# Brimingham Area Accommodation Advice Sought



## Herpes (Sep 22, 2007)

Hello ladies and gents, I could do with some advice.

I will be starting a new job in central Birmingham, and my girlfriend and I are looking to find accommodation (ideally a flat), in or around the City.

I don't know much about the area so any information is greatly appreciated. Ideally, we'd like somewhere that's fairly safe and vibrant with good public transprt links. Areas suggested to me by various people so far have been Moseley, Harborne, Edgbaston and Kings Norton. 

We don't really want to spend more than 400pcm. Is that a realistic budget?

Any tips/pointers r.e the area are most welcome..

Thanks for reading.


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## Ravzila (Sep 22, 2007)

400pcm is not that realistic for a 1bed flat, they go for around 550pcm - Look around the back of Snowhill Station.  You might be able to find something for that but it'll probably be a bit shit.

Nice flats in the new developments are around 650pcm.  If you really want to stick to 400pcm then look at student accomodation (google "studios51 or studios 51")

If you live in the burbs it gets much cheaper and its pretty easy [15-20 mins max] to get into the center using the Centro ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmingham_Cross-City_Line ) from Erdington, Selly Oak, Bourneville, Gravelly Hill or even Sutton.

Places you don't want to live are Aston, Perry Barr, Nechells, Lozells and probably quite a few more but I can't remember right now.


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## Herbsman. (Sep 22, 2007)

Bearwood's not too expensive and is an aright area. No train station though

400 quid won't get you much more than a very small 1 bedroom flat... ours was £420 and had a ridiculously small kitchen and bathroom. living room was tiny too


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## Herpes (Sep 22, 2007)

Thanks for getting back to me. 400 was a guestimate really. I assumed it would be significantly cheaper than London, but I guess not. Thanks for pointing out areas to avoid, makes my job a lot easier.

Will look at the places you suggested.

Cheers.


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## Herbsman. (Sep 22, 2007)

Oh it's much cheaper than London. My girlfriend's friend rents a small 1-bed flat in Stratford, the living room is the same room as the kitchen so there are three rooms in total. This costs her and her boyfriend £800 a month. You'd get the same in Brum for about £450.

We rent a fairly large two bedroom house with three rooms downstairs and three up, this costs us just over £500. I guess it would cost double that in London


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## Ravzila (Sep 22, 2007)

Yeah have to agree, it is significantly cheaper than London.  I pay 850 for a room in a house share in Kensington.  You'd get a 3 bed house for that in Birmingham


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## Herpes (Sep 22, 2007)

Stratford is high because it's prime commuter territory.

A 2 (1 average & one box room) bedroom flat in SW19 costs £650, I figured I get something smaller for a fair bit less.

Kensington is a whole new price range though.

Where do you rent Herb?


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## beesonthewhatnow (Sep 23, 2007)

Erdington.

You're on the cross city line (10 mins to city centre) and on the 11 outer circle bus route, so you can get pretty much anywhere in the city using public transport.  It's quite cheap compared to some places (you'll get a 2 bed house for around £500 a month if you hunt around a bit, and a one bed flat for less than that) and the area is nice and safe - walking around at night is no big deal.  It has a cheapo weatherspoons on the high st for when you want to get pissed without breaking the bank, and as I said the city centre with all its distractions is only 10 mins away.

I love it here


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## beesonthewhatnow (Sep 23, 2007)

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-13153435.rsp?pa_n=1&tr_t=rent

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-7070502.rsp?pa_n=1&tr_t=rent


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## Herbsman. (Sep 23, 2007)

bees, whats erdington like for food? are there many indian/pakistani supermarkets there? i was thinking of moving there from bearwood if it's cheaper, but where we are is near a load of asian supermarkets in cape hill - cant go without them!


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## beesonthewhatnow (Sep 23, 2007)

Herbsman. said:
			
		

> bees, whats erdington like for food? are there many indian/pakistani supermarkets there? i was thinking of moving there from bearwood if it's cheaper, but where we are is near a load of asian supermarkets in cape hill - cant go without them!


Not many dedicated ones (certainly not like bearwood) but we do have the massive Wing Yip down the road for chinese stuff.  There are also quite a few polish food shops opening up round here.


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## miss direct (Sep 23, 2007)

you could easily get a whole house for about £500 a month. flats cost more, although i know someone who rented in erdington for £350, lovely place.


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## Herbsman. (Sep 23, 2007)

flats cost more than a house?


