Move to Bournemouth or Swindon?

[ReanneB24]

Hi everyone, it’s a bit of an odd question but my boyfriend and I are desperately wanting to escape London for several reasons main ones being cost, crime and London just lost its magic in my opinion.

The reason why Swindon is because I have several family there and my boyfriends family live in Somerset so we thought Swindon would be a good choice since it’s fairly close to Somerset. There seems to be a lot of job opportunities in Swindon too. My boyfriend is really struggling to find a decent accounting job and we’ve seen a good few on indeed over in Swindon. Some of the things putting me off though is the rise in crime in Swindon. I know that nowhere is perfect and have some problems but some places have it more than others and it seems Swindon is going that way. The town centre is fine, it’s got everything you need and other retail parks surrounding the centre. Lots and lots of redevelopment going on. Lower than average house prices.

Onto Bournemouth. I think the main reason id like to live there is the benefit of being by the coast. I’ve always wanted to live fairly close to the sea my whole life. I’m aware that house prices are fairly more expensive over in Bournemouth. I know that there is an old population which is quite off putting so I’d like to know is it as bad as people make it? With a university being situated in the heart of the town isn’t there a youthful population too? As well as Swindon, Bournemouth has everything you want/need. I know there’s a big difference in shopping especially for a Londoner but to be honest I don’t need any special shops.

I’m just really struggling to figure out where to live. To summarise it I’m just trying to find somewhere to live that isn’t constantly dealing with crime, a decent town centre, plenty of things to do with kids, multiculturalism and job opportunities. Thank you for reading and I hope to get answers soon

Bournemouth gets my vote . Full of diverse population including tourists and students . Great beach Bd social stuff . Good mix of schools.

Loved in Swindon for 10 years and enjoyed it

Geographically close to loads of places, on the top of the Cotswolds, a lot of work opportunities, (partly due to geography), house prices are pretty low for the south... we can not moved away due to an opportunity to move close to the rest of our large family. Crime was no better or worse than other places I’ve lived (a lot). I didn’t like the town centre but wasn’t an issue as I didn’t often need to go there due to all the district centres.

Not lived in Bournemouth but if work and things to do are high on your list, I’d say Swindon is a serious contender.

I've lived nearish to both.

Swindon is better located for getting to other places than Bournemouth imo. I think general job opportunities are likely to be better and you can always bomb along the M4 if needed. I suspect Sw is more multicultural too.

Swindon also has an ice rink.

What if you moved to somewhere on the outskirts, of Swindon, e.g. Royal Wootton Bassett? I understand WB schools are better too than Swindon.

I grew up in Bournemouth and my parents still live there. It's a lovely place! I'm sure there is a sizeable older population but you wouldn't notice it- there's a very lively nightlife scene and lots of younger people.
There are also excellent schools in the area, grammar schools for secondary if you are that way inclined.
Good shopping in Bournemouth, walks along the coast or in the New Forest, windsurfing, surfing, sailing etc. It is slightly cut off as pp said, you have to go down the A338 to get there and it's often busy. And as you say the house prices are high.
We think about moving back down there as there's a great but DH job is very much tied to London.

Bournemouth is fab fab fab and I love living here!

However - if you want to live really close to the sea, you will have to pay a lot of money whether you buy or rent. Housing costs here, relative to earnings, are the highest in the south of England (excluding London).

Primary schools and GPs are very over-subscribed because everyone knows its such a fab place to live!

Yes there is a huge elderly population here, but probably not noticeably more so than anywhere else.

We have a huge, huge crime problem, especially drugs and the resultant theft/property damage etc. As we are within 2 hours of London by train, there is a lot of county lines drug dealing or whatever it's called.

We also have super-selective grammar schools! ducks and runs

It is a great place to live, the beach is massive (7 miles of golden sands and clean, clean sea), very close to the Jurassic coast and the New Forest, easy to get to London (or Southampton for the bigger shops), and there are some gorgeous local suburbs with individual high streets such as Westbourne, Southbourne etc. Christchurch is lovely. Poole is probably still nice (it's where I grew up) but the whole Sandbanks and Canford Cliffs blue glass development / property development mania puts me off. There is a burgeoning coffee and craft beer culture here. Also easy to get to France if you take the ferry from Poole! We are closer to France than to London actually. We have quite a cosmopolitan culture here now - lots of different nationalities (there were 13 different languages spoken in my DD's primary school class of 30 children, which was awesome). A lot of Europeans, predominantly still a very white area though, so it doesn't necessarily feel particularly multi-cultural, although my inlaws (from deepest darkest Norfolk) always seem to be mindblown by the fact that there are Polish shops, a mosque, two synagogues etc etc.

