# Durham?



## scalyboy (Sep 21, 2008)

Anyone live in or around Durham? What's it like as a place to live/work? Is it easy to commute in to the city centre from places like Gilesgate Moor, Framwellgate Moor, Brandon, Pity Me?

Ta for any advice.


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## Mrs Magpie (Sep 21, 2008)

I love Durham. Buses seem OK, but I just go to see my Mum who lives in an outlying village. The centre is closed to cars, but has little buses (which are free I think...but I walked) that go around the centre.


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## scalyboy (Sep 23, 2008)

Thanks Mrs M. I visited there a few weeks ago and thought, what a great place to live it would be. Couldn't afford to live in the actual centre, but maybe in one of the outlying districts - although I didn't get the chance to look  - what's the countryside like round there? Flat moors, rolling hills?


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## Roadkill (Sep 23, 2008)

I lived on Gilesgate Moor when I was a student in Durham, ten years ago.  It's a nice enough place to live, although tbh I do remember it as just a big housing estate and you had to walk to Gilesgate to find anything resembling a decent shop or pub.  There was a bus from town every quarter-hour or thereabouts, though, so it was reasonably well connected.  

The city itself is very small.  Most of the centre is very historic and attractive, and when I last visited a couple of years ago I noticed that North Road and some of the other areas that used to be a bit shabby have been tidied up.  The university does dominate the city a bit, and it's noticeably quieter outside term-time. The large number of students, many of them pretty affluent, does make Durham a comparatively expensive place as well.

I've got very happy memories of being a student there.  What'd it'd be like to live in now I don't know, but I'd certainly consider moving there if the chance arose.


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## zoltan (Sep 23, 2008)

As above - I did PG stuff @ Durham

City centre is a bit expensive & many centre local houses have been bought up by wealthy students parents for Junior to live in. Ho Hum

The buses are OK and the train o newcastle is only 15 mins or so - but they decied to place the station next to the railway line rather than the town centre, so it can be a bit of a trek.

Countryside ? Lovely - south is Teesdale , upstream is weardale & north its tynedale & beyond - its rolling around Durham itslef, but soon rises to crags & forboding windswept moors. Down the coast there is North Yorkshire and some fantastic scenry & Geology, and the Northumbrian coastline i Englerlands hidden gem. The pennines & moors that form the backdrop to Durham are beatiful for trekking and exploring

Durham still gets that eclectic mix of toffs & local charvers on a weekend, whereas Newcastle is in your face piss artistry at the weekend

If you can find decent work, its a nice environment to live in 

*looks out of window to windswept, garbage speckled  SE15*


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## Roadkill (Sep 23, 2008)

zoltan69 said:


> City centre is a bit expensive & many centre local houses have been bought up by wealthy students parents for Junior to live in. Ho Hum



Read: don't even think about looking for a house under the viaduct!


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## Mrs Magpie (Sep 23, 2008)

In the outlying villages, it's a lot cheaper to rent. My Mum lives in a pit village. The mines closed a long time ago. Loads of places to rent and apparently a fair few of empty local authority places in her village in good condition.


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## Citizen66 (Sep 23, 2008)

You should specify Durham City as it's also a county.


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## upsidedownwalrus (Sep 24, 2008)

zoltan said:


> the Northumbrian coastline i Englerlands hidden gem.



I quite agree.  I've only been to Whitley Bay so far, but even that, by the standards of UK beaches, is top.  If it was hot and had a few palm trees, I'd go as far as to say it would be a world class beach.


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## scalyboy (Sep 24, 2008)

Thanks for the useful replies so far...all positive, and confirms my impression of the place. I think I'm going to start looking for a job in Durham (the city)!

Can anyone suggest some outlying villages where it would be good to live? (and maybe also if there are some to avoid??) Places outside Durham City seem to be the way to go for me - affordable, plus hopefully close to some luvvly scenery.

Ta again.


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## Citizen66 (Sep 25, 2008)

scalyboy said:


> Pity Me?



Haha  Totally forgot about that place. Worked there for a bit and that pretty much summed up how I felt whilst working there, too!

I don't really know Durham (the city!) well enough to suggest somewhere round that neck of the woods to live, sorry.


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## scalyboy (Sep 25, 2008)

*Pity Me!*



Citizen66 said:


> Haha  Totally forgot about that place. Worked there for a bit and that pretty much summed up how I felt whilst working there, too!



Yeah, to be honest I rather like the idea of moving there, just so I could tell people my new address! Christ knows how it became the name of an area - maybe a pub? I often think non-UK or non-London people hearing about _World's End _in Chelsea must think, f--ing hell I'm not going there

Seriously though, what didn't you like about Pity Me? Was it dull with nothing to do? Cos I reckon that wouldn't necessarily bother me too much:
a) I'm fast becoming a dull do-nothing kind of feller anyway , just staying in and reading
and
b) if I wanted a night out could always head into Durham City or Newcastle...

What I'd be more concerned about would be urban blight, crime, poverty, hopelessness, depression - I feel I've done/seen all that on the council estates of Stockwell, and don't want a re-run!


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## Citizen66 (Sep 26, 2008)

*Pity me.*

It was the job itself I didn't like. I travelled there daily so can't remember too much about the area but it looked clean and pleasant enough iirc. This was about 15 years ago though.

