What are Southend and Clacton like to live in?

[katymac]

Is it busy or quiet?

How are the gps/dentists etc?

What about jobs? Easy to get?

OK Frinton is too far to get home from a west end show and now I have looked so is Clacton

So Colchester and Ipswich (& maybe surrounding villages) are looking good atm

Thanks everyone I am really starting to understand the areas better

Colchester, Southend & Ipswich all give me time to go back stage!!

Whoopie - shallow way to pick a new home town I know- but needs must!!

Searching on rightmove for a 3-bed bungalow within a radius of 20 miles from Chelmsford up to £230k has resulted in only 3 properties, 1 in Basildon, 1 in Canvey and a non-traditional construction 1 in Dunmow. There are a couple of bungalows reduced under a life time lease scheme but that's it. You may be able to find a 2-bed with potential which might be a better bet.

I'm Ipswich area. Some parts are really nice. Kesgrave is nice.

Yes I started looking seriously at 2 bed yesterday - there are a few in Ipswich Colchester and Wivenhoe

So the job hunting starts seriously next Monday (I move into storage on Friday) & we find a campsite near a station and start house hunting for real using the train and our bikes...I hope

I have about 11 on my shortlist I think

Good luck :)
If you go to the west end regularly then clacton probably will be a faff unless you live right next to the station! But one thing to consider is how far you are from the station in Colchester and Ipswich too, one of the reasons we decided against Ipswich was that the houses in our price range were far enough from the station to make the whole journey the same length as living in Clacton, same issue with Colchester (though not much was in our price range in Colchester! You'll probably be fine though)

It isn't the length of the journey - it's the time of the let train almost an hour and a quarter later for those three areas; in a city I'd hope to cycle home then but not on country lanes!

The hope is that DD will graduate and get a west end show next year! So I 'hope' to go to a lot of West end shows!!

Ah fair enough! Definitely better looking elsewhere then! How exciting though, fingers crossed for your DD too!

Thanks 0 it's exciting and terrifying at the same time - & she prob won't be west end straight away.....I just have to plan for when she is

I don't think Southend works on the budget I'm afraid, only park homes & Canvey which is a pain to get on/off of.

Good luck with the search & to your daughter; wanting to see west end shows easily is a lovely reason for moving!

I'm localish to Southend and have friends that live there- as others have said it's got its good bits and it's rough bits but it's generally nice, I would live here.

Clacton is a whole other issue: it's referred to round these parts as "Cracktown"