# should i move to rochester?



## fuzzy felt (Apr 7, 2010)

due to circumstances i won't bore you with, i am considering moving to rochester but i don't really know anything about the place and was wondering if i should go for it or not touch with a barge pole!

if it's really hideous, can anyone suggest somewhere nice and affordable (i know, i know!) to rent in Kent?

opinions/tips/advice please?! 

cheers!


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## Murdoch (Apr 7, 2010)

Depends where in Rochester.

Some parts are OK - some are hideous.

The high street is full of hairdressers and antique/bric a tat shops.

Lots of pubs there and it's the home of Dickens - got a cathedral and a castle too.

I lived and went to school there so know it quite well.

It's got decent enough train links to London and motorways.

It is near Chatham though.


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## fuzzy felt (Apr 7, 2010)

any tips on which residential areas are nice and which i should avoid?


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## tommers (Apr 7, 2010)

I went to school there too.

It's the nicest Medway town.  There isn't much competition.


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## spanglechick (Apr 7, 2010)

i wouldn't touch the medways with a 600ft bargepole. seriously.  

are you planning to commute into town?


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## 100% masahiko (Apr 7, 2010)

You have that Dickens festival there...like the rest of London/surrounding counties it has pockets of shit mixed with good.

but medways is pretty minging...


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## fuzzy felt (Apr 7, 2010)

ah, it's all a bit depressing really. me and my fella want to start a family but we're still renting (despite both of us pushing 40) and there's just no way we can afford to buy in or around london.

ideally we'd move back up north, but my job (media fucking schmedia) is totally london based so i've got to be able to commute. 

we're trying to find somewhere we can afford to rent a house rather than a flat (i've been without a garden or a cat/dog for 15 years now and it's depressing me!!) so we're trying to find somewhere not too hellish that's affordable.

i'm not a snob. i'm from the fucking midlands for gods sake, so i don't mind living in a working class town, i grew up in one. i just don't want to live somewhere violent/dangerous. that's my big worry!

what i actually need to do is find an alternative career and move far, far away from london. either that or win the lottery!!

ooh, i should just say that ideally i want to find somewhere i can eventually afford to buy after renting for a bit longer. at this rate, that'll be fucking mars then!!


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## behemoth (Apr 9, 2010)

Rochester is the best of the Medway towns, which may not be saying much, but not as bad as some make out.  Delce Road is a bit run down, but with lots of cheap terraced houses leading off it.  A bit further out you get a lot of relatively affordable post war family homes.  The High Street is a bit twee, but nice to walk around, without the usual chain stores.  It does become a war zone at weekend nights, and the Casino Rooms regularly feature on Street Wars.  There are loads of trains to London.  Nearby Chatham is not so much working class as post working class since the dockyard closed in the 80s; every time I visit the Pentagon Centre there seems to be a fight or police activity.  Have you considered Maidstone?  Rubbish rail links, but not too bad to live.


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## lizzieloo (Apr 9, 2010)

I know lots of sound people in Rochester


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## Yelkcub (Apr 9, 2010)

I'd avoid Medway like the plague tbh. There's good and bad everywhere, but IME, a damn lot more of the latter there.


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## lizzieloo (Apr 9, 2010)

Yelkcub said:


> I'd avoid Medway like the plague tbh. There's good and bad everywhere, but IME, a damn lot more of the latter there.



I'd agree for a lot of Medway, Chatham for example is a shithole but Rochester is like a bit of not Medway dropped into Medway.


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## Yelkcub (Apr 9, 2010)

lizzieloo said:


> I'd agree for a lot of Medway, Chatham for example is a shithole but Rochester is like a bit of not Medway dropped into Medway.



Willing to accept your knowledge over mine. Every bugger I ever employed from Chatham was a thieving git, but that might have been peculiar to there and my industry.


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## lizzieloo (Apr 9, 2010)

Yelkcub said:


> Willing to accept your knowledge over mine. Every bugger I ever employed from Chatham was a thieving git, but that might have been peculiar to there and my industry.



the term chav originated in Chatham, it's a proper dive.


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## Citizen66 (Apr 9, 2010)

lizzieloo said:


> the term chav originated in Chatham, it's a proper dive.



Are you sure? It's a very old word that has evolved in meaning.

Edit: it would appear you're right. God knows where I picked that up from then.


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## Doppelgänger (Apr 9, 2010)

Steer clear. They say that Kent is the Garden of England, but Medway is the compost heap.

Train services from Rochester in the mornings are pretty rubbish too, you need to go from Chatham ideally if you are heading for Cannon Street or Victoria if you don't want a one hour (or more) train journey, unless you are lucky and work near St. pancras, in which case you can get the new over priced train there in like 40 mins.

I was tempted to move there too as it is cheap (compared to London), but you will find that you will be stuck there as I know lots of people lured into moving and then regretted it as getting out was really tough.


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## lizzieloo (Apr 9, 2010)

*chavi*



Citizen66 said:


> Are you sure? It's a very old word that has evolved in meaning.
> 
> Edit: it would appear you're right. God knows where I picked that up from then.



The actual word might come from the Romani for child, chavi. There are a lot of travellers in Kent.


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## Citizen66 (Apr 9, 2010)

lizzieloo said:


> The actual word might come from the Romani for child, chavi. There are a lot of travellers in Kent.