I was an apprentice at the time and whenever one of us got told we were going to pity me (it was bad news as it wasn't local to the company headquarters in Middlesbrough) all the other guys would rip the piss saying "Don't worry, we won't!"


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## Refused as fuck (Sep 26, 2008)

Forget Durham move to Newcastle.


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## Citizen66 (Sep 26, 2008)

Too many geordies.


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## mrkikiet (Sep 27, 2008)

there is some serious student - local aggro, or at least there used to be.


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## Roadkill (Sep 28, 2008)

mrkikiet said:


> there is some serious student - local aggro, or at least there used to be.



IME that is hugely exaggerated.  It never affected anyone I knew.

There were a couple of pubs where the louder, more overtly ex-public-school students wouldn't have been very welcome, but no more than that.


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## mrkikiet (Sep 28, 2008)

Roadkill said:


> IME that is hugely exaggerated.  It never affected anyone I knew.


One of my brothers friends was killed there because he was wearing a uni scarf.


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## Roadkill (Sep 28, 2008)

mrkikiet said:


> One of my brothers friends was killed there because he was wearing a uni scarf.



How long ago?  

Seriously, I never saw any aggro directed at students, or felt that there was likely to be any with the exception of the time I watched a group of 'rahs' go stumbling into the Fighting Cocks, and that didn't lead to any trouble.


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## Maidmarian (Sep 29, 2008)

Pity Me supposedly got it's name from some monk who was carrying the coffin of the venerable Bede (IIRC) & just about nackered himself going up the hill --- he needed a rest & called out "Pity me"! to get the other pall-bearers to give him a break.

To the South side of the City is quite cheap for housing , but don't go to the nearest villages (Bowburn & Coxhoe) as they're pretty dead & quite rough.
As Mrs M says , lots of ex-colliery houses around & transport links are quite good ---- Fishburn, Trimdon etc(Sedgefield is good , but comparatively pricey).


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## mrkikiet (Sep 29, 2008)

Roadkill said:


> How long ago?
> .



this would be about 5 years ago, so things may have improved since then.


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## Roadkill (Sep 29, 2008)

Do you have any links to news items and suchlike?  I'm curious about what exactly happened - and why.

<e2a> I don't want to be rude, but I've just googled various combinations of Durham, student, scarf, murder etc and come up with nothing except some stories from 2004 about a murder in Darlington of a local kid who happened to be a student at Luton Uni.


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## mrkikiet (Sep 29, 2008)

i will email my brother and pm you.


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## bi0boy (Jul 12, 2009)

I'm moving to Durham very soon but have never been there 

Can anyone suggest some nice villages tec to live, especially yo the south and west?

How about Ushaw Moor, Bearpark, Brandon, Langley Park, Esh Winning etc...

Basically anywhere reasonable I can move into without being pelted with bricks when I cycle down the street. Are there any seriously dodgy place to avoid?


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## Refused as fuck (Jul 13, 2009)

Best avoid all of it and move to Newcastle; where everybody knows your name... and they're always glad you came.


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## northeastoipunk (Jul 13, 2009)

durham city is very beautiful , and all the places you mentioned are easily reached by bus services , i lived in ushaw moor for some years which like most durham pit villages is rough as hell , you will never really be accepted if your not born there , but having said that i enjoyed living there and still love durham city , had a great time there at weekend with trev hagl and his son , at the miners gala


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## northeastoipunk (Jul 13, 2009)

Maidmarian said:


> Pity Me supposedly got it's name from some monk who was carrying the coffin of the venerable Bede (IIRC) & just about nackered himself going up the hill --- he needed a rest & called out "Pity me"! to get the other pall-bearers to give him a break.
> 
> To the South side of the City is quite cheap for housing , but don't go to the nearest villages (Bowburn & Coxhoe) as they're pretty dead & quite rough.
> As Mrs M says , lots of ex-colliery houses around & transport links are quite good ---- Fishburn, Trimdon etc(Sedgefield is good , but comparatively pricey).



pity me gets its name from petite mere , meaning a small lake , the french is linked to the french priests at ushaw college , theres lots of strange names in the area like bear park , which was originally beaurepaire which meant beautiful retreat , cos it was the bishop of durhams country retreat


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## Maidmarian (Jul 13, 2009)

northeastoipunk said:


> pity me gets its name from petite mere , meaning a small lake , the french is linked to the french priests at ushaw college , theres lots of strange names in the area like bear park , which was originally beaurepaire which meant beautiful retreat , cos it was the bishop of durhams country retreat



But Pity Me has been there longer than Ushaw College -- (my brother went there in the 60s)

Ushaw College moved to Co Durham in 1880.http://www.northeastengland.talktalk.net/Place Name Meanings P to S.htm


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## northeastoipunk (Jul 14, 2009)

i just looked it up on wiki and it says on there its pithead mere meaning boggy land around a colliery so i could stand corrected about the french priests , but that was what i used to get told as a kid


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## Maidmarian (Jul 15, 2009)

northeastoipunk said:


> i just looked it up on wiki and it says on there its pithead mere meaning boggy land around a colliery so i could stand corrected about the french priests , but that was what i used to get told as a kid



I was told the one about the monk !


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