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As title really.
I might have the opportunity to move that way in a work related way and was just interested in a bit of a warts an' all feedback.
I'm open to other areas and my knowledge to that part of the world is limited. Access to Swindon might be a good idea, so happy to look at somewhere to the east of Bristol.
Thanks muchly.
Probably the only city I'd consider loving in.
Probably get your bike stolen.
Probably get your bike stolen.
You clearly don't know what my line of work is... 8)
If you move down here don, I'll volunteer to be the first to take you out for a beer (in a non sexy way)
I've lived here for a long time, there are some areas to avoid but it's generally a good place with a good vibe. PM me if you want any specifics.
You hold move to Yate Don.
Its where it is all happening now.
I spent two years there with work. Lived in Willsbridge, just north of Keynsham. Very handy for Bath and Bristol and the M4.
Liked it a lot and but for a loss in the family my wife and I would probably have put down roots and settled there.
Sister now lives in a small village to the north of Bath having come from Enfield and loves it. That is very expensive tho.
You hold move to Yate Don.
This was actually one of my first thoughts. 😕
You clearly don't know what my line of work is..
Bike thief?
Great place to live. Surrounded by great countryside and the mtbing and road riding is superb. Lovely city, got it's rough areas like anywhere and bike theft can be a problem (seems mainly down to riders being followed home after a ride), but overall I highly recommend it.
Probably the only city I'd consider loving in.
Bit saucy...
Bit saucy...
...yet strangely alluring...
jam bo - Member
Probably the only city I'd consider loving in.
You leave our lady folk alone!
my wife and I moved here because it's a fantastic place to live. It has the good things you get in a city without most/many of the negatives you get from the bigger ones.
There's loads to do, it's green, has a generally.friendly feel and it's a fantastic place to be a cyclist. Good trails and road biking very local with tons more a bit further afield.
I can't see.myself living anywhere else through choice.
Watch out for dodgy neighbours like aka_gilo though 😉
Bike thief?
Not connected to this at all, no siree, not one jot, but what sort of bike would be best, what are you guys riding? 8)
Only joking about ^^^^this^^^^.
I might have a visit [url= http://www.buildstore.co.uk/mykindofhome/events/national-self-build-and-renovation-show-2012/index.asp ]here, the national build store[/url] while I'm down. Is it worth it?
I wouldn't live there for a gold pig
Go on...
Man you go to be in Yate.
I can do you a deal on a couple of properties if your are serious.
I live in Bath and completely love it. If you're into nightclubs every weekend, it'll be shite, but other than that it has everything going for it. Lots of riding from within site of the city centre (I can do a 20 mile, 3000ft ride from my door) good food places, pubs and shops, no really rough areas (not compared to larger cities), although houses are freakin expensive, and a pretty nice vibe as long as you don't object to middle class wannabees! Somehow it's become a bit of a hen and stag target, but I still don't know why.
If you ever fancy a wander about, message me and I'll be happy to oblige
.
Double post
It all actually sounds quite positive.
It's gert lush me babber
i'm moving there in a month - we're relocating from Morzine, and I'm genuinely excited.
very very excited.
it's brill 🙂
"i'm moving there in a month - we're relocating from Morzine, and I'm genuinely excited.
very very excited."
See he is coming from Morzine just to be in Yate
The word is spreading get on the crest of the wave, don't be a sheep.
Bristol is amazing. I moved here 10 years ago when I was 22 and just haven't looked back.
Can the West Country cope with such a Big Hitter?
hungry_monkey a big hitter? 😐
Well there can only be one in the West Country who is [b]AWESOME[/b] although he no longer visits. Why don't you and hungry_monkey come to a gentleman's agreement as to your respective monikers?
Have you got kids? Many of the schools are crap, which has caused mahoosive bubbles in house prices around the good ones.
It's not far from the decent Welsh trails and FoD
Have you got kids?
No kids, thankfully.
am sure noteeth will be along to post a mini-essay on this charms of San-Fran-Bristo...the trails n' ales are good.
Yate
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clubber - Member
Watch out for dodgy neighbours like aka_gilo though
Oi.....
Probably my favourite city. I went to uni there and quite a few of my mates stuck around. Brilliant riding in the city and nearby. Rowberrow is awesome!
Cracking pubs, nightlife and generally all you could ever want. I live over in WA now and miss the place. Would probably move back if I could find a decent job.
Bristol is a great city to live and ride in. It's quite an attractive city (Suspension Bridge, Harbour etc.) with lots of great restaurants and bars. Unlike many of the UK's other larger cities it seems quite compact and you can be out in the countryside in less than half an hour from most areas. Lots of things like festivals going on, and its got well-developed 'alternative' and 'green' scenes as well. Theatre buffs and film fans (especially fans of independent films) are well catered for.
