Asking for a friend! Tell me about Thirsk, Yorkshire

[Helpmehelpmyfriendplease]

Is Thirsk Yorkshire a nice place to live if:

Very newly single
Need a fresh start in a gentle environment (abusive relationship)
Will not be able to afford a car
Have an anxious small dog (hope he will be less anxious away from the abuse)

Thirsk seems to tick a lot of boxes. Small but has a station with under 3hrs to London if ever needed. 24hr vet. Walkable to supermarkets to get groceries. Have I been watching too much James Herriot?

If not Thirsk, where? stable job but only earn 25k a year so thinking up north might be more affordable, with added bonus of being very far from ex. Can be fully remote so it doesn’t matter where. Just needs to be a nice place to restart life with dog. Does this place exist?

Any suggestions would be most welcome. Thank you!

Yes, it's pleasant, I dont live there but know it.

Not too far from York and Leeds. Lovely countryside. I think it's quite posh?

It will be a culture shock if youre used to city life and I don't know what public transport there is like.

Hopefully some locals will be along with more information.

I don’t know it well but have visited and it’s nice, but probably not that cheap. Is your friend looking to rent or buy, and do you know approx budget?

I went once for a weekend for a wedding, very nice place, you can’t get a taxi if your life depended on it.

Whitley Bay

I know it and it’s a nice place. Lots going on that you could walk to and lots of groups to join. My friend does an art class there, it has got a leisure centre (think it has a pool but not sure), places to eat, shop (Tesco and Aldi), independent shops and a very sweet community run cinema. Train to York is about 15 minutes.

thirsk is lovely. Expensive (although not London expensive.

I used to work in Thirsk although havent lived there for over 10years. I think it sounds like it could work for her in terms of amenities - there are three decent sized supermarkets (tesco, aldi, lidl) plus a coop, boots, GPs, leisure centre plus swimming pool, several cafes and pubs, small cinema (one film a week), a good bookshop. Would kids be on the horizon one day? There are a couple of primaries and a secondary i think. Lots of newbuilds have gone up in Sowerby, which was once a separate village that is now attached to Thirsk, but is a bit further away from the town centre if she wants to be somewhere a bit quieter. Id have a look in public transport. As well as the station, I know there are definitely buses to York and Northallerton for bigger towns / cities but might be worth checking on their frequency? But 25k is still quite a low salary - i think thats min wage now? Does she have the potential to increase this? If she wanted to move further north, she'd get even more for her money I think. I think it would be quite tight for her as looking at whats on rightmove, rents are still £700-800pm which is a big chunk of her take home pay.

Thirsk is lovely. A nice market town with enough going on there to keep you occupied. However, without a car, travelling around will be trickier (but doable).

Would you consider York? It's officially a city on paper but by all accounts, it's a large town. It really does have everything you need, with most things being within walking distance.

It's not cheap (neither is Thirsk) but I think it might be worth investigating.

Afaik, rents are pretty expensive in both, however there are pockets of affordable but nice areas too.

don’t know the area but i’m moving 250 miles away next year and currently whittling down areas. Without a car i’d go for somewhere near a big town or good transport links. Also it sounds like this town is quite expensive and given your salary it might be better to choose something inbetween - so not really cheap and problems, but also not the most expensive towns. I have a good salary but single income and realised most of the places i’m looking at were expensive places. So i’m now looking at cheaper options, but still nice places. Good luck with the move.

I’ve lived in yorkshire, and visited Thirsk many times. It’s very much a market town and personally I think it would be quite a struggle without a car it’s quite land locked. Malton is much nicer.

Not sure I get this, Thirsk is on the mainline to London, Leeds, York, Northallerton and beyond and is very walkable/cycleable. Malton isn't on a mainline at all.

Malton is nicer than Thirsk. The station is also quite a long way from the town. But don’t think for a second North Yorkshire is cheap. Worth it though ☺️

Malton is nicer than Thirsk, much less affordable and more remote though.

