Moving to Bristol

[roseky]

We're thinking of moving from Surrey to Bristol. We are a multicultural family, so looking for a diverse area with decent schools. We're looking to buy a 2/3 bed semi for

For your budget, I would head across the bridge to Chepstow. Lovely little town, easy commute to Bristol, and you would get a lot more for your money.

I don't know what the catchment is or much about the primary but Bristol Cathedral Choir School is a great school. In general I think the Bristol schools are improving.

Bristol Cathedral has lottery admissions so it’s not the sort of school you can rely on getting into - I think it’s a 1 in 10 chance of getting in.

Bristol secondaries are improving a bit but the ones in affordable areas are still pretty lacklustre. Schools on the outskirts/surrounding towns better but not diverse.

Now that I have a teen I really appreciate how much difference a school can make and if it were me, I’d prioritise moving somewhere with good schools and preferably a choice of schools.

@Diverseopinions

You could live somewhere outside, like Keynsham, which is on the A4 to Bristol and has a train station. Weston Super Mare is nice, like Bath but on Sea, I felt when I visited my sister there. Weston is 25 minutes on the train from Bristol.

There are many nice villages around Bristol. I think it depends how you feel about always having to use the car, whether you would want to be in a village, or a nearby town, or an affordable area of Bristol. I don't know how expensive Totterdown is, but it's a nice, pretty, arty area on the hill not far from the centre. Parts of Ashton Vale ( is it?) and Bedminster have nice views of the water.

Sorry - Weston-Super-Mare is definitely NOT like Bath by the sea! Many locally call it Weston-Super-Mud & it's not seen as a particularly nice area.

I'm further down in Somerset. There is a good train line from Taunton to Paddington, under 2hrs on the fast train. Have some good schools & you can get a 3-bed for under £300k but it's definitely not diverse unfortunately.

I’d look somewhere else too. £300k is a very small budget for a house in Bristol. As for diversity, yes there are many people from different backgrounds living there. But they don’t live together. The city is probably one of the most divided in the country. It’s possible to live in a very white middle class bubble there without ever having to see how the other half live. The poorer areas are either on the edges of the city or in parts of the inner city that it is simply not necessary to ever have to visit or drive through.

I know where PurpleSquirrel is coming from and 20 years ago moved to Weston and lasted the grand total of 9 months but it is changing and getting really quite popular now and I think possibly going the way of bS3 as people are now getting priced out there.

www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/property/bristol-property-buyers-flocking-seaside-5598247

Not diverse though I don’t think and I agree about previous poster who said about a city of two halves .

Thanks all. Really helpful to have so many perspectives!

APurpleSquirrel We lived briefly in Exeter and loved it. I had it in my head that the train was more like 4 hours from over there! Will definitely be giving that some consideration

@DaphneduM

Personally I think Bristol is now very expensive. It's a bit of a cliche now inasmuch that so many people from London and the Home Counties have relocated, pushing up prices. Why don't you explore Gloucestershire? The areas around Gloucester are up and coming -and you can get from Gloucester to Paddington on the train. Think about Dursley, Stroud, suburbs of Gloucester, also while a bit further out the Forest of Dean is absolutely beautiful and you'll get a great house for your money.

Gloucestershire maybe beautiful, but diverse it is not!

I agree with PP - you won't get much for your budget in Bristol. How about Chippenham? You could get a nice 3 bed semi for your money and the schools are good. Diversity not great, but better than surrounding areas. 15 mins to Bath, 25mins to Bristol, 1hr 12 to London.

@Angelica789

I’d look somewhere else too. £300k is a very small budget for a house in Bristol. As for diversity, yes there are many people from different backgrounds living there. But they don’t live together. The city is probably one of the most divided in the country. It’s possible to live in a very white middle class bubble there without ever having to see how the other half live. The poorer areas are either on the edges of the city or in parts of the inner city that it is simply not necessary to ever have to visit or drive through.

Not sure where you live but I’ve driven past Stapleton road many times and tend to go quite a lot to St. Paul’s. Both known to be problematic areas

You would have more options moving north - loads of places on a main line to London

Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire have some very diverse areas and you would get more for your money Just depends what you want/if you need to be near family etc.

DD was at Uni in Bristol and loved it so much they stayed. She was in Clifton, Bishopston, Horfield (x2 ) and Gloucester Rd, Bishopston.

Clifton will be out of your price range but Bishopston might not be. We found Bristol very diverse and I think it was one of the reasons DD and partner liked it. Lots of green spaces and waterways make it feel less like a city. I liked Bishopston as you have Gloucester Rd for shopping and a large communal allotments nearby.
Later on they had to move out of Bristol because they were stuck in Student Accommodation because of DDs employment. They moved to Clevedon and quite enjoyed living there. Not far from Bristol and by the sea. Not so diverse though but I only visited twice in two years. Now they are off travelling. A bit longer than they expected!

I agree you really need to go and look around the different areas though and as others have said prices are shooting up. I nearly bought a new flat there it has just been sold for £60,000 more in about five years.

I would suggest looking at Brislington/Knowle area where you might be able to get a 3 bed house. It's not the most diverse but I've lived in the area for the last 15 years and not had any issues (we're a dual-heritage family). You could consider Keynsham but you would struggle to find anything in North Bristol on your budget (definitely out of range for Bishopston etc).

Bishopston would definitely be out of your price range! As would horfield, Westbury on trym and surrounding areas. I grew up in Bristol and experienced it as a pretty divided city in those days (80s and 90s) where you were either a have or a have not. The latter have mostly been priced out and previously no go areas have been gentrified. It's second only to London in terms of house prices and the schools have been poor for the past 30 years. My brother is still there but they're struggling with schooling. It's lovely to visit now, and I can imagine if you had buckets of money it would be a fantastic lifestyle. What about somewhere on the south coast? Or Cambridge? Also not cheap however...

Agree with pp suggesting heading east - brislington, Keynsham, Oldham Common, Hanham all pretty good. Hanham secondary recently rated Good. I would say Bristol is diverse, it’s just not integrated. For that I would head to the midlands.