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## BigTom (Sep 24, 2007)

yeah, flats cost more - in moseley a one bed falt will be about £500/month, I'd guess the same for the city centre flats in the jewellry quarter or digbeth.  in balsall heath, erdington, bearwood etc you'd get a 2/3 bed house for the same or less.  we had a 4 bedroom + 3 reception room house just inside moseley for £900/month (although they were asking for £1200 when we left 3 years ago)
partly flats are more expensive because there aren't (m)any flats in cheaper areas.

i'd recommend the cannon hill area of balsall heath, it's much like erdington - buses every few minutes into town, moseley village a couple of minutes walk with shops/pubs..  this is the b12 area that is encolsed by pershore road, edward road, cromer road/edgabston road and the road with the cricket ground.
if you really want a city centre flat, then I would guess that the flats in digbeth are cheaper than those in the jewellery quarter but that's just a guess.
if you do go and live in digbeth please don't complain about the pubs and vibrant nightlife of the area keeping you awake.  the spotted dog has lost it's entertainments licence after 24 years becuase the 6 month old flats next door complained about the noise.


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## Belushi (Sep 24, 2007)

beesonthewhatnow said:
			
		

> Erdington.
> 
> You're on the cross city line (10 mins to city centre) and on the 11 outer circle bus route, so you can get pretty much anywhere in the city using public transport.  It's quite cheap compared to some places (you'll get a 2 bed house for around £500 a month if you hunt around a bit, and a one bed flat for less than that) and the area is nice and safe - walking around at night is no big deal.  It has a cheapo weatherspoons on the high st for when you want to get pissed without breaking the bank, and as I said the city centre with all its distractions is only 10 mins away.
> 
> I love it here



I loved Erdington when I lived there for a year (25 years ago now )


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## aqua (Sep 24, 2007)

Herbsman. said:
			
		

> bees, whats erdington like for food? are there many indian/pakistani supermarkets there? i was thinking of moving there from bearwood if it's cheaper, but where we are is near a load of asian supermarkets in cape hill - cant go without them!


shit actually
as bees says there are a couple of newly opened polish food shops but not been in yet, the wing yip is at star city not in erdington


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## aqua (Sep 24, 2007)

miss direct said:
			
		

> you could easily get a whole house for about £500 a month. flats cost more, although i know someone who rented in erdington for £350, lovely place.


how long ago? you're looking at between £5-600 a month for a 2 bed house atm


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## Spion (Sep 24, 2007)

Belushi said:
			
		

> I loved Erdington when I lived there for a year (25 years ago now )


I lived in Hall Green, Moseley, Balsall Heath, Bearwood and Handsworth. Erdington always appeared a bit grey and hostile, but then areas one doesn't live in often do


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## beesonthewhatnow (Sep 24, 2007)

Spion said:
			
		

> I lived in Hall Green, Moseley, Balsall Heath, Bearwood and Handsworth. Erdington always appeared a bit grey and hostile, but then areas one doesn't live in often do


I've lived in both Bearwood and Erdington, and Erdinton is waaaay nicer IMHO.


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## Herbsman. (Sep 24, 2007)

beesonthewhatnow said:
			
		

> I've lived in both Bearwood and Erdington, and Erdinton is waaaay nicer IMHO.


Bah! Bearwood is nicer! Erdington is 'orrible!


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## Zorra (Oct 10, 2007)

Herpes said:
			
		

> Areas suggested to me by various people so far have been Moseley, Harborne, Edgbaston and *Kings Norton*.



Someone has been pulling your leg my friend    You don't wanna live there!  You might mean Kings Heath, which is ok...


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## miss direct (Oct 13, 2007)

I've lived all over Birmingham, this is what I think: 

Harborne: nice, closeish to town, good selection of bars/restaurants, parks. Expensive though. 

Kings Heath. Ok, a bit far from town though depending what end you're at. High Street has all the basic shops so you don't need to go to town to get things all the time. 

Sparkhill: Horrible. But you can rent a whole house quite cheaply. 

Perry Barr: Horrible, although there are a few pockets that are ok

Handsworth/Handsworth Wood (I lived on the border): Depends on the road and exact area. Not a bad place to live but you have to be careful and there's kerb crawlers at night if you're a woman on your own. Well there was when I lived there. 

Bromford: Horrible. 

Aston/Witton: Mostly horrible, but cheap to rent, and close to town so you can walk there (kind of). 

Edgbaston: Depends exactly what part. There's a lot of places to rent on the roads that come off the Hagley Road. 

Bearwood: Quite a good place to rent. Lots of shops, close to town, a few bars etc.


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