I thought it was a Ye olde English word, could have sworn I read it on here and my memory is telling me it was pickmans model saying it... perhaps I dreamt it.


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## tommers (Apr 9, 2010)

fuzzy felt said:


> ah, it's all a bit depressing really. me and my fella want to start a family but we're still renting (despite both of us pushing 40) and there's just no way we can afford to buy in or around london.
> 
> ideally we'd move back up north, but my job (media fucking schmedia) is totally london based so i've got to be able to commute.
> 
> ...



Rochester is only dangerous on a Friday or Saturday night round the high street.

it's a nice enough town - the high street is alright, river nearby, lots of historic stuff to look at.

The train ticket is expensive though, and it takes an hour - unless you get the fast to chatham and get off there.

it ain't strood!


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## lizzieloo (Apr 9, 2010)

tommers said:


> Rochester is only dangerous on a Friday or Saturday night round the high street.
> 
> it's a nice enough town - the high street is alright, river nearby, lots of historic stuff to look at.
> 
> ...



Strood *SHUDDER*

I wonder how many people saying Rochester is shit actually know Rochester. I'm getting the impression folk are just thinking ooooo Medway Towns, nooooooooo


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## AverageJoe (Apr 9, 2010)

If you need to commute then what about Tonbridge or Tunbridge Wells. 40 mins into CHX


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## behemoth (Apr 9, 2010)

lizzieloo said:


> Strood *SHUDDER*
> 
> I wonder how many people saying Rochester is shit actually know Rochester. I'm getting the impression folk are just thinking ooooo Medway Towns, nooooooooo


Exactly.  I work with loads of people from Strood, Gillingham, and Chatham.  Nothing wrong with them whatsoever, and not a single chav.  The area has suffered from post industrial decline, but is hardly unique in that.  Might as well suck air through your teeth and say, oooooh Yorkshire, what a dump, and full of northerners; horrible smelly ex-miners.  Still think Maidstone could be a viable alternative for anyone too snobby for Medway.  Just watch out for Mangravet, Tovil, Park Wood, and Ringlestone.


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## tommers (Apr 9, 2010)

I'm guessing that's a different ringlestone to the one out in the country?

http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/45/4570/Ringlestone_Inn/Ringlestone


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## fractionMan (Apr 9, 2010)

I've never been to rochester and I know nothing about it.  The name sounds shit though, so it's a No from me.

HTH


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## IMR (Apr 9, 2010)

Been there a few times, looks alright to me. Wouldn't want to live there though. Gravesend looks more fun, a pub on every corner.


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## trashpony (Apr 9, 2010)

AverageJoe said:


> If you need to commute then what about Tonbridge or Tunbridge Wells. 40 mins into CHX



Not at all cheap though. How about Thanet? It's an hour and 20 mins into St P from Margate


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## spanglechick (Apr 9, 2010)

lizzieloo said:


> Strood *SHUDDER*
> 
> I wonder how many people saying Rochester is shit actually know Rochester. I'm getting the impression folk are just thinking ooooo Medway Towns, nooooooooo



i used to run the cinema on the leisure park under the bridge in the strood/rochester hinterlands.  I've also done supply in a few schools in the area, all of wheich were a bit hair-raising.  

thing is, rochester itself might be quite pretty and calm and olde worldy (except on weekend nights when i gets a bit sinister, ime) but you'll end up going into chatham / gillingham for other stuff quite a lot.


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## Maggot (Apr 9, 2010)

trashpony said:


> Not at all cheap though. How about Thanet? It's an hour and 20 mins into St P from Margate


Or you can drive to Ebbsfleet from Rochester where a journey to St Pancras takes only  17 mins.


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## cesare (Apr 9, 2010)

tommers said:


> I'm guessing that's a different ringlestone to the one out in the country?
> 
> http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/45/4570/Ringlestone_Inn/Ringlestone



That pub used to be owned by sisters who were witches ... according to local legend.


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## cesare (Apr 9, 2010)

I lived in Strood, and then Chatham for approx 9 years. Like anywhere else, it's got good parts and not so good parts.


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## Murdoch (Apr 12, 2010)

Lots of big houses and nice areas off City Way but would tend to avoid the Warren Wood area near the Thomas Avelyn school.

Rochester Maidstone Road has lots of roads leading off it that are OK but parking in them can be an arse.


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## diadema3 (Dec 31, 2015)

Hello, 

I might be a little bit late, but I would like to know whether Rochester is still considered a not very nice area?...
I am currently working in the City (I moved from Italy 4 years ago), but I am really fed up of renting such a small studio flat in London... I am thinking of moving to Rochester as I could also take a bus which stops 10 minutes from where I work and houses are cheap ( I really would like to buy my first house).
I have seen some pics of the town and it looks lovely! *-*
If you could give me some advises, I would be grateful! Many thanks and happy new year!


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## davesgcr (Jan 1, 2016)

Now has a brand new station - very handy for the older part of the City. Excellent links - including HS services to St Pancras. More housing development planned for the dockside area.


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## hash tag (Jan 5, 2016)

As already mentioned, I think I would go for Tonbridge over Rochester. Similar distance's Etc. A town that feels like it's on the up but a damn site more affordable than nearby Tunbridge Wells.
As for Rochester being a bit hairy on a Friday or Saturday night; thats something you could say about many towns up and down the country to be fair.


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