UK hospitality industry - Where to move?

OneYorkshireLass

Falmouth, Cornwall.

A really lovely town with year-round trade as it has a large community of locals, tourists and students. It's also very friendly and there are loads of German tourists!

Kicker

googler wrote: »

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...

No, I absolutely don't have to be, nor do I like them. On the other hand they offer a sure supply of working opportunities for the next decades. Rural communities will suffer from higher energy cost, once a place goes downhill, you're either stuck in the middle of nowhere or rely on commuting, which will only get more expensive and is also a waste of time. Cities undoubtedly will continue to grow and rural areas can decline very fast economically. As far as my personal preferences go, I'm pro rural, but is it wise looking ahead?

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.

See, that's a good point that I've just learned to pay attention to when it was mentioned before in the Edinburgh posting. Seaside resorts from what I understand are highly seasonal.

Larger towns are very attractive, but the ones you mentioned I've researched and found the price tag to be quite steep. All of them benefit from the proximity to London. Cambridge + Oxford being about on the same level of total trips and holiday trips, Brighton easily 50% higher however!

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.

That's exactly my aim from the initial posting: Find the perfect value place. Of course I'm heavily subsidising the job of my wife. So I'm looking to minimize financial damage to myself while accepting that her job will probably never be meaningful to the family income. Live- in jobs are no option, I'm definitely buying.

Falmouth, Cornwall.

A really lovely town with year-round trade as it has a large community of locals, tourists and students. It's also very friendly and there are loads of German tourists!

Really seems this year-round trade is something to be aware of. Cornwall is highly popular with German tourists due to its proximity to the mainland, generally beautiful landscape and benefits from Rosamunde Pilcher movies on national TV... Case with Falmouth being that it's a bit far from everything, but maybe I'm exaggerating. What if in 10 years the glory days are over, there's nothing much around and commute a huge hassle. Lovely it is ... :T

Itismehonest

I suggest you look at "The Caterer" & "The Caterer & Hotelkeeper" which can both be found online.

Seaside towns usually offer poorly paid, seasonal jobs. They can do this because of their high unemployment rate.

You mention Torbay but, from your requirements, I doubt it would suit. Look it up on Google news to see it's problems.
The same applies to most of our larger seaside resorts which saw their heyday during the Victorian era.

Norma_Desmond

Pembrokeshire is like Cornwall was 50 years ago, but we're rather 'secret' and under-marketed.

Tenby is the only actual resort in the south of the county, and very beautiful it is too - thriving in the summer, but quiet and peaceful in winter.

The north coast is stunning for coastal scenery and even in winter there's a good few tourists around for rambling, kayaking, coasteering and rock climbing.

We're also hosting the Red Bull cliff diving championships next month - for the second time, so we're slowly being discovered!

Perhaps too remote for you though??

ETA - check out Pembrokeshire property prices too; in the scheme of things they're pretty cheap.

[Deleted User]

Have you considered towns like Sheffield and Norwich. They have tourists but also have large numbers of students who eat out albeit at the less expensive places and have parents who contribute by visiting. East Anglia is one of the fastest growing areas in Britain but Norwich would be a cheaper option than Cambridge which you rejected.

tinkerleigh

Hi kicker -

I have worked in the hospitality industry in the UK for the last 10 years, and have been very fortunate with some of the lovely places I have worked. I started out in the west coast of Scotland, which was simply amazing - a beautiful hotel with stunning surroundings, house prices were very reasonable as well - however , the only down side for me at the time was that I was 21 and was living in a small village of approx 100 people, so I moved from there to Wiltshire, again lovely hotel - however house prices in the Cotswolds are very high so perhaps that isnt right for you.

I have been on the Kent coast for approx 6 years now, and there are some really good opportunities here - I know you discounted Dover and Folkestone, but consider other areas, there are a lot of very well known and highly rated hotels / restaurants in the area - Canterbury is lovely and has lots of opportunities, only 10 minutes away from the centre and you could be in beautiful countryside, where a lot of house prices are very reasonable!

Further down you have Thanet (Margate, Ramsgate and Broadstairs) - whilst not always had a great reputation, Broadstairs is amazing, very arty scene , again with a few really decent hotels and restaurants for job opportunities - well worth a look into this, living with some amazing beaches on your doorstep, and only an hour and a half to London so your wife could even commute if she wanted to - best of both worlds, London salaries but living in the countryside!

Hope this helps even slightly!

MrsBunny

Kicker wrote: »

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.

Hi, I work in the business travel industry and Manchester seems to be growing, more and more travel to Manchester. A well known hotel chain gave a presentation not long ago saying they and another couple of chains are building / opening more hotels in Manchester by next summer as the demand is there. Manchester has two major football teams and great stadiums which host other matches as well as normal matches, they also hold music concerts and many other events. Then there are the arenas, shopping, festivals, other sports (cricket, cycling etc) I think Manchester is more of a weekend visit / overnight stay rather than a tourist / holiday attraction. Oh and don't forget - Media city in Salford, this has to of brought business to Manchester too. Not far from Manchester you have the Cheshire countryside, nice areas of Hale, Knutsford, Wilmslow etc you don't have to live in Manchester - it is pretty well linked with motorways (though the M60 can be a carpark at times) and depending where you decide to live, by train too.

If I was moving to the UK, I would move to a city for work for a few years as cities are generally the same world over (busy, noisy, crime, shops and jobs) then venture further afield once you have spend time there. This is what we did when we move to New Zealand 10 years ago, then we move to a small village we fell in love with after 2 years where we stayed for 6 years, a close family member became ill which led us to come back to the UK.

