Moving to West Midlands?

[namechange110]

Posting here for traffic. We're looking to relocate to West Midlands from a smaller town in the North.

We're south asian so want to know areas with a nice mix of cultures (areas other than Birmingham) and good school area as well as we have a young son.

We'd look to rent initially, looking for a 2/3 bed with a max of £1000 a month but ideally at the £800 mark.

Any ideas on good decent areas? Any areas to absolutely avoid?

Do you think you’ll be looking at Grammar schools? If so, it’s crucial to live in Birmingham itself, or Sutton Coldfield as the West Midlands Grammar schools as they are now known, have now introduced catchment areas, simply because when it went on marks there were children all over the Midlands, even as far away as Derby, taking places from kids within the city, even though they got the required score. There are also the Warwickshire Grammar schools as well (which would be Alcester Grammar as you have a son) but you need to live within a 16 mile radius of Stratford for that catchment area.

parts of Worcestershire are lovely, bordering on south Birmingham, as well as getting towards Warwick but good school areas means ££ rent.
the villages surrounding Wolverhampton are lovely, but Wolverhampton itself isn’t great. Stourbridge is somewhere else with lovely areas and not bad schools either.

lots of people like Solihull but it’s mega money.
but truthfully, for best mix of cultures, Birmingham is going to be best - Kings Heath, Moseley, Stirchley, all nice areas in South Birmingham

@MabelMoo23 this is really helpful! Solihull is very expensive which is why I was edging away from Birmingham but thanks for suggesting those other areas. We will eventually buy after a year or two and selling our house up north.

Whats Wolverhampton? Or Coventry likev

Wolverhampton has got some dodgy areas but there are some lovely parts. I.live in one of the less desirable areas unfortunately🙄Tettenhall and Finchfield are nice. There are other areas,but they would be even pricier. If u are thinkin about commuting into Birmingham, the traffic around Wolverhampton is terrible,although u can get a train or a tram.

I'd recomend Wolverhampton. It's in your budget, has a strong cultural mix and good schools. It's got a bad rep but is pretty friendly, well situated and an all round decent place to live.

Wolverhampton city centre isn’t great, but lots of really really lovely villages directly outside such as Codsall, Perton, Penn, Tettenhall. Really close to the city centre and transport links, but a villagey feel. Womborne, which is a village in between Stourbridge and Wolverhampton is also lovely.
Wolverhampton is directly on the M6 / M54 and has fast trains to London Euston so great transport links

I can’t comment on Coventry unfortunately as I don’t really know it well enough

Think Moseley is nice. Quite bohemian. It is expensive though

Leamington Spa is lovely, but the rents might be slightly higher than you want, unless you feel you can take that financial hit for a couple of years. Honestly, I'd probably go for Birmingham - it's the most culturally diverse place of all the towns and cities around there, and parts like Moseley and Edgebaston are pretty nice.

I live in the Bilston part of Wolverhampton, it gets a bad rep but I like it. There are plenty of good schools mixed with not so good Moseley park has a much better reputation now and I know lots of people who like Khalsa academy. You also have the links to the metro and there's the market and a variety of shops.

I'm from Worcester. Nice place. Very good schools, both public and private depending on what you're looking for, health centres, gyms, easy commute to B'ham.

I live in Leamington and it’s lovely but you’d struggle to get anywhere here within budget. A lot of locals move to Rugby when trying to get more for their money so worth looking that way. Look at Southam too. The villages towards Kineton are also nice.

Most of Coventry is horrible. Nicest part is Earlsdon (IMO).

happy to answer any other questions.

Wolverhampton, Walsall, Redditch and Coventry all fit your budget and criteria. I would pick Redditch out of all of them (albeit a bit soulless)

South Coventry: Earlsdon (pricey) or Finham (ok) are the better areas. Finham school is super desirable. Lovely walks and a huge park nearby. Neighbourhood is nice as well. I get the WMNow (police newsletter) and I think there was one burglary last month and a couple of cars taken so crime wise is quite low.
But the town centre is dire! I travel into Birmingham or Solihull for decent shops. Even Leamington shops are a bit shit now.

Think you’ll struggle even in north Solihull for that rental price

I'd avoid Leamington/ Solihull as the area doesn't get you much for your money and both are struggling with huge upsurges in casual crime now that restrictions are over, I wouldnt want to be bringing teens into that environment.

Earlsdon is pretty crap in my experience(sorry to person above) but it's for those that want to live a student lifestyle rather than a family one, the otherside of the railway (i think its called St Michaels between the park and until you get towards finham) IS a family area but the rental market is quite thin/ pricey there. Family wise Coventry is pretty bad if you're not local anyway but maybe youve got people you know already(?) It helps if so. As above Mosely in Birmingham is OK but the prices are probably more than what your after. To be honest the villages around Coventry/ Birmingham will be a little steep on that budget because with access to the motorway everywhere is easy to travel to.

Leamington Spa is lovely but not very multi cultural. My friend is south Asian and feels like she sticks out like a sore thumb and experiences racism.

South coventry has excellent schools, good diversity and good travel links to M6/M40/M69. A45 straight into Birmingham & since they were awarded city of culture, there's been a lot of investment in the city centre and parks/leisure areas/entertainment venues.

Styvechale, Finham, allesley and Cheylesmore (cheapest area out of the 4) are all good options

You won't get anywhere around Birmingham for that budget so I don't know why people are suggesting it, let alone Solihull.

My friend is house hunting currently. Basic 1 bed flats around the city centre are £1000pm.

I live in Handsworth and you couldn't rent any sort of house for your budget.

I don't live in Wolverhampton but I quite like it, there's a bit of a hipster thing happening with the development at the lighthouse cinema, the art galleries are amazing. The tram/train connections are good. If I couldn't afford Birmingham I would definitely look there.

I'd recommend Bearwood. Handy for Birmingham, you'll be able to rent within your budget and it's very diverse. Primary schools are good and the high schools are pretty decent too. It's also within catchment for the grammars.

I grew up in Coventry, it's not very nice. You'd struggle on that budget to get anywhere in a nicer area to be honest. I'd look at Birmingham.

I live in Leamington and it’s extremely multicultural. My three children (White British) are all the minority (ethnically) within their friendship circles. I think it’s absolutely fabulous that they have such a diverse group of peers.

The (outstanding) primary school that my best friend works in (South Leamington) has 60% of its pupils who have English as an Additional Language.

Halesowen could be worth a try.
It's between Birmingham and Stourbridge.
Very good schools.
Predominantly white but a strong Asian contingent.
V Rasta chess to Birmingham but no train. You'd want the Windsor or Earls catchment areas.

That should say very easy access to Birmingham. Not "V Rasta" 🤦🏻‍♀️

Also if you don't mind being slightly further out of Birmingham then Kidderminster is great value and more rural.

It really isn't. She's lived in Leicester, Birmingham and London and experiences far more racism in Leamington. Her children are the only 1 or 2 Asian children in their year. I imagine like anywhere different parts have different mixes but to say Leamington as a whole is multicultural just isn't true.

Look at kidderminster we have a tight knit Asian community rents are reasonable the schools are decent the town is nothing special but we have good transport links