Moving to Paignton, opinions?

[Wavypurple]

Hi all I’d love some advice please.

My partner and I currently live in a northern city but are becoming very disillusioned with it. Air pollution, always noisy, small living spaces at high prices and increasing antisocial behaviour on our (literal) doorstep. We have no children and don’t live anywhere near our families, so neither of these things are a consideration for us in terms of moving.

We are looking at Paignton as a prospective living destination. We want to live near the sea desperately and always have. We ended up in this city as it’s where I graduated years ago and we liked it at the time. I moved up here to escape the poverty and violence in the area I grew up in (not being dramatic sadly) but the drug use and violence here is becoming just as bad.

Does anyone have any knowledge of what it’s like to live there/move there? We have been several times but only in a holiday break sense so we don’t have a realistic picture of what it is really like.

I’d be so grateful if anyone has any realistic opinions of living there, or other coastal places.

Sorry if this is posted in the wrong place.

Torbay has large areas of deprivation. Devon has two long massive coastlines so there are lots of places by the sea. I love taking my kids for the day out to Paignton zoo, etc but would I live there - no.

I agree with @Slayduggee Paignton is one of the least attractive places to live in Devon. Have you considered Exmouth or Teignmouth as seaside towns. They are both substantial towns that don't 'close' much in the winter.

It’s a deprived area and has high unemployment and lots of sociology-economic issues. It’s pretty grotty. But there are lots of nice places nearby so if you could move to a quiet street and can drive to places it wouldn’t be bad.

Paignton would not be my choice of Devon seaside towns to live in.

What's your budget, and what requirements do you have in terms of a property/things you need to be close to?

I was born there and wouldn't live there. Very pretty in the summer, horrendous and depressing in the winter, with high unemployment.

There are other MUCH nicer places in Devon and hundreds of amazing places outside of Devon.

Loving by the sea would be amazing though, so keep searching. I can't emphasise how depressing it is after the summer season ends, months and months of miserable, unemployed locals. It just looks and feels so very different to the summer.

Thank you all so much for the advice. I will admit I knew we had a rose tinted glasses view of it having been there on holiday.

I need to be close to a hospital for work and my partner is willing to retrain in anything but currently works as a mechanic. We are currently renting but when buying our budget would be around £200-250k

I'd look at Weymouth, my friend has just sold a lovely 3 bed terrace (small garden) there in walking distance of the sea front for around your budget, and she used to work at Dorset County in Dorchester which took about 25-30 mins drive of a morning. It's less of a pure 'seaside destination' than Paignton. Busy in the summer yes, but still a lot going on in winter.

How many bedrooms? Do you need outside space? Any requirements/preferences to take into account?

One thing to bear in mind about seaside towns, too, is that parking in the summer can be hellish. So even if you don't mind not having private parking as a general thing, you may find you need it. Something to factor in!

Devonian here. Paignton must be pretty much the most grotty seaside town in Devon. Fun for a short holiday maybe, but can you really imagine living there out of season?

In terms of bedrooms we only really need one for the two of us, children might not happen for us but two would be nice if we could afford it.

That’s a brilliant point, I hadn’t even considered that.

We are determined to move closer to the coast but after all of your brilliant opinions we have gone off Paignton slightly

Exmouth is much nicer than Paignton and has a small hospital but there is also the RD&E in Exeter.
There is a small cinema, decent leisure centre, blue flag beach, part of the Jurassic coast, easy to get the train or bus into Exeter and also east devon is an area of outstanding natural beauty.

And an M&S food.

Personally, I wouldn't go on holiday to Paignton if you paid me but you chose to and liked it so maybe it isn't such a bad choice for you. Although, I would rank it below Brixham and Torquay if you want to move to Torbay.

There are huge pockets of deprivation and issues with drugs in Torbay but there also some very wealthy areas. There are excellent grammar schools and lots of things to do with kids but you don't have DC at moment so that probably isn't an issue.

You could get a fantastic flat with sea views in a nice neighbourhood in your budget in Torbay or along the coast in a village location. You would struggle to find a future family home for £250k anywhere other than the dodgy parts of town though.

What do you want from a town? Night life? Good restaurants? Countryside? Do you need to be by the sea or just close enough for the odd day trip? Culture? Do you have hobbies that need taking into consideration? What is it that you liked about Paignton when you were on holiday? Do you want to be near a town centre or a village?

This is probably just above your budget (and there aren't any flats for sale at the moment) but somewhere like this is a world away from the dodgy parts of town:
www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/detailMatching.html?prop=45517532&sale=9091792&country=england

Flat with a pool:
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/106946780#/

Stunning views:
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/107739941#/
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/79657200#/

Doer upper for £185k:
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/75939624#/

Did you decide where to move @Wavypurple? I'm moving to Paignton in a few weeks from living a bit inland in the South East currently. Can't wait to live by the sea again!

Lol we head that way every year with the kids 2 mins from Preston beach, spend time across shaldon, Torquay, brixham enjoying the best of torbados

There are definite issues of deprivation and grottiness but for some reason we like it, I quite fancy retiring to Devon and living down that way.

Any more thoughts op?