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UK hospitality industry - Where to move?
Kicker
Posts: 24 Forumite
Hi folks. I've got a plead of help directed at British locals to steer me in a clearer direction. This could as well go in one of the property topics, but I guess here it will be more suitable for the main concern.
I'm a German national, moving to the UK with my wife who'll be coming straight out of college then. She studied hotel and restaurant management, while it's likely that opportunities won't come along easily and it will be a tough way up for her from near NMW jobs at the start of her career. Bless her soul, she's got a great, energetic and so kind personality. Thus I see her best chances in direct end customer contact in the hospitality industry. The management part will probably never work if I'm realistically grading her skill set. (= higher avg. regional salaries likely won't contribute much to family income)
Our move needs to be completed by June 2014. Don't have much time to go view areas in detail myself, but over the last year practiced well over 600 hours of research, so it's getting also a bit frustrating at this point in time as my deadlines are approaching and I'm still all over the place. I work from home exclusively and don't have much time to go out anyway, so it's just an excercise to give my wife the best opportunities in relation to cost of living.
So these are the criteria that I've been setting on top of the priority list. Renting and looking how things are going forward isn't an option for me. I'll choose an area for better or worse and stick with it.:
- Current state of hospitality industry should be healthy, the town must not be run down
- Forseeable outlook of this area should be very positive, p.ex. regeneration ongoing, infrastructure being modern(ized), reputation, etc.
- Value for money properties. Thus London is out of the equation
I see it as an investment, parts of the capital still a viable option, but London prices for one really a bit steep for the type of property I'm aiming at and then worst-case scenario near NMW job of my wife won't go very far in this particular area.
Some stuff I've dug up over the last year from the web, some personal experience from 20+ visits to the UK. Just a short exerpt of possible locations, anything goes really N-S-E-W. You name it...
- Dover/Folkestone. Great location for mainland Europe travels, but seem to be depleated and getting worse. Cities seem run down, hospitality industry suffering. Affordable. Never been there.
- Brighton. Little London, getting quite pricey, I won't like it at all, but jobs should be plenty and will stay popular for a while. Good location for reaching mainland Europe, good infrastructure generally. Never been there. Worthing, Newhaven nearby might be an option also.
- Eastbourne. Bit far off everything else logistically. Great plus is the clear English spoken, thus language schools and related business. Reasonable hospitality market, but outlook unknown. Seems popular with older generation, which can only be a plus when looking for a quiet place to live. For what it is too expensive IMO.
- Cornwall in general. Think I would love it there, but for one relatively to income prospects too expensive housing at the moment and bleak economic outlook in particular field of interest IMO. Cities too small for sustainably good job opportunities. Total gamble.
- Penzance/St. Ives. Looks awesome on paper, great area, hospitality industry appears intact, but once it goes downhill, there's absolutely nowhere near to find salvation. No idea about future outlook, but strategically probably a bad choice. Not too many properties available, prices appear to be dropping.
- Torbay. Looks interesting on paper, many hotels and generally popular tourist area. Whole bay area best weather in England, or at least that's what I learned, is a great plus. :cool: Not much an idea about what it actually looks like there or what it will be in the future. Read it's going down hill in the last years, but that seems to be the general statement about most places these days. Properties of wide variety available in good numbers.
- Lancashire. Been there like 10 years ago, saw different areas. Judging from home prices, it's gotten worse than I saw it last time. Seaside Blackpool was a total dump then (sorry to the locals) and prices declining imply little positive improvements. Lancaster nice little city, but wouldn't know what to do there really in the long run. Lake District absolutely fabulous area, but too few opportunities as far as I can tell. Properties ranging from very cheap to affordable luxury, with the better properties being overpriced IMO regarding long term investment view.
Other solution to the problem might feature a metropolitan area other than London, but I'm a bit concerned about crime, chavs and quality of living as I'm a small town boy. Honestly don't know too much about the big pros and cons of all the different cities and their state of evolution at the present. Other than plenty of trips to London I've been to Manchester, for example, and it appears to be getting reallly interesting and features nice surrounding areas (Altrincham, Hale, near airport).
Then the only place in Scotland I've also been to was Glasgow, but never got to see much else than city center and it wasn't the best weather either, so I'm a bit prejudiced. Local dialect and long travel to mainland Europe a bit of a turnoff.
I've done a lot of work, but all this information is really clogging my brain and decision making process is hard.
So may I please ask for your input as locals on your stance of a particular area mentioned and any area of interest in general that features good tourism/hospitality industry now and in regards to the future with your personal opinion. It's a big decision, hope somebody will care to help. Thanks in advance.
I'm a German national, moving to the UK with my wife who'll be coming straight out of college then. She studied hotel and restaurant management, while it's likely that opportunities won't come along easily and it will be a tough way up for her from near NMW jobs at the start of her career. Bless her soul, she's got a great, energetic and so kind personality. Thus I see her best chances in direct end customer contact in the hospitality industry. The management part will probably never work if I'm realistically grading her skill set. (= higher avg. regional salaries likely won't contribute much to family income)
Our move needs to be completed by June 2014. Don't have much time to go view areas in detail myself, but over the last year practiced well over 600 hours of research, so it's getting also a bit frustrating at this point in time as my deadlines are approaching and I'm still all over the place. I work from home exclusively and don't have much time to go out anyway, so it's just an excercise to give my wife the best opportunities in relation to cost of living.
