Moving to Stafford?

bunique

Well-Known Forumite
Relatively small market town, excellent transport links north and south. Great access to Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham and day trips to London. Friendly, walkable, handful of decent places to eat. Surrounded by countryside. Excellent pubs. Good primary schools (secondaries maybe need a bit of work). Good range of properties at reasonable prices.

Honestly, why *would* anyone want to live here? :roll:
 

kyoto49

Well-Known Forumite
Or sprawly mid size town with a crap market (sadly), hundreds of poor quality over priced new houses being built on every bit of green space on all sides of town. The surrounding countryside is no better than any other countryside and disappearing at a terrifying rate.

Agree that the best things about Stafford are the routes out.

Friendly? Behave.. staffordians are notorious for being exactly the opposite of friendly

Horrible local planning, no joined up cycling provision, a town dominated by the car and regular gridlock. Terrible bus service.

Stafford has nothing really that any other town doesn't have. It has no identity, no defining features, no town centre to speak of, and is fast becoming commuter central.

Sorry, but given the choice to live anywhere why would anyone choose Stafford?
 

cotty1974

A few posts under my belt
Hi guys,

Me and my partner are looking to move out of the ever declining area of Great Barr in Birmingham. We've looked at a couple of houses around Eccleshall and it seems lovely, but there's nothing like insider information from the locals!
I've noticed for one that the school system is a 3 tier system? Much different to what we have here..... is this a pro does anybody think? I have a little boy who will be starting school in September so im very curious.

Any information or advice anybody could give me would be great!

Thank you in advance x
I'd consider a village with a few pubs etc...Stafford itself is absolutely shocking as a county town.
We usually jump on the train to Liverpool or Manchester for shopping as Stafford is that bad. You can be there in 55 mins on the train.
If you have kids then there is nothing to do whatsoever... there is house building going on at the moment in Stafford but I'm sorry the town centre doesn't seem to be on the same hymm sheet.
It's full of empty shops...homeless sleeping all over the place...go out on a Friday and Saturday and the homeless double in size.
 

cotty1974

A few posts under my belt
Or sprawly mid size town with a crap market (sadly), hundreds of poor quality over priced new houses being built on every bit of green space on all sides of town. The surrounding countryside is no better than any other countryside and disappearing at a terrifying rate.

Agree that the best things about Stafford are the routes out.

Friendly? Behave.. staffordians are notorious for being exactly the opposite of friendly

Horrible local planning, no joined up cycling provision, a town dominated by the car and regular gridlock. Terrible bus service.

Stafford has nothing really that any other town doesn't have. It has no identity, no defining features, no town centre to speak of, and is fast becoming commuter central.

Sorry, but given the choice to live anywhere why would anyone choose Stafford?
Totally agree this place is a complete dog hole..
If you want charity shops....birthday cards....vapes.....and empty shops then this is as good as it gets....the eating/restaurant scene is just as bad......McDonald's nandos and Frankie and Bennys is ya lot really.....
If you like monkey dust you are in luck.
 

Tilly

Well-Known Forumite
Bringing up kids in large urban conurbations is a risk business

Hence the thread

Stafford town centre is not much fun but as an area the Borough has relative safety , reasonable house prices and good transport links.

But France, Spain and Portugal offer a better life
 

Lucy

Well-Known Forumite
Yes, the town centre is much like any other mid sized town where retail took over and is now dying out, and many think we're entitled to things because we're a county town, but the surrounding areas are great. There are lovely villages but it does depend on your budgets. If you need to buy multiple houses that's also a consideration, as in the smaller villages there might be out 5 or 6 houses for sale so not loads of choice.

Another consideration is if you want to move somewhere that is likely to increase in size. There's a borough plan for house building for the next 10 years, and lots will get new estates whilst a number won't be touched at all.
 

bunique

Well-Known Forumite
Friendly? Behave.. staffordians are notorious for being exactly the opposite of friendly
Notorious according to who? I moved here from the south east 10 years ago and any of my family or friends who visit agree it’s a very friendly place.

