If you love London but cant afford to live there, where would you go?

[kissmyheathenass]

Having moved away 14 years ago, we are totally priced out of the London housing market. I am so so bored with where I live, (south coast dull retiremnt place) I yearn for city life. Where can I find a city like London but with lower prices (350,000 ish for a family house) AND good schools - primary and secondary.

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Brighton.

Is Brighton cityish though? I am in bournemouth and find the whole coastal thing a bore. Its quiet over the winter months and full of pensioners on coach trips.

I'd say Brighton too. It's funky.

What are the schools like there?

Edinburgh or Newcastle - they're not really like London at all but they are both biggish cities. Edinburgh has the touristy feel and major attractions plus cultural life of a capital city.

Newcastle has two universities, excellent hospitals, great transport etc which means you get a complete range of people living and working there. It also has a strong regional identity and decent amount of museums/galleries/theatres (or did until the council cut the arts budgets ).

Neither is like London really in terms of scale or geography or stuff to do but both can offer a very good standard of living for your budget.

I moved from London to Brighton a few years back. I then moved along the coast, almost to Worthing, as Brighton was too hectic for me.

What do you mean by cityish? It's a city :)

Define family house. You don't mention work so assuming that's not a factor, how about looking at commuter distance to London (hour away by train)? Surrey and Kent (tunbridge wells area) always pop up as places families move to for the schools on this board.

"cityish " I think I mean lively, eclectic, lots of culture, good pubs, markets etc with a good buzz. I am from London and have also lived in Bristol - both fantastic places but the school issue in Bristol is a concern.

Cosmosim, I fear commuter belt might be dull and soulless like where I am now. I conceed Im probably wrong. But I really crave city life - and for my dcs too.

Most people from Newcastle seem to have a sense of pride, and those from Edinburgh too. I envy that

York. Or Leeds? Or Newcastle.

York tres pricey I think. Leeds - have some family up there - what are schools like?

Bath is too small and twee I imagine but it is at least very near to Brizz and it's 90 mins to London by train.

this looks bloody lovely but possibly a bit rural for you - it's only a couple of miles from the centre but on the bus that's 20 mins (traffic issues).

Took me about 10 seconds to find - there are plenty more.

Manchester. Strong arts community, vibrant, diverse.

Not pretty but bloody hell, five bedrooms!

I'd buy it and live there happily. It's possibly ex-LA but you wouldn't know it to wander around (if that bothers you). Sought after primary school on the doorstep, walks, 20 mins into town (as above, by bus), secondary schools are fine too.

I find Bath twee. Reminds me of posh old ladies doing their shopping. That house is lovely though , bloody far from schools though. Thats the thing with rural living, you have to drive EVERYWHERE and I hate that.

Gosh that second one you linked to is fantastic - still a bloody long way for secondary tho (should add ds has some SEN and wouldnt be able to get himsefl to school independently unless it was a short walk - hence the desire for everything to be in close proximity).

I would love to go to Manchester - wouldnt know where to start tho, where are places with good schools?

It would be one bus (no changes) to one of 4 likely secondary schools.

But yes, Bath is quite twee

It has its less twee features though and is a good place to grow up.

I too want to know about Manchester (not that I'm moving - just nosey!)

Bath is lovely really - hope I didnt offend . I would love to live in the centre but its totally unaffordable. Do you know how the secondary schools are with SEN? It seems to vary so much regionally.

Haha! Not at all. It is twee. I think being a university town has helped save it from complete twee-twattery but it's hardly edgy urban

I honestly don't know about SEN. I have plenty of friends with children who have SENs but it's hard to know whether the schools here are better than they are anywhere else. They pay lip service to it, but so does everyone. One lad I know seems to be doing well at the small CofE comp that is undersubscribed (despite being in a very desirable area not far from the centre). He has quite severe dyslexia - no ASD or anything which I imagine to be trickier.

There is a poster on MN I can think of too - I'll PM her :)

Now I like the sound of that school - do you know the name?

PM-ed :)

we moved to Manchester
we seem to have found the transition to another city much easier than friends who moved to the Home Counties

Brighton!