Relocating, Brighton or Cambridge?

[samyu]

Hi there, I am struggling about relocate to Brightong or Cambridge,could anyone here give me some advices about my struggles? 😂

I am currently in overseas (left the UK a year ago), and I have a 6-years-old DS. I have been keeping in touch with independent schools in both cities for him, and all of them seem good. As well as the housing prices, equally expensive..😅
Does Brighton have more sunny days than Cambridge? Where is warmer? As I am getting older (40+), I would love to living in a warmer place. 😅

Thanks a lot guys!

I live in Brighton. It’s a fun place to live, lots to do, and less “posh” than Cambridge. We do have a lot of social problems and the town centre can be really scruffy, and it is very cold and depressing in the winter.

I used to live in Cambridge. While it’s a beautiful city, I think if you’re not connected to the university in some way it can be a frustrating place to live - someone before mentioned feeling disconnected from things and I think it’s definitely the case. There’s a real town-gown divide. And the tourists, my god (appreciate this will be a problem in Brighton too!).

I grew up near Cambridge and would never return, find it dull and too far from the sea.

I have lived in Brighton, although am now along the coast. Brighton is very ‘young’ and yes, very ‘woke’.

I guess it depends what you are looking for in a place🤷‍♀️ I wouldn’t live in either if you paid me, I prefer a quieter seaside town than Brighton.

I think Sussex is warmer than Cambridge except in the height of summer, sea keeps Brighton cooler. Cambridge gets snow more frequently than Brighton and generally I think it gets colder in Cambridge in winter.

Lived in Brighton, can confirm. I was in my 20s then and couldn’t keep up.

I live in Cambridge and would much rather live in Brighton.

Brighton has changed a great deal over the years and not for the better either, we used to live up the coast in Shoreham-by-Sea about 17 years ago, Brighton used to be very trendy and on point, but now it's so woke it's ridiculous, it also has a big drugs problem (it always had that scene but now it's really bad) it looks quite run down in some parts too.

That's actually one of the worst primaries in the city (if not the worst), from everyone i know who had a child there or worked in that school. Can do much better than that for school here...

@samyu - can I ask why you’ve narrowed it down to these two towns? Do you need to commute to London? What are you looking from a town?

I'd love to live in Cambridge. What are good postcode to look at that are central and don't require a car commute?

Of those two I'd definitely choose Cambridge. Brighton is like a wierd social experiment -if you have a certain set of views you'd probably find it super desirable, but only a minority do & you wouldn't be asking the question if you did :D

Just about anywhere within the city itself but house prices are bonkers. You’re looking at £600k+ for a three bed semi.

It really is! Once I was breastfeeding DD on a bench near the pier. Somebody doing surveys with a clipboard came along. I agreed to answer the survey and she started by saying "Are you male or female. Ok, I'll tick Female!"
Then she backtracked looking absolutely mortified and apologized profusely for doing that without asking me what I self identified as. She looked like she was in so much agony. This was a decade ago before the experiment widened to the UK population at large.

@thewaitislong I have 3 children at another (nearby) Cambridge primary and teach at a village primary a few miles out. I have 3 friends with children at ucps and visited the school on an inset pre-covid and have never come across any issues with it! I agree that Eddington is a bit soulless though.

OP, I have lived in Cambridge 6 years and there is a lot to like about it. It's a good place to live, good links to London, decent weather, good schools, lovely city centre. There isn't much around it through and the landscape is dull (I did grow up in Northumberland so bit biased)

If your key concern is sunny days and you currently live abroad, and have complete choice I'd consider somewhere like Bordeaux rather than either Brighton or Cambridge. British weather is notoriously fickle - occasionally warm but summers like last years show it can just have lots of rubbish weather and if I could choose anywhere with weather as a key deciding factor, it wouldn't be the UK.

I lived in Brighton for 20 years and loved it in my 20s and 30s but I'd agree with many PP - it's a party town,

I also feel the vibe has changed quite a bit recently and there is more obvious homelessness, drugs and low level crime.
We moved out partly because I was concerned about our son growing up in that environment (but I've done quite a bit of work and research with young offenders locally, so think my perception may be a bit skewed).

I also got head butted full in the face in Brighton (by accident, long story but drunk bloke running away from someone ran full into me round a corner in middle of day and the full impact of it was on my face). Stitches and brain scan, etc. he broke his nose. Blood everywhere.

He was very apologetic and concerned, and It was a one-off weird incident, so perhaps shouldn't signify for you but, although it could happen anywhere, it felt very Brighton.
It was the beginning of the end for me of a twenty year love affair with Brighton.

Thats not my experience. We live just outside Cambridge, don't have any connection with the University, and don't feel disconnected.

Cambridge is a very small city, but has loads going on. That's partly to do with the university but it's all very accessible. My DC went to the local state school but had visiting speakers from the University. Stephen Hawking was the guest of honour at Ds1's Y11 prom!

It depends what you're looking for. The thing I love about Cambridge is the amount of cultural stuff on offer. In the last week I've popped into the city in my.lunchbreak to hear a concert, and gone to the Cambridge Union to hear Ed Balls speak. Next week I'm going to the David Hockney exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum.

