Where do you think is the best place to live in the UK?

Well the program was a bit bollocks.

All the places are quaint little villages/towns, and all bar Harrogate are in the south.

They're all good places to die, which is what people go there to do.

Orkney?:hahaha: who the f*** compiled that list,the rest look pretty boring.Of all those places I would choose Harrogate,not to far from vibrant Leeds and not in the congested south east.

Harrogate isn't completely to my taste, but I realise its a good place to live. Lots of parks and gardens, wealth, good education, shopping is poor compared to Leeds; but Im sure if it was stuck in Scotland the shopping would comparably be 'amazing'. Lots of boutiques.. Relitavely good nightlife, lots of bars/restaurants, relitavely large and near enough to major cities; namely Leeds, and York/Bradford. I can be in Manchester, Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield, York, Hull, Newcastle in no more than 1-2hrs; London/Liverpool 3hrs..

I suppose Eastleigh is near to Portsmouth and Southampton; Epsom/Ewell is near London so they would be OK. Tunbridge Wells- no thanks. I used to go through it when I lived in Eastbourne; it takes so long to get anywhere from there. An hour to London; compared to my 20-30mins to Leeds.

well obviously this forum will be biased towards the urban persuasion ;)

Harrogate, as I love all the parks there! Shopping's not too bad either I suppose, it's no city.

Subliving.

i'd rater cut off my own feet than live in any of those places

I really like Harrogate, but the shopping does let it down. Well, if you want boutique, expensive or touristy shopping I spose its OK; high street shopping is a bit poor but its improving suppose. I don't think it's as bad as people think; it's just coz its in the shadow of Leeds. We have most things any other large town has; cinema is a bit expensive. But at least there is a cinema, and theatre, restaurants, pools, parks; not bad really. It's only 20 mins by car into Leeds anyway; trains every 1/2hr, buses every 20 mins. I did note this year they didn't say it was a dodgy shopping centre like last year. Since last years survey LK Bennet, HMV, (some shop next to it), Three, Caffe Lattino, Greggs, Sports Direct, Toyworld, Calendar Club and Costa Coffee have all opened new stores/cafes; at least its changing.

They let a Greggs open in Harrogate and your saying its part of an improvement? Standards must be slipping. Greggs are actually evil and inhabited by scum. If all Greggs were to disappear tomorrow I would not be an unhappy man.

I think you should be force fed cheese and onion pasties - per rectum!

There already was a Greggs... it's the second :D

At least it's not McDonalds; Harrogate is one of the few towns with just one!

I always thought Aberdeen would be a nice place to go and die, no really, just about the right size, nice shops, not too much nasty crime, good (better than England's) hospitals. Bit nippy in the winter mind.

Anyway, don't fancy any of the above.

Sorry about my Greggs rant, they just tend to be everywhere and I like some individuality.

Best place to live in the UK would have to be in the Lake District. Great scenery, great wildlife, amazing views, nice homes, great combination of the modern and the old, peaceful, great spots for walking or climbing or hangliding/paragliding, nice villages such as Keswick with that Ye Olde charm, plenty of good restaurants....etc etc

London i imagine would be a nice place to live...but I couldn't iamgine living their for ages, too many people, too much congestion, crime (not that London is a crime-ridden city, but it is a big city nontheless and as such has higher crime levls then the countryside).........

Maybe some nice cities like Oxford, Cambridge or Bath would be a decent place to live....

:cheers:

I disagree; its too far from any city. I couldn't live more than half an hour from a major city; where I am I can be in both Leeds and Bradford in half an hour or less, and not much more than an hour for Manchester and Sheffield. But it's not just cities; less than half an hour from the Yorkshire Dales National Park; under an hour to the Peak District and North Yorkshire Moors National Parks, and about 2 hours to the Lake District. It has the best of both worlds; and its a very true statement, one not quite true in some places.

yeah..all great places for a cosy, self-satisfied, tory voting, head in arse, cricket-loving, this sceptred isle, 2.4, 4x4 NIMBY.

Maybe it should have been called 'the best places in the UK for nobheads to avoid actually living in the real world'

OI YOU! MIDDLE ENGLAND! OUTSIDE NOW!! :bash:

I always thought Aberdeen would be a nice place to go and die, no really, just about the right size, nice shops, not too much nasty crime, good (better than England's) hospitals. Bit nippy in the winter mind.

Anyway, don't fancy any of the above.

I've lived in Ay-bairr-deeen. Good place in every respect apart from the abomnable weather. I fear for the place when the oil money runs out though.

I live in Harrogate and hate the tories (Labour or LD), am for change, hate cricket and hate 4x4s, and cars all over; but 4x4s particularly.

yeah..all great places for a cosy, self-satisfied, tory voting, head in arse, cricket-loving, this sceptred isle, 2.4, 4x4 NIMBY.