For road riding there's some great routes going south to the Mendips. west over the Bridge into Wales and Forest of Dean and north around South Gloucestershire and the bottom of the Cotswolds, and west around Wiltshire and Bath. For mountain biking there's trails across the Suspension Bridge in Ashton Court and Leigh Woods, and the mountain bike meccas of the Mendips, Quantocks, Forest of Dean and South Wales trail centres are an easy car ride away. There's also loads of bike paths (its the HQ of Sustrans).
Depending where you live its relatively easy to commute to Swindon - I know lots of people who do (which has the additional benefit of not having to live in Swindon).
What are the negatives?
Traffic can be horrendous and parking in many places is awful. Public transport isn't great and is expensive. House prices can be very expensive in the more sought after areas. Bike theft seems to be endemic. The city centre can be a bit grim with drunks at the weekend (there again which centre doesn't suffer from this). Secondary education in state schools has been very poor overall, though many of the underperforming schools seem to have become academies in the last couple of years, and there is also a disproportionate number of public schools.
Small enough for easy access to great road and MTB riding, big enough for all the attractions of a proper city. I love it here.
Philby's post sums it up for me to. I'm not sure I'd describe Bristol as 'amazing', not by a long way but compared with other cities it's probably about as good as you can get if access to decent MTBing is high on your priority list.
The only UK city mrs S and I would consider living in now.
We're not far away, only about an hour, so I go fairly regularly and love it.
I might have a visit here, the national build store while I'm down. Is it worth it?
It's interesting but I didnt really apply any of the materials on show to my build, but it was useful to know they existed.
If you move to Yate, it'll take ~45 minutes to get to Swindon and be over the Severn bridge in ~15 minutes. Central Bristol would be a different matter though, traffic is awful. Even if clear it'll take you ~40 minutes to drive to Ashton court.
I would advise you visit Yate to make sure you're happy with it. It's not bad, just a new conurbation so has no character. There's plenty of nicer areas around it (Chipping Sodbury, Coalpit Heath, Winterbourne etc).
The centre is busy and drunk on weekend evenings but they tend to stick to the normal venues and there is plenty of choice so you can escape the "sidewards" crowds without too much effort.
Bike theft is bad, you must be security aware and there are some pretty bad areas. I wouldn't say it's particularly friendly, it is a big city after all.
Love it in Bristol, I live in Ashton and having a ten minute cycle commute into the Harbourside along traffic free routes is ace, as is jogging in the other direction and being in Ashton Court within 5 minutes.
Having superb places like Ashton Court and Leigh Woods so nearby is fantastic for those of us who love the outdoors.
Traffic can be bad, but doesn't bother me given that I don't have/need a car, and the only time I'm out on the roads is for a blast on the motorbike.
Just wish the city could get it together for a decent arena for big events, and have someone get the IMAX cinema up and running again showing blockbuster films...
I lived in Yate for a few years, it has a great skatepark and good access to the M5/4. Decent trains into Brizzle, but it was a shite place. Chipping Sodbury full of drunks Fri/Sat nights. For a city Brizzle is great, pretty safe (apart from bike theft), lots to do and great riding.
Another suggestion for Yate, great location, near the city and even closer to the Countryside. Great riding from the doorstep, we're just below the Cotswolds.
Ride for 5 minutes from the door and you're in the Countryside, 15 minutes you've got hills, 20 minutes you've got hills and great bridleway/singletrack.
I wouldn't call Yate a shit place, wherever you go there are always cocks there. I would rate it higher than Fishponds, Staple Hill, Kingswood. The amenities are a lot better than those.
Chipping Sodbury full of drunks Fri/Sat nights.
What did you expect when the street has over 5 pubs that are 20 metres from each other. Also, much has changed, still drunks, like any place that sells alcohol, but most of the pubs are quiet now.
Chipping Sodbury full of drunks Fri/Sat nights.
As will any area of Bristol with pubs including Yate. Not really comparable with the centre though.
I wouldn't call Yate a shit place, wherever you go there are always cocks there. I would rate it higher than Fishponds, Staple Hill, Kingswood.
Me too, but Downend and Mangotsfield are a bit nicer and places like Winterbourne, Coalpit heath etc a good bit nicer.
Milkie, which hills/singletrack do you mean? (within 20 minutes)
[s]Depending where you live[/s][b] If you live in Bath[/b] its relatively easy to commute to Swindon [b]and Bristol[/b] - I know lots of people who do (which has the additional benefit of not having to live in Swindon [b]or Bristol[/b]).