Then again, if you’re surrounded by people that are as miserable as you, it’s hardly a surprise that you think it’s unfriendly :)
 

Tilly

Well-Known Forumite
Notorious according to who? I moved here from the south east 10 years ago and any of my family or friends who visit agree it’s a very friendly place.

Then again, if you’re surrounded by people that are as miserable as you, it’s hardly a surprise that you think it’s unfriendly :)


Take a chill pill dudes

Peace out

Reeeelax
 

Wormella

Well-Known Forumite
I've also moved from elsewhere and we love Stafford - finding it a great place so far to raise our boy who is about the same age as yours as he's also going to school in September.

Lovely, central, friendly with decent range of places for lunch and plenty of places to grab a drink. Wide open spaces and country side things nearby but still being able to get anything you need really.
 
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Perrier

Banned
I moved here about this time 6 years ago.

Compared to where i used to live ( Rocester ) , i found it much easier and cheaper to live.
i remember being shocked about how you could order a takeaway from a multitude of places AND have it delivered ! .
even for the basics i had to make a 10 mile round trip to Uttoxeter as it worked out cheaper if you needed quite a few bits of shopping.

Shopping here is much much cheaper , everything is within easy traveling distance and the bus/train services are ideal for commuting.
My kids found work within a few weeks of being here too ( a lot harder to find in a small village ).
Having lived in Cheadle and Uttoxeter too over the years , ive seen both those areas run down through cuts and closures so even if you think theres a few empty shops in Stafford , be thankful it is a county town as it could be a lot worse.
people on the whole in Stafford are friendly , sure theres the odd asswipe here and there but you get that everywhere ... so long as they stay away from my front door i'm happy.
Health and support services around here are ok , certainly a lot better than what was available around the Staffordshire moorlands and Derbyshire.

Cant see me moving away anytime soon
 

darben

Well-Known Forumite
Or sprawly mid size town with a crap market (sadly), hundreds of poor quality over priced new houses being built on every bit of green space on all sides of town. The surrounding countryside is no better than any other countryside and disappearing at a terrifying rate.

Agree that the best things about Stafford are the routes out.

Friendly? Behave.. staffordians are notorious for being exactly the opposite of friendly

Horrible local planning, no joined up cycling provision, a town dominated by the car and regular gridlock. Terrible bus service.

Stafford has nothing really that any other town doesn't have. It has no identity, no defining features, no town centre to speak of, and is fast becoming commuter central.

Sorry, but given the choice to live anywhere why would anyone choose Stafford?
Out of curiosity why did you choose to live here?

I’ve lived quite a few places, agreed the planning of Stafford is appalling, but it has so much potential, and has history - I find it quite a Goldilocks place to live not to big, not to small, not too posh or poor etc... easy access to anything you could want country side, cities - sometimes life is what you make of it , Stafford is never going to have the opportunities that a city give you or the nature of the countryside but you really don’t have to go far to find it.

It’s not always easy adjusting to living in a small provincial town, but plenty of people are in the same boat. People are pretty amicable where ever you go, towns the size of Stafford can be more difficult than others as a lot of people have known each other since childhood; smile, be open minded, join in with things and you’ll soon make some friends.
 

kyoto49

Well-Known Forumite
Out of curiosity why did you choose to live here?

I’ve lived quite a few places, agreed the planning of Stafford is appalling, but it has so much potential, and has history - I find it quite a Goldilocks place to live not to big, not to small, not too posh or poor etc... easy access to anything you could want country side, cities - sometimes life is what you make of it , Stafford is never going to have the opportunities that a city give you or the nature of the countryside but you really don’t have to go far to find it.

It’s not always easy adjusting to living in a small provincial town, but plenty of people are in the same boat. People are pretty amicable where ever you go, towns the size of Stafford can be more difficult than others as a lot of people have known each other since childhood; smile, be open minded, join in with things and you’ll soon make some friends.

Because I have a job I love and own my house... I also have brilliant friends. I benefit from the cheap housing and great transport links out of the place.

Stafford is a 'meh' kind of place. Housing is well priced and it's easy to get out of Stafford. That's about the only selling points and with the good transport links comes regular traffic gridlock.

