Moving to Bath

[LeMoo]

Posting for traffic

I'm thinking about a move to Bath, I've only visited there so hoping for advice about realism of doing so

It looks a great place to live, if expensive, with a good combination of country & city life. Lots of art & culture.

What are doctors & hospital like?

I work in IT project management, mostly from home, but don't know anything about the sector down there so any advice would be great. Currently on outskirts of London.

I've never lived in Bath but live in Bristol and have worked in Bath for many years so know it quite well.

Obviously it's a very beautiful place, glorious architecture, lots of cultural activities and access to fantastic countryside. The downsides are price - property is eyewateringly expensive, traffic (appalling)and tourists......so. many. tourists pretty much all year round. Getting around town is difficult and shopping in your lunch hour tortuous because of the volume of people in one small space. Don't overestimate the frustration of how busy it is.

Other people have said Bath is cliquey, snooty, lonely...I never found that.

I worked in IT in Bath and would say it's a good place for IT people. There was a phrase when I worked there that the west country is Silicon Gorge. Plenty of work in Bristol too which is a 10 minute train ride away.

My suggestion would be rent an airbnb in Bath for a week in June or at Christmas when the Christmas market is on (fifty sheds of shite and a million tourists drinking egg nog). Then live like you'd live if you were there permanently. Shop, try to get a table at a restaurant on Saturday lunchtime, walk from one end of the town to the other at 1pm and see how you get on. It's a joy of a place if you can stand the Jane Austen/afternoon tea sea of humanity and the students!

@Churchview thank you so much for replying. Great to hear it has a strong IT sector..I'd be looking to move as part of a 5 year plan so have time to think carefully about property prices. Tourists don't bother me too much but I need to think about how busy a place I want to live in so thank you for that.

I like that it has good connections to Bristol & London and a big part of its appeal is its beauty, I'm a country girl at heart but need easy access to well equipped towns for various reasons, I'm hoping I'll find a balance there.

I live near Bath.

Royal United Hospital is your NHS port of call.

Just down the road in Corsham lives the MoD. Plenty of Blue Chip IT companies there. Cisco & Juniper are flavour of the month.

I’m with Airbus Defence & Space stpping Milsats falling to earth.

Thank you, @FruTbun that's great - reading that there are so many IT opportunities down there makes it feel realistic and I'm excited!

What's the rep of the Royal United? I'll research it but nothing beats local opinions.

Bath is beautiful, but as @Churchview said, it is busy, expensive and traffic is really bad. There is a Clean Air Zone in place and a 'ring of steel' being built around the centre to exclude vehicles. Most areas around the centre are now 20mph zones and the main routes almost always very busy.

Despite this, it really is a lovely place to live. Stunning, historic, city benefits with direct access to gorgeous countryside too. There are some cheaper areas, such as Twerton/Southdown, but they are cheaper for a reason... Oldfield Park is good for families but there are also lots of students and parking is restricted. Larkhall and Weston (on opposite outskirts of Bath) retain a village-y feel so can be a bit cliquey but they are mostly calm, suburban spaces with access to local shops and good schools.

I've lived here for about 12 years now, used to live in a town about 10 miles away. If you don't need to be IN Bath itself, then Corsham, Keynsham, Chippenham, Saltford, Midsomer Norton are all relatively close (approx 30 min drive max) and would be a bit cheaper to buy.

I rarely choose to go into Bath for shopping, unless it's very early in the day to avoid parking difficulties and too many people. There are Park and Rides but the queues for the buses going back are always miles long. Plenty of places are walkable, though lots of hills so you need good calves :)

The Royal United Hospital is good. Local GPs can be a bit hit and miss, and it can be hard to get an emergency appointment.

I think the advice to rent a place and live like a resident for a week is a very good one! Where are you coming from? That can have a big impact on how you see the place. I had a friend who moved from Blackpool to Bath and she just couldn't get over how beautiful and green it is.

Hospital is awful in my experience. Beautiful city.
Commute to London is long and not doable on a regular basis in my opinion.
Very little ethnic diversity.

Thank you @Readysteadygotoschool I'm in Woking and don't like it. The only thing keeping me here is work & friends, I don't want to leave friends but I can't spend the rest of my working life here.

