Is swindon a nice place to live?

[AutumnLoves]

Hi everyone, my boyfriend and I are nearly finished saving up for a deposit on a home and believe we have come to the decision that Swindon would be the best place for us to live. We are moving from London and we really do hate the hustle and bustle of London, its becoming very unsafe I know so many people personally who have been murdered its just becoming so scary to live here. We are more country people and ever since I was younger have realised that I am a lover for the countryside, its like my happy place. The reasons we want to live there is because its close to all of our family who are situated in Devon, Somerset, Swindon and London. I dont want to move too far and would just prefer to be somewhat in the middle. House prices are cheap compared to many other places. Seems to be quite a practical place to live with nearly everything on your doorstep. I dont want this thread to be full of nasty comments like please dont move there etc cause honestly we have looked at SEVERAL others and I would love to be on my familys doorstep. I am writing this post to ask what is it actually like to live there we want to move to west part of town preferably Shaw/middleleaze/nine elms sort of way... so is it boring? safe? a place to raise a family? plenty of things to do no matter the weather? is there an issue with youths and anti social behaviour? is the public friendly towards eachother? is public transport expensive? what are the jobs like? is there anything that you dislike about the town?
This would be very helpful for me if these were answered smile

Namechanged. Ive worked in Swindon for10+ years although I don't live in Swindon but most of my colleagues live in Swindon..
"We are more country people and ever since I was younger have realised that I am a lover for the countryside, its like my happy place."
Swindon is not countryside its a large frankly featureless town it has a population of over 220K. The countryside around it is very beautiful e.g Wiltshire and the Cotwolds, public transport to both isn't great you would need a car if you want to access them.
"is it boring?" dull as ditch water frankly.
"plenty of things to do no matter the weather?" what do you want to do? There's very little culture, the shops on the main high street are closing but there is am very popular outlet centre it never strikes me that its bursting with things to do. If you hoping for the variety of activities you find in London you're not going to get it in Swindon.
I dont think its particularly friendly town or a particularly unfriendly town, Im a HCP people are friendly to me but thats pretty normal. Ive lived in other places Id say if you're looking for somewhere especially friendly you need to look elsewhere.
"what are the jobs like?" I understand from some that there a lots of unskilled jobs less professional/skilled jobs (outside of health care etc) although it is the head quarters for Nationwide.
" is there an issue with youths and anti social behaviour?"
At a recent lecture at work we were told Swindon has the second highest problem with county line drug trafficking in the UK. .
"is there anything that you dislike about the town?"
I moved here having lived in many places including London I find Swindon boring and insular, there is virtually no culture here and its featureless town, many like me who've moved to the area say the same thing but those who are born and bred in Swindon love it! It does have good train links into London/Bath/Bristol and further into the west country..
Personally Id look around it there are some lovely villages/small towns and the M4 is easy to access.

My parents live in Swindon. It is absolutely massive, definitely not rural. Although there are some lovely green spaces if you pick the right part of Swindon. As with all places there are dodgy areas and nice areas. If you have family living in Swindon would definitely speak to them about where's best to live. Agree that there is very little culture other than the shopping culture. My parents are retired so not looking for that much excitement but even they say it's a dull place to live!

If you have family in Dorset and Somerset as well, I would personally much prefer to live in those areas than Swindon.

Swindon itself is a bit meh, but I lived for 10 years outside Swindon (royal wootton Bassett) and really loved it - particularly the Dickensian Christmas festival that used to be put on down the high street in the winter.

Swindon the opposite of rural. Agree with everything PP have already said.

so is it boring? safe?
I wouldn't say it's particularly safe, quite a lot of drugs and anti social behaviour, although like everywhere there's better and worse parts.

a place to raise a family?

You can raise a family here, I am. Although I wouldn't say its the best place to raise a family. A lot of services have been cut in recent years and I've found it a lot more difficult to find baby groups to take dc2 along to than I did with dc1 only 7 years ago.

plenty of things to do no matter the weather?
No, if we want to do something for the day we usually go to Bath or Bristol.

is there an issue with youths and anti social behaviour?

is the public friendly towards eachother?

I'd say it's slightly more friendly than London but a lot less friendly than a lot of other places I've lived.

is public transport expensive?
Busses around Swindon aren't too bad, about £4 (I think) for a day rider. But if you want to get out of Swindon via bus, like to Cirencester or Marlborough, it gets a bit more expensive and a lot less frequent.

what are the jobs like?
I've never had much trouble finding work but I think jobs everywhere are getting harder to come by. Wh smiths has made a lot of redundancys and Honda is shutting down, not sure what's going on with Nationwide at the moment but those are the big local employers.

is there anything that you dislike about the town?
Loads! I'm surprised a previous poster said people born and bred here love it as that's not been my experience at all, everyone I know who has been born here and stayed is only due to family ties or circumstances not because of actually liking it here.

Swindon also isn't rural so I think you'll be disappointed with how big and grey the town is. The high street is dying and really of you want to do anything, a shopping day, a night out etc, you'll want to leave Swindon to do it.

If I were you I'd go for either Devon or sommerset. Literally the only reason were still here is that we have family in Swindon who helped with childcare while dc1 was young. We're saving up to move and have absolutely not ruled out leaving Swindon if DH can get a transfer with work.

Would you consider a town near Swindon? Cirencester, Marlborough, Malmesbury etc are all more rural towns which are nicer places to live, although you pay an inflated price for it.

"I'm surprised a previous poster said people born and bred here love it as that's not been my experience at all, everyone I know who has been born here and stayed is only due to family ties or circumstances not because of actually liking it here."
Nearly all colleagues were born in Swindon and when I even vaguely criticise it happily regale me with how wonderful it is. One colleagues who like me wasn't born on Swindon said she thought Swindon was a total dump but had learnt not to say anything even slightly negative about it to those who were born here because they always took offence.
The commonest comments "its misunderstood" "its got a lot to offer".
Its a dull suburban sprawl with endless roads of houses that all look the same and most green spaces which I admit there does seem to be quite lot are like the rest of it boring and featureless.
I don't think the secondary schools are that great either.
The Great Western Hospital Trust will also be a very big local employer.

No.

Hey did u ever moved to Swindon? Were they all right??

I know this is an old post but does anyone know what Stratton is like in north Swindon, near the secondary school? I've heard north Swindon is good, but it doesn't seem so nice in this part?