Reasons to move to Glasgow (from England)

[Marmaladegin]

DH has been offered a job in Glasgow. We currently live in a naice area in S England but it doesn't have great schools. Bar the chilliness, I love Scotland but not familiar with Glasgow. I'm Irish, DH Scottish. Dc 11, 10, 6. We like the countryside but would be happy to embrace the greater culture available in/near a city, as long as there was easy access to green space.

I'd be really grateful for any thoughts on pros/ cons of Glasgow with a family, and recommendations for areas. Budget would be up to £800k for 4 bed detached house if that helps.

Opportunities for your DC once 16 are better in the SE. The weather is much cooler and wetter. Summers are not the same. Schools have declined rapidly in last 10 years. I’’ve lived 20 yrs in one of the places mentioned. Both DC in London for work now.
@Dignorantonio makes v good points.

Free undergraduate university tuition in Scotland might be appealing?

I've lived in Glasgow and Essex. You'll definitely notice a difference in the weather, particularly if you like outdoor activities. It's bit cooler which lots of people are ok with but much wetter.

You don’t have to live in the city or even near it, many people commute from lanarkshire - strathaven is pretty, eaglesham, Newton mearns, or further Edinburgh/Stirling/dunblane areas I wouldn’t live in Glasgow, purely because I don’t want city life I like being rural and being able to visit cities.

Lots of the best state schools in scotland are in Glasgow and the Glasgow hinterland.

It is worth knowing that the City of Glasgow council area is quite small - when people say 'Glasgow' they also mean all the surrounding areas in different councils- places like Giffnock (East Renfrewshire), Bearsden (East Dumbartonshire) such as on this League table.

Glasgow has amazing and also remote countryside that is easily accessible.

The weather in Scotland is really different to SE England. It's much colder here and much wetter in Glasgow. Many days it's is 25C in London and 15C here.

Your budget will buy you something somewhere like eaglesham, which need those criteria pretty well. Probably s

Probably something very nice indeed tbh.

The village has a primary school that feeds to mearns castle. Or the catholic choice is St Joseph’s then St Ninians.

Similar villagey situations can be found on other edges of Glasgow too.

£800k is a very healthy budget for a house in Glasgow.

I’d recommend Helensburgh!

Honestly, the weather is worse in Manchester, if you measure rainfall.
I don't understand the comment about opportunities after 16 at all. That's bizarre. People can leave if they choose, and if they don't there are abundant HE and employment opportunities.

Glasgow is cosmopolitan. Anyone who says it isn't hasn't lived in a dull dormitory town in any part of the UK!

I thought it was a fantastic place to be a teenager.

And I'd rather endure somewhat mild, rather dreich weather than the 40 degree summer days we are now increasingly having to tolerate further south.

This is where I spent my childhood years. Quite a large English population which could ease the transition. But it's a bit of a trek as a commute to Glasgow and quite provincial. We moved back to Glasgow. My teen friends left behind did get a bit bored in Helensburgh. Great for pre teens though.

Her DH is Scottish!

I'm agree with the poster who said Jordanhill isn't likely to be feasible without years of planning and a lot of luck. It's a unique school, technically a state school but not local authority managed like all other Scottish state schools (we don't have academies).

With that budget I would 100% go for East Renfrewshire and made sure to buy in the Williamwood or possibly, Mearns Castle catchment area. Or if catholic then St Ninian's. The catchments are fixed unlike England. Whilst not selective, those schools have outstanding academic results, they are almost de facto private schools these days as the cost of property in the catchments is prohibitive to most.

Yes it will be wet and damp a lot of the time. I would advice planning some sunshine breaks to help you get through the long dark winter. We do get some stunning cold clear bright days too, but periods of weeks of rain can be hard.

East Ren is on the southern edge of greater Glasgow so immediate access to countryside and a short drive to beaches and views of the Ayrshire coast and Arran.

Op look at everything including the higher tax bands.
Don't be lulled by the free stuff, Uni prescriptions, extra child money, or baby boxes.
Don't count on your kids getting 'free' uni either. The unis have cut back the number of spaces for Scottish kids, they'd rather have the paying English kids.

