# Should I move to Bristol? If so...why???



## bouncer_the_dog (Sep 20, 2006)

I have a friend who lives in Bristol who goes on about how great it is. But importantly I noticed that for the same rent as a 1 bed flat here in oxford you can get a three bed house in Bristol! Thats enough to make me consider it.. But whats it like on the job front there? Also is it really a cheap rent bonaza? 

Sell Bristol to me! I might just do it...


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## Iam (Sep 20, 2006)

I really like it here. It has a good mix of city provisions, whilst not being so big that it becomes overbearing.

It's not the cheapest city in Britain (I'd imagine), but I think it'll be cheaper than Oxford - although I've never lived there.

It's quite decent jobwise, too... but I suspect that will largely depend on what you do. There's a fairly decent representation of companies in the north of the city where I am (AXA, BAE, MOD, Rolls Royce and others) and I would say that it's certainly been a popular alternative for employers who didn't want to be in the London/Reading/Basinstoke area.

What else...? Decent nightlife, decent gig venues, the Mall!!, Rovers, Ashton Court...

£350m ono


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## bouncer_the_dog (Sep 20, 2006)

I am a poncy freelance web designer/illustrator type. I would give it a go just for the change of scene , I just have to convince the missuz its a good idea!


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## xenon (Sep 20, 2006)

I hear that outside of London, least in the south, Bristol has a lot of new media industry. That would need a bit of research though.

Rent where I live for a single bedroom flat, just south of city centre. Southvile / Bedminster area.  Aproximately 470 - 550 a month. Give or take. Don't know about the north side. I'm lead to believe they're a bit funny up there.


Another plus.
It's not Croydon.


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## pno (Sep 20, 2006)

I'm also thinking of moving to Bristol, back to my hometown, been away for many years, had enough of Dorset and need some positive chages in my life 

Should the there if all goes to plan by Dec/Jan


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## wiskey (Sep 20, 2006)

wehay i've started a trend


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## wiskey (Sep 20, 2006)

pno said:
			
		

> I'm also thinking of moving to Bristol, back to my hometown, been away for many years, had enough of Dorset and need some positive chages in my life
> 
> Should the there if all goes to plan by Dec/Jan




cool we should be there by november (possibly homeless but never mind )


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## Yetman (Sep 20, 2006)

wiskey said:
			
		

> wehay i've started a trend



Bollocks I started it about 7 months ago - you are merely my ripples  

Bristols cool though, lots of places to go - its almost like London in that aspect, but the places are a lot closer together and there's less crap to dilute it.

Work wise its busy, especially it seems office and media type jobs - also there's lots of sound people here, honestly, most young people I've met so far have all been really cool, even the chavs 

I'd recommend it to anyone really.


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## wiskey (Sep 20, 2006)

Yetman said:
			
		

> Bollocks I started it about 7 months ago - you are merely my ripples



doffs cap - i trust you'll have the kettle on when we arrive then?


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## pno (Sep 20, 2006)

wiskey said:
			
		

> cool we should be there by november (possibly homeless but never mind )



I'm going to try and stay with someone for a month whilst im there looking for somewhere to live, my friend has kindly offered.

I need to get a job too, its slightly daunting moving somewhere and making a completely fresh start, but also an exciting challenge 

Dont really want to quit my job, as Ive been here a while and im settled in what I do and Im due a payrise and i can progress, but the commuting from Dorset to Winchester each day is killing me and not worth the money and I want a fresh change and start 

Bring it on


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## wiskey (Sep 20, 2006)

pno said:
			
		

> I need to get a job too, its slightly daunting moving somewhere and making a completely fresh start, but also an exciting challenge
> 
> Bring it on



exactly  life is an adventure and bristol seems like a good place to experience it. 

we are trying to rent for when we move - much as they love me i'm not sure juttug and krs would appreciate squatters


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## kalidarkone (Sep 20, 2006)

Oh good cos the SW forum seriously needs reviving!!!


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## munkeeunit (Sep 20, 2006)

There's nothing cheap about rent in Bristol, if you're comparing rent to mortage then you'll always get a better comparison. If you're comparing rent between a sought after area, and a run down area, you'll always get a good comparison too, but both would be artificial comparisons.

As I understand it, Bristol is 2nd or 3rd most expensive to London on most price comparisons, and worse in terms of public transport. But I think somewhere like Oxford is pretty pricey too.

Anyway, I'm thinking of moving out of Bristol. The place is built on a vast ditch, and with the Broadmead expansion air quality is going to become unbearable in the centre. I don't live in the ditch but I do live just off the A38, which is one of the most polluted roads in Europe.

If you aren't especially sensitive to traffic fumes, then you'll probably be ok, but I'm getting out to somewhere fresher. Bristol stinks of sulphur, rotten onions and wee, but don't let me put you off.