One hundred times Bournemouth!

I wouldn't want to live in the centre of Swindon, but then I'm not a lover of the urban lifestyle anyway. Horses for courses of course, but I find it busy traffic wise, noisy at night and there is a fair amount of crime.

All along the M4 corridor there are lots of accountancy employment opportunities you could live near to Swindon rather than in it. Bournemouth is an easy day trip from Swindon. I would go for family and work.
The seaside is not great with no job and no family.

I suspect Sw is more multicultural too

Bournemouth is extremely multicultural! Lots of English teaching centres, tourists from all over the world, and lots of residents with multicultural backgrounds.christchurch has an older population, and some wealthier areas do, but the mix is wide and varied. Boscombe is the rough area - avoid. It's a bloody awesome city. Only trouble is summer when rammed but commuting out to work elsewhere isn't so much of a problem as people tend to bog up the roads going in to enjoy the beaches rather than commute out every day.

Mind you, boscombe beach area is lovely. Just central boscombe is awful.

Don’t live in Swindon itself - depressing!! Go for a nice village or small town nearby.

Swindon is grim. Seriously grim 🙈

Live anywhere but Swindon!

Look at Cricklade/Cirencester/Tetbury/Stroud/ RWB/Malmesbury.

Lived in Bournemouth by the beach. Absolutely loved it. There are a number of bank offices in Bournemouth/Poole which may suit your boyfriend. LBG, JP Morgan and Barclays spring to mind. Plus a large LV office in Westbourne, so there could be non opportunities for him

Yes, Nationwide has its headquarters in Bournemouth too .. or used to ....

I have just walked my dog on the beach in jeans and t-shirt, then bought a coffee from a local independent cafe and sat outside in the sunshine with the fresh sea air blowing gently over me ... fantastic. Come to Bournemouth!

I live in Swindon, dont do it

I'm not keen on either but Bournemouth would beat Swindon hands down, I'd find a place further out rather than live in Bournemouth itself.

Swindon town centre is utterly grim! Bad traffic too and endless roundabouts. But the surrounding countryside is nice.

This might sound weird but consider this. If you live in an area inland and put a 360° around it say 10/15/20 miles you can usually find something near to do be it shops,evening entertainment, places to go or even good schools etc . When you live on the coast you only have an 180° . So you have to travel further out / distance to get the same.

Surely you need to find a job first, or at least one of you do, then move? Bit silly to move to Bournemouth then find out there's no jobs and they are all in Swindon...

I lived in Swindon until February.

I visit Bournemouth regularly because the beach is amazing.

May I suggest coming to Swindon initially. Do. Not. Live. In. The. Centre.

I lived in Old Town (close to the railway station) and I absolutely loved it. Lots of local restaurants and bars etc.

I'd move back there in a heart beat

There are lots of nice towns close to Swindon but I wouldn't move to Swindon if I could help it.

I visit Swindon fairly regularly as I have family there and as soon as I drive off the M4 the negative vibes sap my energy like something out of a horror film! Dh feels it too, it's an awful place.

Faringdon, Malmesbury, Fairfield, Marlborough and Cirencester are nearby and I would happily live in any of those areas.

Swindon is ridiculously hilly in the centre - not great if you want to walk. If you want same level of prices, better go to Chippenham, I'd say, which is so close t Bath and closer to Bristol of curse. Swindon is kind of ok as a commuter place fr London jobs (i.e. you hardly spend time in town itself), and has good countryside around, nice cities not far (especially by train), that's it's two plus point pretty much.
People suggesting surrounding nice towns - yes, but they are all much more expensive to buy. Cirencester, Marlborough - ouch! Mind you, I don't know if Faringdon is expensive but it's really not that nice. A local told me just last week that several pubs and shops colsed and I thought as a visitor it was a bit poor on places to eat.

*its two plus points

It depends - if you're a homebird who likes to watch TV and just hang out at home, then Swindon is fine, but if you want culture and activities and good restaurants, then look elsewhere. Most of the professional people I know who work in Swindon (financial companies, Intel, research councils, insurance companies etc) don't live there, they commute in from nice surrounding villages, Cotswolds, Bristol, Bath, Reading and further afield. Swindon itself has very limited culture, it's a dormitory town and depressing.

Bournemouth would be my choice between the two.