Moving to Bristol at the end of October...advice needed!

[MCT76]

Hi there,

I have been lurking for the past couple of weeks trying to gather information about Bristol as we have decided to move there at the end of October. My husband, myself and our baby (he will be 11 months old when we move) are looking for a house or spacious flat not too far from the centre, with good local parks and baby groups as well as decent transport links.

At the moment, we've narrowed the search down to the following areas:
Fishponds, Downend, Filton, Horfield, Stoke Gifford and Keynsham.
Are there any rough parts we should be aware of? Which one of these would you recommend for a young family? Are there any other areas we should be looking at?

Any tips or advice would be much appreciated! We don't know anyone in the city so we would also be interested in meeting new people. We visited Bristol last year and loved it so much we decided to take the plunge. We have been living in Chichester, West Sussex for the past few years and are ready for a change.

Thank you in advance!

Looking at your requirements and the areas you have listed, I would say Horfield would be the best choice, maybe also adding st andrews and Bishopston, or Westbury on Trym/ Henleaze if you can afford it!! Keynsham is a good family town, with great schools for future reference, but it is quite some distance from the centre of Bristol. It is well positioned if you would like easy access to Bath as well which is a lovely city. Stoke Gifford is about 7 miles from centre, although close to shopping at The Mall, cribbs Causeway and is again a good family area. Close to Bradley Stoke which has a leisure centre, library, some shops, lots of baby/toddler groups, but not overly convenient for centre of town if that's what you are after. Filton, Fishponds and Downend are closer in to centre, of the 3 I think Downend would be my preference - I would say they are slightly cheaper to live in than the other areas mentioned. None of the aress you have selected are notoriously rough if that helps! Fishponds and Filton are probably the least affluent - but quite a generalisation before I offend anyone.

I agree horfield sounds best for you but it is quite studenty. Lots for young families to do.

Fishponds or Keynsham would be cheapest I think but not as mics, especially fishponds. Downend is nicer but more expensive but very family friendly. Has good links into town but when we lives there I found it very boring with limited places to go to without driving but it does have lovely parks and plenty of shops. But more pound land type shops than independent shops like horfield has. Horfield would be my preference.

Keynsham is pretty expensive if you live on the 'wellsway school' side. But a good family town. I personally prefer it to more central places, but that's because I'd rather live out of the city now! You need to come and have a look at each of the areas really to get a feel. Will you need to commute to work anywhere? That could make a difference as to where you choose, traffic is pretty terrible during rush hours!

Thanks for the replies! Horfield, Fishponds and Downend sound quite good but at the moment we are looking to rent for 1-2 years and then buy so to start with, we would like to be relatively close to the centre and amenities, especially by foot as I don't drive and I push the buggy everywhere.
My husband is looking for work so we don't know where he will be commuting to yet and probably won't know for 1 or 2 months. Too central would be too manic traffic-wise, though.
Our absolute priority is safety and family-friendly, with green areas and loal shops nearby. The rest is not essential but I guess we need to explore a bit more. We are going this Friday to view a couple of houses and will try to get a feel for the different areas.

None of the areas in your OP are anywhere near the centre of Bristol, depending on what you mean by the centre. You certainly couldn't walk from any of them.

We live in Filton, which isn't a cheap place to live. Unfortunately it has a huge student population, as does Horfield, so you tend to find that the "family" houses and larger flats are snapped up by student landlords. We have a nice park, leisure centre with swimming pool, community halls and a train station. There is a local Sainsburys superstore and we are getting a new large Asda by Xmas. We are a short drive from Cribbs Causeway which has cinema, eating places and the larger shops.

If it isn't rush "hour" which lasts from 7 am - 9.30 and from 3 pm - 7 pm it has easy access to the M4, M5 and A38, but during those times it is a car park.

We were warned off Fishponds when we moved here. Make of that what you will.

I live in Horfield, which is quite a big area. I live Glos Road/Ashley Down Road way, and it's not excessively studenty. Lots of amenities such as shops, cafe, parks but about a 40 minute walk into town (or lots of buses).

Why do you want to be close to the centre? Bristol city centre isn't all that tbh. Also it's not a particularly pretty city, especially compared to somewhere like Chichester (I used to live in Selsey).

Ideally, we would like to be in an area with a bit of diversity. Chichester is pretty but very middle-English and middle-class which is not really our cup of tea.
For me, it is more important to have playgroups, shops and parks for Monday to Friday and at weekends, we can visit the centre for museums, markets, etc. My aim is to have a market stall sellng Latin American food but that will hopefully happen in a couple of years when Ds is in nursery/preschool.
Captain: can I ask why you were warned off Fishponds? Was that a while ago? I read it's being regenerated and it's a lot nicer than it was. It seemed ok to us but we were only driving around for a short while s it's hard to tell.

I live in Fishponds and would also be interested to know why someone would warn you off. Certain parts of it are a bit grim but that's the same for almost anywhere. Parks, yes, transport, yes and big and fairly cheap housing.

We moved in 2009 and were told to avoid Fishponds. Not knowing the area we did so, but having driven through it recently it seemed quite nice, so I've no idea why.

Have you thought about Bedminster/Southville? There is a lot to do for young families and amenities in general as well as it being a very short walk to the centre from there.

Out of the areas you've listed, |would chose Fishponds/Downend.

We've just moved from fishponds/staple hill as wanted somewhere safer/cleaner/better schools and more family friendly. IMO fishponds had a huge range of people and is very diverse with quite a few unsavoury people. Bouncers outside pubs and a big police presence tell you about a place. The shops are more pound land than independent shops (this is a fac t not snobbery, I love a look in pounland) but it does give an indication of what a place,is like.

Fishponds is up and coming and lots of improvements.made over the 7 years we lived there. Nice parks and any kind of shop you could want, free festivals and events. But few places for children. Downend is more family friendly with great schools but quite far from centre.

Hi MCT76, are you from Latin America?

Sorry about delay. We were away in North Wales without internet access. We stopped in Bristol for a day and had a look at Bedminster and Southville. Some areas look really nice and others not so much so I guess we would consider it on a case-by-case basis.
DH is over there again today viewing properties so we shall see what comes out of it.
Tombokola: I am indeed from Latin America (Argentina, to be exact). Are you as well?

I live on the border of Downend and Fishponds, but importantly just inside the S. Glouc border rather than Bristol (literally - the other side of the road is Bristol). We have better schools on this side of the road... but previous posters are correct, you'd need a bus into town. There are lots, but you wouldn't be able to walk. That said we're in walking distance of 3 high streets and the city centre is pretty 'meh' since Cribbs took over for shopping.

I'll throw St Werburghs in as an option that's closer to the centre than Horfield etc (but cheaper than St Andrews/Montpelier). 20 minutes walk to city centre, or Gloucester Road shops.

Has a little park of its own, also within walking distance of St Andrews Park which is lovely, and Eastville Park which I don't like so much (crappy playground, but loads of room for e.g. running around flying a kite etc so maybe I'll be keener on it when DS is older).

Plenty of families here, and lots of activities for babies/older kids (City Farm, lots of stuff at the community centre or the childrens' centre).

Thank you for your comments. We have now rented a house in Fishponds, near Oldbury Court Estate which seems like a good area. We will be there for a year to start with which will give us time to become acquainted with the place and get to know which bits are nicer and more convenient.

We went to La Ruca as we came across it when we visited Bristol for the first time. It will definitely be a port of call for me when in need of some Latin food and hopefully yo meet other Spanish speakers.

We will be there from October 22nd so if any of you fancy meeting up at some point, let me know. Thanks again!