😉
If you live in Bath
And you thought Bristol was full of cocks......
Lovely place but I couldn't live there due to the wannabe toffs.
Lived there for about 7 years and still visit friends there fairly regularly. I always lived pretty central (Southville, Totterdown, Cotham, Montpelier) so could pretty much bike or walk everywhere which was fantastic. Like others have said, great nighlife, good music scene and some fab bars and restaurants. Loads going on in the summer particularly.
If you don't have kids I'd try to be as close in to the centre as possible - some pleasant spots in South Bristol with good access to harbourside and Ashton Court etc. A lot of the outlying suburbs are "generic" to say the least and if you're too far out you probably won't get so much benefit from being there, getting into town can be a pain on public transport. Generally, traffic as other people have mentioned is a pain still, but weirdly you've probably got better car-free access to trails living in the centre than you have if you live out in some of the 'burbs (Yate excepted of course 🙂 )
I'm puzzled as to why anyone would drive from Central Bristol to Ashton Court given you can ride it in less time.
One thing to bear in mind is that Bristol can sometimes seem like a big village - I personally like that aspect of it, but some folk find it a bit too much!
Central Bristol would be a different matter though, traffic is awful. Even if clear it'll take you ~40 minutes to drive to Ashton court.
City centre to AC is 20 minutes at most on the bike...best to live in town I reckon.
Milkie, which hills/singletrack do you mean? (within 20 minutes)
Once you're over Horton Hill there are quite a few bridleways to choose from. The good stuff starts from Hillsley. The [url= http://connect.garmin.com/activity/861257 ]Evan's Ride it[/url] even takes in a few of the good singletracks.
[url= http://singletrackmag.com/trailguide/uk/south-west/the-cotswolds/ ]STW also have a route map for you to check out.[/url]
There is also a wood between Wickwar and Yate, that is quite nice to ride. 😉
Yate, isn't really Bristol though is it.
I lived in Clifton for around 12 years before moving to Cleeve, upsides, everything on your doorstep and you really don't need to use your car on the weekend. Good pubs, food, walking, etc
Downsides the parking is awful, and house prices are mental.
This is a timely thread, considering a move back to brizzle (lived there for a year or so about '03). Don't really know the south of the city at all though, and would be working on the SE side...where's good to live for a convenient bike commute that direction?
Wouldn't go south of the river personally. Bedminster etc is not for me.
Commute to where? If to the Center, I would look for somewhere on the Bristol to Bath cyclepath. However driving into Bristol from that direction is truly awful, and it takes a while to get to the motorway.
Wouldn't go south of the river
Well that's it, I never did when I lived there, except twice for parties. Always seemed a bit seedy...but maybe just the parts I saw.
Wouldn't go south of the river personally. Bedminster etc is not for me.
And they say north Bristol is full of snobs...
Plenty of plusses southside: housing is cheaper, closer to the centre (10 mins walk from Southville)thriving independent high street (North St.), nice parks, good community feel (e.g. Totterdown) increasing number of nice pubs & restaurants. In summary, it's changed significantly for the better in the 10 years or so I've lived here.
Of course, there are the less desirable parts, but you can say that about plenty of areas northside too.
I never went south of the river when I was a student or when we moved back to Bristol and thought that it was a bit dodgy too but having now lived in Bedminster and then Totterdown, I'm not sure I'd move elsewhere - I think it's a great area - easy and quick to get to good riding, plenty of good pubs/bars, easy to get to Clifton/Redland if you're so inclined, easy to get to the docks, decent houses, affordable houses (not cheap but not silly like Clifton/etc) and a big plus is that traffic isn't bad like the hell of North Bristol at rush hour. Also, some nice parks, more of a community feel and finally, it's choka with mtbers 🙂
Sure there are some crap bits but you can easily avoid those - I can't remember the last time I've been to them.
IA - Bristol's changed loads since 2003 (which is when I moved back here) - Bedminster/Southville/Totterdown are all decent areas now (with the exception of Bedminster around East Street). I'd suggest visiting
I moved there in 1991 and left in 2005 to move to sydney - it was awesome; rave culture back in the day was unbeliveable, massive attack and all the associated bands made it a really exciting place to be during the 90's, skateboard, bmx, graffiti scene is lively, excellent night life, riding from home, quality natural trails in the Mendips, Q'tox, man made stuff with 1-2 hrs drive. Its got everything a big city has in a compact city.....move there!!
Of course, there are the less desirable parts,
Where's desireable south side then?
