3 ms·

I lived in London most of my life, but I am thinking about moving to a smaller city. What would you recommend in terms of safety, access to tech scene and prope

I lived in London most of my life, but I am thinking about moving to a smaller city. What would you recommend in terms of safety, access to tech scene and property prices? It's much easier to get a remote gig, so it seems like a location will no longer be a problem.

Hard_Space 6y ago
If you're looking for pastoral splendor and thinking beyond the extreme commuter belt, try the north-east. I went out with a lady from there for some years, and traveled up from London most weekends. Like Romania, it has an almost impenetrable firewall of negative PR that isn't born out by the experience of living there. Yes, there's an ugly old ICI factory that covers several square miles (the emblem of the region). But everything beyond that is gorgeous, green and largely untrammeled. I shall never forget walking through waterfall-strewn valleys and splendid forests and meeting hardly anyone else except some friendly dog-walkers.
ben_w 6y ago
I definitely enjoyed Cambridge and its commuter villages. Lots of tech employment, the villages are cheaper than the city itself and close enough to commute by bicycle. Plymouth was decent enough, but I was only there as an industrial placement student, so I’m not sure about non-student prices. Aberystwyth is pretty, but tiny, ~4 hours from anywhere that isn’t rural Wales regardless of your mode of transport, and literally 30% of the population are students. I didn’t stay long after graduation precisely because of the lack of tech jobs. Portsmouth area is terrible for the tech scene — I grew up close to there, my siblings still live nearby, but when one of them was job hunting they ended up getting one just outside Farnborough with a one hour commute. Sheffield is cheap, but I was trying to be a self-employed game dev when I was there, so I can’t say anything about the tech scene. If you still care about location for everything except work, there’s lots of pretty countryside on the South Downs, Norfolk, Aberystwyth area, and west of Sheffield. St. Ives (the one near Cambridge) is probably one of the best combinations of cheap and pretty (just be aware of the flood zones).
- varispeed 6y ago
  Thank you! I was actually looking up Plymouth and Portsmouth yesterday. I'll do some more research with places you listed.

Hard_Space 6y ago

If you're looking for pastoral splendor and thinking beyond the extreme commuter belt, try the north-east. I went out with a lady from there for some years, and traveled up from London most weekends. Like Romania, it has an almost impenetrable firewall of negative PR that isn't born out by the experience of living there. Yes, there's an ugly old ICI factory that covers several square miles (the emblem of the region). But everything beyond that is gorgeous, green and largely untrammeled. I shall never forget walking through waterfall-strewn valleys and splendid forests and meeting hardly anyone else except some friendly dog-walkers.

ben_w 6y ago

I definitely enjoyed Cambridge and its commuter villages. Lots of tech employment, the villages are cheaper than the city itself and close enough to commute by bicycle. Plymouth was decent enough, but I was only there as an industrial placement student, so I’m not sure about non-student prices. Aberystwyth is pretty, but tiny, ~4 hours from anywhere that isn’t rural Wales regardless of your mode of transport, and literally 30% of the population are students. I didn’t stay long after graduation precisely because of the lack of tech jobs. Portsmouth area is terrible for the tech scene — I grew up close to there, my siblings still live nearby, but when one of them was job hunting they ended up getting one just outside Farnborough with a one hour commute. Sheffield is cheap, but I was trying to be a self-employed game dev when I was there, so I can’t say anything about the tech scene. If you still care about location for everything except work, there’s lots of pretty countryside on the South Downs, Norfolk, Aberystwyth area, and west of Sheffield. St. Ives (the one near Cambridge) is probably one of the best combinations of cheap and pretty (just be aware of the flood zones).

varispeed 6y ago
Thank you! I was actually looking up Plymouth and Portsmouth yesterday. I'll do some more research with places you listed.