Moving to Newcastle

[JDED1723]

Hi
We are looking at moving to Newcastle, we have two little girls, 5 & 6.

We currently live in a leafy suburb of Manchester on the metro line. Our house is two minutes walk from school and the local park...we really want to find somewhere to live in Newcastle that has a similar feel....any ideas?

It is very studenty around there yes. But about a two minute walk to little Waitrose and pizza express and lots of nice coffee shops and cafes.. and the famous Francesca's restaurant is down the hill.

Very busy with cars too. Resident parking. Close also to West Jesmond primary though.

Osborne road can get very noisy in term time. All the bars are there.

I grew up in Whitley Bay and parents still live there. I say it depends what you want for your family. I couldn't go back to live there and would live nearer Newcastle city centre if I was to move back.
The schools in Whitley Bay are good, town centre bit meh, nice being close to coast but some days you get sea fret just hanging and it's way warmer a few miles inland. Tynemouth is nicer but not up on schools there.

Speaking as someone brought up in Heaton. I'd look at the areas around Heaton road but towards the coast road end. Also gosforth and Jesmond. Be careful with jesmond as some areas are as studenty as some areas of Heaton. Towards the coast I'd be looking at monkseaton or tynemouth. I myself went north and looking be just outside of Morpeth. Great access to the a1 for Newcastle, Alnwick etc but all the benefits of the country.

You can spend over £500k on a house in jesmond and still end up with an HMO student house of either side (with 6+ students living in each one). The cheaper the street the more likely that it's almost all student houses. The jesmond residents association had an ongoing campaign to get the university to sort out student antisocial behaviour in jesmond. One of my friends keeps liking posts about it of FB.

Ok...so it looks like Jesmond is out of the running :(

....what about this area of Gosforth?

Where are the independent shops and coffee shops in Gosforth? I can only seem to see stuff on the high street. Is there a part of Gosforth that has a Jesmond type independent shopping/eating street?

You're unlikely to find students there. Parking would be a nightmare though. Good schools choices.

Gosforth high street is close by. As is the park. There are some independent cafes (two in the shopping centre) and also two chain coffee shops. There are some independent shops (notably a children's shoe shop where you can spend a fortune on a pair of wellies). It's close to regent centre metro station too.

There are at least two restaurants on the closest bit of the great north road to that house too.

It's nice there too, btw. The swimming pool and library are just to the north.

The High St does not have the same feel as Jesmond; there are fewer 'chi-chi' shops. It mainly consists of banks, estate agents, travel agents, Sainsburys, restaurants, bars and charity shops.

And a super expensive children's shoe shop. It's got one of those.

Yes. I walked in and walked back out pretty sharpish when I saw the prices .

You should have stayed to marvel at the people buying multiple pairs of shoes (at c.£70 each) for their children in one go.

I lived in Vicars Lane which is officially Longbenton but sold as South Gosforth. Perfect place to live. Very handy for Metro. Could walk to Gosforth High St and easy ride out to coast for a day. Really loved living there but sadly XH hated his job and we relocated back to Scotland.

Probably the friendliest place I ever lived.

Isn't Gosforth High Street the birthplace of Greggs? :o

The birth place of Greggs!? 😩
I can cope with not getting parked but the above is a blow to my Gosforth dream!!!

Are there any other streets with shops or the odd independent coffee house/deli? Or is it just the crazy busy high street?

Brentwood Avenue is technically Jesmond but walkable from Gosforth High Street. Delicious cake shop, a restaurant and a few indi shops.

Tbh these places are so close to the city that you will end up going into Town for shopping etc anyways for the most part

Greggs has an amazing heritage, and is indeed Greggs of Gosforth. And yes, their flagship store is on Gosforth High Street.

I love that shoe shop ds buys me flowers from the florist next door in exchange for shoes (he's not expecially grateful for them, he just likes choosing flowers )

If you are considering tynemouth, then don't discount the North Shields part boardering the park. I used to live on Kitchener terrace many years ago and it was in catchment for kings priory (ex private school turned state) 20 mins walk to metro / tynemouth / beach. I loved it!

Gosforth is gorgeous- anything near ashburton road would suit you. As long as you buy in central gosforth you'd never regret it

I'd want to be close to the Jesmond Dene, which is quite easy because it's massive so lots of areas to choose from.

I grew up in Jesmond (in the circle that a pp drew round it) and also now live in Manchester. My Mum still lives there and it has changed a lot, mainly due to BTL landlords buying up all the houses and filling them with students.
When I was growing up it was quite like Chorlton, bit bohemian, middle class, expensive.
Osbourne Road is full of bars now, lots of stag and hen parties and it's the roads off there which are most studenty.
It's still lovely though and there are still bits which are like what you're looking for - small high st full of indie shops and nice places to eat - round Clayton Road, bits round Acorn Road (for West Jesmond Primary) and the bit in between the bottom of Osbourne Ave and the vale (St. Catherine's Primary).

The parks are amazing in Newcastle - J. Dene and all the attached bits, Exhibition Pk, Town Moor. There aren't many cites which have that much open space in them.

All my stylish gay friends have moved to North Shields in the last few years.

Thanks so much everyone...can't believe how much time people have taken to give us such detailed advice.

We did our first research trip yesterday visiting Low Fell, Jesmond, Heaton, Gosforth, North Shields, Tynemouth, Cullercoats and Whitley Bay....boy did I sleep well last night!!!

We love Low Fell, my partners Dad grew up there and had a Pharmacy company so it feels familiar. Is there a good play park on the Kell's Lane side?

We adore Jesmond, already did, stayed for a coffee on Clayton Road at the gorgeous bakers...it was a real treat. BUT, we felt like it was a great place for us to live as a couple but struggled a bit more when we started to factor in the kids.

We found Gosforth to be so super busy with traffic (I found this with Gosforth on my previous times passing through)....we did really really like Ashburton Road area 👍 But struggled to find if a school and play park were within a short walk? Preferably avoiding Salters Road which we found just to be a bit too hectic for our recently adopted kids. Any more advice on this area would be great.

The place we fell in love with was Tynemouth, we went to Northumberland Park and the high street and beach...loved them all. I'd only been to Tynemouth as an adult once before for lunch so it was good to see more and to scour the residential streets. It's super expensive though! So, we'd be looking at the terraces that run off Mariners Road. Any advice re the area? The people? Is it friendly? Is Kings School friendly?

Not mentioned this so far...but we're a gay couple. Married. With two little girls and a dog. Would we be accepted in the areas above with open arms? Or would we struggle?

We live in a very middle class terraced streets area where you make friends over night! It's super friendly and in the two years we've been there we've met like minded, amazingly giving and friendly people who have become great neighbours and friends....
I suppose what I'm saying is...will we find that in the areas I've mentioned? We did fall in love in Tynemouth but the other side of the park in North Shields looked great too...

Thanks again everyone, we are so so grateful for all the advice and insider knowledge.

Jan & Emily

I've just sent you a pm - hope you don't mind :)

The deafening silence is worrying me!

I hope I didn't say anything to offend anyone...

#bitworrying

Of course not!

I'm not gay so can't speak from personal experience but I reckon the Gosforth area you were looking at will be made up of liberal professionals so I cannot imagine your being anything other than welcomed. I don't know Tynemouth much but I imagine it will be the same.