for how they intend to manage with no car and no care.

Currently in the countryside and will remain so to be honest, I've always loved it, but I will be putting things in place to make sure I'm supported as much as poss, if and when I do retire. It's fab around here and can't imagine being anywhere else!

I'm only mid 40's but my plan is to make sure to see my wonderful DC in to adulthood, give them as much support as I can. But to be quite honest, once that is done as much as possible and in the event of ill health, I do not want to be a burden and will happily shift of this mortal coil of my own choosing.

Countryside for me. Can’t see me ever wanting to move back to a city. Not sure how that makes me selfish (according to one poster).

Added bonus of this nearby - can’t ever imagine swapping it for city life.

I'd like a compromise. I would hate to live in the centre of any city, especially a large one. I love peace and quiet and my own space. However, as many others upthread have pointed out, if you live very rurally then you are going to come unstuck if you can't drive for some reason - which will happen to you eventually, after retirement. Then you'd be buggered.

I'd like to be in a small town or village, near a public transport link of some kind, so that I will be able to get myself to and from medical appts and get shopping when I'm old and frail.

I will make a home wherever I end up when I can no longer work.

I thought about Brighton with the coast and shops but with the option of visiting London easily.

Live in a village now with lots of things for older people to do, so that would be ok. But I'd probably want somewhere smaller with less garden.

Or I'd move to the nearest town and live in the centre with no car.
Probably a terrace house.

I’ve just left Santander and it struck me that I’d never seen so many elderly people in a busy city.

all the apartments are located above the shops, bars and cafes

makes sense as the elderly can get out into the Center easily and still be part of society without being cut of due to transport issues

CrustyFlake When you’re elderly your hearing will have faded & you find it peaceful in the city center

We’re ear;y 50s and just moved now youngest is 19. We’ve moved back home amd originallj thought we would go back to the countryside for a bit then into a town later. The whole moving thing was awful and I am never doing it again.

We’re in a town with shops around the corner, station in walking distance, opposite a bus stop and next to a park with other big open spaces just around the corner. It’s working really well. Countryside is a few minutes drive with farm shops etc so easily accessible. 10 minutes and I can be in my friend’s kitchen looking over a farm.