Thinking of moving to the Stoke/Stone/Newcastle U.L area but don't know that area

spirit

that's very interesting Dave especially since they rate Winchester 2nd best.

Barneysmom

What utter tosh!

I moved to Stoke (Burslem north) in 2001 and never been happier.
Sure there are the little ex-miner's terraced houses, but there are also some very large very expensive houses too. Not all the pottery workers were poor, some were aboslutely mega-rich.

My house was probably a manager's house. It's a 4- bed with a conservatory and garage.
It's true there is a depression here but it's the same throughout the country.
But here in Stoke you're never more than a five minute walk from green space, I've got hundreds of photos to prove it.
There's theatres, cinemas, pubs, shopping etc, just the same as anywhere else.

When Stoke was on the top ten of worst places to live several years ago, it actually did the city a favour IMO.
Because the investment since has vastly improved the area.
People only seen to remember Stoke being on the list, and nothing else, they don't know about the good bits.
Stoke Upon Trent town is run down, but the City of Stoke on Trent as a whole is lovely, with good people living here.


Taken from Stoke on Trent website:

Stoke-on-Trent is one of the greenest cities in the UK with over 1380 hectares of park and open spaces.

You need to come up for a weekend, see it for yourself.

blue_haddock

I moved to stoke 5 years ago and whilst its not the best place in the world i do think that a lot of you are being pretty unfair on the place.

Yes there is high unemployment but at the moment so do a lot of places, yes the wage may be lower than down south but so are the prices locally.

I dont really get what the bloke is one about lack of culture. Agreed its not the west end of london but most provincial towns are exactly the same. There are 3 theatres in the area all which have major tours regularly. And i regularly shop in one of the Tescos and cannot notice any difference between it and any other tesco i've been in nationwide.

As Barneysmom says it can actually be a not bad area, within a couple of minutes of my front door i've a couple of MASSIVE park areas, the shopping is one of the best areas for many miles around and there is huge amounts of cash being pumped into the area to do it up.

Geographically it is fabulously situated with easy access to the M6 for going north/south, its also easy to get to places such as Walesand the north west and just along the A50 you can hit the M1 in less than 40 minutes. I have 4 airports within 1 hour and within ten minutes drive from my house i'm within the peak district national park.

I'll admit its not the best place in the world but really dont knock it untill you've tried it.

seven-day-weekend

I agree that one of the best things about Stoke is its proximity to the Peak District.

Still would rather be in Winchester.

And I am a Midlander.

chambta

If I had to live in Staffs I'd choose the Stafford area.

tek-monkey

I live in Stafford, and like it. Although TBH as with all places some areas are no-go. I worked in Newcastle for a while, and that was quite nice TBH, but I still prefer Stafford. Stone can be nice, but its usually a bit more money.

I preferred Hampshire TBH, lived in Southampton for a few years and loved it. Stafford has more of a community feel though.

spirit

ah we're a funny lot down here tek-monkey!

I had to pop to southampton on Saturday, and I (and some other Winchester residents) don't like Southampton at all. It's not a case of being snobby, but there's just something about it I don't like.

Nice for shopping mind esp with Ikea and West Quay.

tek-monkey

Is west quay the big shopping centre? They were just building that when I lived there. A mates GF lives in soton now, and she says its gon a tad chavvy.

spirit

Yes, West Quay is the shopping centre, there's a big John Lewis and all the usual chain stores. Ikea is just by there now too.

Parts of southampton have always been chavvy.

Winchester is lousy for shopping but better for culture so I guess we have the best of both worlds here.

nervousftb_3

i personally wouldn't choose to live in Stoke (lived nearby my whole life), but there are plenty of places within commutable distance that are lovely. I would look at places like Rode Heath, Alsager, Audley, Crewe (outskirts such as Weston and Hough are very nice, easily commutable to Newcastle-under-Lyme). Some areas of Newcastle itself are quite nice, and I'm sure there are some parts of Stoke that are perfectly decent, but the parts I am familiar with have a distinctly industrial look to them!

I would recommend visiting for a day or two and havign a good look around yourself, to get a feel for the place.