Advice on moving to Glenrothes area

nappentass

Help - I've been offered a job in Glenrothes (tbc) which means I'll have to move up there sharpish.

Will probably want to rent so any advice or local insider information would be greatly appreciated, will be working in Bankhead West Industrial estate (according to google maps)

Info like
- 'areas you wouldn't walk alone in'
- 'commuting nightmare on these roads try to avoid'
- 'good letting agents'
- 'recommended b&b's'
- 'best place for traveling from' (my dp may be in on south coast of england!)

I'm a beach lover originally from the yorkshire coast so I'm looking forward to spending time up there exploring the area
All advice appreciated and welcome.
TIA
Jill

Dumyat

fife is lovely and you will love it. lots of beaches! and walks etc.
glenrothes is very central, so you could commute from lots of different places or stay there. its a new town, not very familiar with good areas and bad. no bad roads for commuting. there are lots of little villages round about like Freuchie, Falkland, and Ladybank. Will your new employer not help out initially until you get settled?

nappentass

Thanks dogrose

I'm not sure yet what/if they will help so I'm assuming nothing from them.
We're going to visit next week for 2 days to have a look around the different areas (I'm making a list) and pick up things like letting agents info, local newspapers, maps etc.

I'm scared and completely excited all at same time!

Thanks
Jill

Dumyat

I dont think you will have any problems finding somewhere to suit.
Glenrothes is quite a big town as is Kirkcaldy which is close. As I said if you want to do pretty and rural the villages I mentioned are nice. coastal wise, Leven, lundin links and Largo would be easy commuting distance.

If all else fails there is a Travelodge across from that estate...might get some of their cheap deals

Dumyat

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=175767

just remembered this thread...might have some suggestions for you. ignore the argument which breaks out in it about how fife is an awful place...it truly isnt promise

and dont forget all the other stuff you'll be able to do while you're here. Edinburgh is only an hour or so away, as is Perth, Dundee and the North. lots to see and do.

Albert2

Hi,

I've lived in the place all my life :eek:

Like any place, plenty of places in Glenrothes and surrounding areas to recommend and also stay away from.

Difficult to answer all your questions, but.

- Commuting nightmare ? Depends what you are comparing against, but the main Kirkcaldy to Dundee road runs right through Bankhead, you do not want to be stuck in that 8.30-9am or 4.45-5.15pm. But nothing compared to M25 or trying to get across the Forth Road Bridge. I'd say stay away from Kirkcaldy for this reason alone, will you have a car ?

- Both Markinch and Thornton (Thornton by Glenrothes as the railway calls it !) have railway stations , Markinch is on the main line (East coast) so may be useful for travel to/from south of England. Thornton is about 2 miles from Bankhead, Markinch say 4miles, Thornton also links to Edinburgh.

- Good/bad areas .... notice you say you are compiling a list, if you want to PM me I can perhaps give you my opinion ? Areas of Glenrothes adjacent to Bankhead are Pitteuchar, Stenton, Finglassie.

- I'm not too sure about good B&B's or letting agents, but know folks who will do. I can ask about and let you know if you'd like ?

- For non-working time, depends on your interests, but the East Neuk is really nice scenery (about 15-20 minutes drive away), Lomond Hills for a good walk are to the north of Glenrothes (5 minutes from Bankhead), Kirkcaldy has not bad nightlife, Edinburgh even better.

- Best local paper to get (for houses) is Fife Free Press it's a Kirkcaldy paper (out on Fridays) but most of the rental and sales are listed there, Glenrothes Gazette is the Glenrothes paper :-) . They are alos on the web I think, never checked it but it's something like "Fifetoday.co.uk"

- In the main I think you'll be fine, it's not a bad place.

Feel free to post/PM if you have any questions or anything more specific.

Cheers

nappentass

Thanks dogrose
I saw that thread and having come from Yorkshire have my own opinion

Thanks Albert2
I probably will have our car but would like to be able to use local transport for work should it be necessary (don't want to buy another car if dp needs one)
so some of that is up in the air at the mo, so great help thanks.
I've signed up to a couple of email lists on rightmove and another which will hopefully lead to some agent contacts.
Not too bothered about nightlife though weekend will be for exploring or travelling to see dp.
Want to explore Edinburgh too, visited once briefly and wanted to go back, so got my wish
If you find out any agents or places to find rented accommodation I'd appreciate that.
Will look for copies of papers next week

Thanks again
Jill

Albert2

WOW !!!

Glad I wasn't around when that thread was running .....

I've travelled a fair bit (both UK and elsewhere) with my work, spent a fair bit of time in Yorkshire too. My thinking is there are good and not so good people all over, same with places IMO

Sure Fife is not everyones cup of tea, but it's far from what was being painted by that person that's for sure.

Anyway, hope "nappentass" finds it to her liking.

Cheers

dogrose wrote: »

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=175767

just remembered this thread...might have some suggestions for you. ignore the argument which breaks out in it about how fife is an awful place...it truly isnt promise

and dont forget all the other stuff you'll be able to do while you're here. Edinburgh is only an hour or so away, as is Perth, Dundee and the North. lots to see and do.

Fifer

I've stayed in or around Glenrothes for around thirty years and I pretty much agree with most of what Albert says. There are no really bad or 'no-go' areas that I'm aware of, although I might be wary of moving into the big concrete maisonette blocks around Caskieberran and Tanshall. (That said, I did stay in one when I was single, but they were corporation owned back then. I believe they've mostly been bought up by fly-by-night landlords now and can be a bit rough).

Public transport is pretty good wil decent local bus services and good train links. Edinburgh is just over half an hour away (outside rush hour) by train or car.

Being a new town, there's no 'High Street' as such. There's a big town centre complex (the Kingdom Centre) and each precinct has its own arcade of shops and usually a pub. The only weakness (for me, YMMV) is the lack of decent places to eat out in town, although the surrounding towns and villages more than make up for it. There are some decent Indian and Chinese restaurants and the usual family chain places, but not much more than that other than pub grub. The place is crying out for a decent Italian restaurant.

There's more general info and links here, here, here and here.

aurorahelios

Fifer wrote: »

I've stayed in or around Glenrothes for around thirty years and I pretty much agree with most of what Albert says. There are no really bad or 'no-go' areas that I'm aware of, although I might be wary of moving into the big concrete maisonette blocks around Caskieberran and Tanshall. (That said, I did stay in one when I was single, but they were corporation owned back then. I believe they've mostly been bought up by fly-by-night landlords now and can be a bit rough).

I would agree there are no real no-go areas, Glenrothes is generally friendly (on a recent visit my Mum was quite shocked that a few strangers said hello to her on her walk to the shops), like anywhere you get some people who are not so nice.

I do know of someone who moved out of the flats up in Cadham because they found it a bit rough, but that was a few years ago so things may have changed.

As for the maisonette flats if you saw them you would definitely not want to live in one of them, they are rough but they also look it, they became 'no go' areas because it was discovered they had asbestos in them and the banks stopped mortgages on them so people had trouble selling them and nobody wanted to live in them, since then they've also had their heating systems condemned. They are so unpopular - the council is in the process of knocking the council owned ones down.

nappentass

Fifer
Thanks for the links - greatly appreciated and informative.

aurorahelios
Thanks for the info.

I'm one for going on instinct, and have visited some places that gave me the heebys.
Where I live now has changed, there still are some lovely neighbours, and an awful lot of transitory 'strangers' because many of the houses go for renting when they're sold. I've had my fair share of living in 'interesting' places so hope I'm a realist about it.

We're going to be able to visit next week for a day or two and the info given will be very useful to help find our way round and check the area out.

Thanks again
Jill