So these are the criteria that I've been setting on top of the priority list. Renting and looking how things are going forward isn't an option for me. I'll choose an area for better or worse and stick with it.:
- Current state of hospitality industry should be healthy, the town must not be run down
- Forseeable outlook of this area should be very positive, p.ex. regeneration ongoing, infrastructure being modern(ized), reputation, etc.
- Value for money properties. Thus London is out of the equation
I see it as an investment, parts of the capital still a viable option, but London prices for one really a bit steep for the type of property I'm aiming at and then worst-case scenario near NMW job of my wife won't go very far in this particular area.Some stuff I've dug up over the last year from the web, some personal experience from 20+ visits to the UK. Just a short exerpt of possible locations, anything goes really N-S-E-W. You name it...
- Dover/Folkestone. Great location for mainland Europe travels, but seem to be depleated and getting worse. Cities seem run down, hospitality industry suffering. Affordable. Never been there.
- Brighton. Little London, getting quite pricey, I won't like it at all, but jobs should be plenty and will stay popular for a while. Good location for reaching mainland Europe, good infrastructure generally. Never been there. Worthing, Newhaven nearby might be an option also.
- Eastbourne. Bit far off everything else logistically. Great plus is the clear English spoken, thus language schools and related business. Reasonable hospitality market, but outlook unknown. Seems popular with older generation, which can only be a plus when looking for a quiet place to live. For what it is too expensive IMO.
- Cornwall in general. Think I would love it there, but for one relatively to income prospects too expensive housing at the moment and bleak economic outlook in particular field of interest IMO. Cities too small for sustainably good job opportunities. Total gamble.
- Penzance/St. Ives. Looks awesome on paper, great area, hospitality industry appears intact, but once it goes downhill, there's absolutely nowhere near to find salvation. No idea about future outlook, but strategically probably a bad choice. Not too many properties available, prices appear to be dropping.
- Torbay. Looks interesting on paper, many hotels and generally popular tourist area. Whole bay area best weather in England, or at least that's what I learned, is a great plus. :cool: Not much an idea about what it actually looks like there or what it will be in the future. Read it's going down hill in the last years, but that seems to be the general statement about most places these days. Properties of wide variety available in good numbers.
- Lancashire. Been there like 10 years ago, saw different areas. Judging from home prices, it's gotten worse than I saw it last time. Seaside Blackpool was a total dump then (sorry to the locals) and prices declining imply little positive improvements. Lancaster nice little city, but wouldn't know what to do there really in the long run. Lake District absolutely fabulous area, but too few opportunities as far as I can tell. Properties ranging from very cheap to affordable luxury, with the better properties being overpriced IMO regarding long term investment view.
Other solution to the problem might feature a metropolitan area other than London, but I'm a bit concerned about crime, chavs and quality of living as I'm a small town boy. Honestly don't know too much about the big pros and cons of all the different cities and their state of evolution at the present. Other than plenty of trips to London I've been to Manchester, for example, and it appears to be getting reallly interesting and features nice surrounding areas (Altrincham, Hale, near airport).
Then the only place in Scotland I've also been to was Glasgow, but never got to see much else than city center and it wasn't the best weather either, so I'm a bit prejudiced. Local dialect and long travel to mainland Europe a bit of a turnoff.
I've done a lot of work, but all this information is really clogging my brain and decision making process is hard.
So may I please ask for your input as locals on your stance of a particular area mentioned and any area of interest in general that features good tourism/hospitality industry now and in regards to the future with your personal opinion. It's a big decision, hope somebody will care to help. Thanks in advance.
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Comments
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So this was really too long. Apologies, got carried away. Cliff's notes:
Looking for a good value place for me to live and my wife to work in the holiday industry. Anywhere goes!0 -
What about Edinburgh? Busy city all year round with tourists. Plenty of places on the edge of the city centre to buy/rent. Most places are very safe, but like anywhere in the world , things can happen. Edinburgh is also easily accessible from most places in the UK. Hugely popular in August and December/January.0
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are you looking for big towns / cities or a more rural tourist area?
Lots going on in the Peak District, property prices are ok, tourist industry is growing all the time as more people holiday in the uk..
art0 -
Whats your plans ? A job in tourism can happen anywhere (hotels ,pubs, B&Bs )major cities or the 4 rse end of knowhere . My thoughts are saying for big places that are fairly cheap to live around here Liverpool & Chester & Lancaster . Smaller Buxton(peaks) Southport & Llandudno.:cool: hard as nails on the internet . wimp in the real world :cool:0
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Manchester0
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What about Edinburgh?
Researched it a couple of times, but didn't get very far. Nice properties that I've found are within reasonable range, but a far cry from cheaper places around England.
