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Original poster

Great Yarmouth

74 replies

BaldBrown · 28/12/2021 23:23

Hello there

I hope I'm posting this in the correct forum; if not, I apologise.

My family and I currently live in London, well we've just sold our home and are now looking at moving to Great Yarmouth. The house prices are ideal for a large property but I wanted to ask of anyone new any reason why moving near to the center of town would be a bad idea.

Moving slightly further our would take us into a bracket we can't afford and elsewhere in the England seem just as bad.

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

OP posts:
ivykaty44 · 29/12/2021 10:33

most towns and cities are more expensive in the centre and get cheaper the further out out you go - so there is a reason a few towns are cheaper in the centre

leccybill · 29/12/2021 10:43

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/112006628?utm_campaign=property-details&utm_content=buying&utm_medium=sharing&utm_source=copytoclipboard#/&channel=RES_BUY
You could move Liverpool? Friendly, vibrant, diverse, welcoming, good cheap transport links, beach, lovely parks.

Original poster
BaldBrown · 29/12/2021 11:00

Looks great! Thank you. Although I'd also have to wonder why this house hasn't sold.

OP posts:
leccybill · 29/12/2021 11:39

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/77746242#/?channel=RES_BUY
This one great too. Good transport links. Local Catholic high school just had a brilliant Ofsted.
No particular reason - there are just cheap houses here. There's lots of big old feature-packed houses in Liverpool. Other than for HMOs, nobody really wants them for family homes.
I'd def consider it.

Peaseblossum22 · 29/12/2021 19:25

Nooo not Great Yarmouth but why not look at Felixstowe , lots of big Victorians which if you are prepared to do work can go pretty cheap. Also there are quite a few Home Ed families . Alternatively some parts of Ipswich come up cheaper

Original poster
BaldBrown · 29/12/2021 20:28

Thank you, again.

My husband is dead set against another mortgage and I suppose I went into this new venture with high (naive) hopes.

I have been reading several recent articles about GY and have learned that many Londoners are opting to move there for its affordability and beaches and a quiter lifestyle. Apparently, a lot of money has been earmarked to aid in the regeneration of the area over the next few years. I'm wondering if it'll become the GY of yesteryear one day?

I have been looking into high risk flood zone. At present I'm looking at a prospering in Kent Square. www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/58458175/

Does anyone know anything about this spot in particular? I have found out a fair bit but any additional insight would be welcome.

I have looked also looked at surrounding areas (as well as much further out) and as mentioned it's a push to find a house with 5/6 rooms within our budget.

Any of other areas with a look?

OP posts:
HPandTheNeverEndingBedtime · 29/12/2021 20:54

There is lots of money being spent in the area 'Great Yarmouth' which runs from Hopton to Hemsby and out towards Ludham, not so much in the town Great Yarmouth unless you include the new bridge, leisure centre and market place. Lots of new housing estates etc in the pipework in surrounding areas. Great Yarmouth town itself is almost an island and full to bursting.

I would keep an eye out though over the next few months big houses old ex B&Bs do go up for sale in Gorleston and Caister too. If your heart is set on Great Yarmouth going slightly North of the main touristy spot towards the horse race track (New Town) is nicer and less built up.

Roselilly36 · 29/12/2021 20:57

No off road parking, and only a courtyard that neighbouring properties have right of access too, right near the beach & attractions, so parking will be bad in tourist season, and noisy too .I expect. You really need to visit and make the decision for yourselves, but out of season you won’t get a true idea of the area. Yarmouth is very busy on season. I expect the lack of garden and parking is why it’s still on the market OP.

sleepyhoglet · 29/12/2021 20:59

Have you ever been to Great Yarmouth? I would really really not recommend!

Original poster
BaldBrown · 29/12/2021 21:00

Felixstowe and Ipswich looked great but nothing quite right at the moment. Thank you.

OP posts:
HarrisHawkins · 29/12/2021 21:02

I grew up around that area, not in Great Yarmouth itself but have a soft spot for it as I visited a lot as a child and have lots of good memories - the Pleasure Beach, Hippodrome, etc and it has a faded grandeur. However, it’s not somewhere that I would chose to live due to the deprivation and associated issues - I have lived in deprived areas of London but in Great Yarmouth the problems seem worse due to its relatively isolated location and the lack of opportunities that causes. I read an autobiography recently, Lowborn, by Kerry Hudson - the author spent part of her teenage years there, which she describes in detail, although admittedly things may have moved on a bit since then, I’m not sure.

Someone has mentioned Lowestoft above, which is a short distance along the coast in Suffolk. I have seen it criticised on here but it you may be able to find somewhere similar to what you are looking for there, as there are some big old houses in south Lowestoft towards Kirkley that used to go cheaply, although my knowledge on prices is a bit out of date. Whilst it does have deprivation, it’s not as bad as in Yarmouth and there are some really nice parts that have a knock-on effect on other areas and opportunities. Prices are rising in the area though - Beccles, also mentioned above, used to be fairly cheap but has gone more upmarket in recent years and has never had the large cheap old properties that Yarmouth and Lowestoft do.

Original poster
BaldBrown · 29/12/2021 21:02

Yes, the plan was always to spend some time in the area so we could gauge everything for ourselves.

