Moving from London to Glasgow

[oldschoolfamily]

Hello everyone,
My wife of passed away recently and I have a young child. Planning to move to Glasgow from London with a cash buy of around £250kish for a decent 3 bed.
State school education and family friendly areas are a must. Looking for recommendation please for areas suitable and also for secondary education which might happen in few years. Any pointers in the right direction would be appreciated.

Hm, I come back up regularly and the town I come from in north Ayrshire does not seem to be remotely diverse. I haven't even suggested that the OP move there though he could get a great house for his money and trains to Glasgow. We go to Braehead and the city centre yes you see some Asian families but it is nothing, nothing like London for example.

I really wouldn't say that Glasgow is anything like London apart from it being a city. Although admittedly I've not been to London post covid.

Culturally its very different. As someone else suggested, come for a long holiday, just don't spend your time in the West end. Look round. Watch and listen too.

It's a lovely place but it's different from the south of England.

@Arran2024 Before you continue to write something which has no basis in fact you should maybe read this.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Glasgow

20% of Glasgow’s population is non-white.

20% was born outside the UK.

We have had an established South Asian population for over 50 years.

Some of our minority populations are likely to be on the 4th-5th generation now.

Many of the metrics are on a par with the likes of Bristol.

Also these stats don’t take into account the Boris Wave of immigration so are likely to be higher now.

and 2.5% of us were, shock horror, born in England..

I would look in the catchment of Hyndland Secondary, which has just had an Excellent HMIE report.

I was talking about my experience of a town in north Ayrshire and visiting a shopping centre / city centre and comparing it to London. Comparing a visit to Braehead with a visit to Westfield in Shepherd's Bush for example - the difference is off the scale.

For that budget you'd be better with Dundee and the surrounding villages. It's a lovely part of the country.

Sone things to be aware of:

1. School year cut offs are different. It’s end of Feb for the August school year start rather than English end of august for Sept school year start. Work out what year child would be going into. If they’d be the youngest you may be able to choose which year to go into.
2. House buying works remarkably differently. Realistically you need to have sold in England before buying in Scotland as the offer stage is a binding offer. To make an offer you’ll need a Scottish property solicitor. They work a bit like estate agents. Good news is rental you can give a months notice at any point so you’re not tied in.
3. Protestant / Catholic sentiment runs very high in some areas. Sectarian violence is still occasionally an issue. If you practise or have an affinity with either of those faiths then may wish to take it into account when choosing areas and schools. (Or strong opinions on dark blue, or green/white stripes).
4. Anti English sentiment can run high. If you come across as strongly English then may struggle to integrate into some communities.
5. West coast is wet. Like take a waterproof whenever you go out wet. Makes it nice and green.
6. Glasgow is no where near as big as London. You get to suburbs and countryside much quicker. Keep that in mind. You’re getting a variety of greater Glasgow area and proper Glasgow suggestions.
7. GSPC is a good site to look at. Rightmove isn’t the strong hold in Scotland that it has in England.

@Arran2024 So you’re basing your assessment of the demographics of Glasgow on a town nowhere near Glasgow and a solitary visit to a shopping centre, that also, isn’t in Glasgow?

I am telling you that Braehead is nothing like Westfield. And I am sticking to that point of view whether you like it or not.

And I go to Braehead about 15 times a year so it is hardly a single visit.

My bigger point stands. Ethnic diversity in Glasgow is nothing like in London.

@Arran2024 I would find it extremely surprising if you ever attended Braehead and it was uniformly white.

The fact that Glasgow is not as diverse as London is up there with it’s cold in the North Pole as far as revelations go.

Nowhere in the UK is as diverse as London.

However a city where 20% of people were born outside of the UK, 20% are non-white and only 63% of people identify as Scottish is fairly diverse by any measure.

I’ve given you verifiable demographic data based on census results, also telling you clearly having lived in the south side of Glasgow for decades how diverse it is.

Yet you seem to think only noticing a couple of Asian people when you’re shopping for new Primark pyjamas in a shopping centre in Renfrewshire is somehow proof that Glasgow isn’t diverse.

