What do you like about stafford?

[citricsquid]

The cost of living here is very low relative to my income and it's conveniently located within a train ride of every place I ever want to go. An hour from Manchester, an hour and 20 from London, perfect! Shame I'm moving in a month, goodbye Stafford! :-(

 

[Miss Red]

Okay so stafford chase - oh lets just call it the chase that way nobody owns it the grass the fields the sheep, walking in the rain trees and more walking, the motorway m6 & m54 (must admit i like the motorway too the small independant shops jade, lafb, the kitchen shop the wool shop, not forgetting pecalillos (now thats a shop i honestly adore!) but i cant think of any others right now thats not food or estate agents!

Trentham gardens is nice - they have lovely shops

I used to live in Pretty Derbyshire, the peak district right on my doorstep - burton upon trent - but it was a small village of barton in derbyshire

 

[Jade-clothing]

well on internet it says different,

We only get this side of the valley, not the whole thing - you are being a little bit more than a little bit pedantic about the whole thing though Miss R.

It really isn't that far away...

Well said Withnail - especially as we originally said and I have since pointed out - we said what we liked about Stafford is that is is NEAR to and CLOSE by the aforementioned places.

 

[Jade-clothing]

Boston are we talking about USA Boston or am i misled

Boston, Lincs - the dead end of the world....

Thanks G - Can't even tell you off for disparaging my home town - as it is true!

 

[Jade-clothing]

Most people think of Derbyshire when you mention the Peak District but a good chunk of it is in the Staffordshire Moorlands.

Absolutely, the Staffordshire Peak District is really nice. Some nice walks around the likes of Ecton Hill and Wetton. Last Oct also did walk from Heathcote - Hartington - Longnor (stopped to sample coffee shop) - Earl Sterndale then bus back, after partaking of the Quiet Woman in Earl Sterndale. Quite a good walk that was.

Agreed - we regularly walk in the Staffordshire peak district - did a 15 miler last summer - thank goodness for those lovely country pubs at the end

 

[markmh]

i like the cheap petrol

 

[Miss Red]

at the end of the day its down to peoples opinions - we are all different with different circumstances and ages - what suits one doesnt suit another!
I remember an augument over a place called sutton coldfield - it had a royal status (the royal town of sutton coldfield) - they made it part of birmingham - and boy did they kick and scream - still to this day if they live just outside the original border they say they live in sutton coldfield not kingstanding.
its all kippers and curtains to me - you are what you are, so why pretend, if you live somewhere thats not quite "posh" then why say you do!
as my old dad used to say "we all p*** in the same pot!! lol - unless you have a gold plated one haha

 

[Toble]

M6J13, M6J14 and the station, to be honest.

 

[Franklin_Delano_Roosevelt]

I think there are many and the positives of the town certainly out-weigh the negatives.

Personally I would go with things like:
A nice town centre which hasn't suffered as badly as other towns re shop closures. There are still too many empty units but it could be worse
Stafford has an "up and coming" feel about it, which in the midst of economic meltdown is no mean feat. I'd point to developments like Stafford College, St George's, Riverside and Bridge St M&S, Riverway development, Kingsmead development, Staffordshire Place, Victoria Park investment, The proposed Weston Road Business park expansion thing - there is a lot going in over the next 3-5 years. How many other towns of a similar size could say the same? Not many I reckon.
You can still buy a house in Stafford for a relatively in-expensive price when compared to other areas of the Country
Stafford is WAAAAAYYY nicer than a lot of urban areas that are nearby such as Cannock, Wolverhampton, bits of Stoke, Burton etc
Stafford has transport links second to none. Two junction links to the M6 and right on the West Coast Main Line. You can be in places like London, Manchester, Birmingham (should you want to) in no time. These are three of the biggest cities in the UK. Longer term investments like HS2 might also help to encourage investment - particularly if it had a designated stop in Stafford, then watch the town take off! (OK this is a long shot)
You can access some of the most spectacular Countryside in Britain in minutes. Staffordshire has some great rural spots such as Cannock Chase and the Staffordshire Moorlands as well as bits of East Staffordshire. The best thing is they are often unhindered by hoards of picnic littering tourists as they all head for Derbyshire.

I could go on but this would be my main ones....

 

[Jonah]

Stafford has an "up and coming" feel about it, which in the midst of economic meltdown is no mean feat.

I disagree.