Maybe it should have been called 'the best places in the UK for nobheads to avoid actually living in the real world'

OI YOU! MIDDLE ENGLAND! OUTSIDE NOW!! :bash:

oh the ignorance. Twat.:ohno:

oh the ignorance. Twat.:ohno:

I beg your pardon? Care to back that up?

yeah..all great places for a cosy, self-satisfied, tory voting, head in arse, cricket-loving, this sceptred isle, 2.4, 4x4 NIMBY.


Harrogate is a Liberal town.

Yes It is DiLivio. Thanks for that.

It was however Conservative from it's inception as a constituency in 1950 till.....1997!

Winchester (Con. Second place 2005 GE with 38.5% of vote)
and Orkney are also LD.

As is Eastleigh by 1.1% from the Tories.

The rest of the list is as follows:

Tonbridge Wells - Greg Clarke (Con.)
Horsham - Francis Maude (Con.)
South Camb. - Andrew Lansley(Con.)
Hertford and Storford - Mark Prisk (Con.)
Epsom & Ewell - Chris Grayling (Con)
West Dorset - Oliver letwin (Con.

It is quite a strong LD area now though; Labour are completely out of the race here. Tory are 2nd, but LD are by far the most popular.

I always thought Aberdeen would be a nice place to go and die... Bit nippy in the winter mind.

A bit nippy in the winter :wtf: Don't you mean down right bloody freezing, like about -10 to -15 centigrade. Anywhere in the NW of Scotland for me.

I quite like Aberdeen- got a nice beach too. When I was up there it was quite warm- I mean it was August, but it was hardly the stereotypical max 15c temperature that so many people think its like.

I wouldn't fancy living in any of those towns really. Was the list compiled by Tory central office as some kind of TV propoganda drive?

Im sure if it was stuck in Scotland the shopping would comparably be 'amazing'. Lots of boutiques..

I've never understood this obsession with the quality of shopping TBH, what's all that about, and boutiques? Shopping can never be a nice experience even online.

Are all of you banging on about "shopping experiences" girls? FFS! I hate shopping, if I need something I know what I need, I go into a shop, buy it, and get out as quickly as possible. I certainly don't fanny around in boutiques wasting my afternoons.

I'd much rather live in central London than any of those places. The market tells the same story.

Well. I love shopping. When I have money =/ Not stressful shopping where youre trying to find specific things.

A good "shopping experience" for me would be to have a quality butcher, baker, fish monger, green grocer, newsagent, general store/off-licence, pub, and 24h petrol station (for buying smokes at 4am) all within a 100m radius of my home. Not many people have that luxury nowadays though.

I have all those within about 150m of my house =/ Don't really go to any of them except Sainsburys sometimes for the odd things. Theres also a tile shop, wine warehouse, 5 churches, William Hill, fish and chips, Hairdressers, Post Office, Clothes Shops, Charity shop and some other random shops. Take aways.

But they're all local shops. To get a real shopping experience you have to go into town for big exciting shops.

South Cambs or Harrogate, though I've not lived in either.

South Cambridgeshire would be ok- but its still a bit far from a major city for my liking (London itself not being that far, but then getting into the centre is a whole new story).

The thread should be named "The Best Place to Live in the UK when you are a pensioner"? :lol:

I have all those within about 150m of my house =/ Don't really go to any of them except Sainsburys sometimes for the odd things. Theres also a tile shop, wine warehouse, 5 churches, William Hill, fish and chips, Hairdressers, Post Office, Clothes Shops, Charity shop and some other random shops. Take aways.

But they're all local shops. To get a real shopping experience you have to go into town for big exciting shops.

Do you regularly purchase tiles then? You must do alot of D.I.Y or live in a house with alot of kitchens and bathrooms or maybe you just have a strange fetish for tiles. Only joking

5 churches, 150 metres? Are these proper churches or I am a madman please come listen to me in my garden shed churches? If its true I am very impressed, I was always of the understanding that East Anglia was the Church capital of Britain (particularly the medieval kind).

Nothing wrong with any of those places. Not that I agree with the list, but each option appeals in its own way. There's more to life than cities you know. :)

5 churches, 150 metres? Are these proper churches or I am a madman please come listen to me in my garden shed churches? If its true I am very impressed, I was always of the understanding that East Anglia was the Church capital of Britain (particularly the medieval kind).

Only one is proper old. 3 are kinda oldish; theyre planning to demolish two of them and rebuild a bigger, modern one (similar to Bradford's ALC). One is a modern one.

As for tiles- I bought tiles from there once =/

The thread should be named "The Best Place to Live in the UK when you are a pensioner"? :lol:

haha. Exactly. A pensioner. With money. Epsom and Ewell, I ask you!

