Moving to small town with teens or near teens - would you?

[Teabaglady]

We are thinking of moving to small market town with excellent secondary school. We are moving from suburb of city where schooling not so good but lots of activities for children/teens. I am worried that my children will be bored in new town once get to teenage years and will not have same opportunities as in city.
I know this topic has been done to death but tell me he benefits of moving please!

Can't think of any!

Do it once they've finished school and gone to uni? I really do feel I benefitted from growing up in London. There were jobs, better school trips, things to do, I never had to rely on lifts from my parents...

Many will disagree though.

How are you defining a good school?

I'd want both good education and a bigger town for my teens and moved out of the sticks into a big town/small city for just that.

As long as there are some activities for your teens and they can get to places without completely relying on you, it should be ok. So reasonable public transport into town or walking distance and def some way of getting to the nearest big town for college, shops, clubs etc when they are older. And better schools will be beneficial for them too.

I speak as someone who grew up in a village in the middle of nowhere with parents who wouldn't/couldn't drive us anywhere and very limited public transport. I would never choose that for my child as a teen as it was miserable.

I live in a market town now, admittedly it has grown over the years and now has a good shopping street, restaurants and cinema. I know plenty of teenagers who seem to have great lives. They hang out with their friends locally, go to parks, shops, swimming etc all easy to do by walking or they want something bigger they can get bus / train for 20 mins to nearest city. I think a town is the best of both.. How good is transport to this town? Does it have shops etc?

Thanks for all your replies. The town we are considering has population of less than 10,000 so pretty small, it has leisure centre and sports clubs, very few shops and cafes, no cinema.
It is well located for bigger towns with cinemas, better shops etc but we would need to drive as public transport to these bigger towns seems to be pretty useless ( at least 1 hour on bus but only 20 mins driving) so I am just concerned about how independent my soon to be teen DS1 could be - although how often would he go to cinema /shopping?! I think till he was about 14, the small town and its sports facilities would be fine, it's just as he starts to grow up, would he end up drinking cider in a bus shelter ( I accept he might do this even if we stay in city!)- really I think we need bigger town /small city,

It does depend on the teenager of course! Some prefer fishing, cycling, hiking/camping/natural history and study of the natural world around them and wouldn't be interested in the things a city offers. (Hate shopping, can wait for films to be on DVDs and are not going to be joining sports clubs or after school activities either.)

Friends count for a lot. We found one small village was ok until they got to know us a bit and then we were all ostracised as outsiders and not fitting in. Still no idea what it was we were supposed to have done wrong, but that was enough for me to move away. Yes, the transport was going to be a problem if our teens wanted more independence. But teens accept that, and for many it is an incentive to find part time to help pay for driving lessons.

The other consideration is being in a city it is easier to find part time work. For us, it has also meant seeing more of DH (he works away from home and he had to drive through the city to get to the village).

Then there is the convenience of walking to a local shop to get essentials, or a family pub or park or sports club. How does adverse weather affect the morw rural location (I found I had to dig 2 cars out of snow more times than I was happy with, and roads frequently closed due to flooding so long detours ensued to get to and from piano/swimming lessons.)

Primarily, a house move has to be you and any other adults want. You can't do it against the grain of what you want and then say 'but we moved for you' to a teen. That is too much culpability to pile on their shoulders. If it is so you don't tuen into the family taxi service, then that is a valid reason, but realise it is for your benefit and not his.

So what suits each member of the family?