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If You Could Live Anywhere in England, Where Would it Be?

maqroll

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TheAuthority Grand Master

TheAuthority

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4 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said:

I can’t speak for Stourbridge or other West Midlands towns but I feel Worcester still has a fair bit going for it. I’d rather live in Worcester than London! 

I always like Worcester (it felt bigger than Stourbridge) and my sister had worked there for a couple of years so I'd often take the train down to meet her on Saturdays. 

Do you think it has a rich variety of shops and restaurants?

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Delphinho123 Grand Master

Delphinho123

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6 minutes ago, TheAuthority said:

I always like Worcester (it felt bigger than Stourbridge) and my sister had worked there for a couple of years so I'd often take the train down to meet her on Saturdays. 

Do you think it has a rich variety of shops and restaurants?

Not massively tbh, but I think it has enough to be decent and it’s an affordable place to live. It has a few decent pubs and bars and some of the high street chains are still present. 

Id much rather live in Worcester than say, Droitwich or Kidderminster or Redditch. I still think Bromsgrove has a fair bit going for it too. A lot of places are in decline though. 

I live down in Broadway as I prefer the quiet life but always love going for a beer and an afternoon out in Worcester. 

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HKP90 Grand Master

HKP90

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3 hours ago, KentVillan said:

Crowded House are class and I would move to anywhere in England they chose to live, and work as a butler

Bizarrely I've been to the small town in NZ (Te Awamutu) that Crowded House are from. You wouldn't want to live there. Boring as. 

Raglan down the road is cool though.

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Xann Grand Master

Xann

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13 hours ago, Delphinho123 said:

I'd much rather live in Worcester than say, Droitwich or Kidderminster or Redditch. I still think Bromsgrove has a fair bit going for it too. A lot of places are in decline though.

Fairly low bar there. Worcester was a nice little city between the picturesque old bits, now it's empty shops between the picturesque old bits.

Peak Shambles was Elts and Pratleys, it's a bit sad and generic looking now. Aladdin's Cave looks like Stoke and it's a big building. Lowesmoor lost the Jolly Roger Brewery Tap the main reason for being in Lowesmoor. The Crown is a Spoons, it used to have nice Rock chicks behind the bar. I still walk through it every few weeks. It was a city I thought to come back to, now it just depresses me.

Beyond my anecdotal observations it's been noticed elsewhere.... 

There are nice places in Worcestershire, don't get me wrong. Broadway, Severn Valley and out towards Tenbury, lovely. Even some of those pretty places will likely have issues. Where's the money to be found for the flood defences for the Severn, Avon and their tributaries cancelled in Austerity I? The cash has been stuffed into dodgy offshore owned Covid wheezes and HS2.

Conversely, where we live in London has got better. When we moved here It was quite dull, which didn't really bother me because work was based in the West End. As spriralling rents strangled Soho, a bunch of shitty and boring places south of the river picked up, we were one of them. The beggars are piling up right now, but poverty is where Tory Britain is at.

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Mark Albrighton Grand Master

Mark Albrighton

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It’s not England, but I’ve always liked the idea of going to somewhere like Jura (Orwell style, minus the writing and the TB) and see how - or if - I adapt. 

For just a year or so, see if I get on with it. Probably one of those where the reality wouldn’t live up to the expectations.

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MNVillan Experienced

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On 26/11/2022 at 07:22, maqroll said:

I'm really just talking about Boston and Portland, Maine. Bored with them and I can't stand the traffic and constant road construction.

Two years ago now I made a similar move from the Twin Cities up to Duluth, MN on the tip of Lake Superior. Not sure I could ever go back to the actual urban area.

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Marka Ragnos Grand Master

Marka Ragnos

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I had to quit England because it always felt too small, and I grew to miss the wide open spaces of America. But I love my ancestral homeland in the West Midlands and out past Bewdley, the Wyre forest area, and Rock, and I wouldn't be sad if I were stuck there for a few years.  

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Xela Grand Master

Xela

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On 27/11/2022 at 18:33, TheAuthority said:

From talking to my friends back home (and of course folks on here will have more insight) the old market towns of the West Midlands have essentially died.

Growing up in the 80's, places like Worcester & Stourbridge had good unique shops, both independent and chains and were bustling with life. Now there's charity shops, Witherspoons and emptiness. Merry Hill killed all of the towns nearby in the West Mids.

Hopeful that someone can suggest things are actually different!

 

 

Quite sad to see videos like that. Shows you how far some places have declined over the years. I think we are past the golden age in this country now. 

Sutton Coldfield is another place. The town centre is not a patch on what it was 20 years ago. As for Erdington... that used to be a bustling high street. I'd go there every Saturday with my Mom when I was little. we'd walk from our flat and do the shop. It was a nice place. Now, it's a ghetto. 

The nice places that are left are now very desirable and expensive. 

 

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Xela Grand Master

Xela

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On 27/11/2022 at 19:02, Delphinho123 said:

Not massively tbh, but I think it has enough to be decent and it’s an affordable place to live. It has a few decent pubs and bars and some of the high street chains are still present. 

Id much rather live in Worcester than say, Droitwich or Kidderminster or Redditch. I still think Bromsgrove has a fair bit going for it too. A lot of places are in decline though. 

I live down in Broadway as I prefer the quiet life but always love going for a beer and an afternoon out in Worcester. 

I don't know the place well, but Evesham always scores very well on the 'quality of life' polls. Along with Pershore. 

Broadway is lovely mate! Jealous. Love the old traditional high street. Bet its rammed with tourists at the height of summer though! I've stayed at the Horse and Hound before. 

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villabromsgrove Mentor

villabromsgrove

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8 hours ago, bannedfromHandV said:

Tewkesbury and the Malvern Hills areas are really nice, if I had a choice of where to live it would probably be in that area. Close enough to family but far enough away too, same for the Villa.

I live in the Malvern Hills half way up the eastern side of Pinnacle hill. The house is a sprawling three stories, and has a large roof terrace with the most amazing views to both the east and south. I can see from Broadway Tower along the Cotswold Ridge through Winchcombe and onto Cleeve Hill with its transmitters, high above Cheltenham. The Severn Valley is laid out in a patchwork of fields and farms below me. The view from my study stretches out over the river Severn, the M5 and M50, and onwards between seventeen and twenty miles depending on direction. It alters almost by the minute as the clouds throw ever changing light patterns. It's 'God's own country' in my opinion.

Prior to moving here I lived in Bromsgrove for decades. It's a nice place surrounded by rolling countryside and with some very good restaurants. I still spend time there with my family. 

 

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