Well, you say that, but Yorkshire's most expensive streets are not in Harrogate- there is not one street in Harrogate that breaks £1m as an average. I believe the highest is about £900,000. Harrogate's average is about £240,000 I think.

Cardiff, obviously ;)

Blatantly Winchester, cos we all know mid-hants is the best :D. Howeve having been to Eastleigh a couple of times i really cant see how it made the list - its essentially a low-middle income suburb of Soton with a lot of business/retail parks.

Well, you say that, but Yorkshire's most expensive streets are not in Harrogate- there is not one street in Harrogate that breaks £1m as an average. I believe the highest is about £900,000. Harrogate's average is about £240,000 I think.

Where are they then?

Personally, I've always fancied Otley. Christ, that makes me sound really old doesn't it?

Who is Otley? Was he in the Avengers or something?

Who is Otley? Was he in the Avengers or something?

PC Brian Otley - he was in Z Cars!

Where are they then?

North Leeds; Shadwell, Alwoodley, Roundhay are particularly desirable, as are Otley and Wetherby. Ilkely is Bradford I think, but it is wealthy. All the villages (quite literally all!) are wealthy too. Im not sure of the streets that break £1m but I wouldnt be suprised if Wigton Lane, Linton Lane, Sandmoor area etc have a £1m+ average.

Manchester! definately! it's in a poll somewhere on the internet.

Manchester was actually on the worst places to live last year :S

Skanky Manc, just how we like it!

Personally, I've always fancied Otley. Christ, that makes me sound really old doesn't it?


http://farm1.static.flickr.com/111/263270114_ae40f22216.jpg


Otley's ok (pictured) , but Wetherby is the best market town in the Leeds area.

More people want to live in Bristol than anywhere else in the country, according to a new survey.The city topped a poll of places to which people in Britain most wanted to move.

The survey was carried out by www.landlordexpert.co.uk, which said that during the last six months, Bristol had received 60,000 more online searches for homes than any other city.

City estate agents have explained why Bristol is so popular.



Nick Hole, senior negotiator at Chappell and Matthews' College Green branch, said: "I think the city has always been quite vibrant, with an excellent history.

"There tends to be a knock-on effect from what happens in London, because outside of Birmingham and places like Reading, Bristol is the next major city in the South.

"There are an awful lot of big businesses which have moved here, like HBOS, Lloyds, and Axa.

"That means it is a good place to work, and there are still quite a few nice period properties out there for sale.

"Commuting to London from Bristol, or outlying villages like Backwell, which have direct train services to the capital, is also easy.

"Not only can you be in London within two hours, but also Cornwall, or Birmingham - so it is perfectly placed. The prices of property are also very reasonable, and you can have a massive house here for the price of a much smaller one in London, with a commuting time that is not much longer."

James Goodchild, manager of Maggs and Allen estate agency in Henleaze, said: "Aside from being one of England's most historic and cultured cities, the property market in Bristol has remained one of the most buoyant in the country for many years.

He said: "This is down to a thriving buy-to-let market which is helped by good colleges and universities and organisations such as the MOD Abbey Wood, Hewlett Packard, Axa Sunlife and Airbus.

"This draws many property investors from London, who are attracted by the good returns and commercial investments."

The survey said the two universities and convenient travel links to London were thought to contribute to its buoyant property market.

In addition, the airport has seen an increasing number of flights which has meant a high demand for apartments in the city centre. According to Halifax, an average house in Bristol now costs £209,604, a rise of 15 per cent from the same time in 2006, when it would have cost £181,938.

you should have posted thaqt on the 2nd city wankfest of a thread! Might have shut a few people up... Bristol, 2nd City... I could go with that!

Second city in the Westcountry? Never, Plymouth is sunstantially less significant

A new report from lastminute.com has named Bristol one of the most popular cities for overseas visitors to visit, based on European bookings made through their website.

A record 32.5 million overseas residents are expected to visit Britain in 2007, spending an estimated £15.8bn.
Through its European network, lastminute.com analysed its latest booking trends to find out which are the most popular places to go in Britain, according to overseas visitors.

Research found that the most popular city break for overseas residents is London, followed by Liverpool and Bristol is third.

As the gateway to the south west of England and Wales and a unique mix of city, coast and countryside all within easy reach, it's no surprise that Bristol has come out on top.

John Bevan, Travel Director at lastminute.com comments, "We are seeing a significant rise in hotel bookings and indeed flights to regional airports across Britain, with many holidaymakers now taking up to five holidays a year. As our
research shows, overseas residents are discovering new and exciting destinations across the country and we expect to see British holidaymakers follow suit."

Jan Van Heel, Head of Entertainments comments, "It appears the warm weather has had a positive effect on tourism. More and more people are taking days out and
enjoying some of the fantastic attractions available."