However, the countryside near Cambridge is pretty boring, and it's over an hour to the nearest beach.

I lived in Cambridge for 13 years and have been in Brighton for 7 years. They are both great cities. Housing that is reasonably central is probably more expensive in Cambridge but they are both very expensive. I was connected to the university and enjoyed all the cultural events Cambridge had to offer but the festival, fringe and artists open houses in Brighton in May are fantastic. I love the location of Brighton in the South Downs and on the coast. Cambridge is too flat! I would move back to Cambridge if needed but I love Brighton and would miss it.

I would go for Cambridge over Brighton though suspect it would be quite a bit more expensive in central Cambridge than Brighton. Schools are excellent in Cambridgeshire, with exception of SN and low crime. There isn't that much around Cambridge but its a lovely city and lovely villages around. They are very different places, Cambridge is quite conservative and cultural, a lot of international people working in science parks, lot of scientists who work in science parks, Brighton is very diverse, left-wing, trendy and there were lots of police cars / drugs when I stayed there. Even got mugged by the seagulls. Quite a fun place but somewhere more for a weekend or university aged student for me.

There are lots of other possibilities though, on the coast I know someone who lives in Lewes who speaks highly of it and Oxford may be worth a look if want somewhere like Cambridge.

I am familiar with both places, with recent experience and there is no doubt I would choose Cambridge, as long as I could be fairly central and in an older style property - I am not too keen on the new estates on the borders of the city. Brighton is a real dive now. I even hate visiting it.

I wouldn't pick either- and I know them both well. Cambridge struggles with anywhere that nice in close proximity for days out and is very pricey, it's nice but I think other places are as nice and more on the doorstep. Brighton has issues with housing stock in my opinion, every house we looked at had damp in parts and whilst fun to visit , it can be pretty scruffy and boisterous- have a friend who lived there and now in her 40s is fed up of sick outside her gate and thrown rubbish. It also has not very great state schools if that matters.

I've lived all over and it really depends on your budget and what kind of vibe you like. Of the places I know well and for similar budgets I would pick Bath, Guildford,summertown area in Oxford , Kingston On Thames and Winchester - All are livelyish, plenty to do and not dull. If you could go up North , York is great too Guess though you may have reasons for the 2 you picked such as friends/family etc and that makes a difference too.

Cambridge struggles with anywhere that nice in close proximity for days out

It’s an hour and a half from the Suffolk coast and close to lovely parts of Suffolk and Essex with quite a few NT properties very close. If days out are a factor there are far worse places. I love York, it’s my favourite English city but it’s cold and a long way from London if that’s important.

I live in Brighton and it's a very mixed bag and very marmite.

It's busy with tourists, it's busy with daytrippers from london BUT that is largely contained to the central areas around the coast and piers. As soon as you head even 5 minutes walk out of the centre it's very different.

I live on the Hove side of Brighton and I love it. Seeing the sea in the morning on my short walk to work cheers me up and I love the natural stop that having a coast gives the city. It sprawls east and west but can't sprawl south or north due to the coast and the downs.

The centre of Brighton is "edgy". Kemptown can be seedy. Lots of rough sleepers and street drinkers which I can't deny does lower the whole tone. On the whole though they stay between themselves.

I don't know Cambridge. I'm sure it's lovely but probably a lot more sedate.

Living in Cambridge feels like living on an island in a sea of nothingness - the countryside around Cambridge is flat and boring, and there are very few interesting places within easy reach. Yes, you can get to London in 50 mins on the fastest trains, but that's just the train - you have to factor in getting to the station. It's also very small: it's not really a city; it's a market town with a lot of colleges. It's very congested, so driving can be a nightmare. In the summer it's heaving with tourists, so much so that going into the town centre at the weekends isn't worth the effort, because it's impossible to walk along the pavements at a normal speed; it's more of a slow shuffle. It's also (I think) a cold and unfriendly place - it's hard to make friends. I've lived in London, too, and I found London much more friendly than Cambridge.

On the plus side, Cambridge is absolutely beautiful. As well as all the fabulous buildings, there is a huge amount of green space, and the river is lovely. The weather is great - it must be one of the warmest and driest places in the UK. I disagree with a pp who said that it can be cold and windy in winter. It also has one of the largest lidos in the UK, which is now open all year round - the lido is truly fab if you are a fan of outdoor swimming. Cambridge is clean and civilised, and there isn't a great deal of anti-social behaviour, so it feels safe.

I'd definitely choose Brighton. I find Cambridge quite up itself. Lots of posh people. Brighton is very friendly, there's always lots to do, May festival is great.
Green Party. Stay out of west Street and between the piers and it's lovely. You don't get many moany tories there but you might find it a bit woke if you are one.

Oh and the downs are beautiful. You have the sea, countryside and a city. Try the suburbs for housing. If you have lots of money I'd go to Hove or Withdean. Lovely people in Brighton. Just don't go out on a Saturday night when the visitors are there

Cambridge as a city is teeny so if you live in the surrounding necklace of villages you are a similar distance to the very centre as if you bought "in" a big city.