Bristol's changed loads since 2003 (which is when I moved back here
I can believe that, it felt on the edge of changes when I was there, areas just starting to redevelop etc. Bit of a trek for a visit though, currently in Scotland...
quality natural trails in the Mendips, Q'tox, man made stuff with 1-2 hrs drive. Its got everything a big city has in a compact city.....move there!!
Yeah, but I currently live in Edinburgh, which I think's about the only city in the UK to beat Bristol for riding...
There's a lot of snobbery about South Bristol. Make your own judgement.
Sure it has it's dodgy areas like anywhere but there are some good spots too. Southville is fine and has easy access to the centre, harbourside and Ashton Court, Totterdown is a bit quirky / alternative but has a really good community feel and is genuinely one of the friendliest city neighbourhoods I've ever lived (steep hills mind!). Windmill Hill is also worth a look. Even Bedminster itself is on the up these days - cracking Indian restaurant on Bedminster Parade.
I'd prefer to live in any of those places than the suburbs.
And they say north Bristol is full of snobs...
Just because I choose not to live somewhere, it doesn't make me a snob. I grew up in staple hill FFS.
I like the open areas which North Bristol has. I like the villages, the parking, the big gardens, the sports clubs.
The traffic is horrible though I agree and if you want to go on the lash, taxis are expensive from town. For sure, there are some pretty shit areas in N bristol; southmead and lockleaze being ones which come to mind. You'd still not get me to live in bedminster though.
Good point on the "is yate in bristol". Since the south gloucs stuff, nobody seems to know. I'm in south gloucs (not yate) but still put bristol on our address and we're not the only ones;
Yate Town Council
Poole Court
Poole Court Drive
Yate
Bristol BS37 5PP
Horses for courses really, personally I really liked the ease of living in Clifton (and allegedly I am about as far from posh as you can get, I am from W-s-M FFS) whereas other people find it completely up its own arse.
Wouldn't go south of the river personally. Bedminster etc is not for me
Yet you say this about Bath...
Lovely place but I couldn't live there due to the wannabe toffs.
...sounds like it's perfect for you.
IA - Member
Where's desireable south side then?
Southville, parts of Bedminster, parts of Totterdown, parts of Knowle. IMO, of course.
wrecker - you're in the Bristol administrative area, not the City of Bristol 🙂
My work has a Bristol postcode but it's 12 miles from home...
clubber - Member
but having now lived in Bedminster and then Totterdown,
Erm, I believe you mean Lower Knowle? 😉
I love South Bristol (grew up in Clifton). It's really come up in the last 10 years or so, lots of good places to eat and drink, easy walking distance into town, and easy riding to local trails, or the Chew Valley etc for roadying. Generally friendly and laid-back too.
Wouldn't go south of the river personally. Bedminster etc is not for meYet you say this about Bath...
Lovely place but I couldn't live there due to the wannabe toffs.
...sounds like it's perfect for you.
You don't know what you're talking about. It has nothing to do with being stuck up and everything to do with preferring suburb living to inner city. It's preference. Do you know that word?
I think you mean Upper Lower Lower Lower Clifton...
If we weren't moving to another country, we would settle in / around Bristol. It has everything and is big enough to have areas with their own identity as well as being Bristol burbs. Liked it when I visited it and lived here for 2.5 years so far and love it all.
Yate. No thanks. Self build centre? Go and visit it so you know what is there. It gives you an appreciation of the market rather than all the cool things you could buy. It is useful on that front.
It's preference. Do you know that word?
Indeed I do.
I also know the word humour; as used in the phrase 'sense of humour failure'.
You don't know what you're talking about. It has nothing to do with being stuck up and everything to do with preferring suburb living to inner city
Unless it's a suburb south of the river. That wouldn't be for you...
Southville, parts of Bedminster, parts of Totterdown, parts of Knowle. IMO, of course.
I'd add Victoria Park, parts of Windmill Hill, parts of Ashton and Perrets Park to your list.
I always laughed at 'Sadly Broke' 😆
'Victoria Park' and 'Perrets Park' are parts of Totterdown/Bemmie to me but fair point maybe 🙂
'Victoria Park' and 'Perrets Park' are parts of Totterdown/Bemmie to me but fair point maybe
True, but it can be hard to know that from estate agent descriptions...
I cant believe people are knocking Bemmie 😀
BS3 is a great place to live! Everywhere from British road to Southville, there's a real sense of community, the vast majority of people are friendly. Since I've moved to Manchester and experienced Chorlton, Southville doesn't seem anywhere near as pretentious/new age/hippytrehugging****yness as it did when I lived down south 😀
I would move back there in a flash if we had family down there for babysitting duties!
All the best people live in Portishead, Carol Vorderman, Johnny Briggs and me to name a few.
But none of them actually ever ride mtbs do they 😉