I compare Stafford to Leamington Spa. The difference is that Leamington has a really good town centre with loads of independent shops, cafe's and restaurants. Good quality housing stock and large parks. Staffords park provision is awful. 1 overcrowded cramped town park and Rowley Park. The town is twice the size it was when I was a kid...no new park provision though

The council's planning is a joke, every little bit of green space being devoured and life based on cars and nothing else. Cycling provision consists in the main of a line on the road that cars are free to park in. The bus service is no longer viable as a mode if transport for anyone bar the pensioners who only go out between the times of 11 and 3.

The library provision is a joke. The hospital..less said the better really. Hope you don't have an accident during the night or expect a long journey before treatment.

Restaurants and cafe's are all chain or low class...macdonalds is the favourite eat of the town chavs.

Petty crime is endemic with an over stretched police force who do basically nothing - this is not their fault though!.

High schools are so brilliant that all the best kids pay to go to Stafford grammar or get shipped to Newport each day to get decent free eduation at Newport Girls or Adams Grammar!

I think people on here need to separate those of you who live in the villages and towns around Stafford, who all seem to like it, with those of us who live in the areas of Stafford town in the areas of high social deprivation.

Stafford is a 5 out of 10 type of town. Some good aspects, most of them not in Stafford or that involve leaving the place!
 

c0tt0nt0p

Well-Known Forumite
many think we're entitled to things because we're a county town, but the surrounding areas are great.
Yes!!! Exactly!!! People seem to think that they have some entitlement to the place being a certain way just because it's a county town...
 

bunique

Well-Known Forumite
House prices in Leamington are way, way higher than in Stafford. That means higher earners which means spare cash to buy artisan bread and independent clothing. And greater council tax revenue so the council can invest in services. Leamington is a middle class town. Stafford isn’t.

We’ve had the town park debate on here before and I don’t recall anyone except you thinking the provision was inadequate. There’s a similarly brilliant park up at Wildwood and lots of smaller park provision dotted around various housing estates.

And McDonalds is the haunt of every “town chav” including in Leamington no doubt!
 

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Perrier

Banned
Theres been some good and bad points made about this town however...

Some people need to understand that voting for lower council tax involves sub standard or stripped services , combine this with with pittance given by the government in power to local councils to keep everything afloat and you soon start to lose things like a decent library , health services and public recreation .
policing is a joke , its a lottery whether your crime is sorted or just given a reference number, again lack of funding equals a sub standard police force.
Long leases and high rents for shops in the high street doesnt exactly help it to thrive either.
....the list goes on.

ive said it before , you get what you voted for.
 

kyoto49

Well-Known Forumite
House prices in Leamington are way, way higher than in Stafford. That means higher earners which means spare cash to buy artisan bread and independent clothing. And greater council tax revenue so the council can invest in services. Leamington is a middle class town. Stafford isn’t.

We’ve had the town park debate on here before and I don’t recall anyone except you thinking the provision was inadequate. There’s a similarly brilliant park up at Wildwood and lots of smaller park provision dotted around various housing estates.

And McDonalds is the haunt of every “town chav” including in Leamington no doubt!

High house prices can actually have exactly the reverse affect. High house prices often means lower disposable income. People in Stafford may well have more disposal income because of low house prices. I know I and many others are in this situation. Low mortgage paid off early and all that
 

kyoto49

Well-Known Forumite
Theres been some good and bad points made about this town however...

Some people need to understand that voting for lower council tax involves sub standard or stripped services , combine this with with pittance given by the government in power to local councils to keep everything afloat and you soon start to lose things like a decent library , health services and public recreation .
policing is a joke , its a lottery whether your crime is sorted or just given a reference number, again lack of funding equals a sub standard police force.
Long leases and high rents for shops in the high street doesnt exactly help it to thrive either.
....the list goes on.

ive said it before , you get what you voted for.

They do. I've never voted for this shower of shite in my life. Plenty on here moan about all the things you have identified and then vote Tory. It's like they're too thick to join the dots :(
 
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