Any Pompeyites about? Alverstoke or Cosham?

[Amphitrite]

Which would you choose to live in and why? And don't complicate things by saying Fareham or Eastleigh or Chandler's Ford please, it's taken me weeks to narrow it down to these two!

well that's odd. I don't often go to Gosport, but I thought I passed some railway viaducts at the bottom of the hill from the M27. Am I thinking of the wrong place, or has the line been closed?

That's the line that goes from Portsmouth to Southampton as it passes through Fareham. I'm a bit out of touch too, I worked in Gosport till 3 years ago but live some way away and rarely venture back, but they were supposed to be building some sort of tram into Gosport, don't know if that went ahead?

ah, looking at the map and satellite, it must be a disused line. I can see traces of it, looks like The Sanderson Centre might be on or near the old station site.

Shame.

I think that's right, they preserved the old railway line into Gosport (there are dozens of frustrating dead ends and massive detours as a result, which must contribute th the traffic problems) but the station is long gone. They were going to re-use the old trackway for the tram.

No advice at all, but my great grandmother lived in Cosham, I have many happy memories of holidays there. It has been a long time since I thought of Cosham.

Well I don't know Alverstoke very well at all, but there is nothing wrong with Cosham at all. I'd live there. The further west you go, the closet you get to Paulsgrove (really not somewhere I'd want to live). The further East you go you can get some really big nice house (at big nice house prices).

the Gosport Tram

looks like a non-runner

Thought so. They were going to build a tunnel under Portsmouth Harbour for it at one point.

Shame, I love trams.

There's now an express bus route using some of the old railway routes. Waste of time imho as would have been better sorting out the roads, most people want to go further than Fareham and the buses are running near to empty but have a lovely new road route just for them .

I think Alverstoke is one of the nicer areas in the Portsmouth commute, and Cosham probably one of the worse (there are alot of those close to the city). The downside is that Gosport isnt that nice either and living in Alverstoke you would still probably use it for local shopping.
I think it would be an OK area for your teenage children, ferry to Gunwharf (one of the best outlet centres in the South, plus cinema, food) and from there 10 minute walk to Portsmouth city centre. It would be hard to live closer timewise. They'd also be able to catch a bus to Fareham in 15 minutes and I imagine there are teenage-type things happening there too.
In theory it would be OK for your husband to commute to London too - ferry to Gunwharf, 2 minute walk to train station, direct fast train to London Waterloo in around an hour. Not sure where he'd park the car in Gosport though.

A friedn of mine lives near Cosham and was moaning last week about how horrible it is now and she is far from being snobby. I think the residential bits are probably fine, as someone else said the East side much better than the West, but the High Street shopping area is what my friend was referring to.

As for the Gosport commute, a bike to the ferry would probably be the easiest way. Fareham has much better town centre shops than Gosport, Gunwharf is great but Portsmouth city centre shopping area is pretty run down IMO (haven't been for a couple of years but no reason to think it has improved). Southampton much better for shopping.

OK I have deleted all the Cosham houses off my saved properties on Rightmove! Will focus on Alverstoke now which suits me fine. We plan to head to Portsmouth for a few days in the Easter holidays and start exploring and viewing houses - got to get our own on the market first though. I hate this moving business. DH and I have already got rival house lists going on Rightmove - looks like we might have a lot of compromising to do to come up with something that we both like and can afford.

Well, good luck, I live about 25 miles away now but I have many happy memories of the entire area and get back down as often as I can.

Good luck Op I work in Cosham, and commute from the Isle Of Wight. (8 minutes on the hover) Dh commutes to Fareham and occasionally London.

As previous posters have suggested Alverstoke from what I can remember is lovely. :)

Alverstoke every time! I envy you the opportunity to be able to live there.