To ask your views on Hartlepool?

[HartlepoolMover]

Please do not judge firstly.
I am 41 and still live at home. I am Surrey based and single.
I work but don't earn enough to live independently in this area.
A few months back I visited Hartlepool for a wedding and really liked the area. Of course many would say it is run down but I love the beach, the marina and they have a shopping centre.
I have 70K which is my life's worth savings so could definitely be in a position to buy a 1 bed flat there. I have health issues and they have a hospital nearby also. I do a job which will never be made redundant (sorry to be cryptic but don't want to be outed) so no worries with finding work.
I would be alone but I need that. Family issues and being the scapegoat in the family has made me see I need a clean break and to rebuild my confidence.
Just wondered if anyone could provide any feedback.
Thanks in advance.

I live there!! Outskirts like Hart or Seaton Carew are better than towards the actual town....

The running joke is they built the very high walls around the marina to keep the locals out!

It's a long time since I lived locally to comment. You will notice how much friendlier people are compared to Surrey.

If you have a pet monkey, just make sure it doesn’t speak French, at least not in public. Otherwise you’ll be fine.

A lot of my family live there. It is very run down but improving. The marina and beach are nice, as you say.

They did, of course, once hang a monkey

Monkey was hung in my street!!

Been some 30 odd years ago since I lived near there. Was a dive then, the outskirts would be better.

The monkey hanging tale is a story nothing else.

Didn't stop someone heckling a player from the local team when sent off and being a bit slow to leave the pitch- 'come on now, you could hang a monkey quicker than this'.

I lived and worked there for a short time many years ago. I didn't care for it much but like every where it had good and bad people.

My then fiancé, a Glaswegian, used to visit me there and I honestly couldn't repeat some of the things he said about the place. He hated it with a vengeance.

I've never been back and the media coverage it gets makes it out to be a dreadful place. Which is really unfair on the decent people there and the decent areas .

With 70k deposit you have a lot of options.

You could also look at Redcar and Saltburn nearby if you like the area.

I would look a bit further away: Saltburn, Whitby, Whitley Bay. You'd still get the beach but nicer places to live. The properties would be more but £70k is a decent deposit in the North East.

I live in the North East and have visited Hartlepool. Could you take a week to explore the area? It's interesting that you got a good feeling when you visited and I think that's important. Often Northern towns have a real sense of community and helping each other out which might be what you picked up on? I don't know about Hartlepool specifically but I get the impression there's not as much pressure on services as in the South so it's easier to get doctors appointments, etc. Hopefully some locals will see this and give you more specific information.

Here’s how to do Hartlepool

Make an offer and you’ll have change left over to improve the interior

You’ll be living in the nicest part of town, the marina

It’s mortgage free living baby

If you get fed up of Hartlepool you fire her up, pop out the lock and off to new shores

But what a great story! People have had over 200 yrs of comedy from it. Middlesbrough people being called smoggies or smog monsters. Fantastic.

"One overcoat colder than Manchester" according to my family who live there.

Hartlepool has good and bad parts and people like anywhere else. The coastal location is a big positive, it’s also close to countryside areas too, and has good transport links.

DH has family in that area, I like the marina area in Hartlepool but the actual town is quite run down. I would prefer further north like Sunderland, South Shields or even Newcastle.
People are friendly though and cost of living is lower.

Very bad area which is reflected in the property prices. You couldn’t pay me to visit let alone move there (and I’m pretty local so am familiar with the area)

Why not come to the North East for a week or so and have a look at some different areas. You can afford a 1 bed flat in some nicer places then Hartlepool that will still have the bits you like such as Marina, beach etc. I bet you would love Seaham.

I like the ne and considered it myself (circumstances changed) there's nicer bits so I would definitely rent for six - twelve months so you buy where you want to be and potentially have work done on the place if needed before moving in

Born and raised there, and still live near-ish.

Yes there’s bad parts, but that’s true of anywhere. I certainly wouldn’t agree that the surrounding areas are any better, and many mentioned upthread will be more expensive (you’re not going to find anything in a good area of Whitby, Sunderland or Newcastle that’s anywhere close price wise to a good area in Hartlepool).

The expensive area of Hartlepool is West Park, but there are many lovely areas with affordable housing. Best thing is to visit and check out the different areas.

Whoever suggested Whitley Bay, it's pleasant, but you wouldn't get anything for £70,000. It would be a good deposit, however.

The OP mentioned Hartlepool because of proximity to a specialist hospital, James Cook, I presume. It's quite a drive down from Newcastle, I take a disabled friend 2 or 3 times a year, to the limb centre. (Much better than the one in Newcastle).

Course you would. The 70k is a great deposit for the region. The OP works so could get a mortgage with the 70k as a deposit.

Which is exactly what I said about Whitley Bay.

Is that just a myth?

I have 100% believed that story all of my life!

Its a very old story and some people think it has got muddled over time with them actually hanging a 'powder monkey' which was the name for the small boys running gunpowder about on board warships.