It's quite remote if you don't drive. Fine I suppose if you WFH but commuting will be pricey and difficult

Thirsk (my son lives there) has quite a high amount of deprivation. Jobs can be hard to come by (but then they are everywhere!) and there is still some cheap property around. However it is well served by amenities - mainline trains, etc and handy to get around. But on race days you do not want to leave your house!

It depends what you want. As some have said, Malton is lovely but very much more expensive, Scarborough is cheap, but for a reason.

Its reasonably pleasant. I preferred Northallerton though.... a bit more going on there.

I’m not sure ‘remote’ is the right word. It’s certainly not as easy to get to by road than Thirsk, but it’s only 24 minutes by train to York.

Selby is quite cheap, decent train and bus service. Reasonably cheap to rent (by North Yorkshire prices)

Thirsk is a nice town, but as others have said the train station is quite a way out of town and difficult to get to.

I am biased but much prefer Northallerton, train station within walking distance of town centre and a lovely high street.

I have lived in Thirsk for about 28 years. I only passed my driving test this year.

Pretty much everything is within walking distance, I managed fine. There are buses and the train station is a 20 minute walk or 5 minutes in a taxi.
Plenty of taxi services but it's better to book in advance.

It's a very mixed community, there are a lot of big houses and in some ways it is quite posh but there is also a lot of social housing (which I live in) and then everything in between.

There are a lot of clubs to join if you want to meet new people.
Plenty of sports clubs, knit and natter, The Yarn bombers, walking clubs.
Then volunteering such as Thirsk Wombles or Thirsk in Bloom,

There is a leisure centre, sports village, a few gyms, library, the Ritz cinema.
A few nice restaurants, pubs around the square and some very nice country pubs with good food.

There are lots of lovely dog walks and Thirsk is full of dog owners. There are three vets practices in Thirsk including the 24hr one and one owned by one of the Yorkshire vets and dog groomers, a big pet store and a small posh organic one.
Lots of dog walkers and home boarders if you ever need one.

Thirsk is a pretty welcoming, friendly place to live. I love it here.
My daughter who is 15 said to me the other day that she was sitting on a bench with her friend and said to him, that she thinks they are really lucky to live in Thirsk and I thought that was really nice.

If there's anything that you want to ask @Helpmehelpmyfriendplease let me know.

@RightOnTheEdge oh yes the Yarm Bombers! They are fabulous. Matt Baker travelled round with his mum and dad on TV and Ma Baker joined the bombers for a bit of a knit.

Thirsk has the A19, proximity to the A1 and the fact it’s on the mainline train service. Malton is on a secondary train line and has minor roads connecting it.

Thank you so much for your responses. Will also look at whitely bay, Selby and Northallerton.

Shes currently down south and cheap options there are £800 per month for a room in shared accommodation and will be very difficult with her dog.

I saw on Rightmove a couple of 2 beds in Thirsk for 795 (which would be too big anyway) but would assume 1 beds, if there are any, would be cheaper.

she does have a friend in the area, but not Thirsk. That friend lives in a place where it’s about 8 miles to the nearest train so with no car, that would be out of the question for her.

i did look at York but either there are no rentals at the moment or it’s weirdly more expensive that Thirsk. Could it be because of it being a university town?

its very early days in terms of her breakup. Plus shes dealing with the emotional shock of not being able to move to family in Europe which was plan A. They’ve said a hard no to her dog. They expect her to give him to rescue but she’d literally rather sleep on the street with him than give him up.

I’m just so sad for her that she works so hard, full time, and will be barely able to afford to live. I’m encouraging her to see if she qualifies for Universal credit as every little bit will help.

York is EXTREMELY expensive. My kids who lived there have now moved out (one to Thirsk, two to Malton). Malton is a lovely place (Norton, its twin across the river is much cheaper) and my daughter who lives there doesn't drive but loves it. You have direct trains to York and plenty of buses, but a lot of North Yorkshire (like my tiny village) isn't served by a bus service, which is why many people drive.

How about Beverley?