Westbourne or Southbourne

[BigWhiteRabbit]

I love Bournemouth and we're (partner and toddler) planning on relocating from London but we can't decide whether to settle on Westbourne or Southbourne- any thoughts?!

Southbourne for me - Westbourne is lovely but personally I prefer the vibe in Southbourne, plenty of places to eat and drink beautiful beach, close to hengistbury head and Christchurch quay.

Funny I'dday the other way around! But it probably depends on your age group ! Oldies in Westbourne !

Depends on your budget.....

Yes budget is key. I'm gutted as had an offer almost accepted on good value property in Westbourne only to be trumped by a cash buyer just yesterday. This experience has confirmed Westbourne is the place for my family and trying to stay positive that such a good value property will come up again!

I think Southbourne is lovely too....

Both lovely areas. You get more for your money in southbourne over Westbourne. Southbourne is more ‘up and coming’, Westbourne is more established. Southbourne has an emerging very nice independent high st and possible to live between beach and shops. Westbourne is more of a walk to the beach.
Are schools a consideration? Will you be going private? Where will you need to commute to?

I lived in Westbourne (well, Alum Chine to be specific ) and loved it but would probably go Southbourne with a young family.

Westbourne has nice shops if you can afford them. Anyone know if the lovely Greek restaurant is still there?

the whole westbourne infatuation came because my good friend lived there, he got me hooked on Bournemouth! but yes, I can see Southbourne is great for kids, that's important too and the high street has a good vibe (and cheese shop!). I feel more positive about ending up in either place and I think it will partly be driven by securing a property, we've fallen in love with one in both places. Schools are also important, hopefully a local school rather than private at this stage. work is up in the air at the moment but we want a lifestyle change from what we have in the big smoke.

If you’re looking for state schools and have a toddler I’d really recommend looking at school situation for any house you find. Westbourne doesn’t have any state schools, I think you would be looking at St Michaels which is in the centre of town or some of the Poole primary schools - worth looking at the catchment areas and admissions data for prior years to get a sense of whether you would get into any of the schools.
Southbourne can also be tricky depending on where exactly you live. It has some good schools but often oversubscribed and need to live close to the school to get in.
I’m afraid schools are the (potential) downsides to those two lovely areas!
As you say it can be difficult to find the right property in either location anyway.
Good luck.

thanks for all the messages, yes schools are an important factor to complicate things! there a great app called locrating.com and I've called a couple, it's part but not the only reason we want to get out of London. as u say, both places are fantastic, can't go far wrong with either. crossing fingers that the dream house in budget comes up for us in either area.

I think Southbourne is absolutely gorgeous for families. Westbourne maybe for couples.

I used to live in Southbourne, lived there almost 10 years and I loved it. Was really sad to move and missed it terribly, it actually took me about 3 years to really settle in our new location.

I went to the Catholic comprehensive school in Southbourne. Full size theatre and you can see the sea....