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?

Fantastic! Glad it exceeded expectations :)

FYI ilkley is only 35 mins on the train (and you’d walk to it from most residential areas). Ben Rhydding and Burley on the same line but closer to Leeds also good options. Pretty sure Harrogate is similar train time, but because Harrogate is quite big it might take you a while to commute to the train station.

York is a great city, but do look at other train routes into Leeds, too.

I mentioned earlier in the thread that places like Wakefield are sub-15mins to Leeds by (very regular) train and while I wouldn't want to live in any city myself - just personal choice - there are plenty of really stunning rural Yorkshire villages less than 20 mins outside of Wakefield, if that's your thing.

(I only mention Wakefield as an example as it's a station I use quite often).

Honestly, you can look well outside of Leeds itself if you check the transport links.

Glad you liked our city 😃 did you get to Alwoodley? Obvs im biased as I live here but it’s the best part of Leeds 😉

Check out woodlesford, oulton and rothwell. (Leeds)

@time2changeCharlieBrown If you're into Vikings then York is the city for you! It was a Viking settlement. Type 'Jorvik Viking Centre' into YouTube. The castle museum also do re-enactments on the green outside the museum.

York is like Chester but far nicer. Very, very different to Leeds....in a good way

Glad the visit went well. I’ve seen york mentioned a lot. Just factor in how you’d commute - the roads are quite busy and the a64 has fairly frequent accidents, and the section of train line is some of the most expensive outside of the south east.
It is lovely though, and defo worth a visit. perhaps stay there even if you come back into leeds to explore other areas - double bonus then you’ll have ‘done’ some of the commune.

Yes, there's a fast train between Leeds and York but it's expensive and probably not practical for commuting unless you live in the city or in cycling/walking distance.

Woodlesford, Oulton or Rothwell might be good shout if the North Leeds suburbs or further out don't work for you. Also Micklefield, which is more rural but close to Garforth for amenities.

The above would be good for commuting using the park and ride and motorway access.

Ahh too much choice!!! Never realised how big and so many places near! We’ve not seen the Wakefield or York side yet
did more north and east
dh family and couple of friends are Manchester way so thinking be on the side nearer to them so can visit/meet up in a day!?

Yes we drove through but didn’t get to explore properly how’s the commute from there? Do you think there’s enough for children young and teen aged? Seems close to roundhay we went to the park there and really enjoyed it!
can you walk to roundhay (it seems quite close on the map?)

Wakefield city centre is rather run down. The M1 between Wakefield and Leeds is a traffic jam every morning.

I'd consider your day to day needs first if you'll be only travelling to Manchester less frequently.

Where are the other places in Yorkshire DH will need to visit and how often?

You want to avoid crossing Leeds at rush hour if possible. I live on the south side and it's quicker to get pretty much everywhere, even going north because I can get on the motorway a lot faster than coming from places like Horsforth and Roundhay. It's also good for the park and ride into Leeds, as all the sites are on the south side.

Once you're on the motorway, Manchester is much of a muchness wherever you started from. The journey could then be anything from a breeze to a complete nightmare - the M62 and M60 is notoriously congested at times.

If you haven't been for a while, it's undergone quite a lot of regeneration. It's still shabby looking in parts but there's a lot more going for it than there has been in the past.

There's also some real gems in the area, such as the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Barbara Hepworth Gallery, National Mining Museum, Heath village and a lot of the national 'small venue' tours go to the Theatre Royal.

Under no circumstances live in Headingley! I lived there for 3 years as a student - it was incredible fun for an18-20 year old to live but I’m sure would be torture for anyone else to live there…….. unless you enjoy the sound of drunken students all through the night.

Roundhay is a nicer place for families to live if you don’t want to go too far out of the centre of Leeds.

The train from Pudsey which is west of Leeds takes 12 minutes. Cost £4.10. Son doesn't bother taking his car most times because it's so much easier.

"Pudsey - Wikipedia" https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pudsey

From alwoodly the buses are ok. 36 (harrogate bus) is every 10mins into town if you’re in reach of that and there are some other buses 7a /48 which are less frequent. There’s a local park and ride too which I don’t know much about - we live just inside the ring road in moortown (still ls17) - which has more buses again - direct bus to roundhay (2). I think there are lots of families with teenagers with young people, schools have good reputations, uniformed groups are oversubscribed - guiding / scouts etc.

If you haven't been for a while, it's undergone quite a lot of regeneration. It's still shabby looking in parts but there's a lot more going for it than there has been in the past.

I'm not far from Wakefield and have been a few times recently. I used to work in Wakefield and the difference between 1990 Wakefield and today's Wakefield is depressing. I have no idea why they decided to build a new shopping centre. The Ridings has so many empty shops these days, and Boots and M and S look rather shabby compared to the ones in the middle of Leeds or at Meadowhall.

You say Headingley was too students for you hut if you go slightly further up to Weetwood or Adel it's not at all students. They're family areas and very pleasant places to live with easy access to the city centre and the Dale's.

Glad you had a good visit.
I really wouldn't go to the west for visiting family & friends in a day, with the exception of Ilkley area. Weekend travel times by car are fine. I live in
East Yorkshire and we regularly go to Cheshire in a day for relatives. A work trip to Manchester is a straight through train. Definitely no to Wakefield. My choices would be Roundhay or Adel or York villages.

It’s difficult for me to comment on the commute as I work shifts so it’s a bit quieter when I travel. It takes about 20 mins to drive into the city but more like 30-40 with traffic.

Parking can be a bit of a bind admittedly but that’s the same for wherever you live.

Another poster mentioned the buses, they’re ok. There is a park and ride of sorts, it’s a bus terminus with a big car park rather than a park and ride service. The advantage there is there is more than one bus to chose from.

The only disadvantage is were not especially close to the motorway network so your DH would have to set off a bit early to allow for that.

Roundhay would take a while to walk too depending whereabouts you were. But you could cycle and there’s a cycle path you can to partly get to the park. There’s a nice cross country walk to Golden Acre park and round the reservoir if you like things like that

With a good budget, I’d go for far Headingley / Weetwood / West Park area - great transport links into town via Otley Road, quick access to the Ring road. Close to Meanwood park via the Hollies and generally loads to do in the area and great houses if you have a healthy budget.
God, I miss Leeds

I live 8 miles from Leeds city centre. I work in Leeds.
It's a vibrant city with lots of lovely places surrounding it.

It's weather is no worse than most places. Leeds tends to get less snowfall than a lot of areas.

It's very multicultural and your DC should be fine.

Lots of great schools and towns with a real community feel.

The point of mentioning Wakefield was the very frequent, sub-15min trains into central Leeds.

No need to a) actually live in Wakefield or b) drive into Leeds.

It's just an easily accessible and very quick transport link which opens up a lot of villages well outside of Wakefield as possibilities.

Ah yes, and Wakefield Westgate has loads of parking. I'm not sure how much Kirkgate has though.