I've lived here all my 46 and a bit years and I can remember how vibrant the town used to be. Now every time I go into the town centre it feels like its slowly dying.

 

[Franklin_Delano_Roosevelt]

Big-Blue-Wolf

You maybe right, I can't go by 46 years. All I know is what is happening now and whilst I agree there are "issues" in the town centre that need to be sorted it isn't half as bad in Stafford as it is in other similar sized towns that I have been to recently. We do have new developments and new places opening in the town centre - so many other places just have businesses closing

 

[lisseylee]

Having lived all over London for 30 + years I find Stafford a lovely place to live (since 2004), My parents were both Staffordians and 2 of my 4 grandparents, so I've always been around the place.

I really like the it, its generally clean, friendly, has a good library, a few of galleries, a theatre, a leisure centre, bowling alley, lots of Doctors, NHS dentist, a hospital, plenty of pubs, has a pretty park, river, good train links, is generally quite safe and the countryside is on your doorstep, even Doxey Marshes is just a spit from Homebase. I am proud when my friends visit me here.

If you have never lived any where else you may not realise how lucky you are. In most London Suburbs there are none of these things and no youth clubs, no activities for kids, no woods or fields to enjoy. Crime and dirt everywhere and traffic you would not believe.

 

[Franklin_Delano_Roosevelt]

Lisseylee

I think you hit the nail on the head, we are very lucky. I have to travel to London for work quite a bit and I like nothing better after a long day than to walk home through Victoria Park. My wife always says "I'll come and collect you from the station" but I always say "no its fine, I'll walk" - I enjoy taking in the local gem that is the park, never tire of it.
Of course you can always point to things that are wrong in a place or things that you would like to see improved, no place is perfect but on balance I think we have it pretty good and should be proud of our town.

 

[Miss Red]

Found on the web - Stafford apparantly was in the top 5 best towns on channel five - but it was in 2008 lol they reported that they had a massive drive in 2008 to promote the town and from then on it was up up and more up - this was in 2008 though....ive also found stafford listed in a "nowhere" guide it lists one page of good things and one page of worse things - id put a link but i aint gonna do that i value my head haha

 

[markmh]

what surprised me when i first came to stafford 3 -4 years ago was that for a county town its pretty small. ive lived in guildford and gloucester before, both county towns and a lot bigger, more diverse shops, more jobs, more entertainment facilities.

That being said in addition to the cheap petrol prices i also like the links to the motorway, although i dont know if being able to get out of a place quickly makes it a good palce to be.

 

[shoes]

I like the number of ways there are to leave :p

 

[henryscat]

I remember an augument over a place called sutton coldfield - it had a royal status (the royal town of sutton coldfield) - they made it part of birmingham - and boy did they kick and scream - still to this day if they live just outside the original border they say they live in sutton coldfield not kingstanding.

Yes, the people of Sutton weren't too pleased at being made into Birmingham. Estate agents flogging houses in parts of Kingstanding quite often put "Kingstanding, near the Sutton border" to try and pretend its Sutton really...!!

It is amazing the snobbery even around postal addresses. People in parts of South Staffs really dislike if you use the correct postal address where their post town is Wolverhampton. People in Lichfield got really upset when Lichfield lost it's own post mark and letters were being franked "Wolverhampton". There was a lot of jumping up and down and it was changed to "North West Midlands"..... you'd think there were better things to worry about really.

Back to Stafford, I really like living here and much prefer it to Lichfield which seems to confuse some people. Having a Cathedral and Dr Johnsons Birthplace ain't everything. The town centre is pleasant, road/rail links are extremely good for a town of its size, and there's plenty of choice of places to shop (even if some of them are a selection of tin shed retail parks).

 

[markmh]

I like the number of ways there are to leave :p

I guess if Stafford is ever overrun by zombies lots of people would escape

 

[gilbert grape]

Some people may find this a strange positive but I'd like to give Katharine House a big shout. A hospice for local people, mainly paid for and funded by local people, that cares for local people.
My Dad's onto his second day in there and the place epitomises comfort and dignity and the staff are second to none. God bless em all!
Something Staffordians should be proud of.

 

[Jade-clothing]

Some people may find this a strange positive but I'd like to give Katharine House a big shout. A hospice for local people, mainly paid for and funded by local people, that cares for local people.
My Dad's onto his second day in there and the place epitomises comfort and dignity and the staff are second to none. God bless em all!
Something Staffordians should be proud of.

Well said Gilbert.