# Where to live in Bristol (and Bath)?



## Romanista (Jul 16, 2012)

Hi everyone,

I've seen a few threads on this topic, but the people asking the question were a bit different to me, so I thought I'd ask for myself.

I have primary school-age kids and a budget of about £230-250k for a 3-bed house. I'm not bothered about being close to the centre; more important to me are good schools, some decent local shops and pubs, and I'd rather there wasn't loads of crime. I like areas like Westbury upon Trym and Downend, but they seem a bit out of budget for me.

I've recently begun to consider Bath as well, because surprisingly house prices seem lower there. But I know nothing about Bath beyond the centre. Is there any really dodgy area of Bath? There seem to be lots of affordable houses near a place called Odd Down. 

Any suggestions?


----------



## gentlegreen (Jul 16, 2012)

Somewhat out of my league as 28 years on, I still live in almost the cheapest house in Bristol...


----------



## marty21 (Jul 16, 2012)

Odd Down is alright - my sister lives there, I'd also recommend areas I used to live in, not sure how affordable they are - Larkhall, and Fairfield Park, areas I wouldn't recommend - Twerton, Whiteway


----------



## gentlegreen (Jul 16, 2012)

When choosing where to live, I would start with where I work and draw a 5 mile circle around it ..


----------



## mattie (Jul 16, 2012)

Regarding schools, there's a fiar few fee-payers in Bath which can skew catchments a touch.

I don't think houses near town will be affordable, so you'll either have to follow the valley around to Bristol or head up onto the hills to the south (Odd Down is there, it's perfectly decent but up a bugger of a hill from the town centre).
Marty's pretty much spot-on in his summation, btw.
Going out in the Bristol direction, Oldfield Park is traditionally the studen tarea but is a perfectly decent place to live, I think prices may be a bit higher than further on out of town though - lots of people like Oldfield as the houses are generally quite generous sizes and it has its own train station on the London-Bristol mainline (although express trains don't stop there).  Southdown is a bit past Oldfield and up the hill and is decent enough - I lived there for a bit and found it a bit nondescript though.  As Marty says you have to be a bit careful with the next districts out (Twerton at the river level, Whiteway a bit further up the hill) but some nice places in and amongst it, but you will have to look closely - be warned, the worst schools tend to be in these areas.

Larkhall is the other side of Bath, out on the valley on the Eastern side towards London.  Very nice little community, and I know you'll find a decent house in your price bracket if you go towards the Fairfield side of Larkhall (up the hill slightly from the main London Road and river valley).  A mate of mine is selling a very nice 3-bed 1940s-ish house with garage for around the 250K mark (stamp duty prevents it going any higher) in this area, right by a school with a reasonable reputation - I'm afraid you might have to do a bit of reseach around schools though, I've not got kids so no real clue.  I live a bit closer to the centre, just below Camden and behind Snow Hill - Snow Hill is interesting, it's a relatively modern estate built to replace slums and has a 'certain reputatio'n, I finds it OK (And it is brilliantly located for town, essentially just beyond the end of Walcot Street) but it is high-rise and there are quite a few reports of crime - a homeless man was murdered a few years back, and apparently the murderer is well-known but police can't get any traction with witnesses.  That sort of a place, sadly. 

Weston is quite nice, but the more affordable houses there are starting to get quite a distance from the town centre - I'm afraid I know very little about it, but it's worth considering.


----------



## marty21 (Jul 16, 2012)

Forgot about Weston, my brother just moved there to the new build estate (that is still being built) he likes it there - and it's perfect for his work as he works at the RUH 

I remember the murder outside the Longacre ? Wasn't there a poem posted everywhere naming the killer? That pub has been closed down and is now a pizza place - which is sad as I used to drink there years ago and my dad was a regular when they had 'flexible' opening hours I used to walk through Snowhill a lot as I lived above it (On Eastbourne Avenue) never had any problems there - my sister lived for a while on Arundel Close? near the top of the hill - seemed alright around there too.


----------



## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Jul 16, 2012)

Ah Bath.


----------



## fractionMan (Jul 16, 2012)

There's great primary schools throughout bath and the surrounding area. Also check bathampton, batheaston and bathford as they all have good schools too.

Tbh, the shittest bit of bath is pretty un-shit by national standards imo. You can't really go wrong.


----------



## fractionMan (Jul 16, 2012)

marty21 said:


> Forgot about Weston, my brother just moved there to the new build estate (that is still being built) he likes it there - and it's perfect for his work as he works at the RUH
> 
> I remember the murder outside the Longacre ? Wasn't there a poem posted everywhere naming the killer? That pub has been closed down and is now a pizza place - which is sad as I used to drink there years ago and my dad was a regular when they had 'flexible' opening hours I used to walk through Snowhill a lot as I lived above it (On Eastbourne Avenue) never had any problems there - my sister lived for a while on Arundel Close? near the top of the hill - seemed alright around there too.


 
I lived in snow hill too, never had a problem. Never drank in the longacre or king william though, more of a hat and feather person.


----------



## Romanista (Jul 16, 2012)

Some great advice so far. Much appreciated, thanks.


----------



## fractionMan (Jul 16, 2012)

Just been looking on rightmove and discovered I could actually afford to buy a house in bath now.  There's not terrible 2 bed houses on there for 130k+


----------