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## Yetman (Sep 20, 2006)

:d


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## Yetman (Sep 20, 2006)

Aye, there is the traffic. Thats bad. But that could be easily solved if they just brought the diabolical bus prices down 

That is such an obvious yet totally overlooked fact it is despairable.

The fumes are getting worse in the centre and I can imagine the pollution must be pretty bad. But I live in the countryside on the coast of bristol so I'm fine - glouc rd and the like I can imagine being pretty bad 

In fact it is terrible - I drive to work because I cant afford the bus fares, it'd cost me over £30 a week to get to work if I got the bus, its too far to ride in so I've got little choice, yet I hate the amount of carbon we are continuing to pump into the air, Bristol Public transport - its a fucking joke.


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## munkeeunit (Sep 20, 2006)

This is the 2004 cost of living index as a % of the National Average.
http://www.unison.org.uk/acrobat/B693.pdf#search="uk cost of living comparisons regional ranking"

South West is 3rd most expensive, and I imagine Bristol will be a more expensive area within that average.

Bristol does have it's myriad charms, but cost of living ain't one of them.

1.) London : 109.7
2.) South East : 105.3
3.) South West : 101.3
4.) East : 101.1
5.) West Midlands : 97.8
6.) East Midlands : 97.4
7.) North West : 96.9
8.) N. Ireland : 95.8
9.) Scotland : 94.5
10.) Yorkshire : 94.2
11.) North East : 94.2
12.) Wales : 93.1

Luckily for me I'm thinking of moving to Wales


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## bouncer_the_dog (Sep 21, 2006)

Bah... it still seemed cheaper on the rent front. maybe I should just leave the country!


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## FruitandNut (Sep 21, 2006)

xenon_2 said:
			
		

> Rent where I live for a single bedroom flat, just south of city centre. Southvile / Bedminster area.  Aproximately 470 - 550 a month. Give or take. Don't know about the north side. I'm lead to believe they're a bit funny up there.



Ref: Bouncer - I lived in Bristle for 25 yrs and had houses south of the river 'Marmalade' Street, Stackpool Rd and Paddock Gardens AND north of the Avon in Falmouth Road and Fishponds Road.    I still have friends and relatives there, and have always thought the place to be amongst the better of the larger cities.

I would suggest you get an inkling as to where your employment may be, since the correct choice of area to live in could then save you many hours of travel time, and expense.


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## bouncer_the_dog (Sep 21, 2006)

Yes. Still a %4 reduction in cost of living is significant!


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## munkeeunit (Sep 21, 2006)

bouncer_the_dog said:
			
		

> Yes. Still a %4 reduction in cost of living is significant!



That's like a one off pay increase  

but bear in mind Bristol is probably the most expensive area in the South West, so that gain would probably be wiped out, but if you're back at square one in terms of cost and living, and want to move to Bristol anyway, for other reasons, then you've still gained, just in less tangible ways  

I'm still getting out though, but then I have been here all my life.


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## Yetman (Sep 21, 2006)

Dunno about that - London is much more expensive than Bristol mate. Bath is probably the SW area that bumps up the %age, thats the 2nd most expensive city in the UK.


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## bouncer_the_dog (Sep 21, 2006)

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/action/publicsite.PropertySearch

The thing is for £700pcm there seems to be a large amount of 1-3 bed places to rent. While the equivilent here in oxford would get you a shoebox, ad even then they are rare as ..er.. rare stuff.


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## Gerry1time (Sep 21, 2006)

bouncer_the_dog said:
			
		

> I am a poncy freelance web designer/illustrator type. I would give it a go just for the change of scene , I just have to convince the missuz its a good idea!



If you know Plone, please do move here, we need Plone developers! 

Seriously, i work around the fringes of the 'poncy silicon gorge' bristol scene, and it pretty much seems like once you're in the scene, and if you're half decent, freelancing isn't a risky way to live your life at all. 

Always feel odd when people say it's scary to move to bristol, it's all so friendly and cool here.


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## bouncer_the_dog (Sep 22, 2006)

I just found an awsome CHEAP flat in Oxford so the timescale for any move to Bristol has gotten furtehr away. Maybe Ill get down there and see what its like fisrt! (still thinking of that %4). 

A lot of this is becuase my friend moved there and during the summer rang me. He was pissed on cider in a field listening to the Worzels do a trance version of combine harvester.


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## munkeeunit (Sep 22, 2006)

bouncer_the_dog said:
			
		

> A lot of this is becuase my friend moved there and during the summer rang me. He was pissed on cider in a field listening to the Worzels do a trance version of combine harvester.



One of the myriad charms of the South West, but you won't find many fields in Bristol, it is a city   but there's plenty of sizeable parks where you can pretend you're in the countryside, and fields in the surrounding areas, and the hum of the nearby traffic can be filtered out with music.


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## JamesWales (Sep 22, 2006)

Bristol always seems expensive to me, living in Cardiff. I know I'd have to either move far farther out of town, or drop several notches in standard of housing to get somewhere in bristol for what I get in cardiff.