My family are from Devon, no one is left down there now but I long to be in the south west, I really don't want to buy a house anywhere else.

But practicalities...I have a disability so I need to be somewhere accessible in terms of amenities and social life, or I'll end up isolated. And I also need to be sure I can rely on local hospital if I need it.

The hills + traffic in Bath might be an issue mobility-wise but given that I'm not looking to up sticks right away I've got time to visit more & see how I get on - really like the idea of a renting for a week.

In a dream world I'd have a lovely house by the sea with a good job market, easy access to a thriving arts & culture scene & a great hospital up to an hours drive away!

Yeah I don't think I'd commute to London, I hate commuting from Woking! But it's doable for day trips or weekends.

Would you share your experiences about the hospital? Cqc rate it as needing improvement

I live in Chipping Sodbury (south glos) it's about a 25 minute drive from bath but has a regular fast train service from yate train station half a mile down the road. CS is a beautiful 13 century market town with a stunning historic high street, house prices are very reasonable, good shopping centre in Yate with a cinema, restaurants etc.about half a mile away. Easy access to Bristol and Bath. I've lived here for 40 years and I wouldn't live anywhere else. Could be worth a look for you? Local hospital is Southmead in Bristol which I've always found to be really good. Local Doctors surgeries also good.

I live just outside Bath and worked in the city centre for years. The traffic is appalling and tourist crowds do get in the way. If Bath rugby are playing then the city is rammed. Completely.

I just noticed you say you have a disability. It’s a very old place and not very disabled accessible. Lots of uneven pavements, steps up into shops, steps inside them etc.

The RUH is ok overall. My family and I have always been happy with the treatment we’ve had. It’s impossible to park though which makes it a nightmare to attend. All side street parking is either taken first thing or residents only. Long waits at A&E at the moment but that seems par for the course at the moment. The main hospital buildings are showing their age but there is currently more building work going on for a new cancer centre.

I live in Bath and we have lived in many places Canterbury, Oxford, London, Windsor, St Albans, Bristol

I love it- it's big , has plenty of life, enough normality to have 'ordinary things' (Poundland, Greggs, Superdrug etc) as well as lots of nice individual posh shops - masses of cafes, bars and restaurants all price points- and you can be in beautiful countryside within 5 minutes- with sheep and hills. Well connected on train to all kinds of places. It's my favourite place we've lived and had 9 years here . I've also found it friendly and remarkably unsnooty.

The downsides are it's big enough to have issues, there is an element of homelessness - some genuine, some not- as a fair few chancers see it Asa place to try it on with tourists. Struggles to keep the pigeon and seagull shit down to normal levels, It does have big council estates- it's not all pretty Georgian houses (personally I think that's a bonus- keeps it a bit more real) - it has masses of tourists all year round- I get used to it and accepted it's the price to pay for plenty of life- we have Bath festival on at moment - book readings etc and live music in streets- several theatres, 2 big music venues and several smaller ones. Lots of students too- so I disagree with someone who said it was old- it's very mixed. A nightmare in my opinion between nov 24th and dec 12th due to Xmas market - great atmosphere but pain for residents- I disagree about traffic- can be bad at times , but quiet after 6.30pm and I've had it just as bad in Bristol and Oxford etc
Great modern and safe car park at Southgate.

I've used the RUH several times and compared to say Wrexham park it's chalk and cheese- I found it good within obviously the current constraints- we have a huge and new cancer centre too - very modern. Funded partly by Dyson ( can't stand the bloke but will give him his due) my GP practice is very thorough and not too bad to be seen.

Housing can be very pricey depending if buying or renting - but it's still possible to rent a nice 2 bed flat here for about £1350 or a 3 bed terraced fir around £1600. - on buying- there are cheaper areas - ex councils for around £380,000 or decent 3 bed semis around £550,000 in pleasant areas. Other areas worth looking at are Bradford on Avon ( easy into Bath as direct train link plus bus) - very pretty place 7 miles away (and cheaper) corsham and box are nice too -same kind of distance but not on train- although a good and regular bus route

Good luck x

As someone else mentioned and I forgot to add traffic is awful on rugby match days- those days we tend to toddle off to Devizes or Bradford on Avon or wells etc