Living and Renting in Dover 30 April 2008 at 2:17PM in House Buying, Renting & Selling 21 replies 6.7K views

littleowl

Hmm - doesn't sound too appealing. Do you have any recommendations for areas within easy reach of the tunnel and ferry crossing?

Generali

littleowl wrote: »

Hmm - doesn't sound too appealing. Do you have any recommendations for areas within easy reach of the tunnel and ferry crossing?

If you go inland a bit there are lots of nice small towns and villages especially as you go northeast towards Deal and Sandwich or north towards Canterbury. Get in the car and have a potter around. There are plenty of good pubs for lunch and you'll soon get a feel for the area. Hawkinge is nice and there are loads of similar places.

Kent is a great place, especially once you get out of sensible commuter range of London.

jimc_2

What a shame! I read the title of this thread and thought it must be a highly literary and romantic paean of praise to the delights of Dover! (It must have been the resemblance of the title to 'Love in the time of cholera' or 'Down and out in London and Paris' that mislead me.)

So Dover's a dump now then? Anyone got anything nice to say about it? All I can remember is big queues on that road down to the docks every time I was in a rush to get to the Sealynx or Hovercraft.

aurorahelios

Unfortunately Dover has become very run down. Folkestone is better and has good road links to Dover.

Generali

jimc wrote: »

What a shame! I read the title of this thread and thought it must be a highly literary and romantic paean of praise to the delights of Dover! (It must have been the resemblance of the title to 'Love in the time of cholera' or 'Down and out in London and Paris' that mislead me.)

So Dover's a dump now then? Anyone got anything nice to say about it? All I can remember is big queues on that road down to the docks every time I was in a rush to get to the Sealynx or Hovercraft.

Hmmm. In 12 hours the best thing anyone has had to say about Dover is 'the road to Folkestone'.

I'm disappointed. I went to Dover a few years ago and I really wanted it to be lovely. Vera Lynn and all that.

Instead I found a racially divided place. Run down and relying on taxpayers' money for what little was there. The next BNP electoral victory I suspect (A Bad Thing).

littleowl

Thanks for all the input. I shall have to broaden my search to the inland towns although I had thought Dover itself might be thriving with the economic lift brought to the area.

aurorahelios

As far as I'm aware there has been no economic uplift to the area. It was far more economically vibrant in the 1970s and early 80s but has steadily gone down hill since. The channel tunnel is closer to Folkestone than Dover and those who use it and the ferries are usually just passing through on their way elsewhere and so don't really bring any economic benefit to the area. Even the French who used to come into Dover to buy childrens clothes now just head straight to Canterbury.

Dover district council have been so religious about their nimbyism that they have failed to regenerate the area and Dover has just become stuck, gradually becoming more and more run down.

littleowl

aurorahelios wrote: »

As far as I'm aware there has been no economic uplift to the area. It was far more economically vibrant in the 1970s and early 80s but has steadily gone down hill since. The channel tunnel is closer to Folkestone than Dover and those who use it and the ferries are usually just passing through on their way elsewhere and so don't really bring any economic benefit to the area. Even the French who used to come into Dover to buy childrens clothes now just head straight to Canterbury.

Dover district council have been so religious about their nimbyism that they have failed to regenerate the area and Dover has just become stuck, gradually becoming more and more run down.

It's sad to hear that. I do know that quite a few French companies have relocated to Dover and had assumed that the economy would have seen an improvement. It seems I was wrong.

suzybaby2001

I'd go for Sandwich/Canterbury or any of the little villages in between (Littlebourne, Eastry, Wingham) - I work at a large pharmaceutical company (no prizes for guessing which one!) and there's a recruitment drive on at the minute, there's a steady stream of new starters.

Dee140157

Some of it will depend on what you can afford. Hawkinge is lovely, but commands higher rental prices than say Folkestone itself. You have areas of Folkestone which are better than others too. There are loads of lovely villages, it does depend what you consider easy commuting distance. I live in Ashford but work in Folkestone. Ashford is ok to live in. For me some would depend on if you had kids and schools to consider. I love Hythe which is a sleepy town (dare I say many retired people there). Not so good if you want nightclulbs etc, but fabuous if you like the sea and peace. Folkestone has lots of small apartments/flats for rent as it has lots of converted vicorian buildings. I know little about Dover, so cannot really comment, except to say I would not want to live there! If you use the ports a lot you may want to be nearer Dover, but as mentioned before the Channel Tunnel is at Cheriton, a suburb of Folkestone and is easily accessed from many villages. You could go to e.g Etchinghill or out towards Canterbury. As you travel to Canterbury though again rental proces do increase. I think it really is a case of you pay for where you live.