Cities between London and Birmingham- Recommendations

[sig0992]

Our family is moving to the UK for work, and I would like to know if you have suggestions for cities between London and Birmingham. My husband will be working in the outskirts of Birmingham, and he’ll have to go to the office in person about 2-3 times a week. I’ll be working in London, and I’ll need to go to work in person once a week. We have two small children so we are looking for a nice, safe place with good schools. I also need good public transport to London since I plan to go to work by train, and my husband will drive to Birmingham.

I looked on Google Maps and tried to figure out the options, but people have so many opinions about the places that I felt overwhelmed. I appreciate any recommendations! Thank you!

With that brief, I’d personally move to Birmingham! Lots of nice areas and decent schools. I know people are snobby about Brum, but I’m definitely a city person and I think it’s great. We moved from London just over a year ago with two small children. Husband now has a 20 minute walk to work daily. I commute to London once or twice a week by train.

I agree with this! Birmingham is an arse ache to drive around, I would aim to make your husband’s commute as straightforward as possible!

You'll have to be more specific. If "outskirts of Birmingham" means "Solihull" then somewhere along the Chiltern line would be appropriate. If it's Sutton Coldfield then Lichfield might be worth looking at. If Marston Green then you might want somewhere near Birmingham Airport (convenient for HS2 when it opens) or somewhere halfway to London like Rugby.

I’m in Stratford upon Avon and I agree with those that suggest Leamington spa. You could opt into the grammar schools in Stratford at secondary if you wanted to go down that route. It’s a lovely town, easy to get to Coventry or Birmingham if you want city experiences.

If you want good schools you need to start looking at specific areas, not just a particular city or town. A school on one side of town might be excellent, another one a couple of miles away could be mediocre.
Also need to research how you're get door-to-door for the commute. A lot of people move to where I grew up because there's a decent line in to London, but forget to add travel between home & station and travel to the office at the other end, and end up doing about 45mins more travel at each end of the day than the 'hour into London' that the estate agent mentioned...and the estate agents never mention that the fast train is standing-room-only by the time it gets to us, so that's fun.

Cambridge is pretty perfect. It's a city but not massive. My husband used to commute to London from Cambridge. I drive all over for my job and occasionally to Birmingham (traffic in Birmingham pretty problematic at rush hour though. Trains might be better!)

Great schools in and around Cambridge (we did pretty well in both state/comp and private in the recent times ratings!)

I recommend!.

Another vote for Leamington Spa. Train to Marylebone is about 1hr 20 (and to Birmingham New St 30min). As has been mentioned, Warwick and Leamington are joined at the hip, and whilst I'm fond of Warwick, Leamington punches above its weight for good cafes and restaurants.

Both towns have good schools, nice parks, swimming pools/leisure centres. Leamington has a 6-screen cinema, Warwick has an amazing castle (I can thoroughly recommend an annual ticket for the school holidays). Stratford-upon-Avon is a 30min drive if theatre is your thing. The Cotswolds is good for a daytrip.

It really does depend what side of Birmingham your husband's office is. East or south, no problem from Leamington. North or west - bit of a horror show.

@sig0992 would you share your budget for a house? That might make quite a difference.

Some suggestions on here are well worth looking at, others not so. I'd not want to commute from Cambridge to Birmingham three times a week. By car it would take a lot more than 2 hours.

YY also where is "outskirts of Brum"? South of the city or north? it makes a massive difference.

If it was north, for example, then I agree with a PP suggestion of Lichfield, pretty short drive to the north of Brum and a quick and CHEAP (cheaper anyway) train to London for your once-a-week commute.

I think you need to start with the Birmingham commute and work from there. And yes remember to look at prices. Leicester has very quick trains to London but they are £££.

Stick to the south side of town - there are more character properties here.
For secondary schools, the only one I'd swerve is Wykham Park.
Warriner and Blessed George Napier are OK. Don't know about NOA.

There's always Milton Keynes.

IME it's best if at least one of you doesn't have a horror commute. The traffic around Birmingham and the West Midlands is heavy and unpredictable. I moved to a nice village that was "only" 25 miles/30 mins from my office on the outskirts of Birmingham - and spent 10 years battling a journey on the M42 that was often an hour and up to 1.5 hours on a bad evening. If he has a relatively short/ easy journey or even a public transport option it makes everyone's week better.

On the other hand, as long as you are within say 10/15 mins drive of the right station, there are many with a good service into London Euston or Marylebone. Tamworth, Lichfield, Rugby, Hampton in Arden, etc. This would be a shorter/earlier journey so unlikely to be so affected by traffic.

Rail map: https://www.londonnorthwesternrailway.co.uk/media/3413/download?inline

Yes I agree, you need to think about how you’re going to commute- drive, rail, something else?

If you need to get to London and Birmingham on the train the LNW line links Euston to Birmingham pretty quickly. It goes through Berkhamsted, Leighton Buzzard, Milton Keynes, Wolverton and Rugby, all of which are nice/ have nice areas and schools very close. But it depends which commute you’d be prioritising as Berkhamsted is obviously much better for London, Rugby much better for Birmingham.

I also love Leamington Spa but it’s an absolute pain to commute into London by train. Oxford is also great and good for both cities but I’d want to be walking distance to the train as the traffic is terrible and it’s becoming impossible to drive in some areas- but that means very high house prices.

I think in your position I’d be prioritising one or the other (Birmingham is a fab city with loads going on) and really working out the details of the commute before committing. I’d also seriously consider renting first for a year.

Also if you could give an idea of your budget and ideal areas that would also really help- if you’re looking for somewhere with a bit of a metropolitan buzz somewhere like leamington or Oxford would be better (but you’ll probably end up in a smaller house) a small market town where you can get garages and a bigger house/ garden, somewhere like Banbury or Leighton Buzzard would be better.

Where do you need to get to in London? It can take an hour to cross in some cases, so getting the right mainline station can make a lot of difference.

I like Cambridge but the commute to Birmingham three times a week would be hideous surely? It’s nearly 3 hours one way on the train and costs £80 and I can’t imagine that driving around rush hour would be any better, plus then you have to park. I agree London once a week would be do-able but the Birmingham angle would be really tricky, unless I am missing something?

Stratford on Avon?

You can't get direct trains from Stratford to London. You'd need to change at Leamington Spa.

Another vote for living in Brum! Train to London is easily do-able once a week.

I’ve just recalled an old friend of mine lived in Berkhamsted as he commuted to London and his wife to Solihull - but this was daily so the emphasis was different. Both had killer commutes imho - his was 1.5 hours on train and tube, hers was the same but in a car.

I think the advice to focus on Brum is good in this case.

I will also add we love living in Birmingham, it's not the most hyped up of cities but we're very happy here.

I actually really enjoy my weekly commute to London! I go early so it take ten minutes to get to New Street via taxi, the train is never packed, and it’s usually on time. I just sit for 1h 20 drinking hot coffee and listening to a podcast and staring out of the window. Which, with two toddlers at home, is basically like a weekly spa experience. 😂

Yes, I'd live in Birmingham and get the train to London once a week. Though with the caveat that (as with any big city) you do need to pick your suburb!

Brum is a great city though - I went there for uni, and although life has taken me elsewhere, I would happily move back there if it worked for us as a family.