Wasn't aware of its status, 2nd most visited city in the UK behind London only. Dug up information on the various festivals there and considering its size and transportation links, it seems viable for our plans. Dimissed it in the past because of the location, but now realized that the aiport is well connected and it's acutually very touristy.Lots going on in the Peak District, property prices are ok, tourist industry is growing all the time as more people holiday in the uk..
I dug up the stats for the Peak District and tracked it on maps. The places there are too small and scattered around, thus transportation costs could be an issue. Also while it's slightly growing stats- wise, the actual numbers are still relatively small comparing to other places. Not an option really, although as a rural boy I'd probably like it there very much.Whats your plans ? A job in tourism can happen anywhere (hotels ,pubs, B&Bs )major cities or the 4 rse end of knowhere . My thoughts are saying for big places that are fairly cheap to live around here Liverpool & Chester & Lancaster .
Jobs happening everywhere is correct. I'd encourage working in a proper hotel or restaurant at least, rather than B&B or pubs. Don't want to have put her through 4 years of education and training in hotel resorts to end up in a pub in the middle of nowhere. Aiming at a front desk job at a hotel in the future, might have to settle for small time waitress if nothing else goes for the beginning.My thoughts are saying for big places that are fairly cheap to live around here Liverpool & Chester & Lancaster .
Considered neither Lancester, nor Chester to be big places really. :rotfl: Been to Liverpool for a couple of days before, left no lasting impression on me. Actually all those places seem reasonably priced, statistcally all of them offer pretty much the same number of tourists with Liverpool, considering its size, being below the levels that I would find attractive. Relatively high number of burglaries in the stats, looks a bit scary on paper.Manchester
2nd most visited city in England with holiday travells being on a considerable upswing. What are people on holiday doing in Manchester actually? I went to visit a friend of mine there, she was constantly talking about how bad crime is, but stats still appear reasonable. Actually met a couple from Rochdale on the train last week, they were raving about how friendly people are in the North as compared to Southerners. While I'm still a bit lost as to why Manchester is so popular, the numbers look very promising and Greater Manchester areas can be quite nice from what I learned so far. Next to Edinburgh this metropolitan region seems to tick many boxes.0 -
S!!!!horpe................"if the state cannot find within itself a place for those who peacefully refuse to worship at its temples, then it’s the state that’s become extreme".Revd Dr Giles Fraser on Radio 4 20170
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Researched it a couple of times, but didn't get very far. Nice properties that I've found are within reasonable range, but a far cry from cheaper places around England.
Wasn't aware of its status, 2nd most visited city in the UK behind London only. Dug up information on the various festivals there and considering its size and transportation links, it seems viable for our plans. Dimissed it in the past because of the location, but now realized that the aiport is well connected and it's acutually very touristy.
I dug up the stats for the Peak District and tracked it on maps. The places there are too small and scattered around, thus transportation costs could be an issue. Also while it's slightly growing stats- wise, the actual numbers are still relatively small comparing to other places. Not an option really, although as a rural boy I'd probably like it there very much.
Jobs happening everywhere is correct. I'd encourage working in a proper hotel or restaurant at least, rather than B&B or pubs. Don't want to have put her through 4 years of education and training in hotel resorts to end up in a pub in the middle of nowhere. Aiming at a front desk job at a hotel in the future, might have to settle for small time waitress if nothing else goes for the beginning.
Considered neither Lancester, nor Chester to be big places really. :rotfl: Been to Liverpool for a couple of days before, left no lasting impression on me. Actually all those places seem reasonably priced, statistcally all of them offer pretty much the same number of tourists with Liverpool, considering its size, being below the levels that I would find attractive. Relatively high number of burglaries in the stats, looks a bit scary on paper.
2nd most visited city in England with holiday travells being on a considerable upswing. What are people on holiday doing in Manchester actually? I went to visit a friend of mine there, she was constantly talking about how bad crime is, but stats still appear reasonable. Actually met a couple from Rochdale on the train last week, they were raving about how friendly people are in the North as compared to Southerners. While I'm still a bit lost as to why Manchester is so popular, the numbers look very promising and Greater Manchester areas can be quite nice from what I learned so far. Next to Edinburgh this metropolitan region seems to tick many boxes.
Seems within 3 posts you know it all . My info to say BIG for Chester & Lancaster was for tourism but I wouldnt fancy a paper round in either. Enjoy wherever you lay your hat .:cool: hard as nails on the internet . wimp in the real world :cool:0 -
Do you have to be in a city or large town? I'm sure there's an abundance of country house hotels that your OH could apply to...0
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Having previously worked in hospitality, I think you need to narrow down your options. You could go rural/coastal but the work is more seasonal and you are more likely to need to "live in" due to transport, etc. Alternatively you could opt for a large town (think Oxford, Cambridge, Brighton) rather than large cities. However, it is not cheap to live in any of these places. I'd also say that hospitality jobs are reknown for not paying high wages and it may be cheaper to find a live in job where you do not have the associated living costs.Mortgage free wannabeMortgage (November 2010) £135,850Mortgage (November 2020) £4,7840
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