OP posts:
Bagelsandbrie · 29/12/2021 21:03

@sleepyhoglet

Have you ever been to Great Yarmouth? I would really really not recommend!
Yes this. If you’ve never been you really can’t imagine how bad it is- especially out of season!! It’s really AWFUL. Sorry but it is.
Bagelsandbrie · 29/12/2021 21:03

Sorry cross posted with you.

HPandTheNeverEndingBedtime · 29/12/2021 21:04

That area will be busy in Summer the surrounding houses will be B&B or converted into flats. The buildings that have been done up look lovely and a real sign of Yarmouth more prosperous times. I believe that area has residents permit parking but I'm not 100% sure.

When my parents were house hunting the took us to a nearby Haven and went house hunting whilst my grandmother supervised at the kids clubs etc. If you go out of season haven is pretty cheap.

If it was between living in a dangerous part of London then that's a lovely house to move to. It's close to the new leisure centre, you can get a season ticket to the sea life centre 5 mins away and it's a 10 min walk to the cinema. You can always downsize and move further out once you no longer need such a large property, its the property size and price range you'll struggle with.

MollysDolly · 29/12/2021 21:06

many Londoners are opting to move there for its affordability and beaches and a quiter lifestyle.

Sorry. This is absolute rubbish. No one is moving to Great Yarmouth from London for affordability or lifestyle. You could move from almost anywhere to GY for affordability, because it's that cheap, because it's that horrendous.

I worked there for years. Not one person I encountered (and with my job, I meet thousands) was a Londoner who had relocated. Or anyone who had relocated to be honest. It's sort of where people are born, have no aspirations, and houses are cheap and plentiful because no one else wants to live there, so that's where the people born there, stay. The people are small minded, racist, bigoted, backwards, uneducated, the schools are terrible, every other person is a dealer. And literally ignore the one person who pops up, stating absolute offence because they aren't like that. They might not be. But everyone else in their street is, which they perfectly well know.

It is quite simply the worst place I have ever experienced. It's had "money for regeneration" for the last 20yrs and it's still as much of a dump now as it was then.

OP, you're really doing your best to talk yourself into this, and it's of course your choice, but I would literally stake everything I own on you looking to get out of there within a year. It is vile.

ShowOfHands · 29/12/2021 21:08

Choosing to move somewhere just because you can buy a house in budget there is a little curious. What about family and friends? Do you want to be near them? Transport options to places you like? Hobbies? Interests? What about if the DC don't like home schooling or do like home schooling but need other interests and networks? Or they want to go to college? What else does a house need to make it work for you? A garden? Parking? Rail networks nearby? Do you need a library? Museums? Art galleries? Theatre? A night life?

I wouldn't live anywhere near GY. I live in Norfolk, have colleagues in our GY office and know the area. It makes an okay kiss me quick type day out but I couldn't live there for myriad reasons. It's not multi cultural, struggles with crime and anti social behaviour, employment issues, flooding, poor academic outcomes, lack of opportunity, poor diversity.

HarrisHawkins · 29/12/2021 21:09

This is sold but to give you an idea:

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/112698344#/?channel=RES_BUY

It’s maybe not the most perfect area but I would feel perfectly safe living here with my children.

Bagelsandbrie · 29/12/2021 21:11

@MollysDolly

many Londoners are opting to move there for its affordability and beaches and a quiter lifestyle.

Sorry. This is absolute rubbish. No one is moving to Great Yarmouth from London for affordability or lifestyle. You could move from almost anywhere to GY for affordability, because it's that cheap, because it's that horrendous.

I worked there for years. Not one person I encountered (and with my job, I meet thousands) was a Londoner who had relocated. Or anyone who had relocated to be honest. It's sort of where people are born, have no aspirations, and houses are cheap and plentiful because no one else wants to live there, so that's where the people born there, stay. The people are small minded, racist, bigoted, backwards, uneducated, the schools are terrible, every other person is a dealer. And literally ignore the one person who pops up, stating absolute offence because they aren't like that. They might not be. But everyone else in their street is, which they perfectly well know.

It is quite simply the worst place I have ever experienced. It's had "money for regeneration" for the last 20yrs and it's still as much of a dump now as it was then.

OP, you're really doing your best to talk yourself into this, and it's of course your choice, but I would literally stake everything I own on you looking to get out of there within a year. It is vile.

Completely agree.

I think the articles mentioned must have been some sort of propaganda written by the Yarmouth tourist board!

sleepyhoglet · 29/12/2021 21:14

You'd be much better compromising on having a 4/5 bed somewhere with a small garden than a 6/7 bed in Yarmouth. I will search. Norfolk is great and loads of home ed, just not GY!

Original poster
BaldBrown · 29/12/2021 21:34

Thank you for your input. Although, not the answers I had hoped for, I am not set on GY and can easily look elsewhere. I simply wanted to look at this from all angles. I'd do the same for any prospective area.

OP posts:
HarrisHawkins · 29/12/2021 21:35

Another Lowestoft one in the same street;

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/110248178#/?channel=RES_BUY

Maybe not the most perfect area for some people but it would appear to be close to what you’re looking for but preferable to Yarmouth.

OP posts:
MegBusset · 29/12/2021 21:42

Re: your Kent Square property. That road is a prime example of somewhere you don't want to live in Great Yarmouth. Boarded up houses, HMOs, a general atmosphere of decay and despair.

Honestly you are much better off looking at a city up north, or Wales is cheap but definitely not diverse and again some areas suffer from poverty and lack of opportunity. But really you need to extend your budget or look at 4 beds max.