Hi OP, I'm a Londoner but I love Glasgow. I visited regularly over a 3 year period because I was visiting a friend. I adored it, I found the people very friendly if a little shy compared to Londoners.
I'm from Cambridge originally and honestly Glasgow reminded me very strongly of parts of Cambridge.
I envy you and I think you and your child will have a fantastic life there. Look at Scottish property websites like Rettie. I kept looking at Edinburgh properties on Rettie once when I was visiting for a holiday they asked me to leave a review! Which I did and they politely thanked me. I absolutely love Scotland it seems so like how nice life could be if there were less dickheads and more normal people around.
And most folks live in flats, hardly any houses. My friend lived in a 2 bedroom flat that was jaw droppingly huge. It was worth less than my scruffy small 1 bed in a bad area in London.
I noticed a lot of diversity in Glasgow in an area called Woodlands but that might not be true now. I once unguardedly said in Glasgow I'd noticed the city wasn't as diverse as London, room went silent and someone said We are more diverse than Edinburgh I think you will find. I loved that I am happy to have a feud with the next city!

What about somewhere like Uddingston?

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/159369512

Uddingston is nice.

Apologies for being pedantic here, but that house isn’t in Uddingston.

Estate Agents have been unofficially moving the borders of Uddingston for years.

There are close by areas that have an Uddingston postcode but they are in North Lanarkshire (Tannochside, Viewpark) or Glasgow City (Broomhill, Baillieston).

Uddingston in reality is a small town that is entirely in South Lanarkshire.

The only reason I feel the need to mention it is that there are many people who bought a house in one of these areas believing they could send their kids to school in Hamilton/Uddingston but they ended up in schools in the east-end or Bellshill instead.

As OP stated he values education then that may not be the best option.

As you mentioned your priority is education you need to to be careful of school catchments. Schools in Renfrewshire are overcrowded with well documented issues around bishopton, erskine.
Glasgow is tiny compared to London. Someone mentioned braehead not being in Glasgow, it isn’t but it’s only 7 mins in the car to the city centre (more in rush hour). Paisley (not in Glasgow) is 9 minutes by train.
For that budget a 3 bedroom will be possible but not in the most desirable areas.

Ignore the previous posters advice about gspc, for searching for property. I just had a look at they went into liquidation in 2018. Rightmove is where to search, unless there’s another search engine I don’t know about.

Contrary to popular belief here it is very possible to get a 3-bed house in the supposedly best school catchments for around 250k.

Although sold now here are some in aware of.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/156811229

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/details/scotland-142533905-21697099?s=5d024b957f55dacee82c40c6ccfe42e9eb64bbfd4aa666fa8883c9babbbdaa57

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/details/scotland-128898848-21472420?s=812745dddd1a0955ed60de37bd9e230401cf8f8bceebec1637e429d5d060222a

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/details/scotland-148314602-908184?s=3baa457489ccec7ffac06eee993dfe535afa3d55957355624d346f0184579808

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/details/scotland-83608257-21208588?s=cf4b08f3c59bb0d5a8be15c867bba4773347846ead3447fd467d9c12b112707e

I moved from East London to Glasgow without any real reason to other than wanting to leave London. In my experience, people have been really friendly and welcoming!

The Southside has been great for us, lovely parks, family friendly, vibrant. As some have already suggested, maybe Giffnock way if you’re focussing on secondary schools - but that’s a long way off for us so I don’t have much knowledge there.

I enjoy the fact Glasgow has a good cultural scene (art, music, food) if that’s your thing, it’s also easy to get to Edinburgh for a different city vibe, but you’re out in incredible countryside in no time (eg 40 mins to Loch Lomond or the coast).

Good luck with whatever you decide!

I know you didn’t ask and you’ve probably made your decision already but I’ve been looking into something similar for myself and sons and I was
looking to choose between Berkshire, Surrey, Newcastle or just move across to Scotland.
Currently, all options are leaning closely towards Berkshire, ascot particularly cause of the good boarding/prep school system and somewhat family friendly environment away from the daily bustle of the London city life.
And also because I’ll need to be properly informed and stay connected for the Eton school acceptance hustle for my sons and it may be difficult to do that from Scotland.
If you haven’t made your decision already, you should look into Berkshire Or Surrey.
Farnham is such a lovely chill place that could work for you and your DS…
I really hope you find the light at the end of your tunnel

This isn't true.

You can make an offer and retract it pretty easily. I've had it done as a seller and buyer. It's only when missives are done that it's legally binding. No need to sell first.

FFS.