Anyone know West Yorkshire (Leeds in particular) well?

MillyMolly01 · 13 October 2014 at 11:24AM

I've lived in Leeds 33 years, so know it pretty well ;-)

Leeds is great, it gets a lot of bad press, but the good areas are lovely places to live.

If I were you, I'd be focusing my search on these areas:

http://i1371.photobucket.com/albums/ag307/MillyMolly01/Leeds_zps89f16bad.jpg

Word of warning: some of the decent areas border onto the not so decent areas, for example, avoid any properties in Roundhay/Oakwood which border onto Gipton or Harehills and avoid any properties in Chapel Allerton which border onto Potternewton or Chapeltown.

As previously stated, the north is better than the south (generally speaking).

Best of luck!

MillyMolly01 · 13 October 2014 at 12:12PM

Also, here's the Leeds crime map for August from https://www.police.uk

It might help to inform your decision somewhat.

http://i1371.photobucket.com/albums/ag307/MillyMolly01/Crime_zpse0d91362.jpg

Marktheshark · 13 October 2014 at 12:18PM

MillyMolly01 wrote: »

As previously stated, the north is better than the south (generally speaking).

Best of luck!

Depends what you want, North is very "multicultural " and very busy hustle bustle, nearest Green spaces are not that easy to get to.
South places like Rothwell are more Country walks area, lots of wide open country to walk in and the area is not very "multicultural" if enrichment is your thing.

kathrynha · 13 October 2014 at 12:44PM

I live NW Leeds about 10 miles out of the City, so can't really comment on South Leeds or places closer to the centre.

NW is generally good once you get out as far as Horsforth, and it is on the right side for the universities.

However for commuting the roads are really congested and buses expensive and rubbish. The trains aren't bad, although can be extremely busy if you are wanting to travel at the height of rush hour.

Horsforth, Guiseley, Menston, Burley-in-W, Ben Rhyding and Ilkley all have train stations, but house prices reflect that, and are all pretty big places, so you could still be a fair distance from the station.

If a cycling commute appeals living close to the Leeds Liverpool canal provides a reasonably flat car free commute to Leeds city centre.

A Bradford postcode will generally get you more for your money, and can have better transport links with Leeds than many areas of the suberbs.

Even in the nicer areas of the city their are patches of not so good, but round where I am you can pretty much tell those areas by a visit to the place, or if you are interested in NW Leeds I am willing to pm you a list of specific places to avoid.

spirit · 13 October 2014 at 1:17PM

Thank you to every one who has replied so far. I'm logged on at work and for some reason, lots of text is shown as exclamation marks. I'll reply in more detail from home tonight.

What I can see from some replies on areas. My son and DiL to be currently rent in Hunslet/Belle Isle. I stayed with them for a few days in the summer and can see that it isn't a brilliant area there!

We went to Oulton Hall for a spa day, that seemed nice.

I live near Newbury/Reading at the moment. It's sort of commuter towns for Vodafone Hq

, or Reading and is about 45 mins to London Paddington. 3 bed semi's here range from about £215k to £300k depending on area etc.

I could downsize price wise, pay off my mortgage and buy something outright for around £200k.

i'll reply more from home later.

Thank you everyone so far

MillyMolly01 · 13 October 2014 at 1:27PM

Marktheshark wrote: »

Depends what you want, North is very "multicultural " and very busy hustle bustle, nearest Green spaces are not that easy to get to.
South places like Rothwell are more Country walks area, lots of wide open country to walk in and the area is not very "multicultural" if enrichment is your thing.

Not in my experience. I grew up in sleepy Cookridge (north Leeds), the view from my bedroom was green field after green field. The houses over the road often had cows, horses and sheep belonging to Moseley Farm peering over their garden walls. Green spaces surrounded the whole place, and the same is applicable to a lot of areas in north Leeds, so not sure about your comment re green spaces not being easy to get to. Also not sure what you mean by "multicultural" or its relevance?

Anyway, as you say, it all depends upon what the OP is looking for. There are some sleepy village type places in north Leeds such as Cookridge, Bramhope and to some extent Adel where you have beautiful countryside on your front doorstep, but there are also somewhat busier, but equally as decent, places such as Roundhay and Moortown, which are closer to Leeds centre but further away from masses of countryside. That's not to say these places do not have any greenery though (Roundhay Park is lovely, as is Meanwood Park and Eccup Reservoir), they just don't have as much. The further north out of the city centre = nearer to the countryside.

As a bit of an aside to the OP... not sure on your transportation situation, but if you are planning on working for either the University of Leeds or Leeds Beckett University (formerly Leeds Met), most of the campus buildings are situated north of the city centre (about a 15-20 minute walk from Leeds city train station). I know parking at the University of Leeds is a bit of a nightmare, staff permits are like gold dust, so the vast majority use public transport. Bus numbers which I know definitely stop outside the main campuses are numbers 1, 28 and 6, which serve Holt Park, Adel, Cookridge, Far Headingley and Headingley (postcode areas LS16 and LS6).

hanfrangipane · 13 October 2014 at 1:31PM

spirit wrote: »

Thank you to every one who has replied so far. I'm logged on at work and for some reason, lots of text is shown as exclamation marks. I'll reply in more detail from home tonight.