Scottish Education has dropped down the league tables and been pulled out of some of the international comparisons.

NHS has lower spending per head than England does too. But you get free prescriptions.

SNP are far too focused on independence that they are failing miserably with the day job.

Places like Uddingston, Bothwell, Strathaven, Eaglesham I think might fit your bill, as well as several areas in Renfrewshire.

It is definitely wetter in Glasgow/west coast in general so a bit confused by PP that says it's not - some weeks you might get rain every day, and this can range from a constant dreichy drizzle to bouncing off the pavements.

I should add though, there is nothing quite like a beautiful warm summer's day in Glasgow and west coast of Scotland. It's like nowhere else.

I'd also take a look at Houston (Gryffe catchment) just outside of Glasgow.

sod the schools
sod the weather
sod the countryside (beautiful as it is)
sod the city (as fab as it is)

Go for the vegetarian Haggis!! Different at every venue, but all very very very good!!

I saw this linked on another thread and I think it's really helpful when you don't know an area - it's all of scotland ranked by deprivation- blue least deprived, red most. Simd map

Yes, there are other factors to consider, but it matches pretty well with what my experiences are of the areas I know. With £800k you would really want to be living in a blue area.

Please consider the transition for your kids too. English accents in a Glasgow school can make their lives hell. I speak from personal experience. Your kids may have a VERY rough ride at first.

Glasgow is a fabulous city, I lived there for years. But now I'm back in England and personally I wouldn't move back.
The weather is one big reason why!

The tax bands is a good point to consider, if you are any sort of professional it kicks in at £43k. Hits middle earners hardest as a % - someone on £50k earns £1800 less than in England. But... property is generally lower, perhaps not so much in the areas being

We also moved back to Scotland a few years ago with non Scottish born kids. They are really not liking the excessive "Scottishness" that has been forced on them across the whole curriculum. It's quite different from when I or your DH went to school in Scotland. Worth being aware of.

Didn't like my own phrasing there not just professionals. 41% band starts at £43663 which impacts on middle earners across the board who aren't particularly wealthy - especially if it's the only household income. And they are planning to add another 1% to that. Also main tax rate is higher than rUK from £25k.

I lived in Glasgow for years and loved it. I now live in South Lanarkshire and love that but you couldn't pay me to live in actual Glasgow now. The local authority has no money and loads of debt so the services have gone very downhill, the roads are covered in potholes and the city centre is a mess, frankly. A lot of the schools are very run down.

If I had your money I would live in East Ren. Easy commute into Glasgow if you need to work in a city but nicer (although more expensive but you have a big budget) houses and good schools.

This is a good point. The actual Glasgow city council boundary is quite small. So a lot of what people call 'Glasgow' isn't Glasgow really.

Have a look in Pollokshields, Newlands, Strathbungo, (High) Shawlands. For that budget you should be able to find a nice stone Victorian villa with a decent garden.

Shawlands Academy is a good school: very mixed demographic (bother economically and ethnically) but still performs well against its "virtual comparator" (especially given that they don't include the number of languages spoken as part of the calculation). It's good for both academic kids but also encourages sporting and artistic pursuits (ds was both academic and sporty).

Don't discount a conversion: a large stone villa divided into two or more households. We live in what dh calls a "horizontal semi": the upper half of a big stone villa. We have an enormous living room with gorgeous high ceilings and a plaster frieze, large dining kitchen, large dining room, large double bedroom and a small room we use as a study (it was the kitchen). Upstairs in the attic floor we have another double room with a dormer window and a second spare double bedroom plus a large landing area and a 2nd bathroom. The downside is that it costs a fortune to heat .

We have our own entrance and the left half of the back garden and the front garden is shared. This is our half of the back garden in its late winter splendour

This is in Pollokshields and would come in well under your budget I'll not say how little we bought it for 24 years ago . We're close to both Maxwell Park and Pollok Park (which also has the glorious Burrell Collection) for walking/dog walking.

As others have said, in Glasgow you're never far from "real" countryside. We can get to Loch Lomond in not much more than half an hour, plus we're close to the airport for business and leisure travel.

You will get a fabulous house for £800K in East Renfrewshire or Bearsden where the best schools are.