Where should I move in England?????

Hi Everyone,

I'm a Canadian teacher, planing to move to England this upcoming school year (Sept. 2009). I can pretty well work anywhere in the country, i'm just trying to decide where I might like to go.

I do not want to live in any large centres (London, Birmingham, Manchester), but I would like to live in a city. I would like to be in a city that is quieter and slower paced them the larger cities. I'd also like to be near the coast, rather than central.

So far, i've been thinking of Liverpool and Bristol, as some possibilities.

Are there any other smaller cities that would suit my needs besides these 2?

I've been to England a few times, but have never been to either one of these cities. Which place is nicer? Which place would you recommend as being a better place to live and teach?

Thanks.

You could try one of the large towns and cities on the south coast.

Brighton and Bournemouth may appeal. Both are beach sizeable beach resorts that have expanded into large urban areas.

There's also Portsmouth and Southampton, both on the Hampshire coast. Both have a more "urban" feel but are not too big, so still possible to live outside and commute in easily.

Hi

We've been living in Liverpool for 3.5 years now. It is a great city and we love it. Our 3 kids have been attending Woolton Junior School and Gateacre Comprehensive. The schools are fantastic, and if they are a reflection of the rest of them here, we are very impressed by the education system here.

People here are friendly, have great senses of humour, and really like to have fun. The huge investment (made in prep for 2008 as European Capital of Culture) into the city's infrastructure will, I think, have great, long lasting effects. email me if you like jjorgenson at g mai l d ot co m

Cheers! Jason

I would like to be in a city that is quieter and slower paced them the larger cities.

I think this is a bit of an illusion in the UK because the smaller cities are usually more congested in my experience, one of the better examples being Plymouth. The larger it is the better the public transport.

If you want to live somewhere nice and coastal that isn't congested in the UK, think about Bangor in Northern Ireland. Bournemouth and other places on the south coast are overflowing with retirees.

Bristol sounds like a good choice, better than Liverpool at any rate.

You might also quite like Douglas on the Isle of Man, not sure what opportunities there are for teachers there though because you have to get a work permit (but if you're not a citizen of an EU state you have to do that for the UK as well).

I am going to try to be really honest with you without trying to cut anyone down.

PLEASE DON'T MOVE TO A SMALL CITY/VILLAGE/TOWN in ENGLAND.

I moved to the Blackburn area and it...too say the least was a HUGE culture shock!
People are nice enough. Malls (shopping centers) are open 9am-5pm (making it right convient for people who work) and same with shops and butchers and food shops. Racism is unbelievable. I can't tell you how many times I've heard the words..."I'm not racist but...." Just everything is so...well I believe...behind the times. I've found 2 other Canadians in the area and we all think the same way.

I try to get to Manchester or Liverpool as much as humanly possible. I think they are right...Liverpool is the way to go. It's a big city for here but I can't imagine it's any bigger then say....London Ontario. More cultured from what I see.

But please reconsider the small town thing - Bigger city's here don't feel that big.

exeter is a nice little place

Liverpool had "lost much of their raison d'etre" with the decline of shipping and had "little prospect of offering their residents the standard of living to which they aspire. (Source: news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/…..) So, Bristol seems better option. Much will also depend upon your future planning regarding profession and settlement period.
Advisor travel.justluxe

I moved to the Blackburn area and it...too say the least was a HUGE culture shock!

To be honest I think that's more to do with Blackburn, although like I said above the idea of a "small town" in Canada is very far removed from what it is in most of the UK, because of the population density of the UK. If you want a small town Canadian-style you're looking at Northern Ireland, parts of Scotland and Wales.

I remember going into the McDonald's in Blackburn town centre some years ago and there were two kids in the toilet who were at it!

It is a very racist place because of all the immigrants.

I would recommend the Yorkshire National Parks areas.

See tourit productions.com

I think it really depends on what you are looking for.

There are a few comments here that reflect the reality here in the UK, that you simply cannot compare Canadian cities & towns to UK ones. It's like comparing apples and oranges. I live in Newcastle, which would fit the bill looking at your requirements. It's a nice part of the country, but like ALL British cities you have to be really, really careful where you choose to live. I spend a lot of time in most of the major centres in the UK because of my job, and in general the picture is the same: Really nice areas are butted right up against horrible ones. If you have kids, you could find yourself living in what looks like a great area but find out that the schools are terrible. There is a much larger variation in such things here, compared to Canada.

In Newcastle, as with elsewhere, the people are very proud of their city, fiercely so sometimes (although they are all resigned to the fact that their football team sucks). Almost invariably the citizens of a British city will hate their neighbours and vice-versa. Newcastle/Sunderland, Manchester/Liverpool, etc. Why? God knows.

As far as the racism goes, I have to say I have found the same here. In fact I have just got back from a four day mini-break with the family in London and just before I went a woman from work said "Oh, I wouldn't take my kids to London. A friend of mine just came back from there and said that there are no ENGLISH people there. I just wouldn't feel safe". I told her that to me that is a big part of the attraction of London. I find the homogenous nature of the more provincial cities to be backward and frankly suffocating. They complain that people from London still think we are all coal-miners up here, and there may be some truth to that, but they are just as bad if not worse in their assumptions about the "south".

I have lost count of the number of times that people have complained to me in general conversation about all the "immigrants" around and how terrible it all is. I always point out that I am an immigrant to which the reply is invariably that I am different, and somehow don't count and so am OK. Of course they never say that the reason I am OK is that I am white and look like them, speak their language natively and come from Canada. This is the mentality of most cities outside of London.

If this is your sort of thing, then great. Otherwise stick to the south coast or the west country. Bristol is nice but again, it has its problems. It used to be the car-crime capitol of Britain a few years ago, not sure if that is still the same? But Somerset, just to the south, is wonderful.