Of course, all this is my opinion, I am sure you will make the right decision.

Kicker

Hi Folks,

thanks for your feedback! Some of my thoughts ...

I suggest you look at "The Caterer" & "The Caterer & Hotelkeeper" which can both be found online.

Seaside towns usually offer poorly paid, seasonal jobs. They can do this because of their high unemployment rate.

You mention Torbay but, from your requirements, I doubt it would suit. Look it up on Google news to see it's problems.

Caterer website is bookmarked. Didn't know that yet.

Seaside towns and their reputation is known to me through research and some personal experience (Blackpool, Cleethorpes), which didn't leave the most appealing impression, if I may say so. Torquay Song and some excerpts of British binge drinking shows is known to me also, but seems a little exaggerated. Hard to judge if one doesn't know that place.

Pembrokeshire is like Cornwall was 50 years ago, but we're rather 'secret' and under-marketed.

First time I ever heard of this place. But yes, it's really too remote for my plans. Spent a short while reading up on this place, but also too far out of the way for everything tbh. Thanks for the input nonetheless, that's why I asked.

Have you considered towns like Sheffield and Norwich. ... ast Anglia is one of the fastest growing areas in Britain but Norwich would be a cheaper option than Cambridge which you rejected.

Yes, both came up during my pretty extensive and mind- numbing research. I know all the right areas and respective house pricing in either place, Norwich being more on the bargain side of things and being brought across as a nice town to live in. But then there is to consider size of the business side in relation to location (I'm a bit more drawn to airports) and Norwich is 2h from Stansted, roads described as problematic as well. Sheffield, which I've been to before on a day trip at least, 1:15 from Manchester Airport (£10 only by train!). Also Sheffield boasting around 20% higher number of trips, while for its size Norwich and Yarmouth in relation show good numbers as well.
But then I came in order to ask about the quality side of things as quantitatively it's a rather easy task to manage.

In all fairness, Norwich does have an airport, which is served by KLM only for international flights as far as I can tell. Approx. 200+€ for a return flight home isn't so bad, bigger airports do have much better rates however (Stansted from 70€, Manchester from 120€). While that's maybe a bit picky and hardly justifying much higher house prices elsewhere, it's a bit of a convenience thing also...

I have been on the Kent coast for approx 6 years now, and there are some really good opportunities here

I've grown to become a Kent "expert" already since that's the place I've investigated the most as it appealed to me being close to the capital with quite rural areas and close to Ferry links to the mainland. Spent nearly 400 hours just with Kent areas. Didn't get anywhere on the hotel and restaurant thing though... :mad:

Further down you have Thanet (Margate, Ramsgate and Broadstairs) - whilst not always had a great reputation, Broadstairs is amazing, very arty scene , again with a few really decent hotels and restaurants for job opportunities - well worth a look into this, living with some amazing beaches on your doorstep, and only an hour and a half to London so your wife could even commute if she wanted to - best of both worlds, London salaries but living in the countryside!

Discounted those places completely due to their bad reputation. From what I heard and saw it's gone really downhill there, but maybe I was wrong all along (remember an episode of The Apprentice where candidates had to design a marketing campaign for Margate tourism... weren't the happies impressions I got there, but that seems to be the case with all of the seaside towns, or plainly mistaken... maybe just have to go and take a look in person finally). How much trade is there outside of the spring-summer season?

well worth a look into this, living with some amazing beaches on your doorstep, and only an hour and a half to London so your wife could even commute if she wanted to - best of both worlds, London salaries but living in the countryside!

I don't know about English people and what's acceptable time of commute, but 1.5 hrs one way plus travelling expenses are absolutely unthinkable of for me. I'd be happy if my wife would eventually make 15-20k down the line and then I wouldn't know how to justify this salary with the long commute. Like somebody else already mentioned, hospitality industry isn't really know for shelling out high salaries to non-management employees...

Hi, I work in the business travel industry and Manchester seems to be growing, more and more travel to Manchester.

Yes, this is what I gathered also. Manchester gaining popularity and opportunities are growing it appears. You summarized the resasons for that and surely there must be others also, but in sum it's looking like a good compromise. Already pretty far in my research of travel links (Metrolink, bus routes, etc.) and places that appear worth a look (Altrincham, Chorlton, East Didsbury, ...) so it's already on the shortlist

If I was moving to the UK, I would move to a city for work for a few years as cities are generally the same world over (busy, noisy, crime, shops and jobs) then venture further afield once you have spend time there.

Plan is to move to the perfect place now and don't waste more time as has been already. Of course over the years you'll need to adapt and gain more experience enabling wiser choices. Not in the mood to screw it up after such a long and bothersome phase, which is really making my life worse for quite some time already.

So all input was and is still very welcome, I'm seriously researching all options and have been happy to hear from you, members of MSE. Thanks!

heart_free

What about Cardiff. Lovely little city, bustling, lots of regeneration, good hotel/hospitality industry (my brother is a nigh manager in a 4* chain). Cost of living quite reasonable, lots to do, train to London takes 1hr 45 minutes if you want day trips to the capital. Lots of beautiful places to visit, there are 3 national parks in Wales, a coastal path, lots of history and culture that is unique from the rest of the UK.

zolablue25

I happen to live in Torbay and can confirm that it is not what it used to be, but then, nor is any traditional seaside resort in the UK. People prefer to go to Spain and get good weather. As this summer has been a good one, weather wise, the area has benefitted from more visitors than in recent years.

Have you considered Exeter? It is very much an up-and-coming city at the moment but, perhaps, this has started to reflect in the property prices.