What I can see from some replies on areas. My son and DiL to be currently rent in Hunslet/Belle Isle. I stayed with them for a few days in the summer and can see that it isn't a brilliant area there!

We went to Oulton Hall for a spa day, that seemed nice.

I live near Newbury/Reading at the moment. It's sort of commuter towns for Vodafone Hq , or Reading and is about 45 mins to London Paddington. 3 bed semi's here range from about £215k to £300k depending on area etc.

I could downsize price wise, pay off my mortgage and buy something outright for around £200k.

i'll reply more from home later.

Thank you everyone so far

Glad you have found it useful so far! The exclamations thing is an issue with the board today - mods have been editing the spam filters to try and tackle the spam attack this morning, it will disappear soon!

Hunslet/Belle Isle aren't great, no. But they are close to the centre and are generally better than they have been in the past.

If you are moving to be close to them then I would personally stick south of the river. Commuting wise Rothwell/Oulton for example are really easy to get into Leeds Centre but you're also close to both the M62 and the M1 within 5-10 minutes so it opens up job searches to Wakefield and Sheffield or even as far as Manchester if need be. Also handy for if you were wanting to nip south again to visit any friends or family you have down there.

My sister commutes into Leeds uni every day from Robin Hood which has a direct bus route (110) and she finds it fine. If you can get to Leeds bus station there is a city bus that takes you up to the uni.

Also, if your Son and DiL get settled on the south side of Leeds I'd say they're more likely to find something within their budget rental wise in the areas surrounding Rothwell than they would in North Leeds if they wanted to move closer to you in the future. It depends how close you want to be to each other!

Personally, I find driving over to North Leeds a pain as it involves going through city centre or going right round the ring road. I couldn't be bothered with that every day, hence choosing a house in Wakefield. I find south leeds transport links much better.

Price wise, you will easily get a 3 bedroomed semi in South Leeds for <£200k, probably closer to £150-175k. You'd be able to find something North Leeds but (based on my search a few months ago) you'll get a lot less for your money and I found you had to be on the edge of the not so nice areas to get what I was looking for around that value.

Let us know if you have any more questions!

tykesi · 13 October 2014 at 2:02PM

I'd echo what hanfrangipane says above, if you're wanting to be close to the family you could do a lot worse than finding someone in Rothwell, Oulton, Woodlesford. I'm certain you'd find something in budget in those areas and you may even find you've got a lot of choice.

MillyMolly01 · 13 October 2014 at 3:05PM

spirit · 13 October 2014 at 4:26PM

hanfrangipane wrote: »

Glad you have found it useful so far! The exclamations thing is an issue with the board today - mods have been editing the spam filters to try and tackle the spam attack this morning, it will disappear soon!

Hunslet/Belle Isle aren't great, no. But they are close to the centre and are generally better than they have been in the past.

If you are moving to be close to them then I would personally stick south of the river. Commuting wise Rothwell/Oulton for example are really easy to get into Leeds Centre but you're also close to both the M62 and the M1 within 5-10 minutes so it opens up job searches to Wakefield and Sheffield or even as far as Manchester if need be. Also handy for if you were wanting to nip south again to visit any friends or family you have down there.

My sister commutes into Leeds uni every day from Robin Hood which has a direct bus route (110) and she finds it fine. If you can get to Leeds bus station there is a city bus that takes you up to the uni.

Also, if your Son and DiL get settled on the south side of Leeds I'd say they're more likely to find something within their budget rental wise in the areas surrounding Rothwell than they would in North Leeds if they wanted to move closer to you in the future. It depends how close you want to be to each other!

Personally, I find driving over to North Leeds a pain as it involves going through city centre or going right round the ring road. I couldn't be bothered with that every day, hence choosing a house in Wakefield. I find south leeds transport links much better.

Price wise, you will easily get a 3 bedroomed semi in South Leeds for <£200k, probably closer to £150-175k. You'd be able to find something North Leeds but (based on my search a few months ago) you'll get a lot less for your money and I found you had to be on the edge of the not so nice areas to get what I was looking for around that value.

Let us know if you have any more questions!

Thanks about the question marks - I was wondering what that was all about.

Thanks to everyone since I last posted, am sneaking on at work, but will come back on when I get home. There is some terrific information/help here, absolutely brilliant, thank you. :T

My dil to-be is constantly mithering me to go up there. My son said yesterday that they would both love it and that DiL would be always at my house (I love her as if she were my own DD by the way)

My son graduated this year from Leeds Beckett and has just got a job there, Dil has also just been offered a job there. I just joked that she should get me one there too and we'll make it a family thing :rotfl:

I don't want to be in their pockets and I'm sure they wouldn't want me to. So I have to consider how easy it is to make my own friends there. I guess wherever I end up working might open up possibilities. DS tells me that everyone is very friendly there - more so than down here. For example, I've lived in my current house for 4 years and have spoken a couple of times to the neighbours, I can't even remember their names.

Anyone know West Yorkshire (Leeds in particular) well?

Comments

Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply

🚀 Getting Started

Categories

Is this how you want to be seen?

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free