Aibu to not want to move up north

[time2changeCharlieBrown]

My dh has been offered a great job opportunity a high payrise
the catch is we have to relocate up north near Leeds
so my main concerns is the weather
I hate winter, rain and snow and up there seems to get more?
also I joined a few online community groups recently to get a feel for it and learn about the areas and what’s around
all I have mainly seen is awful things about robbery’s and car theft and violent crimes! It’s really putting me off!
we have a son who is not too far off an age to go clubbing and for nights out and even though he is 6 foot 5 he’s very striking looking mixed race (Greek) and I worry about him being a target and our eldest daughter too also very striking ,but both quite naive as we currently live in a small village and don’t often go into big cities and they are at small schools.
my dh is from a different town up north not too far from Leeds still has friends there and says it’s fine and all city’s are the same and the kids will be fine as not in any gangs and unlikely to be. I am a worrier so Aibu to not want to move?

Leeds and Manchester are utterly horrific cities

care to expand?

Erm, the Booths thread has just made me realise. Over 500 posts on how great 'up north' is and no-one has mentioned Booths (supermarket that makes Waitrose look like Tesco). OK, not in Leeds itself but close enough to visit on a day out if you want to, instead of it being a rare novelty during a Lake District holiday.

Longley Farm cottage cheese is an everyday product that's in every supermarket here instead of a rare delicacy that requires a special trip too.

Ignore them with their thinly veiled racism and failure to read the OPs posts where she has said that she does work - from home so not location dependent or needing to change jobs when they move.

I'm like you OP, used to villages etc.

I would move, but I certainly wouldn't be moving to Leeds City Centre! I'd opt for a village within 30-40 mins commute of Leeds tbh, perhaps one with bus/ train links to Leeds for your DC when they get older.

I don't really understand why you have to move to city centre or suburbs, can you not just swap one village or small, market town for another but within commutable distance to Leeds?

I have a biracial adult child myself. Cities are always better for him for his upbringing than the narrow-minded village my parents lived in, even though everybody loved him there

I'm trying to make sense of this comment but can't really. 'Everybody loves' this biracial child, but at the same time they're all narrow-minded?

[Teenagers] need to get out and about in a town or city. So important for their socialisation and opportunities, work, study, learning how to navigate life etc. is also utterly bonkers. I grew up in a village and moved to a city to study when I was 18. Like millions of other people have and do. Imagine thinking that people can't 'navigate life' and socialise or have any opportunities unless they grow up in a city. 🙄

Ooooh, I didn't know there was a Booths thread! I'll have to go and have a read. I live not far from one and pop in regularly. It's fab. Though it seems to me like some of the people in this thread wouldn't believe that there could be possibly be anything posh and lovely in the north. 🙄

It's not small minded to not want to live in London. I love visiting London and am happy to leave it behind to go back home to Yorkshire.

I grew up in Greater London (as it used to be known) and worked in the City and then the West End when I left school and don't miss the crowded commute.

@SallyWD OMG I wonder if we're practically neighbours...

Give me a shout if you’re checking out Alwoodley. I can give you a few tips where to visit 😃

Where will you be staying when you're in Leeds @time2changeCharlieBrown?

@Rummly I agree. I live in Devon but all of my Dads family are up around Milnrow. They are definitely friendlier, more generous and have the best sense of humour. If I didn't have too many ties down here I would love to live near all my relatives 'op North

Oh maybe! Where do you live (roughly)? You don't have to say if you'd rather not.

Your use of the word Londonistan tells me all I need to know about your views- and why you wouldn't like a wonderfully diverse city like Leeds.
I love the fact my children are going to school with children from all over the world. They will not grow up ignorant about other cultures.

"Utterly horrific"? That would fit, say, one of the towns being bombed in Ukraine. Yes, those cities are big, and crowded, and busy, but there are lots of wonderful aspects to them. Do you look at St Paul's, or the view down the Thames, or St James's Park and feel utterly horrified? Or could it be that your use of "Londonistan" reveals rather too much about what you find horrific?

well, OP has £600k, I think she said, so Seacroft or Gipton isn't really relevant to her, is it?

I didn't know there was a Booths thread either, will have to go and look for it now. Our nearest Booths is about 10 miles away but I love the occasional visit and their Christmas Book is something to swoon over.

I always think that Booths is the shop that Waitrose would like to be but it can't come close.

Leeds is not North, its just more North than you're used to (< 200m from London).
I lived in the proper North and travelled down / stayed in Leeds many times and found it a nice place that I'd happily have moved to.
Glad to hear that you're going to visit and form your own opinion.

This one?

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5150889-booths-recommendations-please

Leeds is not North

Yes it is.
I grew up 15 mins from Leeds and it's definitely considered to be in the north of England.

Why do you need to go from Leeds to visit Booths when there are so many local producers within Yorkshire that supply Booths!?

Why does anyone go to a supermarket when they could trawl round dozens of different local producers to look at different bread, different cheeses, meat, veg, beer, ready meals etc etc?

Not all producers sell direct to the public. Or they don't open when people can go. Or they only sell through farmer's markets and prices are higher than even somewhere like Booths. Or people like to look at different things in the same shop.

Or maybe, someone might think 'I'd like to go for a walk on Ilkley Moor and I'll have a look in Booths on the way home. Crazy, I know.

I clocked the racism.

boston spa
menston
horsforth
Guiseley
Adel
Morley

Horsforth has a good community feel and lots going on, but if you might want to head out into the Dales Guiseley and Menston (and Burley in Wharfedale) will feel that bit closer to countryside. Horsforth is about halfway betweeen the centre and the edge. Your budget would get you a good house in any of those. Ilkley, Burley, Menston and Guiseley are all on the Wharfedale Line, currently only two trains an hour to Leeds I think (but you can check that) but a short journey, 15 -20 mins.

I wouldn't rule out villages around Selby as an alternative to York. Direct train from Selby to Leeds, cheaper car parking, less traffic than into York station. Property budget would go further.