Bristol is a decent place though, got a few mates there. Certainly lots to do, although no more than any large city really. My big beef with it, that permeates through much of Bristol's culture is that there seems to be a huge gap between rich and poor, resulting in obnoxious posh people and lots of people that are really struggling, and aren't particularly nice shall we say. I guess Vicky Pollard has a Bristolian accent for a reason?? Anyway, I read it has the most number of private schools per capita in UK, and the second worst state school record, which says it all. Like, everyone said, decent enough place though.


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## wiskey (Sep 22, 2006)

i dunno. i dotn think you can compare house prices in london and bristol cos london is huge. people regards any place within the m25 as london when they blatantly arent. in central london you are paying an absolute fortune comapred to bristol. 

in my experience (and i've looked at lots of houses/flats recently) i can get a two bedroom place in bristol for the same as a small 1 bed place in brixton. yes it depends where you live but i dont much care. currently favouring st george.


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## Hollis (Sep 22, 2006)

imho the main reason to move to Bristol is to get the accent.  Probably the best in the country.  Other than that I can't think of much.


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## bristol_citizen (Sep 22, 2006)

JamesWales said:
			
		

> Bristol always seems expensive to me, living in Cardiff. I know I'd have to either move far farther out of town, or drop several notches in standard of housing to get somewhere in bristol for what I get in cardiff.
> 
> Bristol is a decent place though, got a few mates there. Certainly lots to do, although no more than any large city really. My big beef with it, that permeates through much of Bristol's culture is that there seems to be a huge gap between rich and poor, resulting in obnoxious posh people and lots of people that are really struggling, and aren't particularly nice shall we say. I guess Vicky Pollard has a Bristolian accent for a reason?? Anyway, I read it has the most number of private schools per capita in UK, and the second worst state school record, which says it all. Like, everyone said, decent enough place though.


Absolutely correct. There's a minority of rich, posh graduate types here who think making a fortune by sitting in front of a computer all day makes them part of some new and largely imaginary media/creative industry here.
In reality the media here consists of one hugely embarrassing provincial newspaper, a listings magazine for the yoof run by middle-aged men, BBC Radio Bristol (target audience Sid and Doris Bonkers aged 70 of Chipping Sodbury), GWR Radio and regional TV courtesy of ITV West - currently being starved of all finance - and the BBC. Exciting? interesting? cutting edge? It is not.
The only things of any interest creatively in the city are Massive Attack (last decent record released in 1989), Aardman (if amusing plasticine models are your bag) and the fact that Banksy once lived here. (Although he had to move to London to get noticed as the middle-aged, middle class opinion formers in these parts hated him until London told them he was good).
In reality the major industries here for working people are call centres and retail paying around £6.00 an hour and affording them the opportunity to live in small, overcrowded, sub-standard and overpriced city centre rented accommodation or - if they can blag it - one of the few remaining council houses still available on one of the depressing peripheral estates.
Bristol is basically run - and has been now for over 200 years - by a wealthy, conservative, business elite who tend to arrange things in their own interests and seem to get away with it.
Great fun if you like that type of thing.


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## Tank Girl (Sep 23, 2006)

wiskey said:
			
		

> wehay i've started a trend



you have, on the same day that I lose you to bristol, one of my favourite work colleagues is going there too.


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## FruitandNut (Sep 23, 2006)

bouncer_the_dog said:
			
		

> A lot of this is becuase my friend moved there and during the summer rang me. He was pissed on cider in a field listening to the Worzels do a trance version of combine harvester.



A lot longer ago than I care to admit, I got pissed on scrumpy in a summery hay meadow near Blagdon (with my then girlfriend) - after sobering up a bit we trekked back to Bristol.   No Adge or the Wurzels, but there were plenty of bees and flies buzzing about, and birdies twittering.


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## Yetman (Sep 25, 2006)

I met one of the Wurzels the other day


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## Cakes (Sep 25, 2006)

Come to Bristol Bouncer! It's great!

Come quickly, there's a Wurzels tribute band at the Cat on the 27th!


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## Relahni (Sep 25, 2006)

Tank Girl said:
			
		

> you have, on the same day that I lose you to bristol, one of my favourite work colleagues is going there too.



I'm applying for a job in Bristol and Solihull.

London schools are shite.  London prices are shite.  London in parts is shite.


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## Tank Girl (Sep 25, 2006)

brilliant, I seem to drive my friends out of london 

tbh, if I had a clue about what jobs me and him could get outside of london, I'd be joining the exodus.

when the school on the road that you live on gets closed early because of a threat of a drive by shooting it does make you wonder what kind of a fucked up place you live in.


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## bouncer_the_dog (Sep 27, 2006)

Cakes said:
			
		

> Come to Bristol Bouncer! It's great!
> 
> Come quickly, there's a Wurzels tribute band at the Cat on the 27th!



Aww.. I'm gonna miss it  

Ill send my mate along


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